Year 6, May 17th-20th, 2021: Abishai's New Birthday! And Jared's 42nd birthday!

 It's here! Abishai is getting baptized on Tuesday! And we will be celebrating Jared's 42nd birthday as well! First, today, we had to have a good solid day of school so we can Tuesday off from school. We will finish our 180 days of school this week, but some of our read alouds might carry over to next week. And then I'll have to dig into my summer to do list. Blech. I do but I don't want to work on those things. They need to be done, but I just don't know what to do with certain things that I want to keep but I'm not sure I'll use, etc. I've got a list going though and the projects are fairly self contained. And I need to add in some fun play dates for the kids like swimming and jumping places. We'll see. Lots going on for sure.

Monday was, Monday. Rainy, icky, and bad attitudes at times, Monday. But we managed to take showers, do our read alouds, and get our writing/math done, and a regular set of paperwork with Abishai. And I finally got my Bible study and audio Bible plan caught up. That's something. The kids helped me clean up Abishai's messes, too, as I delegated a single task to each of them in turn. For example, I told Justin to go around the house and find all the Nerf guns and bullets and put them away since the bags for them are in his room. I told Keturah to get out the other things for taco and leftovers supper. Then I put Justin on duty for cooking the meet as I checked on Abishai's pile of stuff. I saw more guns and costume stuff in the pile, so I delegated that to Keturah. I told Abishai he could finish his project after dinner. He had piled everything that was on the play table in the middle of the walkway so he could reorganize it. I told him he could put it under the puzzle table and what do you know, he did! He got it cleaned up very nicely. So, the moral of the story is to DELEGATE ONE task at a time until the job is done. Oh, and I sent Keturah to get the mail, too. Easy peasy.

I, at least, plan to make a day of it tomorrow, so no school for anyone. We will focus on family, even if it's just us 4 since the men want to work and Leah has the last Lifebridge session of the year. I want to make a bigger to do about the birthday and Abishai's new birthday than the rest of them it seems. To them, it's just a line item on their to do list. But I guess I'm in charge of making sure we have the camera and photographer ready, or who I'm handing off my phone to, or I'll do it myself like I did for the other kids. You all can go back to work and I'll take the kids for ice cream. Sigh.

I did invite a few people on staff and Abishai's other Sunday School leaders over the years know that it's happening, although most people are at work or at school. It's a bummer that the birthday fell on a weekday and that we had to do it at noon instead of in the evening when more people come. But when people work, do ministry, and what not during all hours of the day and night and every day of the week without much of a break, it's what you have to do to slip it into their schedules. We might have our small group people show up, but we might not. I just don't know. I guess I'll just keep my mouth shut and put my eyes and lips towards my son and his celebration, because Jared doesn't care about his birthday. I just pray that I can do that because right now, I feel a little frustrated at it all. It's probably just Satan creeping in, so I hope when I sleep on it, I'll have more peace about it in the morning. And I am ignoring what I was trying to learn in my Bible study about Gideon and humility, too. But you know, we don't have these moments that often, these moments of pure joy, so I just wanted to make a bigger deal out of it. I guess I didn't give that memo to the others. It's not worth the fight. I just need to repeat that over and over and focus on Abishai. Turn around if I have to. Delegate and command when I need to. And let others be the bystanders, uninvolved in the day to day of our lives. But that's enough. Tomorrow is the day and it's time to celebrate!

I forgot that we could track airplanes, so I looked up Gary and Leah's flights based on just the airports they were flying through and approximate times. I didn't know the airline or the number of the flight. Abishai thought it was cool.

After a trip to Hawaii, and then home for a week and then to turn around and go to Alaska for a few days, Gary and Leah are finally home. But Gary leaves again soon. It never stops. So everything has to be scheduled around it. I guess we're lucky to get what time we get with them these days.

Abishai looked like an old man in my glasses. I asked him if he wanted to try my glasses today just for fun or out of interest to see if he could see things better since the doctor said we have similar prescriptions. And he said it did help. I only did it while he was reading to me. I don't want to hurt his eyes more by forcing them into my prescription. Hopefully we will go pick out new glasses with Jared at the end of this week. We'll see.

Smell the flowers, Mommy! When I said, "Ooo, look how many blooms there are now!" Abishai got really excited and wanted to go outside to see them. I'm glad he still gets interesting in the simple things.

They are really big and beautiful this year. Alisha keeps posting pictures of her big all purple ones and they are gorgeous!

See how many blooms there are? You can't count them all! I can't wait to separate and replant them after the blooms are done.

This one has few blooms on it, but it's just later than the others.

I got up closer and....

It's a white one with purple edges! Jared was wondering if we would have any of those! He said he liked those. Yeah! We have both of the purple kinds now and all those white ones that came from the bulbs he specifically purchased for this house. Woot! Woot! P.S. In order to get wonderful shots like these, all you have to do is move your camera further away and then zoom in. That's how I get the blurry background because the focus is already on what is in the foreground.

Abishai was messing with the couch cushions today and said, "I want to be the government!" So he set one cushion up like a podium, and then wanted to do his school work on the clipboard. I let him do one page, but he had to do his regular handwriting in his regular spot. When school was over, he found a blank piece of paper and dug out his chunky crayons so he was all ready to go to be part of the government. I'm glad he's listened in to what we've talked about, even if it is just a part of the whole. It makes me laugh though. Maybe he COULD be the one that gets involved in politics. Who knows! He could very well be good with it given his personality. We'll see!

I downloaded the MyChart app after I signed up on the website from the sheet of paper my new osteopath gave me. I knew that Jared already had one in the Community network as well. And I think Franciscan uses a version of it. I have something similar through IU Health. And I am LOVING it! Now I can go back and view my actual test results and see the parameters. And this app, after I gave it permission, texted me that my doctor had written a quick note about the results and then it texted me again later asking me to answer a specific question that was missing from the questionnaire I did in the office. Just one little question. I can also see the doctor's actual notes, too, on any of these services and what they thought of me, lol. It's pretty cool what technology we have these days. Kind of dangerous, too, but if you are actively involved in your medical care as I am, it's great to be pretty much on the same level as the doctor themselves. I think it's pretty cool!

While waiting for their Anchorage to Minneapolis flight, Gary and Leah got to pend a few minutes with a dear family, the Smiths. Leah has mentored Amanda for a few years when they lived here. Then they moved to Missouri for more of their medical training because both Amanda and her husband are doctors. And when that was done, God called them to Alaska to be a part of a program that goes out to local villages and towns to treat people. Their firstborn, Hunter, is Abishai's age and they were friends for awhile. They now have another boy and now a baby girl. So much fun to literally have friends all around the world. That's one advantage of global ministry. And if you have a variety of interests like I do in actors or singers or TV shows or education, etc. Sometimes I wonder if other people have as wide a circle of acquaintances as I do. I have over 1,000 "friends" on my FB list. Most are just acquaintances but they span all the back to my childhood to my current social circles. From New Hampshire, to PEI, to Nashville, TN, to Alaska, to the Netherlands, to Ukraine, even to France! It's fun to see what the real world looks like, at least some of the time, in a filtered sort of way. I enjoy connecting with people via social media. It's something I can handle because I can take my time responding and filtering information. I suck at in person conversation most of the time. But I can type out anything! Anyway, yeah! Hi, Amanda, Hunter, and the rest of the crew!

It's been a day! Actually everything went as smoothly as it could. I had been in a mood last night because I was tired, but I asked my sister to pray for me, and God helped me hold my tongue and make today all about Jared and Abishai. We didn't have balloons or lots of gifts and fanfare, but we got the job done. First up, brunch with the Grandparents, which was fruit salad, a bit of vegetables, smokey links, pancakes (except for me), bacon, and potatoes and baloney! Perfect! We had a good conversation and learned that Benaiah is interviewing for a different job on Wednesday, a sit down job that could help him get a leg into his field of choice. So, that's fun. He's always changing up what's going on in his life and I guess that par for the course. I just don't remember it changing so much. Oh wait, Jared did EXACTLY that. Sigh. I guess I'm the one who doesn't change as often. Then Jared got his "cake" of "bacon explosion" and his gifts from his parents, which was a hat from Alaska, a hoodie with Alaska's area code on it, and a t-shirt about Lake Michigan that said, "Always fresh, sometimes frozen."  Fun! After that we left Grandma and Grandpa to do finish up the clean and headed to the church in various vehicles. We had to all drive separate because we were going in different directions afterwards. 

The east doors of the church was locked so I had to wait for Jared to open it. He had taken Abishai with him to the post office to drop off packages for e2. As Justin, Keturah and I waited, Adrienne, Jim and Debi showed up, as expected, and Grandpa came and unlocked the door. He was on the phone and forgot to put his car into park and it started rolling! We all had a good laugh about that. Then we walked down to the auditorium and the baptistry. Benaiah helped by turning on the lights, while I briefly went backstage with Abishai and Jared. I didn't really need to, Jared handled everything perfectly. I decided that we would wait until the kids' team was done with their meeting. I texted Alison and Erica and they finally answered about 12:10 or so. I know that Jim had somewhere to be and Gary was looking around impatiently. He seemed to have several things on his mind AND he was sleep deprived since they had an overnight flight on Sunday night. Leah hadn't slept on the plane at all. So, as we huddled up to pray over Abishai, the rest of the team came up. I felt more comfortable with other people around and I think it helped me keep my opinions to myself. I don't think it mattered to Abishai and he wasn't upset about it either.

I actually liked the calmer atmosphere of not doing during the church service. We could hang out and talk for a few minutes and there was much less chaos. God knew what he was doing when he had us schedule it this way. Abishai ran around the auditorium in just his swim trunks and had a hoot of a time doing so! When else can you do that? PK (pastor's kids) have this sense of freedom and feeling comfortable in the church building like it's a second home to them. And I'm grateful that the kids feel comfortable. Abishai wasn't shy and was pretty sure about the whole process. While we were praying over him, I saw him snuggle into Jared and even into Gary's arm. It was so cute!

Then it was time for the baptism itself. Jared had Abishai carry the stool to the middle of the baptistry so Abishai could comfortably stand in front of him. Then Jared got down on his level and talked him through the confession with words only Jared could come up with. It wasn't the typical "repeat after me" that we hear on a Sunday morning. In fact, I think it was very age appropriate and understandable and beautiful, just like Jared's words can be. Please watch the video because you have to hear what Jared said and how Abishai answered. When Jared asked, "Why do you want to be baptized?" or "Why do you want to follow Jesus?" Abishai simply answered, "Because I love Him." We all "awwwwwed" at his simple, childlike faith. If only we all could love Jesus like that of a little child. You'll notice on the video that Abishai looks away. It's not that he wasn't paying attention to Jared. I think it's what I would call his ADHD tendencies. He was distracted a bit but when he looked directly at Jared, he understood everything. And then, down he went and up again, easy peasy. So cool! I didn't cry or have any emotion really. I was just focused, like I was at my parents' funerals, at making sure all the details were in place, that I had everything, that the photos and videos were taken, and that things were done right. Jared handled everything backstage. And then it was over. We got our photos thanks to our friends and some of them took other ones, so I have a nice collection of all the angles. A bit more than I had for the other boys, which I'll share some in the photos below.

After we cleaned up, everyone dispersed, Jim left to meet with his guy, Debi left to get groceries, and I think Adrienne went home. Gary went into the office. Benaiah went home to change to go to work. I had to convince Jared that going out to Redline for ice cream was my way of treating the kids AND celebrating HIS birthday, although he wouldn't eat it. Leah did join us, but she didn't eat any ice cream. Abishai didn't want ice cream, but was very thirsty, so he downed a cup of root beer. Justin knew how to have just enough ounces of ice cream and toppings to get it for free (it had to be exactly 12.5 oz), and he did! He saved us $5! I got a good amount and so did Keturah, although we both knew we shouldn't be eating that much dairy. I didn't care. I was celebrating my son and my husband, and myself for getting through the morning, and for not eating so many sugar carbs the past few days that I've been keeping a food diary. I had picked ice cream because I thought Gary would come and have ice cream with the kids, although we were paying. The kids didn't seem to mind. We ate kind of quickly and then Leah went home to get ready for her Lifebridge ministry and Jared drove us back to the church so we could pile back into my car so he could stay at church and work.

That's the biggest downside to doing it on a weekday. Everybody seemed to have something else to do afterwards. I cleared my schedule and brain so I could focus ONLY on the birthdays. Justin did finish his paper when we got home and I managed to edit it tonight. And Keturah actually did a bit of math as well, so I corrected that, too. It was hard to keep him off of his tablet for the next hour, but finally, at 3pm, Abishai got his screen time. I had let him on this morning on the PS4 because he was SO loud and SO in your face that I couldn't think straight and I was hoping Justin would work on his paper before we left, but he didn't. We had to wait for Justin to finish up the round for Abishai on his game before we left for grandparents' house. He managed to pull it off through. The kids had their electronic time and I did nothing productive, not even email. I wasted time on my phone games and some videos. I did manage to get up and cook some vegetables while Justin chopped up vegetables for a salad. The Misfits produce box came today, so I had to do all the rearranging of that. The contents of the box filler got on everything, so that was fun to deal with and I had to even get out the vacuum. But it's all neatly arranged now according to FIFO. I cooked up lentils to go with some vegetables for my dinner so the other protein sources would stretch. Abishai ate some old mac and cheese and a few bites of vegetables. Keturah had coleslaw, fried vegetables, and ground beef. Justin ended up with bacon explosion and salad. I don't know how we live because we never seem to eat a lot. Leftovers seem to go on and on forever! And we obviously didn't eat enough vegetables last week! Come on, my little birdies, eat! But Jared wants to loose weight and I want to loose weight, and Keturah only wants sweets and Justin only wants carbs, and his medication suppresses his appetite. So, little bit little, we have to get after it before it all goes bad. I haven't had energy to do anything, but I tried today.

After supper, Jared built his birthday present to himself, another super fast Lego car, with Abishai. And then it was off to bed. Now my caffeine has worn off and it's after 11 because I was listening to a doctor testify in a committee meeting in New Hampshire, of all places, that a "one size fits all situations" vaccine mandate doesn't make sense. The proposed bill would BAN vaccine mandates like passports or paper work. So, I hope the bill is moved onto the next stage. We shall see!

Jared polished off his birthday with some talking time with Jim. He just walked back in the door. And now I feel stressed out because it's 11:30pm and I'm still typing instead of relaxing. But sometimes, that's how it goes.

P.S. You know, I just remembered one thing, or rather two things, that were missing from today. My parents. My parents were there for both of the other boys' baptisms in 2009 and 2012. Scratch that. They were there for Benaiah's baptism in 2009, not for Justin's baptism in 2012, just a couple of weeks before we left for PEI. What a month that was with two regular birthday parties and the baptism, and final packing and a good bye open house. No wonder I was a mess when we drove away from our house 9 years ago! Anyways, yes, my parents weren't here. They would have adored Abishai's spunk and personality. They would have been there for Justin and Abishai. That's what I was feeling was missing today. I thought I was forgetting something physical from home or maybe some part of the procedures. No, it was my parents. They were probably celebrating with the angels as Abishai was baptized though. And he will get to meet them in heaven someday now. He knows who they are because I talk about them a lot. And he proudly wears his Grandma sweater and hat with no questions. But, that's why it seemed so quiet. And a bit empty. We were missing them. That's sad. God took them too soon in my opinion. There was so much more for them here. But God wanted them with Him, so he took them. Gosh, I wish they were here. I have so many questions for them. They've missed so much life of the past 10 and 11 years. And they aren't in any pictures since then either. That's hard, too. They are frozen in time to me. What role(s) would they play if they were here? We would have to make sure they got what they needed, too. And I didn't have my siblings here either and I decided against any livestream and instead put the videos on FB for all to see. Easier to share the shorter video than one of those big ones. So that's all. I miss my parents on these kinds of occasions. Sigh.

First, we had to have birthday brunch! Benaiah was working that evening, so we couldn't do a normal dinner. Abishai has all his favorites, pancakes, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, cucumbers, and fruit. And instead of pancakes, I had bologna and potatoes. It's the only way I'll eat bologna, fried and with potatoes. I grew up on it as our primary lunch meat and I think it has no taste and is slimy. Yuck!

Bacon explosion for Jared's birthday "cake." And since it was hot and fresh out of the oven, the meat was melting the candles from underneath!

Awesome wrapping job, folks! Lol!

Jared got a new hat with a patch that talks about the Arctic Circle, which he has been to.

He also got a sweatshirt that the area code for the whole state of Alaska on it. The store employee wasn't sure what the numbers stood for but finally remembered before Gary and Leah left the store.

And then a t-shirt about Michigan that says, "Always fresh, sometimes frozen." as in Lake Michigan because parts of it does freeze over sometimes.

When we got to church, we saw flashing lights up ahead. And in the ditch we saw a Frito-Lay chip truck stuck! What in the world? Was the driver texting? We don't know. But thankfully, it only took a couple of hours to get it back up and the road cleared. We got back to church after going to Redline Frozen Yogurt to see the tow truck haul it away. It looked dirty, but otherwise intact.

Whoops, I thought the front doors were always open, even on the weekdays. But I guess not. Thankfully Grandpa drove by on his way to his parking spot and unlocked the door for us. Actually, he was on the phone, and when he got out of his car, it started rolling away! He had forgotten to fully put in park! Whoops! Also, teens, phones, yup, I understand. It's my go to when I'm waiting, too.

Jared helped Abishai read the sign on the changing room door.

Congrats, Abishai! - Best Decision Ever!

When else in your life are you allowed to run around on the church stage and auditorium in just your swim trunks?! Oh those pastor kids that think they can just run free as a bird in the church! Somebody stop them! Ok, we did, and he stayed far away from all the tech stuff. But he ran off some of his energy, so that's good.

Hey, is this how I get in, Mom? Um, no, no diving!

Big kids, little kid.

This sums up Abishai's personality. Out of the box thinker and always going too fast!

Praying over Abishai

While we waited for the children's team, we circled up to pray. Abishai nuzzled up against Jared and Gary. And then when we said, Amen, there was the team! Great timing!

Awww, Abishai did his very best to concentrate on what Daddy was saying. He did look around a couple of times, too. He did stand on a stool so he was more out of the water and we could see him. And in his answer to the question, "Why do you believe?" Abishai said, "Because I love Him." Oh to have the faith of a child!

Dead to sin.

Alive in Christ.

Abishai's Confession of Faith and Baptism

Proud siblings. Didn't we just baptize the boys? Oh my motley looking crew. Are we all related? They are all so very different, it's not even funny. And yet, we are family.

High five for Mrs. Allison.

At least we can take an ok photo.

Just the 6 of us. It was important to me to have Benaiah there as well.

Eh, I could have looked worse. But why am I the only one showing their teeth? You Johnson men, come on!

We went to Redline Frozen Yogurt after the baptism. The kitchen area changed a bit and took over part of the subway car, including the pole that was there. Oh well. Abishai liked running in and out of it anyway.

If you get your ice cream and toppings to weigh exactly 12.5 oz, then your ice cream is free! Justin hit the mark! He did it a couple of weeks ago when he was there with his small group, too.

Keturah's got some yummies in there. She even shared a gummy worm with Abishai!

Abishai didn't have any ice cream! He was just thirsty and wanted some root beer. Jared didn't have any either, nor did Grandma. And Grandpa didn't come. So, it was just the three of us that ate all the sugar.

Ta-da! Justin polished off every bit of that 12.5 oz. I had probably 8oz of chocolate and something. And because I took my digestive enzymes, the ice cream didn't bother me as much. I haven't indulge in an ice cream like that in a long while.

Somebody is tuckered out from all the excitement. He needs to rest and refuel. Home we go!

These are some pics a friend got. Jim and Adrienne, Debi, Joanna, Erica, Alison, Steven Alvay (employee on creative arts team), and then us.

Hm,....Gary and Leah got a yummy surprise when they got home. But, they didn't want them so these plate came to our house. I know exactly two people who could have done it, and live side by side. Raquel or Granny Annie.

From this view we all look ok.

So, without looking at the date (which even having a date on the photo is really your first clue), who is this? Justin or Abishai? Abishai guessed himself, but it's actually Justin!

Benaiah's baptism in 2009 at age 7.

Justin's baptism in June 2012 at age 6 1/2 before we left for PEI.

Oooo, I found a photo of our irises in Beech Grove! They just had this little patch to grow in, and the bulbs kept pushing up through the surface. It was a very small area and too many bulbs. I'm glad the irises we have now have much more room to spread out and because of this, they stand up straighter and better. Our current irises are children of these irises from Beech Grove, so it's like we have a part of Beech Grove house with us. Well, our white corner cabinet came from the Beech Grove's basement. So we literally have a piece of it. I think bit was originally part of a corner because the back is very unfinished.

Jared's gift from his brother came today, too. It was from Cabela's, an outfitter's store. What could it be?

Special meats in an ammo box! Meats like venison, elk, and boar. Abishai told Daddy to bring some home because he wanted to try them!

And the day wouldn't be complete without (arguing of course, because some of that happened) the giving of a Lego set, one that Jared bought for himself. And check that out, Jared is taking a selfie with Abishai. Except Abishai was exhausted and didn't want to smile. He had just been taken off of the video games with Daddy because he said something mean or nasty to me. It's been a long day for the little man.

You guessed it,....it's another Lego vehicle! Good grief!

Oh man, today felt like a Monday since we were at church yesterday! And Abishai acted like it was! He was all over everyone for the first hours of the day. And then he threw huge fits about school. He fought with me for an hour, so I took away screen time altogether and got up and got my lunch. While I ate lunch, he calmed down and decided to do his schoolwork on his own! And he did well with his handwriting and his language arts page. He needed help with math. We had already done reading aloud and his reading to me. What a little booger! He's cute, but ornery! But that's how it goes. I gave him back some of his screen time. Justin worked on his edited paper and started his new outline and paper today. And he mowed Grandpa's lawn since it ended up not raining today. Tomorrow he will pressure wash the deck and then mow our lawn and finish his paper. Keturah worked on her math unit test. I read aloud to them, but we had finished the book for the three of them, so it was just economics and the fallacies book. We will do read aloud time until those are finished. I was thinking of starting up a new fun novel over the summer because they get so bored, but we'll see. I need some time to get into a slightly different routine so I can get some things done.

I'm not sure what all I did this afternoon though. Bible study? Check email? I don't know. I did work on looking at our language arts books to see what I needed to look at at the homeschool used curriculum sale tomorrow. And I actually don't need a single thing for language arts for Keturah. I have enough variety that I can hodge podge together some things. I'm not even sure what I want to focus on, but we did the 9 units from the main course of IEW, so this year we will focus on something else. Same for Justin, but I don't have books on speech and not that much on Literature that we haven't already covered. I think I'm going to get to a point with him that I feel like we've covered everything a high schooler covers in a course through various other courses through the years, so he's going to end up with a lighter load probably next year or the year after. And I don't want to repeat something he might take as a dual credit. And that's why I need to dig deeper into his transcript and adjust it. I don't know what we are missing, really. But I guess if he starts working in the fall, it will make up the time of a lighter load of coursework. We will see how that all goes, for sure.

Justin had small group and I did have Bible study, although we were talking back and forth about not having it based on people's schedules. We are going to keep meeting but we are going to set aside the heavier stuff and give ourselves a bit of a break. We'll discuss the sermon based on the questions and devotions that the Creek puts out to go along with the sermon each week. Some small groups only use those questions and devotions. And that's exactly what I wanted to do. I needed my devotional time to shift or not have an exact due date so I could move things around a bit in my schedule to accommodate projects and focusing on my diet. Anyway, there's that. 

And this is the week that we are heading into the heat! It's going to be over 80 degrees the rest of the week! It ALWAYS comes right around Memorial Day/Race Day. Indy500 Race Day is still ON this year for it's normal time slot. The activities are a bit different I bet, but it's going to be a little better than last August. Back to normal, almost! Also, our church has finally said, no more masks unless you want to and you MUST wear it as a volunteer in children's areas and the CHILDREN still MUST wear them because the vaccine isn't available to them. Grrrrrr........are you kidding me?! I'm going to tell Keturah and Justin that they can go without their masks because they will never be getting the vaccine under my watch (unless Justin needs it for Israel), so they will never fit into the "vaccinated" category. This CDC recommendation of IF you are vaccinated you can take your mask off vs. if you are NOT vaccinated you have to keep it ON, is a shaming scam to say the least. Well, peeps, my peeps in the county over will not be getting vaccinated and we breathe close to each other indoors and outdoors all the time without masks and we don't make each other sick. We good. Build up your immune system. And stop living in fear. End of story. I take the risk now, not the other way around. Don't take the risk away for me. You do what's right for you, not right for me. No shame. Only freedom of choice. Just like that lady I listened to yesterday giving testimony to the NH committee saying that all children should be required to vaccinate because some of them can't be and so we are have our children vaccinated to protect other children. First of all, that's rare that someone truly can't have a regular vaccination due to medical problems and most likely, they are staying home to avoid ALL germs, not just Covid. The medically vulnerable should take on that risk and act accordingly and not hold the rest of us hostage. Anyway, whatever, I won't be a stand out anymore. But I wish they would leave it up to the parents to choose to put a mask on a kid. Because when will that part ever end? The vaccine is available to kids 12 and older. They should not be making the middle schoolers and high schoolers wear them. There's plenty of vaccines around and everyone has had their chance. Move on. We want to take the risk, so let us. And don't shame us into doing it, mask or vaccine. Nope. I'm going to encourage the kids to not wear them or wear them under their chin or whatever. It's not worth it. So, I'm glad we are finally relenting at church before our Mayor says we can, but I wish it was for everyone. Burn the darn things!

Anyways, it's late, again. Why can't I work harder during the day? What is my procrastination problem? Come on, Melinda, push through and work harder and faster. Really, and THEN rest the next day. Stop resting so much every single day. I'm so lazy now. It's not even funny. I just don't want to read or cross stitch or clean out that corner or check that math page. I'm not sure what I want to do except nothing. I let my "get up and go" behind out of fear, fear of pain and exhaustion, I think. I need to get over that. I can do more. Probably. And feel more pain, truly, it's not as bad as Jared's pain. He has stretched out his appointments and so things are not feeling as great. He is waiting for the doctor to have 30 minutes on Friday to talk to him between his other appointments. That's fun. You have to sit by your phone all day? Ok, fine, whatever. Just PUSH for the darn surgery, would ya? Advocate for yourself. Therapies are expensive and only last so long. That's not a long term solution. FIX the problem, get the pressure off those nerves. And get it done soon so we can enjoy our anniversary. Let's GO! But that's me. I didn't push with the new doctor because she is a new doctor to me and in general and just back from maternity leave. I have a complicated file, so let's work on the one piece that concerns me most first. And she could get me in within 10 days again, so that's super quick for doctor appointments. I want to resolve this blood pressure issue quickly because it's scary, or at least give it a band aid fix while I work on my diet or something. We'll see. But push for more testing, more alternatives, and look up what else you can do. Don't just trust the medical profession hook, line, and sinker. Sure they know protocols and anatomy, but if that protocol does not fit you or you've already done it multiple times, push for something else. Do the research and present it in a way that they can trust you. But show how smart you are for advocating for yourself. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Or more on to a different road. So, I hope Jared does that on Friday. Push for surgery. We know what the last resort is. And we are there. Let's do it so we can move through that long healing process and move on to better days. Because popping pills because you just can't sleep is no fun in the long run. Trust me.

Book promo? Concert tour promo? Just another day at the office for this guy doing an interview and a few songs.

I picked off a bunch of the leaves to use in a recipe and I think that the leaves are growing back. Maybe this will be my first time being successful with herbs!

Jared's favorite flower opened! These first two photos are from the morning sunshine coming from the east.

And THIS is how this beauty looked at 6:30 pm with the south and west sun. Justin even remembered that this flower is part of the lily family because it has 3 petals and then 3 petals. And he remembers what the mint family is like. He and Keturah learned that back in 2016-2017 when they did botany at the co op we attended that year. How cool is that! And sometimes they both remember things, and sometimes they don't. Sometimes I think childhood education is just to make us familiar with the world around us and set a foundation for other knowledge. I can remember Charlemagne's name and what major time period he was in, but I don't remember the details. Or when I finished the Gideon Bible study and it said that one of his sons is Abimelech, I was like, oh no, not him! But now I can't remember exactly what prophet and stories he goes with. I just know him to be a bad guy. We don't do the "study for a test/grade and forget it" but we go for repetition of material and hopefully actual mastery of it, knowing that the details will fade. Except for math, Keturah, you can't forget how to do fractions. You have to remember that for the rest of your math studies. Lol.

Spider webs and morning dew!

Eek! I got thta famous water drops on a leaf vibe going here.

We be still using the same bag of coffee filters from No Frills (hence the "no name" branding) on PEI! Jared uses those carafes and I use a Keurig pod type machine for single brew because we don't make a whole pot at a time. I think it's the very last thing we have from No Frills.

One of these is French.

Weirdest storm pattern today. In the animation of the rainstorms, they went from south to north right along the Illinois and Indiana border. I was watching it in close up view and was like, wait, did they all just disappear? So I zoomed out and saw that it just went in a weird direction. Typically our weather comes from straight west to east or southwest to northeast or something like that. Not south to north.

Bamboo is growing strong. Keturah said she weeded it but I think she could have done better.

Part of our lesson about Gideon where, at end of his story in Judges 8, he makes an ephod and altar in his hometown so the Israelite don't have to travel to Shiloh. Well, God didn't tell him to do that, so he was in the wrong. And after he died, the Israelite went back to worshiping Baal anyway.

It's that time of year to decide on what we need for next year. I'm actually a bit behind on this since we didn't have convention or the used curriculum sale in Greenwood in March. So, I'm going to a huge one tomorrow and needed to narrow down what I could be looking for.

I'm not sure exactly what else I need to teach Justin in the English department, and since we just did a bunch of big writing, I wanted something different. We've done literature things here and there with our history. We haven't done speech yet, so I've listed out IEW's two courses that might help with that. But I also like the idea of working more on note taking and studying because eventually he will need to actually take a closed book test. He does do a closed book test for Science. But I just want to solidify whatever he's figured out on his own. So this might be a good one to get. I also need the kids' math student workbooks, a few pieces of the language arts curriculum for Abishai, the Science series I've had my eye on for awhile, but thankfully, no language arts for Keturah since I did push myself to go through our shelves and I found a TON I did with Benaiah for 7th and 8th grade. I don't think I used them for Justin because I used other things from IEW instead. So, we've got plenty to choose from to work on spelling, vocabulary, grammar (again), and maybe some literature and some creative writing. I've been kind of doing the IEW main courses one year and then something different with a focus on grammar the next year. That way I don't have to correct essays and writing all the time. Justin's been through 3 major writing courses so far, so I think he's good to go for a dual credit course in English after we use what he's learned in different settings. It's just a matter of practicing and editing. Speech writing would give him a bit of that, too. And I want to work with him on that before he takes a dual credit in it. I'll save those dual credits for that dreaded foreign language. I still have this year with him and then the following year, his senior year, he can take the dual credits. We have a bit more work to do before we get up that level. Otherwise, not much is changing. History is still the same. Math is the same. Science is the same curriculum for the older two. I'm not sure what I'll do for Abishai. I don't want to do just textbook style, so I hope to unearth our science shelves and just pull some random things he's interested in and read aloud to him, kind of like unit studies. It shouldn't be too hard. He's loving animals right now, so I thought I would do a nature reader or something. As well us keep up our nature hikes and walks with just him and try to attend some homeschooling events, just with him, since the older ones get so bored with them now, like going to see owls or birds of prey, or maple sugaring, or the bugfest. And then do maybe some more kitchen science experiments or the Magic School bus kits I have. That would be fun and is a variety of topics. Nothing too regimented yet. So, we'll be splitting off the older two, soon, but we will keep some kind of read aloud time all the way through, even if it has to be first thing in the morning and work around Justin's work and school schedule in a couple of years. Or in the evening, or whenever we can fit it in. I don't want it to stop! I've got 12 more years of it. We'll just be eventually dropping each of the older kids. Man, I don't want to think about it. 12 years will go by so fast! I have so much more to teach them! Ok, actually, I'm feeling that I'm "done" with Justin's studies. Like, we've focused so hard over the years on history and reading great literature that he's gotten more than enough of that. Same with health and wellness and PE. And Art/Music. So, we will probably end with science, math, foreign language, and maybe an English credit if he wants to go the "honors" diploma route. I'm not worried. Two years or three years, we will get it done. And if he doesn't do a lot of dual credit, so be it. I don't know. One year at a time. I'm just somewhat ready to move on to summer projects but I'm also not ready because I don't want to work that hard. I'm sure I will get into it and enjoy it in the end. It's mostly IAHE stuff and moving around school books, with a few hot spots like the boxes in our room or small places of clutter, like in the fireside room. Nothing terribly major I don't think.

Well, Thursday was mostly successful, in a way. I got NOTHING on my list, but I did get to purchase some things for the future for a BARGAIN price. I spent $129 on probably $500 or more worth of curriculum. From Math U See's Pre-Calc/Trig curriculum including the workbooks (the older edition but it has the DVD, so it will be fine) to a full set of their Stewardship materials, which I can't seem to find on their website, although I think these are brand new. I found a few horse novels and fun little readers for Keturah and Abisahi. I had restrain myself from looking too closely at the picture books and said I had enough of those, and really, enough novels, too. I got a book on speech for Justin, and a companion to the Fallacies book we are doing right now. I got a game programming book and CD for Justin to see if he had any interest in that. I did notice another person had other books from the same company, so if he likes it, I can investigate that more. I also got Rosetta Stone Spanish, complete set with workbooks and such, for Keturah for when she's ready to try foreign language. $20 for that set. And just the program itself is more than $100, not including the workbooks! I got a few Star Wars fun books and a nightlight for Abishai, and a puzzle for Justin. It was a great haul!

Oh, what am I talking about? The biggest used homeschool curriculum I have ever seen! Ok, it wasn't ginormous but it made up for not having convention. I saw quite a few curriculums I hadn't seen before. Lots of books I already have and love from homeschoolers that are nearing the end of their homeshcooling years. And man, the prices were priced to sell and quickly! I wanted to help them all out! But I did a good job of spreading the love and buying a little bit here and there. I'm surprised that it was only $129. I brought $350. I think I was there for a little over an hour. I could have stayed longer but I needed the restroom. I wish I had seen it before I went in, but I managed. Since this was at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds, the bathrooms were located outside or in another building. Anyway, fun times!

The drive up there was interesting because you can't get through downtown via the highway system for the next 18 months. Why they didn't start this last year when nobody was going downtown, I don't know. There was a lot of heavier traffic between my exit near I-74 and the exit for I-70 West on the east side. It actually thinned out after that. It was easy to get to the fairgrounds though, so that was good. I'll definitely continue promoting it every year and the wheels in my head are turning as to how we could partner with this one and make it better for our area, i.e. maybe have a second building that includes sports, co ops, and organizations in our area. So, we'll see. I'll talk to the actual rep of that area and see what she thinks before proceeding with the organizer. After the book sale, I got a Starbucks mocha frapp because it was right there on the same access road. It was so good, and although I forgot to make it dairy free, it hurt my stomach less because I had taken those digestive enzymes! Woot! Woot! It was my lunch. I had a hemp bar with me, but didn't need it. After the sale, I drove back down to Washington St. and hit up the lab for my blood draw to check my liver because of the anti fungus medication. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. And then up to Kroger for gas, where I got $.30 off because of my fuel points, and then over to Aldi's to pick up dinner for another family and get a few groceries for ourselves. Well, the few grocercies become about a 1/3 to 1/2 of a regular load. Oh well. I filled in some gaps and we are good to go for awhile. I even picked up the big tub of ice cream because today, it hit 83 degrees! And it's going to be in the high 80's the rest of the weekend and next week! It's summer!

AND we forgot that our a/c was giving us fits so, we have no a/c. Which sucks. Because finding enough fans to blow on you when you are having a medication induced hot flash is nearly impossible. Add in a husband who has been in severe pain all week and comes home grumpy and then discovers that he has to fix the toilet that the son had plugged up with baby wipes and the situation because brutal. After he went off to Bible study and Justin went to Grandpa's house to power wash the deck, I got everything cleaned up and laundry done while Keturah helped Abishai play in the hose outside.

So what did the kids do while I was gone? Exactly what I expected. They played and Abishai did some of his screen time. Then they ate leftover pizza for lunch. Justin mowed the front yard and was drenched in sweat and couldn't stand it so he didn't do the backyard. He wrote most of his last paper though. And then he says, "I just need to do my outro." And I guffawed! Justin, this isn't a vlogger's video! You need to finish an essay with a conclusion, not an outro! And when I posted that on Facebook, a fellow homeschooler asked, "I was wondering what an outro is because several students have used that in their essays." She truly didn't know! Lol! Slang is a funny thing, for sure. Oh, another Justin happening today. I was somewhat teasing him and somewhat seriously reminding him to be careful because accidents do happen when mowing a lawn. He was standing at my desk reaching for the tablet and then when I was finished talking, he immediately stubbed his toe on accident! Kid! Your klutziness is the comic relief everyone needs. Too bad it's at his expense. Oi! 

After lunch, Keturah and Abishai took Socks to Grandma's house. She knew they would be coming over to break up the time I was gone. I left at 10:30 and got back about 3pm. They played games with Grandma, weeded the garden, and had fun. After they came home, they had more screen time and I tried to rest a bit. But I couldn't do it too long because I needed to put together our supper and a friend's supper, which was just salad and pizza that they had to cook themselves. No worries, they liked it anyway. No one says you have to cook a gourmet meal for a friend. Yup, that's pretty much it I think. I had a fun time being out and about and getting those things done. But then I get home and there's many things to do at home and I feel like by going out, I have procrastinated with the home stuff. How can I have enough energy to tackle the errands, but not the clutter at home? I don't know. But I am pretty busy over the weekend, so who knows what I will actually get done. I think it has to do with decision paralysis and not knowing what I want to focus on because everything could be worked on but nothing is too pressing. And then something else comes up like the annual paperwork for Medicaid. Fun, fun, fun!

Well, hopefully I'll get these photos and vids done and then I can finish up Tuesday's stuff before I publish this post. I feel behind right now with this and it's hard to know when I'll actually catch up because then something else fun happens. But it's May, and I really should expect this to happen every single year. Except last year when no one was going anywhere. Oh, we didn't wear masks and I didn't even think about social distancing at the book sale, which was outside of the county. And I didn't wear a mask in Aldi's either, just at the medical lab. One of Aldi's employees was scraping up the "one way" aisle signs from the floor.Woot! woot! Except now I'm used to that pattern so, away I go in that direction. I mean, it was our usual pattern anyway because that's how the store is laid out, except for the end because we usually keep the kids out of the non food aisle. So, we are slowly getting back to normal. Almost there!

New music coming soon!

Nice Aldi swag! AND TONS of frozen Gfree stuff! Like stuffed shells and ravioli! Yum!

I also got a nice outdoor mat from Aldi's.

Trade putting a foreign substance in your body for heart disease and obesity, nice! Not! Nope!

Since it was so hot, I wanted the kids to go outside and play after supper. So while I cleaned up, I put Keturah in charge of helping Abishai get things set up. And she did so willingly and well for the most part. It's definitely a sign of her maturing. It was either that or she had to sort laundry, lol. I think deep down she does have a bit of that motherly instinct. Just the way she is taking care of Socks now and always talking about having other pets. She's slowly getting there.

Splash! Oh the joys of a water slide in your own backyard! It's a good thing we have a well, though! They used a ton of water. So I turned the water down a bit and it didn't change the fun.

Lots of great bamboo shoots and they are getting thicker and knobbier.

Hot, hot, and more hot! And our a/c is out! Great! Not!

And of course on the trampoline, too. How Keturah didn't fall and get what is a mystery to me though. And they were able to come in after that and clean up for the most part. It's awesome having kids that can be so independent. They did extremely well today. And I'm glad they both have cell phones and answer quickly for the most part, too. And they answer my questions without the snarky text or emoji. Just answer the question with a fact, yes or no. And they do.

$129 for all of this! Score!

The End