Year 6, July 26th-29th, 2021: Friends, Music, Fun

 Monday was recovery day/coming down from the high that was Sunday. It was a good day. I spent the morning sending some photos around, resting, procrastinating, looking up songs, etc. And then I spent the afternoon cleaning for our Tuesday afternoon guests. Sure I didn't NEED to spend 3 hrs doing some dusting and cleaning dog hair out of corners, but I WANTED to do that because I find it gross. I just ignore it most days. And yes, on some level it does embarrass me, so if I have the time, I will do it. And having people over is a great excuse to tackle it. If I had people over more often, I would do it more often. But if people came over last minute, I wouldn't apologize for it. I have a dog. I have kids. And the kids are the ones who do the everyday vacuuming. And sure, I could have done other things with that time today. But I didn't. And I feel better that babies won't be eating dog hair. I did it for the babies. Not the mamas. If it was just a mom coming over for tea, that would be a little different. Anyway, Abishai slept in until 9 am, and he only got up because he heard Daddy get up at 8:40. Oh yes, we did. We slept in way late. No apologies there, either. Thank goodness for a forgiving boss. Keturah got up at 10 and Justin, who yelled at me through texting at 10:15 because I texted him too many photos, fell a sleep again until noon because he played 9 square for 2 solid hours. He started whining about it and then I listed off how tired and hurting Dad and I are and he stopped. But anyways. The rest of the day was pretty straight forward.

I took a little trip to meet up with a friend to buy a chemistry curriculum off of her for Justin before she goes out of town again. I saved a ton of money on that one, woot! Woot! I LOVE chemistry and I wish I had time to go through it with him. I LOVE this author and man I bet it's going to be incredible! Gimme, gimme! Pick me! Pick me! I'll take the class for you! I'm weird, I know. Not any more weird than every other chemist like my Granddaddy, ok? Or was he a biochemist. I've got science and music in my genes ok? And guess what, they go hand in hand, trust me. And biology, chemistry and physics make the world go round so they are super important, so stop your groaning. Somebody needs to understand them or we wouldn't have the things we have today. We need more scientists and inventors. Oh if I had a 100 lives to live! And if I hadn't let that silly biochemistry final affect what I thought about my ability to do science. It wasn't that bad of a grade either. It was that I failed a major problem because I had totally missed that class to be in Michigan with Jared for his grandma's death and funeral. It was not that big of a deal. And my GPA wasn't ruined because of it. I just used it as an excuse to find an "easier" degree so I could stay home sooner with a family. Being an any part of accounting would have been easier. I would have been nervous, sure, but the mechanics of it, that was easy. Why do you think I did so well those last two years and graduated with an 3.85 GPA being pregnant, and then nursing Benaiah until he was 8 months old and graduating a couple of weeks before he turned 1 years old while going to school full time? Because business school is a piece of cake! Science is not. It's a lot of memory work. Business school is logic. And if you can use your head, stay on schedule, get your assignments done on time, show up to class, and you can write well, then you can get through business school. But anyway. Ah, chemistry. Ah, physics. Get thee to the lab! Ka-boom! Exactly! You can't have fireworks like we did last night without chemistry or physics! You see! That's what makes life so interesting! I'm telling ya! People groan at science but it's so darn fascinating! Maybe Mr. Thompson will let ME observe him putting something like that together someday. My curiousity is NEVER satiated. And it will never be.

 

Our water tastes extremely metallic to me and Jared says we need to change the filter so I broke open this bad boy tonight from when we got all that changed a couple of months ago. I have to drink water and I already struggle enough with drinking enough. He can't change the filter right now because he can't bend over. Next time I'm in Kroger I'll buy a small Brita pitcher or something. But this is my attempt at drawing and I bombed it. Yikes!

The only thing I didn't clean up on purpose because every homeschool mom seems to want to know what your set up looks like or wants to know your setup is like when putting together your year. Or they ask, "When are you starting?" Well, I'll start when I have time to fix this mess, lol. Ok, I did do some of this last week, but I have zero time this week. I'll work on it again next week I think. So, we'll start in a couple more weeks after that I think. Maybe. Some years we are ready to start sooner and some years we start later. I don't start until I'm ready.

These are the after photos and the before photos are below. A little less cluttered, but still, my house is as eclectically decorated as my brain is scattered with information.

See, I CAN clear off a dining room table.

Last week's puzzle was of the Olympics, because oh yeah, that is on this week. For the first time in a long time Jared has not spoken of it at all. I don't know why. Well, it is the summer games, and he isn't as interested in it, plus it was postponed because of the pandemic, and yup, weird times, I guess. Benaiah decided to subscribe to an app so he could watch it though. Good for him!

A little bit better cleaned up.

Better I think. At least it's vacuumed.

Much more decluttered in here. The one who won't invite his friends because it's too cluttered is the one who also clutters this room up.

Snuggle time.

Justin's passport card came today, which means his passport photo was approved and his passport should be coming in the mail shortly, yeah! That's a relief!

And after two years of waiting, our gold badges have arrived! Usually these are ordered and given out at the next in person convention because that's when they are typically worn. Well, we didn't have convention because of the pandemic. And it wasn't a priority. And then the logo changed slightly. And then regional reps changed again. And finally, there was enough of us again that needed them that an order was placed. Two years! I've had my eyes on these badges since attending my first IAHE conference in 2017! Woot! Woot! Now I can use them when I'm meeting a new group, too. Anything to be easily identified is great. I mean I wear our t-shirts and sweatshirts with the logo and my phone cover has the logo and I have my mug and I use the tote and well, yes, I'm a sucker for merch with logos, ok?

Ah! It's really official now! The elusive golden badge!

"Mommy, you're spoiling me by letting me have very good (flat) pop!" (before lunch). And then he had meltdown right after lunch. Go figure.

Somebody was found on Mommy's favorite couch last night right before she went to bed. Ahem. But he was too cute to move. And he's old. What can you do? He's way to adorable. Leave the poor pup alone. That's all you can do.

Here's a before shot of the living room.

And the kitchen.

And the fireside room.

Other angle of the fireside room, which I think I rename the Heritage Room.

 Tuesday, PLAY DAY!!!!! Well first of all, I didn't fall asleep until 4 am. It was an awful, awful night. I cried. I put music on. I took medication. I didn't go get the compression stockings out of the dryer but I could have. I guess I could have tried the magnesium lotion. I just didn't want to get up. I could have tried CBD oil and other oils. But again, it was so late/early in the morning. It was just awful. It's a wonder I'm still awake to type this. I did try to doze off a little this afternoon but then I had turned on a video to listen to and wanted to catch up on my games so I didn't actually fall asleep. But should have. But I might have gained a migraine, too. I didn't have a headache surprisingly when I woke up this morning, so that's good. Abishai woke up me at 7:45, and I reached out for him to come snuggle me and I told him how I didn't sleep well. He's such a good listener and so empathetic. I let him play the boxes on Yahtzee. But we got up and got the day started because some new friends were coming to play today. I'm so glad I did so much of the cleaning yesterday. I just had to take a shower today after I cleaned up breakfast. I had Keturah vacuum up after breakfast, because yes, there was more dog hair on the floor because she's not getting the deeper fur off of him right now and it's getting left behind on the carpet. Justin got up by 9 and mowed Grandpa's yard in 90 minutes. Everybody was sorted and lunch was done by 12:30 in time for guests to arrive at 1pm. I kept fiddling with things. I didn't need to. I really didn't have to clean as much as I did. I just had the time, so I did.

Two families came, 7 kids total. One was sleeping in a front carrier, so it was really 6 kids ages 8 and under. Everybody got along great and they even tried to help clean up. No meltdowns or fights. No dumping of toys out of the ordinary. We had some good conversation, too. I probably acted a bit tired, as I leaned back in Jared's recliner, so I caught myself and sat up, whoops. The kids went outside a bit and came inside when they got too hot. Keturah and Justin stuck to their rooms but their doors were open. No biggie. Socks did fine, but he is probably exhausted because he didn't get his naps and he followed everyone around. One mom came from the northside and one mom came from New Pal about 10-15 minutes away. Nice quiet afternoon playtime. Abishai, who wasn't so sure about having kids come play with his stuff, starting getting really antsy about an hour before everyone was supposed to come and then he started to pace and jump from chair to chair and got more and more excited. He's such an extrovert. Up and down, and checking the clock, and checking the door, and back again. Oh my word. For the kid who doesn't want to share, he changes his mind pretty quick. He even helped one little guy put on his clone trooper outfit. That's my little guy with a heart of gold. I know he doesn't want to fight the other kids. He wants to help them and play with them, the gentle leader that he is. And he did put several of his favorite toys in my room for safe keeping, which is totally fine and appropriate. He even went outside and told everyone about the bees and how to avoid them as they came in. What a sweetheart. My little guy.

And then as soon as everyone left, little guy had his headphones and his tablet. They were here from 1-3pm. It didn't seem long enough, but it also was just long enough. We split up into our designated quiet time spots and that, too, was glorious. Leftovers for dinner again, but we cleaned out the rest of the leftovers we didn't want and threw them away. Justin didn't go mow for Andrew, so he mowed our backyard instead. It's still nasty hot, but at least he didn't do it at the hottest part of the day. I think he's taking his second shower of the day. I said, "Are you ok, baby guy?" in a very concerned and serious tone because I really didn't want Dad to send him back out there, but at the same time, yes, it did need to get done at some point this week. I teased him later and said, "Well, at least you have some good looking muscles and a tan for the ladies." He doesn't care. And I know. Mowing isn't fun for most people. It stinks. Uh oh. I should have had Keturah trim tonight. She'll have to do that tomorrow before going to Renae's house to clean. 

I've got lots of paperwork to do tomorrow, and I hope to get started on some of it tonight because after some texting and a bit of griping on my part and sharing my heart, Jared set up something for us to do downtown tomorrow, on our anniversary and so I don't have as much as I thought. Tomorrow is our 20th anniversary. I just wanted to make sure we, just the two of us, did something, and we didn't just do something with friends. Especially since the 2nd part of our anniversary on Thursday, Jared has Bible study. It wouldn't be such a big deal but it's our 20th. I wanted something on the exact day. Then next year, it can be the day before or after or whatever. Nothing elaborate. Just together. Like he told me. So, we'll see. I hope to talk to him about a few thoughts from Sunday that we didn't get to talk about because he was in pain and it was so chaotic. I hate that. I need to debrief sometimes but it just isn't physically possibly. The day has run out of time. Or one of us is physically hurting. Or something else needs to happen. Sigh. Life. It's not tragic. It's just thoughts. I just need to express them. I want to tell him. I don't want to keep them to myself anymore. Or a diary. I want him to hear them. That's all. That's why date nights can be super important. Sure in the beginning of a relationship, but even more so now in the chaotic busy part of life, even more so. That weekly journal thing would be so helpful if we would use it regularly. It's too bad we can't get into those types of things. But, we are working on communication. So, I wrote down what I wanted to say in the most emotionally neutral way and I'll hit the highlights with him tomorrow. I'm now looking forward to. My fears have been quelched. I will get to be one on one with my man on our 20th wedding anniversary. That's all I want. Just to be alone for a little bit when my brain and his brain aren't so tired.

But now my brain is going soft. Time to finish up and start a newsletter for the IAHE so I can get a leg up on my duties tomorrow before I start in on my binge watching. Good night and bye!

Gotta love it when the clues relate to things my children would understand! Lol!

Big breakfast for a big boy!

I certainly feel like I slept 3 1/2 hrs. I cried myself to sleep. I'm so tired of this routine. I shouldn't have changed what I had going. Never change what was already working. I'll give it a bit more time because that's what you do. But I'm sneaking in some gabapentin here and there so I can some sleep at least some of the nights. Restless Leg Syndrome is the pits.

He finished it all! Well, the dog will get the extra bread of course, lol.

Like Mother, like Daughter, lol. Keturah got tired of the packets floating around so she organized them and labeled the bucket! She's going to hate the phrase "You're becoming just like me!" for awhile, but some day it will be a term of endearment. She's not just like me, but I see some ways I do things that she's picked up on.

For the boy that protested having a playgroup over, in the last hr before they were to arrive, he's gotten so hyper! Extrovert alert! And you know what? He LOVED it! He played well and shared and was in and out and there was no fighting and it was glorious! Two families, with a total of 7 kids (one in a front carrier, so really 6 kids), all his age or younger. Perfect.

Tried a different method of introduction this time. It worked for a few minutes to let the first family in the door. I should have told Keturah to keep him leashed up for all the families but when the trickle in, it's hard to keep it going. But it did work. I just get annoyed when people are trying to get in the door, and then the little people are eyeball to eyeball with Socks in their faces, and they start to back up into Mommy and she's trying to get in the door and shut it. Thankfully, no one was too afraid of him today. But I bet he's exhausted from not having his normal naps this afternoon. He was back and forth keeping an eye on everybody, lol.

And yes, Justin's passport arrived today! Woot! Woot! He can officially go to Israel now! And it's good for 5 years. Phew! Mission accomplished with 4 months to spare. I can't remember if Benaiah got his or not. I texted him but he didn't respond. Oh well. He did send it a week or two before we sent Justin's. I just can't remember if he sent it expedited or not. We did. We didn't take any chances and I'm glad we did because just last week we heard that it's taking people a long time to get their passports back. It's worth that extra money. We don't fool around with these things. And his birth certificate should be back soon, too. Yeah!

Well, I'm debating whether or not I should do a separate post for our 20th wedding anniversary or not, but there's not a lot of photos and both days are working days for us so, I think I'll just leave them here as normal. Honestly, I am still really tired from not sleeping well. I wanted to put more effort into, but I didn't want to too much effort into it because we put more effort into the TN trip, so I was trying to back as well. I didn't take any photos on the 28th because I was in a rush and I used all my brain neurons for dealing with other things. I also drank my coffee way early today and hit the downhill slump afterwards right when we were out to dinner. Not the smartest idea I had. But I didn't want to and really can't stay up tonight because I have an early morning appointment tomorrow. So frustrating. Imperfect anniversaries, again, and this time, totally my fault. I had forgotten to work on the IAHE newsletter on Saturday. And I didn't have time until today, which is when it was due. So I had to rush. Even with working on it last night, I had more work than I thought I had to do on it. Plus I had to figure out some medical paperwork, which, thankfully, ended up being relatively easy thanks to a very incredibly kind and knowledgeable customer service rep and an easy to navigate website. 

Yeah, I'm pretty much got no thinking power left. Let's see. Last night I used the compression stockings and should have taken them off once I was woken up by heartburn. because they did hurt the top of my shin a bit this morning. I decided to just up my gabapentin tonight and maybe get away with not using them tonight. We'll see. I'm just playing around with the dosage of the gabapentin while I wait for the other medication to settle in. Then I'll lower the gabapentin again and see if we can come to a better conclusion. And if we can't get rid of the gabapentin, then I'll go back the opposite direction and lower the dose of the new med and go back on the gabapentin, probably on a higher dose for awhile until everything settles back down. Neuropathy is here to stay anyway. There's no surgery or diet that will take it away. No amount of massaging or oils or magnesium or iron that will reverse the damage. It keeps it at bay, but there's no going back. It was one of my more stable conditions and I'm pretty ticked that I messed with it in the first place. I am praying that I can get it to stabilize. 

Meanwhile, Abisahi did his best to play on his own today because he knew I was working. I didn't like having to blow him off, especially since he kept checking in with me, but I was probably a little short with him. I made him clean up everything he got out before I left with Jared for dinner just so he wouldn't be a pain to Justin. I took Keturah over to Renae's to clean for a couple of hrs around lunch time. Justin had nothing to do today so he slept in until 11:58am. Yup, lazy boy. But they all managed to do their chores, and thoroughly pick up and clean the house before we came home around 6:30pm, including eating leftovers and cleaning up from that, too. I told them Mr. Jim was coming over and he can't stand messes so that probably helped. And they KNOW what Mr. Jim's house looks like. 

Now I'll explain where Jared and I went. A friend of ours gave us some gift cards to a very expensive restaurant downtown. I mean VERY expensive restaurant downtown that is actually worth every single dollar that is spent there. I won't mention the prices because it's like THAT pricey. So pricey that it sits next door to the restaurant that Peyton Manning used to dine at when he played for the Indianapolis' Colts. The restaurant's name is Harry & Izzy's if you want to look it up. Anyways, very, very kind friends we've know for years and years. We had not planned on eating out today or tomorrow because of our schedule and because we had already spent plenty on our TN trip which was the plan. I had only told Jared I wanted to make sure we had marked the days ON the days and not waited until the weekend because it is a milestone anniversary. Usually the Johnsons don't worry about doing things on the actual days of anniversaries or birthdays because of our now very crazy busy schedules, but I'm more picky about it. I usually try to be accommodating, but it does mean more to me to do it on the day and I sometimes even watch the clock for the exact time an event happened. I'm a math person, what can I say? So we left at 3:45pm for an early supper, which cut into what I thought was going to be a pretty open day to get these other tasks done. Plus then I had to drive Keturah to Renae's, too. The restaurant wasn't very far from where we typically park for the Circle Centre mall, so that was fine. And the parking garage was fairly empty because it was the middle of the working week and that mall does not stay open that late. 

On our quick walk over to the restaurant, Jared stopped when a guy was soliciting for money for what we found out was for Horizon House! Why yes, we actually know about that charity! The man was thrilled that first of all, we stopped, and second, that we knew about it! And Jared gave him a few dollars. Woot! Woot! That was fun! We did pass more homeless people, too. But both Jared and I always feel uncomfortable with that. We just like to give to the organizations that help the homeless rather than the homeless themselves. Sorry. And tonight, we saw some of them sitting by a brand new very expensive Corvette outside the other expensive restaurant, St. Elmo's. Oh dear. Heat and pandemics don't stop people from being poor. Downtown looked a little bit busier than it had been. It feels good to be in familiar territory though rather than in a new city with twists and turns I have no idea about, lol. I might love my mountains and oceans, but at least I know Indianapolis fairly well and have lots and lots of memories here.

We were seated near the bar probably because it was before the regular dinner hour. The music was a little bit loud but since there wasn't a crowd, we could still hear each other. Jared ordered more food than I did but mine was very expensive because that's right, I ordered my favorite, filet mignon, medium well. And it was THE BEST one I think I've ever had. Seriously. Worth every single DOLLAR that was on that gift card we used. I could have cut it with a fork. Almost the texture of ground beef. It was so soft and easy to chew. Oh my word! And loads of great flavor and perfect spices. And the french green beans were so buttery with onions and a bit of red pepper. And that's all I got. I had one of Jared's huge pieces of shrimp from his spicy shrimp cocktail (without the sauce because it was all horseradish, blech, blech, blech). Oh and a bit of his California salad, which had lots of bits of stuff we usually have at home, so that was good. He had really thick pork chops that were tasty, and huge scoops of mashed potatoes, the salad, the shrimp, water to drink and a thick pour of bourbon because he could. He said, "Well, you like it when I've had a little bit of alcohol because I start to converse more." Um, yup, and if you start talking too much, I'm going to record the funny things you say, buddy. Just concentrate on driving, ok. Oh boy. I was the tired one though, and had trouble making conversation. I had typed up some emotional things earlier in the week, so I went through those notes and condense them and expressed them to Jared during dinner. He knew I was going to talk about them, but he didn't know what the topics were. I kept them brief and we had a short conversation about each one of them just to the point of knowing kind of what his opinion of them where. And that's all I really wanted. I needed a debrief from Sunday mostly. What his thoughts were. And I got them. That's all I've ever wanted from him. Straight, to the point. Ok, yup, that's what you think or even what you feel. Got it. Let's move on. And I have to be in the right mood not to fight back. Meaning I have to be too tired to put up a fight like I was tonight. Because I could have said a few more words about his opinion but I knew we had a time limit and I didn't want to fight. End of story.

Then we walked back to our vehicle and drove home. Traffic wasn't too bad despite it being just after 6pm. Then the Smiths came home over to help us drink through my vintage bottle of 1981 wine. And to keep the conversation going, Jared did a little bourbon taste testing with Jim. We talked for a little over an hour about random things and then they went home. I did bring out our wedding album because I hadn't pulled it out yet to look at today, and it's neat to show other people that weren't there and tell them the story, too. And then Jared talked about the photo where Benaiah was screaming into Jared's face as an infant, so I took down his baby album, too. And then they started talking about Legos, so I took out Jared's other small anniversary gift from me to him, the Brickheadz groom so the Smiths could see it and the Bride one. We'll still wait to put it together tomorrow. I also gave him the pens I bought him tonight and the card I wrote up I think sometime after Valentine's Day it says. I must have forgotten to give it to him on Valentine's Day so I wrote it up extra early for today. The words were still good for today, so I saved myself some time there. Whatever works. So, we've had our wine. We had our fun time this morning. Jim and Adrienne came and went.

 I'm trying to wrap up my day. I'm still not done with the newsletter that is technically due tonight. Jared is trying to get my to go to bed early. I have to get up and out of the house by 8am. Blech. I need to behind a happy baby card for my dermatologist and a LR clip since she's 7 months pregnant or so by now and this will be the last time I will see her until her maternity leave will be over. And then Jared and I will go to see Dr. Cole tomorrow afternoon for his 6 week follow up on his back surgery. Jared says his back feels mostly fine now. He just panics about his physically health because he wants to be around until Abishai at least turns 18 years, so when Jared turns 54. So anything to do with his physical health scares him. I can relate to that. That's understandable. And now that I understand that, I can help to counteract that thinking, just like he can sometimes help me with my anxiety. So that type of talking about things and asking each other why we react the way we do helps us to understand each other better and then we can help each other instead of fight and argue and get all emotional. So, it's going to be a super busy day tomorrow and I just got sidetracked for another 20 minutes on FB on my phone. Good grief. So much for an early bedtime. Jared's not going to be please when I tell him it won't be 11:07. More like 12:07. 

Here's what I wrote on Facebook to go with the photo below:

Happy 20th Anniversary to us! The years have flown by! And we have changed in so many ways! Grown, would be a much better word. We were just babies still back then. Naive, mostly innocent, but with many, many wonderful mentors by our side, that held our hands and guided us through some major crisis’ and changes, including a 1600 mile move to another country and back, and thanks to parents, all 4 of them, never leaving our side, always championing us here on earth and beyond the grace, and finally but in all reality, that third cord that binds us together, GOD, thanks be to GOD who has always been and always will be first and foremost in our personal lives and then in our marriage. To quote the song “Waymaker,” “Even when I don't see it, You're working, Even when I don't feel it, You're working, You never stop, You never stop working, You never stop, You never stop working” (good now it’s stuck in your head, too).

This milestone anniversary, we find ourselves in a very sweet spot. Now in our 40’s, we are more confident in who we are as individuals and as a couple. We’ve launched Benaiah into the workforce, and he has a 9-5 job as a mortgage processor. Justin is about to get his driving permit, first job, and is in 11th grade. Keturah is in 8th, was just baptized, fully immersed, into Christ this past Sunday, and has blossomed into a young lady. Abishai has learned to read and calculate addition and subtraction. He’s ready for 1st grade and lots of Mommy and Me field trips. He rocked our world and without him, our household would not have that element of fun that we all need. He’s our party guy and God knew we needed him. God knew.

As our pastor has said, you’re either in a trial, just come out of a trial so you’re healing, or God’s preparing you for a trial. I know that we might be in that phase and who knows how long it will last this time. But I recognize we’ve been through that cycle multiple times in various lengths in 20 yrs so whatever is next, we will get through it.

Here’s to another 20 and even 40 years of us!

Thanks to Facebook, I didn't have to go digging out the scrapbook for this one, which is my favorite wedding photo. I'm thinking we should recreate it at some point, but again, I was super busy today and tomorrow doesn't look any more promising. I want to dig out my tiara though. I'm not sure if it's in the box in my bedroom closet that has the wreath made from my Indiana wedding bouquet or in the shed. If it's with the wreathe, then my shoes should also be with it. I know where the pearls are. I spent hours picking out that tiara and bought it myself off the internet. Same with the shoes. Using the little bit of money I earned while doing camera work for the college. They weren't that expensive but at the time, I didn't make that much either. And of course, the old sanctuary at MCC in NH. It has changed a lot since then. Not completely, baptistry I think is still there. But like the Creek, the room has been repurposed.

Today I made this quick collage through Facebook. I was able to quickly find the boys' baptism photos as well. I should make an album of Keturah's, too, on FB for easy access. Jared wants me to find higher resolution aka the original files for these photos so he can put them in a large canvas sized collage. This is why I was celebrating extra on Sunday. 1, 2, 3, 4. We don't have to worry as much anymore about where our kids will be spending eternity. That alone is the best anniversary, Christmas or birthday present any parent can receive. Here's the stats: Benaiah, 10/11/09 (7.33 yo), Justin, 6/24/12 (6.75 yo), Keturah, 7/24/21 (13 yo), Abishai, 5/18/21 (6.25 yo). All baptized (full immersion) at Indian Creek Christian Church, Indianapolis, IN. And what makes me smile is just how out of the box Keturah is because she was so much older than the boys. It plays to her personality because she was the only one born almost on her due date and the only one that was over 8lbs when she born. All the boys were more than 10 days early and less than 7 lbs. I gained 65 lbs with her, and I gained under 40lbs with the boys. She picked her youth leaders and the boys picked Jared and/or Grandpa.

I bought Jared some pens that he used to use back when he wrote me those long handwritten snail mail letters when we were dating. I know he doesn't really use them much anymore, but I couldn't find the fountain pen refills he want nor could I find the right Zebra brand pens he really used when we were dating. And he said he preferred blue not black. But, it's the thought that counts. I'll take photos of the other things possibly tomorrow. I didn't even ask do a selfie tonight because I'm too tired.

Well, they used another photo with my son in it, but we totally missed taking him to Midweek this week because we had guests over at our house and he forgot to remind us. Whoops! Good thing it's just an hour of playtime! Back to some regular programming in a couple of weeks after everybody is back in their routine of school. Not us. It's still looking like we won't start for a long while yet.

 

P.S. And then this particular kid, opens up the inside garage door from his teen nightly hangout spot to turn the corner to use the half bathroom. Well, he didn't know that mama was in the half bathroom so the door was shut. And all the lights were off in the fireside room. This teen dork walked straight into the bathroom door like a bird flies into a very clean glass window! So much so that his hands and arms just fold into his chest. And I'm inside the bathroom picturing what that looked like after I hear the ka-thunk! I couldn't stop laughing! I guess I had been holding in all of my emotions all day because I was laughing and then I was crying and just letting everything come up and out. My belly hurts. Tears were flowing. I know he sometimes has a hard time being the klutz and comic relief, but it's also a gift, at least to and for me. Justin brings me comic relief exactly when I need it. Just pure, innocent comic relief at the right time. He doesn't mean to be silly or stupid. He just is so funny! And most of the time, he is a good sport about it. We laugh together.  Because if you don't laugh at your silly antics and forgetfulness when you have inattentive ADHD, you are going to have too much anxiety and you are going to cry and cry about it. Or get very angry. You have to laugh. It's one of the traits that makes Justin so good with the younger kids. He makes them laugh. But he also cares so much about people, that he's so innocent and wouldn't ever do anything to hurt someone or do something on purpose for a laugh to someone else. So I'm not sure if he could be a standup comic that would make fun of say other people groups. He's just a American Funniest Home Videos type of funny klutz and it's so endearing and I hope he finds a wife someday that falls in love with that part of him and doesn't get frustrated with him for losing his keys and watching the clouds go by as he mows the lawn. I still think he's going to end up like Luke Greene someday and be a youth pastor or children's minister. He would be so good at it. I just know it.

Bonus: Dan and Keren Hamel and their wee ones, Hudson and Advent (Addie) got to have dinner with Gary, Leah, Benaiah and even Ava this evening, and they sang Happy Anniversary to us! Woot! Woot! Sometimes I kind of feel like we are in the middle of all these couples at least in their phases of life. Gary and Leah being in the autumn season at 43 years of marriage tomorrow, the Hamels married later in life and are start now starting their family, and Benaiah and Ava are just in their dating phase, and are the same ages we were when we were dating and unofficially engaged. And now we were the middle couple still being mentored by the gray haired couples but now having plenty of advice for the college aged couples and newlyweds/young families. Actually, now being in our 40's and in our 21st year of marriage, I'm starting to feel like we should be on the downside of the raising kids phase, except for that caboose baby, who lets us experience all the phases of raising kids again but while we are older and wiser. It's quite interesting to think about. We have a lot of experience now. We are still learning of course, but we have so much to pass down to the next generations. And yet, we can remember those days of just starting out. Being so naive and innocent. I had dreams. Jared didn't really. And here we are. 20 years later. Thinking about what our oldest kid's next moves are and then the next one's and the next one's. Crazy.

Wowzers, what a day! It sort of went according to plan with a few twists and turns. I had a 9am appointment with the dermatologist. It was the last time I was going to see her before her maternity leave, but come to find out, she is actually moving to TN because her husband got a new job. On one hand, she's not getting a job right away so she gets to be with her baby for 6 months, but on the other hand, I won't get to see her ever again. So sad! I'm going to miss her! But before we parted ways, I had her remove a bothersome scab/scar right under my right knee that if she didn't take off, someday I was going to accidentally open up on my own from scratching at it too hard. And then she did find one other mole she didn't like on the side of my left thigh she wanted to properly biopsy. Bummers. I'll get results from that one in about 10 working days. I did graduate to having a full exam every 6 months instead of every 3 months. The scab one is starting to hurt a bit and that's annoying. Remember, it takes 2-4 weeks for these guys to actually heal and I'm praying that they heal nice and flat like the other one on my leg did, and not like the one on my back and arm.

Traffic wasn't too bad going in or coming back from the dermatologist, so that was good. But I was still so tired. I had a lot of email to catch up on when I got home and eventually it was lunch time. I ate a bagel with cream cheese and then made a follow up phone call for IAHE and thankfully, the person who took the original phone call or maybe the lady had called back and pressed a different extension so she could get a live person, had already told this lady a lot of information so the call took a lot less time than I had anticipated. Yeah! Then I was able to clear up a few other things before going to Jared's appointment with him.

Meanwhile, I put Abishai on "babysitting duty this morning because he was the only one fully awake this morning. I told him to feed his siblings and make sure they get out of bed and I'll pay him a dollar. When I got back, I asked him how it went. He said he fed Keturah a popsicle and Justin at a pop tart.Hm,....and they both were back in their beds....does that warrant a $1? I'm not sure. He spent the morning with my blankie on the brown couch reading books and he didn't make a big mess so I guess he earned it for being a good little boy himself. So yes, he got his money and then we had a lesson in tithing again. Later on, Keturah paid him to do some tasks and I had him tithe then also. So he earned $2 today! Good for him! Not sure why she likes to do that, but he takes advantage of it and she's going to learn that she will go broke if she always hires someone to do her work. But, they are learning how the economy works, so, I let it be. But it was fun to tease them all this morning about who is babysitting whom.

And then soon enough, Jared came home, and we went to his 6 week follow up with the spine surgeon. They talked it through and he was cleared to start ramping up slowly with exercise and life activities. No need for a follow up. I was surprised that Dr. Cole didn't look at his scar or feel around or anything. He just went by Jared's word. Oh, and apparently they saw each other at church at the celebration Sunday night about an hour before Jared tripped, lol. Go figure. And Dr. Cole said congratulations on Keturah's baptism and all that. So, while we shouldn't talk shop in the hallways at church, it's good to know he's around should something come up. But yes, of course, change your lifestyle so you don't aggravate it. Sensation should come back within a few months. Yada yada. And we were done. Case closed. Don't come back. Not fair. I wish it was that simple for me. Moving on. We stopped by Meijer on the way home and got home in time for a little bit of rest before supper, at stew again, and Jared went to Bible study.

Then I caught up on my emails and made one of the biggest social media fails of my entire life and cried for about an hour afterwards. I resolved it and it got deleted and the other person will probably forget about it in a day or two, but I won't forget it for months, probably years. And now, I'm really going to take a break. I'm not going to answer every single question in all the homeschool groups. Or make a comment on everything on any group. I'm just not going to go from every email notification and open it up on FB. The stress and anxiety is mounting again with the threat of going back to masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. Which might mean more families pulling kids out of school last minute. Which means more families needing help. And you know what? I'm done. I need a break. I need to focus on my kids now. I can't be a good homeschooler if I'm not actually homeschooling my kids. It's time for a break. A sabbatical and limit my time on the app. Even being part of the social media team, I don't have to be answering questions on other groups. We want to educate everyone, but if reducing the number of people i catch/help from 100% to 85% is also going to lower my stress  I stress because it's overall too much. And I can't keep it all straight. It took me a long time to pull myself together.

And now, everything is calmer and I'm trying to finish this before I nod off at my desk. This was definitely not the two days I expected to have, but I haven't told you about the awesome thing that happened this morning, so instead of telling you, I'll show you first. Here goes.

During our snuggle time this morning, which had to be extra early because of my appointment, Jared slipped this bling on my finger. I cried! I've been anticipating this ALL YEAR LONG. But most of the time, when I hint and plead and beg, I simply don't receive it. I have a 50/50 chance of getting my wish. But he followed through. And now, below these photos, I'll share some of the background story.

Here’s some better pics. It’s tiny and petite like Grandma Johnson and me. The wedding band is something I found in my parents’ jewelry. I don’t know what it was from. It could have been from my mother’s previous marriage to a guy when she lived in Texas in her 20’s or was intended for my Dad and his fiancé before he met my mom. I have a pair of them, same exact size, and that’s what I’ve been wearing. They are exactly my size. So Jared took one months ago and I knew he was doing something with it bc he also withdrew cash after we got our tax refund but he didn’t tell what it was for. Then he gave me back the original band while we were in TN, and left me wondering. So I guess he can fill us all in with his side of the story later.

I’m just going to spend the day like a newly engaged woman and steal glances at it throughout the day. My original custom wedding ring set was the only real piece of jewelry I have ever owned besides my real pearls. Everything else is costume jewelry. It’s just earthly goods but I have cried over the years over losing it. It cost us $1600 back then and it took us a couple of years to pay it off on a $32,000/yr salary.

So, I will treasure this one even more. Thank you.

Later, Jared added to my story and said that yes, the setting was new because the original ring had been severely damaged. This was the 8th diamond Grandma Johnson had. Aaron has the other 7, which was given to him, then lost and then found again. They actually were in a men's ring or something. Aaron had them put into a different ring for Shauna. But this particular diamond was Donna's engagement diamond, so it's 70 years old. What a gift! And then Jared bought himself a new regular wedding band. Not a crazy colored cheap thing that he has been wearing off and on these 12-14 years. No, an actual wedding band that looks just like what he had, only solid gold and not two toned. And it cost 3x the amount of his original because of inflation alone. THREE TIMES the amount. And it's the simplest wedding band you can get. This is another reason why I didn't ask for a full and total replacement of what I had. Because replacing it, would have cost $4,800. No joke. That's why it upset me so much to lose it in the first place. It was very custom and it took a lot to pay to off. (see the texts above). So, that's the full story. Oh, I guess yes, he had taken the diamond to a jeweler friend from church who was able to get the diamond out and reset it. That was part of the reason he was withdrawing cash over the winter months (and the other part was so I wouldn't spend it all). And that's why he needed the wedding band I was wearing so he could get it sized properly. I didn't know about him getting a new ring, but I'm glad he did. I know it's just earthly goods. But we don't have any other precious metal in jewelry form. I really didn't want to go the tattoo route. When I dreamed of getting married, I wanted the simple engagement ring and wedding band. Kind of like my mother head. A simple treasure for a simple homey girl who wanted to be a princess and grow up to be a queen. I think I am old enough to be a queen now. And as I stare at it, it just feels right again. After 7 years of not having it, it just feels more complete. It obviously doesn't change our marital status, nor our commitment, nor our daily routine, and that's what I told the kids today, but having the bling makes me feel special, just like it did when I first received it 21 years ago.

They are starting to put together the Worship Forever album. Yeah!

Laying down with his pup.

Abishai sang Happy Birthday for his Karate teacher, Mrs. Tess:

Dan and Keren, Hudson and Advent, Benaiah and Ava, and Gary and Leah had dinner together at Gary and Leah's house just for fun, and they decided to sing Happy Anniversary to us! How fun! Here's the video:

My very expensive vintage French wine. Aged 40 years like I have! It was very smooth and yummy.  We opened it in Nashville and finished it here at home.

Nice! The high temps will be dropped back to the 80's! No more 90's!

Abishai knows that Nolan likes this kind of potato chip so he wants to save it for him. How sweet!

The end of my 40th birthday flower bouquet.

Keturah's baptism roses.

Jared's Groom Brickheadz that I will make for him this weekend sometime.

Gift for Leah for their anniversary which is today, too. That was sort of planned when we picked out wedding date.

I had a bit of a scare today with this outlet when I ran the toaster  part of the toaster oven for my bagel stody. It grew very red hot when the outlet there. Not good at all. We have a repair person coming sometime next week to look at it. I think we've been burning out the whole area bit by bit. It's awful I'm sure.

Abishai was really, really quiet and it was because he was playing with his Mandolorian Lego set in his room. I said he could take it out the dining room table as long as he did not take it apart. He could play with the figurines and such with his other Legos, but no mixing and matching. Well, I think he's heard us say that a lot lately, and decided Mommy's desk was a good place to display his set because that's where it landed. When I asked him about it, he said, "Because it looks so cute there!" Oh, ok, I'll leave it there. It's actually not in my way. He even carefully moved my one to do list I keep there with my "must do today" list on it.

Well, today "Diamonds ARE a Girl's Best Friend" that's for sure! That's actually the tagline of a jewelry store.

Well, I'm glad I didn't caption this photo last night because this is what started a whole domino of what I thought was sarcasm and others thought was too critical and then I got in huge trouble and balled my eyes out because I really hurt Smitty's event coordinator's feelings. I was totally in the wrong this time so he and I both deleted all my comments straight away and I profusely apologized over and over. I'm such an idiot. I've been soooooo good on social media. Being exhausted is NOT a good time to be trying to be sarcastic when you are NOT that way naturally. End of story.

Obviously argyle is still in style!

I didn't get it recreated yet, but here are our original rings. Simple princess cut 1/4 carat diamond (I think) but set in a very custom setting and Jared's was a cheap two tone gold one. He still picked a relatively "cheap" regular gold one, but it cost literally 3x the price now, 20 years later. I've definitely gotten a few sunspots and brown spots, thanks to my genetics, and wrinkles, but I don't mind those.

Since I had to pull the wedding album back out to get the pic of the wedding rings, I saw these and decided to reread them. There was just a handful of them. I don't remember being the one to ask for these to happen or set it up, but hey, it happened, I'm glad it did. This is Jared's grandmother that is still living! I shared it with Leah's family members. Precious!

Spoken like a true brother. Jared's brother Aaron.

Who knew Ruth Hostetler wouldn't be around today, just like my mom isn't. We miss Ruth.

Renea is the one that helped with the scrapbook pages back then and now Keturah works for her doing some cleaning, lol. Some friends stay in our lives somehow forever.

And of course Leah's.

In the words of Uncle Bill Cook (Leah's older brother), "Pops and Mother were a handsome couple."

Grandpa Cook, Leah's Dad, did our sermonette for our second wedding. Gary's parents passed away literally months before our wedding. We were the first ones of the Johnson grandchildren to get married so we inherited a lot of furniture and a car from them. And now, a precious diamond from Grandma Johnson's engagement ring. I feel so honored to have such a gift from such humble people. They worked so hard for what they had. Humble people. Born, raised, lived, and died in the same town. Same job his whole life. One of the imports of the family getting a family heirloom like that. And I'm grateful to the granddaughters for letting me have it. Those three sitting right there in that pew, Donna and Kelli and Kirsten. I'm so glad we've always got along and when we did have to go through the grandparents house, none of them argued over anything. And Gary and his brothers never argued either. Their dad's cabin was a hard one to finalize, but there wasn't any arguing. Just gentle persuasion. Not a perfect family on either side, but great examples to follow and legacies to continue. And now 20 years in, we've got our own legacy of experience to pass down to our children, especially as we look to what's next in Benaiah's life. I mean we can only speculate, and we can only continue to be good examples, but we know, we have done our best, and he's got generations upon generations to look upon for good examples to follow. Not many young adults can say that at all. Basically none can say that. Our children are beyond blessed.

 

 

 

 

 

The End