Year 6, August 30th - September 2nd, 2021: Hurricanes At Home and Abroad

 Monday. Dark clouds brewing outside. Dark clouds brewing inside. Abishai did not want to do any schoolwork today. He was flopping like a slimy fish all over the couch and floor. I had to literally have him sit in front of me and hold his wrists and look him in the face to calm him down. We had plenty of time to do his schoolwork before I had to leave to drop Keturah off to work for someone, but he whined and delay fished long enough that we had two subjects left over. Therefore, he lost 30 minutes of screen time. He was very upset and cried big tears over it. We had lunch and finished his school work after I got back from dropping Keturah off and picking prescriptions off at the store. But he still gave me grief. It was not a good day in his mind. Buddy, it isn't good for me either. He did wear his eye patch for over an hour thought during screen time. So yeah for that!

Keturah got her school work done before leaving for Renea's but she forgot some things. She needs to study more and be more careful. She, too, argued with me today over signing into her email. She hadn't downloaded the email app and wanted to argue that Google and gmail aren't the same thing. And then, she thinks it's my responsibility to memorize the password for her email account. Um, no, and stop yelling at me. And then at dinner I find out that Jared and her never switched the sim cards in the phones. Well, yeah, of course the phone doesn't have data and service. Why didn't you two do the most important part of switching phones?! Hello?! Keturah needed her email so we could see if she had her own Zoom account so she could get on and do Zoom for Bible class. We just used my Zoom instead. Grrrr. And this is why I can't be busy and gone when we have Bible class. And this is why all talk of when Bible class has to be run through me, the one that owns the family calendar. We've already had several miscommunications about it as it is. 

Justin was fine. He got his schoolwork done on time and said it was good when he corrected it. So at least one kid didn't argue with me today. He just thought it was kind of funny when his friends said that a freshman pulled the fire alarm and the school is a bit wet. Ok then, just as long as that conversation doesn't but into your real life schoolwork, it's fine.

Otherwise, fairly normal. The air felt muggy but cooler. A brisk breeze also kicked in. Time for cooler weather. Better temps ahead, as long as the now tropical depression Ida stays on track. We are seeing the dark clouds from Ida as we start the day. Aaron's house had minimal damage while their pastor's house had lpots of flood. The photos of all the floods. It's incredible. It's like Katrina hit again. We'll be talking about this for years to come. All of New Orleans and I assume all the smaller parishes and towns, have damage or under water. 1 million people/homes withrout powerl and it could take weeks to restore it all. Why even tive there? Even with a power outage, you can live through a snowstorm a lot easier than a hurricane, tornado, or flood. Keep me in the north, God, keep me north.

Not much for pics I'm afraid. No one wants to see tears and I was driven to accomplish much. So, that's it!

Hm...I've seen a bit of something about this movie. I don't think it's just Michael W. Smith though. Hm,...

11 Days to the new album, Worship Forever

Yup, true that.

Oh my goodness, what a day. Abishai was disobedient all day. He refused to do most of his schoolwork, wouldn't do his chore, and basically refused to do anything I told him to do. No type of punishment worked. I took away screen time. I gave him taps on his thigh, lips, fingers, etc. I raised my voice. I made him look at me while I held his arms at his side. I just didn't know what to do next. I don't know if it's because we didn't have snuggle time or because he can sense that Jared and I are at odds. I don't know if he was just having a bad day. I lectured him about what God says about work. I reminded him that God expects him to do good works now that God saved him from his sins, and he said, and I quote, "I didn't agree to that." Oh my goodness, how am I going to argue with that? I mean no, maybe in the dunk tank you don't say, "Now that you are baptized, you have to do what the Bible says and obey your parents, etc." but that's what you learn next, right? Good grief, kid. Do you have to be super smart? But sitting with him for 2 hrs hearing him whine, trying to tune out the whine, letting him flop around and only getting 1/2 of his school work done. I was done. I moved on. And I wasn't going to sit back down with him. He can do the work on his own with just a little bit of my instruction help. I can walk away now and let him do the work. But, he choose not to. He even knows how to make wise choices because they have spent 5 Sundays talking about it at church! He can repeat back to me all the rules and right theology, so why not put it into practice, kid? Oh yeah, because Keturah has demonstrated to him how to hate school and say, "No. I won't do it." to him too many times. And where did she get it? All the dumb TV shows she thinks she needs to watch. Sometimes I wish I had banned more of them. The culture that only talks about how bad parents are and how evil school is and how funny it is to skip class and yada yada yada. Oi! Drives me nuts! 

The other two behaved ok until supper time. We did some read alouds with them and their math and science were ok. I told them to double up because we will be gone all day tomorrow. And then we'll be home all day on Thursday and then gone a good portion of the day on Friday. And then home again on Saturday. Hopefully that will be ok for us. But then at supper the two wanted to fight over orange juice. Really? Do you know what's happening all over the world and you want to fight over a cup of orange juice? Give me a break!

It was a bit gloomy today, so that didn't help with attitudes. So we ended postponing the tree to the water park until tomrorow. And, yes, we finally invited Kia and her mom to go along. They wanted to take Justin on a trip so I had to tell them he was busy so I said, well, there's some extra passes if you want to come along. So, that will help us to fill up the card. Oh well. God worked it out. We have our first ASL class in the morning, so we'll have to scoot back home real quick to let the dog out and eat lunch. We'll probably only get a few hours at the water park, which is fine, it's not really that big either, but, it's the last water park open for the season, so let's go! And then Justin has small group. It's going to be a busy day

So, among all the other things I had to think about, I was working on figuring all of that out and trying to get Abishai to do his homework. It's been a hard mental day. Not fun for me at all. I didn't give him any treats either. I need to find his "currency." Maybe snuggle time? Maybe a high five after each work sheet is done instead of the negative consequences. Rewards don't always work either. Ugh. It's always the last one that is super tricky, isn't it? Oh well.

And they released another song, yippee!

Awww, FB said it was from 2010, which would make Keturah 2 yrs old but she looks older than that. Anyway, pretty in pink with a pink piggy and pigtails and pink shoes. So cute!

Grandpa had his driveway repaved again and the guys let Daddy and Abishai up on the machinery. Lucky little guy! I mean, really, these contractors did not have to let two strangers up on their equipment. Think of their insurance policy! Very nice dudes to let them up there.

My sister wasn't so sure of this statistic but I did look it up. The USA does win it based on population but the Finnish are almost the top dog based on per capita.

Just like any statistic, you have to be very clear what you are saying. So, per person or per capita?

See how USA ranks per capita? I guess the Finnish's per capita rating is much higher than the USA. They must make more money than us!

Ta da! One very clean trash can. I don't understand how it gets so dirty!

Now, how on earth did all this junk get between the gray piece that connects the step on part to lift the lid and the white part of the trash can? How? Eww!

Oh man, I'm so tired! We had a very full day! We went from north of the city all the way to south of the city! From Castleton to Greenwood in the span of just a few hours! What was I thinking! The kids had their first ASL class this morning and it went very well. Justin thinks he's going to be fastest learner in the class. Ok hot shot. We'll see. They went over the alphabet and how to greet one another. It was so weird listening from the other room. You usually hear a teacher's voice, but in this instance, you hear nothing because the teacher is deaf! So weird. Abishai and I were in another room working on his homework because he had been disobedient and didn't want to do it on Tuesday. Thankfully, he did it without too much fussing. I read a bit of a book he picked out about Amelia Earhart and then he would do a page of homework. Then I would read a bit more. That helped a ton. It's a small class and some of the parents are learning, too. I know I don't have head space for it and I have Abishai to take care of. But I think it's going to be a win-win for us. After class we drove straight home for lunch.

After lunch, we packed up and headed to Freedom Springs water park! It wasn't my original intention because I didn't want them to feel like we were doing everything with them, but Kelly had asked if Justin was available to go with them kayaking or something and I said no because today was the only day we could go to the water park. But I have extra passes if they would like to come with us. And Kelly said, yes! We love water parks! Now, we did invite Kya's dad, but he didn't want to meet us for the first time in his bathing suit so he declined. But secretly I was happy that they said yes because I needed a second adult and Jared and I were not on the best of terms and I know that Justin and Kya wanted to spend time together. And just having that second mom helper there oh my word, was so helpful. And with Kelly, well, I just feel like I can relax and not worry so much, you know. She lets me have a mama break and takes Abishai off my hands for a minute or two if he wants to go do something. I mean she is a grandmother who does things with grandchildren his age. So it's like kind of like a motherly but older friend relationship. Kind of like a mentor sort of. Anyway, it's different. And a great different. Like I said, I feel relaxed and I don't have to perform and I can say yes when she offers to help without one ounce of guilt. We've had a beautiful start to a great friendship. One that I hope lasts a long, long time, with or without the kids' relationship status. It's a bummer that they live 30 minutes away! But I'm learning all the backroads to Greenfield now, lol. Just lots and lots of county roads. They all get there eventually.

Getting to Freedom Springs was relatively easy, too. I was going to take my normal route to Greenwood but I'm glad I took the route suggested by the GPS because we missed all the traffic lights and traffic. A couple of back roads and we were there. It was pretty empty as I expected it to be. For all the hype, I thought that it would be bigger, honestly. Yes, it had a lazy river. It had 3 slides compared to the city park pools having 1. The kiddie area was about the same size. Ok, it did have that extra lap pool. I just expecting a lot bigger. Again, photos on websites and ads can be very deceiving. If it's going to be a "water park" and you are used to the huge water parks at theme parks, it's kind of hard to in your mind downsize to this size. I'm glad that there wasn't a crowd. I can't imagine being there with a crowd. I just don't see what the fuss is about from my friends' perspective. It was nice enough and we had a blast because it was quiet and just us. Hopefully next year we will get up to the Carmel one and can see how that one compares. It's on our summer bucket list!

After the water park, we had to go through all the traffic so we could get Justin some food before I took him to small group. His small group wanted to have their kick off before the official kick off date so it was a rush, but he made it on time. He didn't want McDonald's for supper. Oh no, too greasy he said. Instead, he choose Culver's. So we picked up Culver's, took him to small group, passing McD's on the way, then double backed to McD's to pick up supper for us, and then go home and finally ate around 7pm. Oh yes, that's why I'm exhausted. And yes, this is why I am not a soccer mom running kids around during the dinner hour. I did NOT like it one bit. Blech. Get me home and out of the car. I don't mind running errands during the day but by supper time, I'm done. I want to be home and done for the day. Blech. I know some homeschoolers do still go out because of this and that. And we do have evening things, too. But most of the time, they don't start until after supper, usually around 7.

It was a crazy busy day and I'm glad tomorrow is rest day!

Well, do YOU know what it is? Great thread to comment on and learn about. Thankfully the parts I read were kind and informative. And there are some links I need to follow up on and read more about. On the surface it looks good. But as one person said, there's a lot of training that needs to go into implementing these strategies and parents and teachers do not have the time to do it and do it well, so we really should just forget it about it and use what we are comfortable with and what does work in our situations. Over time this, whatever it is, does work, but it takes time. Teachers need to teach, not be physiologists and social behaviorists. What is interesting to me is that I guess a lot of these things have been around for a few years in the schools but none of the parents have known about them until now. I guess maybe they saw them through all the Zoom classroom settings or groups like Purple for Parents and their investigations have dug them up or who knows. This thread was separate from a personal thread I started talking about if CRT and SEL was in my friends' kids' schools. I got a mixture of responses. A lot of people know about CRT and a lot of districts are against it, but SEL is a lot harder to detect because they use different names for it and it's about healthy emotions and can be shown as a good thing. So I still have a lot of reading and understanding to do. I think maybe we need to have someone help us understand it, too.

This is why I wanted another adult around. Thank you Mrs. Kelly! She was able to get Abishai up on the net so he could climb his way over on the floating sea creatures like the ninja warrior that is. He kept getting faster and faster. Such a big boy!

And yet so little. He was still too little to go on any of the big slides, and they didn't do parents with kids either. Bummers! But we did the lazy river probably 10 times! He liked pretending he was the driver and he tried to make us go faster! He did have to wear one of their life jackets because they don't want people bringing in a bunch of other kinds of flotation devices.

There was barely anyone there because it was the last week that the water park was open. I was hoping Abishai would want to play in the kiddie area like he did the other week so I could just lay here and watch him but he wasn't interested. Oh well. It was a great kiddie area, too!

Here he comes again!

I caught Keturah up on the high dive! She didn't do quite a feet first pencil dive but at least she did it once. Mrs. Kelly dove a couple of times, a regular hands first kind of dive. She wanted to be lifeguard and move to Florida. I think she did for one summer or something. We played in this pool for awhile and it was warm enough for me. It was their lap pool. The red slide is very fast. Abishai kept jumping in and out of the pool. It got very deep pretty quickly so I had to keep pulling him towards the shallow end.

Keturah's splash.

Abishai didn't want to go home, so he kept running in and out of the water. Problem was that I couldn't go change and leave him. He needed adult supervision and Kelly and Kya had already left.

Waiting for the dump bucket.

There it is!

Abishai, American Ninja Warrior

 

 

I really wanted to go to this because it was closer than the other big thing that I heard about but is two hours away in Marion that is the same weekend of October that many other things are. However, it is going to pour rain on Saturday right at the times I would want to be there, for the 1 and 3pm dances, so it's a no go. But, my friend Kori is actual part Native American and participates in these pow wows and says there's another one in Anderson next weekend, and that's still only an hour away and there will be tipi's at that one! I just remember going to an official real pow wow as a kid and just loving it! I do believe that for them, the Native Americans that participate, it's a sacred gathering. It's like a festival that us Christians would gather for. They aren't putting on a cultural show for the public. They are actually participating in a sacred event, praying to Mother Earth or their ancestors or whatever. Their words and sounds mean something to them. They are sharing those special moments with us and they are trying to earn money by selling their crafts to us just like in days of old. I may buy some things from them. But man, I know it impacted me that day when I saw it in person. I can't remember if my siblings went with us, but I know my mom was there. She loved Native Americans. And I'm sure I'll have teenagers that will roll their eyes, but if I bring Jared along, we can both get Abishai to stay focused and enjoy it. He's been into the stories I've read about Native Americans the past few weeks, so I want to solidify those stories as well. And we all know (and my friend Kori knows I know) that not all Indians lived in tipi's (or do you spell it teepee's?) We are all smarter than that. I've never met her I don't think, but she's very active on FB and supports the IAHE very well and I support her secularism and Native American culture, too. I'm so excited!

If this doesn't spell out spoiled teenager, I don't know what does. From all the fun pillows to the dangling lights to her own corner pillow to the bulletin board and of course her doggie, and her headphones and phone, and all the things. #teens Oh and she gets her own room. I never had my own room. #blessed

Well, we managed to use most of the punch card I bought from my friend. Yeah! It might have been the last week of summer but I crossed it off my summer bucket list! And I'll be doing more of my bucket list this week! Just you wait kids, Mom is on a roll! Cue the eye rolls!

And the countdown continues! I'm actually enjoying the countdown. I'm glad they did it. It's a very special one. And each of these has a snippet of one of the songs without the vocals. It's quite simple and nice. Way to go MWS team!

 

Thursday was a rest day. I did feel tired, but not too much though. I just went to bed a little later, and a little more emotional than I wanted to last night. I couldn't think so clearly last night either. So it was one of those days today. But Abishai did focus more today and even told Daddy that at supper. And that was helpful as I had a counseling appointment today. The other kids did their work fine. Justin's frustrated with Chemistry again, so I checked it. Oh the poor kid. Dude. It's fine. It's basic chemistry. There's no other more gentler approach I know of. I want you to have some basic science. Go watch some YouTube science. Use the vocab words as your guide. Then you can get some visuals to go with theories. I skimmed the chapter and yes, I would have to actually read the chapter to thoroughly understand it again, but I remembered reading about and understanding all the concepts in my chemistry and biochemistry classes at the tech school and college. There was section I don't remember hearing about it, but honestly, I'm sure Dr. Wile is very readable and I would have easily gotten the concept. Just tackle it another day, Justin, and look up some YouTube videos. I won't be able to put it in any easier terms for him. Maybe if he did the experiments?  Ok, maybe if he had a real teacher. I don't know. But I keep thinking maybe a gentler approach but no, this is gentle. This is as basic as it gets. Sorry, dude. Plow through it.

Meanwhile, Keturah is plowing through pre-algebra like a champ. And she's got the rest of her stuff up to date, too. Now we just need to add in history and literature, and we're golden. Renea wanted some last minute cleaning done tonight, so I dropped her off right before dinnertime to work. Abishai was pretty bored most of the time and just wandered. He really didn't want Daddy to go to Bible study and I had to literally drag him back inside. I offered to play with him, but ended up trying to clean out my email inbox because it was a crazy hot mess all day with that.

Oh yeah, I started the day, barely awake, not even out of bed, answered a bunch of chatter about the regional newsletters and how that one sports organization wants it their blurb wants it done a certain way and everyone wants it resolved differently. Finally I said, well, it's up to you guys since it's been sent to the editors. Just make the two newsletters look the same and you deal with this guy's wrath either way. Peace out because I have to homeschool. And onward I went.

But then the whole day was interrupted by Gary summited a mountain and he had to text 10 other people at the same time about it. And then the usual chatter on FB from all the groups. And then my pressures and problems. Ugh. Go away. And now another issue with another person. Good grief. Too many things going on and I just want to focus on my family. So off I go to do just that. Good night.

Several pics of the damage at the Gathering. Just as I had expected, lots of water damage inside. Lots of work to do. But Aaron said that there was already dumpsters there and volunteers were already showing up. He is staying at the police station to sleep so he can be in a/c and just running the generator at home for for the refrigerator. There's still a long line for gas. The generators at the Gathering are trying to keep the ice machine going for police officers and others. Ugh.

Loads of damage. It's amazong to see the before and after photos. I did here about all the flooding and lives lost in torandoes and floods up and down the east coast, especially in New Jersey and New York. The subways were flooded. So nasty.

Cicada shells way high up in the tree!  Not quite down hatching.

That's a good one.

Abishai trying out a wild strawberry from the yard. It didn't go very well. The others had tasted one when we first moved in. They didn't like them either. But the bunnies do!

A little challenge on Facebook to post your first profile pic and then your most current one. It was supposed to be solo but my first FB profile pic was when I was pregnant with Keturah. So, I chose one with Keturah in it more than 13 years later. Makes sense right? And you can tell from the chubbiness in my cheeks that I'm much more thicker now. Yuck. I loved that purple shirt, btw.

I didn't see the e2 ad when I read this email on my phone this morning. Nice sponsorship!

Abishai asked me to get down Daddy's helicopter so he could stage an action scene for Daddy'. So here's the scene.

I left books out for the older kids to read and Abishai keeps taking them off the pile for me to read to him. He really loves read aloud time. So, ok, sure, I'll add this to our pile. It was a book from my childhood and the bookmark is a piece of construction paper. It's a very faded green color. I think it's pretty cool that it's still in there.

The End