Year 6, July 9th-11th, 2021: My 40th Birthday Weekend!

 Ah, it's finally my birthday! Well, the weekend before my birthday, so let's get this party started! Woot! Woot! Park day was in Greenfield, and it was a bit chilly out there today! I saw some nice picnic tables near the gaga ball pit, so I walked over to claim them and then realized that they were kid sized. Whoops! The 6 of us managed ok. I kind of felt bad though. It was finally my size of a table, but definitely way too small for them, but we managed. Abishai wanted me to play with him, and kept asking, so I did. He's been working hard on his monkey bar skills. He's almost got it on his own! The two hours went by really quickly as usual and then we had to scurry home because Justin promised to help Grandpa. Well, by the time he got over there, it was only 1 hr worth of work. Really? Was it worth it? I don't know. But the weather was good for being outside today. A high of 77 degrees so we opened up the windows and turned on the house fan. It should be a chilly tonight.

When I got home though I noticed my knees and feet were feeling a bit weak and screaming, "I need to rest!" So I quickly got Abishai some lunch and went and laid down. I didn't fall asleep. I needed to keep everything up to speed. I still don't feel I am up to date, but I'll do my best. Kids went for electronics and I continued to rest until Jared came home early so we could talk with some of our mutual friends about demons and angels. It was good to hear Jared talk like that. He doesn't share his knowledge that often. I think it's pretty neat. I wish I had a photographic memory and could remember things years and years later. But I don't, he does. We had an interesting discussion with them. They will do their best to stick it out and keep God close.

On our way home from that, we stopped to talk to a newish neighbor and that put us way behind. I had to text the kids to feed Abishai so he would be ready for Karate. We finally pulled ourselves away from that conversation in time for Jared to grab some tea and walk out the door for karate. Then the middles and I picked up the pieces. They were able to eat some chicken and rice for dinner but no vegetables. So, tomorrow will be veggie and fruit day. I pulled in the fruit from the garage fridge and put in line with their eyes. They are already starting to turn bad again.  Yikes! Come on guys! Focus on the veggies all day! Let's go! 

Oh, Grandma texted me and wanted to know how much food to buy because she thought she would keep the kids at my house for the two days we are gone. I told her, um, no, I want them at her house for a change of pace since they sit or lay in their beds for 20 hrs a day. They need to see something else. Take them to the library and splash pad or something. Change of scenery. But in poking around, I found I have enough food, ok, I have more than enough. Yeah!

The kids ended the night at the Smiths with a movie night outside! They watched "Sandlot." Classic! Keturah said it wasn't as funny as she had hoped it would be. Abishai was scared of the bad dog. Justin said it was 9 out of 10. One scene was cringe worthy. And now we know where Uncle Aaron gets the nickname "Smalls" from! Lol!

Damage control while I try to control myself. It's not easy. I'm so tired. I have no idea what I said up there. Wow. Um. Time to end this for today.

So, on a whim, I created a fundraiser for my birthday. I ccontributed tom==smile

I snuck a couple of photos of the teenagers having fun!

Climbing up up fast.

He's pretty athletic and "look at me, Mom!" I'm loking! you

!

Light rain shows up. So frustrating, too

Jt pays to be bold and just ask. I'm honored that he answered quickly and everything. He's a great guy.

I had a moment of tears before seeing our friends this afternoon. I know it won't make sense to anyone but me, but that's ok. I need to reread it. My parents, homeschoooling etc.are part of the context make it's b

I donated to IAHE, and set up a fundraiser for my birthday towards them. Glue!

Keturah nailed it! And she's a lot like Michelle Tanner, too. Cracks me up!

Jared burned this verse into a long piece of wood for this couple we helped this afternoon. I thought that was very thoughtful of him. The wife said she called Jared because she knew that her husband would listen to Jared. What a compliment! I didn't know what to expect, but it all worked out very well.

"Sissy, where ya been? It's way best our bedtime! Hurry up so we can go to bed!" - Socks; Yes, the kids were out late because of the movie. It's been a crazy 6 weeks, too. Socks wants his routine back. Lots of loving going around, though.

Saturday, Daddy day, as usual. Putz around and be silly day. Rest day. Get not enough day. That's normal. Let's see. Keturah had to sort toys and man she does a great job when she [puts her mind to it. But she also just found a hoodie, several pairs of paints and undies and shirts, tucked in a box. And she wonders where her clothes can't be found. She's just lazy and won't fold them up and put them away properly. So I told her I'm not buying her any more clothes. She's probably not going to grow much more anyway. And in that process, she decided to totally move things around, again. Ugh! Abishai was in rare form today, not using real words and bouncing all over the place. He went with Daddy to get an oil change in the van but the oil change place Daddy likes wasn't open today. Well, go to another one! or go to one that is open on Sunday! I don't want you doing it Monday morning and making me all nervous about leaving. So, they went to Half Priced bookstore and bought audio books and a Star Wars toy where the weapons won't stay in place. good grief. I took a play yard over to a friend so that her little guy won't get into as much trouble. My oh my has their plans changed in the last month. But God's hands are all over it. Justin's been lounging in bed, but I managed to give him the task of vacuuming out the van. And he did so willingly. Again, not looking for perfection, but at least something looking a bit cleaner so there's evidence that we care about our vehicles. I rested, and I was up trying to get a few things done like my medicine tray and picking out my outfits. They did send an email today to dress casually like you were going to be on TV because the camera will pan through the crowd since it might be broadcast at some point. So don't come with your rattiest tshirt and shorts on.

It's been a pretty good day of playing and resting and working. Lots of fun and laughter and some sassiness, too.I just always have more to do. And I'm not sure I can get any of it done tonight because I'm too tired. Oh, and yeah, no more peanut butter eggs at night. And take pepcid a/c and stool softener and everything will be ok. I also moved my iron and vitamin  C to earlier in the day. I had a horrible night last night and almost threw up again. It has to stop. And hopefully it will. It's just referral pain or something. 

Mommy, this is a moving base. No, those are not walkie guy legs. Those are just legs. And there are guys that move them. And they get fed food and water to move them. It's just a moving base.

Dearie, you cobined in your head, the idea of the legs from the walkie guys in Star Wars and the bases you always make for the bad guys using the princess duplos.

Awww, today was the day. Jesus took Michael's mom home to be with Him. Today was the day. I'm glad Michael got to be there this time and All is Well was playing. Precious.

Yup

Same thing, slightly different wording. But yup. You never know when the last time will be.

I love how the J4 use stickers on their cards. And they used a Mister Rogers stamp on the other side!

$40 for 40 years! Woot! Woot! Time for a souvenir! Hm,...if we go to the Factory in Franklin, TN....lots of cool stuff there! Besides the gluten free doughnuts and yummy Honest Coffee that I planned on getting....Hm,...

Why, hello doggie.

And we have to wear something comfortable but business causal because this is a live recorded concert and will be shown on TV someday. That's pretty easy. I've got everything good to know. Yeah!

Oh boy, that's it. Something has to be done! Even after taking an acid reducer and taking the iron pill earlier in the day, I still woke up wanting to puke. Enough is enough! I'm going to have find a compromise. Either take the iron every other day, or take less of it daily or take what I was taking before, just not the easy iron kind, or something else. But the heartburn came back and waking up with bile in your mouth is not pleasant. In fact, it's worse than the restless leg. Maybe I just need to go up on the gabapentin and call it even. Then I don't have to take the other restless leg stuff and melatonin. I don't know. I'll tell the doctor on Tuesday and see what she says. But for the next couple of days, I'm just going to skip it. I want to sleep next to my husband! I don't want to sleep somewhat upright on the green couch! My neck is starting to hurt! Sigh. 

Well, Emerson must have been taking notes from President Proctor last week because he was a lot more animated this week and did his very best to explain 6 chapters of the prophecies of Daniel in 30 minutes. He was hilarious! I'm not sure we really need Dan back at this point, lol! Of course we do, and the next mini series is about children. But still, it was a great sermon today. And worship was great, too. And there was another young one that got baptized! Then we had a taco salad lunch with Leah. Benaiah dominated the conversation, so we didn't to really talk about the next couple of days. I did find out that he didn't really want to hang out with his siblings. I thought they would spend the next two days at Grandma's house but Grandma wants to keep them over at our house.

So, after we got home and thought for a few minutes, I took a step back and said to myself, wait a minute, why do I need to back their bags for an overnight. They can do it if they decide to spend the night over there. What if they want to spend the night in their own beds? What if they split that duty and Abishai spends the night with Grandpa and Grandma spends the night on our couch? And what do I care who sleeps where? I don't care. I'm not here! I don't care what they eat or what they do. They are all capable of knowing what happens every day with the dog and their own lives. Last time we left, Grandma packed them up to take them over to her house. Or maybe that's when Jared was really sick and we went to the ER. Either way, I did not have to micromanage them. It worked out just fine. So why am I stressing about this? I will run a load of laundry and dishes, but even then, they can put that away for the most part. They can text me if they can't find something. It's two days. Big deal. #stopmicromanaging Step away. Leave it be. Good grief. So I took a nap instead and got a headache because Jared went into the kitchen in the middle of my dream and I didn't drink caffeine until after I got up at 5pm. Oh well. I refrained from using the big headache meds and saved them for tomorrow. 

Then I started packing after I ate something and drank my coffee. I put my earbuds in to catch up on my Bible reading after I took the kids to church for their hang time with their friends. I just need to put my nail polish on. I packed my bag and cleaned out my purse. I've got my things charged. I couldn't find the big charger because whoops, it's still in Ohio. Cedarville has yet to send it to us. At least I don't remember receiving it. Meanwhile, I straightened up my drawer looking for it. Abishai had too much TV time because Jared went to the bank to deposit some cash that was a friend because Jared has bought something for him and he was paying Jared back. Then Abishai and Jared picked up the kids from the church. THEN Jared tells me he has an actual reservation time at the restaurant and that's why he's not panicking about leaving at a certain time in the morning. Sigh. So I took a minute and breathed and then approached him after I thought through the new timeline and what I've heard others say about traffic and standing in line and all that. Breathe. It will all work out the way it's supposed to.

I got to see some videos and photos from Michael W. Smith and Jim Daneker with the set for tomorrow night and it's going to be so lovely and special! And then Derek, Michael's fan manager guru guy said the traffic will be bad, so leave plenty of time and all that. I know some are arriving super early. Some are arriving a few minutes before doors open. I know some flew in today and some will fly in tomorrow. It's a sold out event. They told us to dress casually but it is being recorded so remember that (i.e. don't come in your pjs or tattered gym clothes). Just a little more pressure than a normal concert, that's for sure. I'm as giddy as can be for so many reasons! Ah! Just over 12 hrs from now and I'll be 40 years old! Jared will attend his first Smitty concert with me! It's going to be a recorded event for a cd and for broadcasting! We are going to worship together! We are celebrating God's goodness to us as a couple and to us individually! And what God has done with Smitty's worship albums and what God will do with this Worship Forever project. Smitty did look ok for just losing his mom yesterday. Maybe he is relieved like I was when it was all over. I really was just like, "Finally, I can go home now and sleep." I was ready, she was ready. I'm sure he's going to want to talk about his mom, but because it's a recorded thing, he won't. He'll save that for his next round of live events. 

So, I didn't get to rest as much as I wanted today, but I do need to calm down a little bit and do a final bit of prep for tomorrow. There's photos to back up and nail polish to put on my nails. Emails are all caught up and most of my games. I've got a lot of other social time the end of this week, so I hope I travel well over the next couple of days. It's going to take me a bit to catch up, so yeah, should be interesting! Ah! We are going to have so much fun! What an adventure we will have! I've always dreamed of doing these kinds of things. Now we get to and it's not costing us an arm and a leg! Sweet! Praise the Lord for being pretty close by and not having to go by plane and for being able to combine it with other celebrations! Here's to the next decade of life for me! And another score of years for our marriage! Woot! Woot!

Michael called it a "set"! Well, yes, I guess maybe they all do when they go out on the road but when he said it, it reminded me of watching behind the scenes for TV shows and movies because this is all going to be recorded. Is this for a choir? The orchestra? BGV still stands for background vocals. Hm,....we'll see! But we get to see it in person very soon!

Thanks for the preview and perspective Jim!

Morning conversations with his guys.

Looking pretty decent I should say for just losing his mom yesterday. Ready to join him for Worship Forever! Releases on September 10th, 2021! We can't wait to be a part of it!

The End