Year 7, June 13th-19th, 2022: Pool time!

 Monday - 

- Yeah! I didn't have to leave home today! (J/k, I did take Abishai to Tang Soo Do, duh, I lied). The piano tuner called off because he was exposed to Covid, so that was a good/bad thing. Then Kellie, the grandkids, and Kya came here for awhile, picking up Justin in the process, and we had no other appointments. I was able to make one of those every plate meals for dinner (although it took over an hour for me to do). I even was able to put away the books from that book box I found in the garage AND finish Abishia's Lego table set sorting project we've been picking away at for the last month! Woot! Woot! That's my kind of day! Oh yeah, and I started an IAHE project for the Marketplace FB group I've been promising people in there for the last couple of months. 

- Today started the heatwave, and although it only got up to 85 degrees, I could feel the humidity and pressure building. Tomorrow it's going to be in the upper 90's with the heat index well over 100, so we plan on going to Kellie's house to swim and hang out. Justin's work now has too many employees and not enough hours, so his boss said to just take the day off and stay cool. And we have no appointments in the afternoon, so we'll take advantage of Kellie's invite to go over there for a good part of the day. And then hopefully I can convince Jared to join me at the movie theater tomorrow night for that homeschooling movie documentary by Kirk Cameron. The rest of the week is fairly light on appointments as well. I plan on staying inside where it's cool and working on the rest of the inside to do list. 

- Uriah and Tess were back at Tang Soo Do tonight! Abishai said he had forgotten what Uriah's face looked like! Their newly adopted girls had a babysitter but they might come on another night with them. Abishai is excited to meet them. The girls are doing well and love to meet new kids, too. It was great to see them and actually watch them teach the class. I used to only go on Thursdays when Mr. Nathan teaches the class. Mr. Uriah teaches on Monday nights. He commands the room a bit easier than Mr. Nathan because he's older I think. Plus, there was only 6 of them tonight. Abishai got to be in the front row and did so well! Including doing Form 1 with the other yellow and orange belts without the help of Uriah counting off! I was so proud! 

- Jared came back home after taking Kya home (she had stayed after their visit this afternoon, Leah came to chaperone while I was gone) and said they were nearly side swiped by someone on route 9 tonight. "God bless it that we didn't die because it was the closest call I've ever had," he said. He looked pretty shaken up by it. I'm glad Justin wasn't the one driving then. Driving can be such a scary proposition and Jared had just said this morning something about Justin getting himself killed because he doesn't pay attention and how his medication isn't working, etc. I had to remind Jared that it takes time for the medication to take affect and he can't expect Justin to be fully alert at 6am like that. It was Jared's choice to take him out at that time during the day. Lunchtime or right after Justin's work would have been better. Or on weekends. Medication isn't the easy answer either for ADHD. It's only a part of the solution. Sigh. So it's been a great day for some, and not a great ending of the day for others.

I need sleep, someone to deep clean, cook and clean up from cooking, don't speak to anyone and to not make decisions. So basically, leave me alone except to feed me. And feed me healthy things that go with my diet. Yup.

Abishai wanted to use the oatmeal container for another drum, so he found the tupperware cereal container and poured the oatmeal into it all by himself. And then he made himself a bowl of plain oatmeal, with a little bit too much water. I don't think he liked it that way, and I don't think he even warmed it up. So, he gave it to me. I asked him if he made it for me. He said, no, but I could have it. At least he didn't make a huge mess and knew what container to use and all that. For a 7 year old, that's pretty impressive!

I went through that box of books from the garage and lo and behold, the airline that Gary was talking about to someone on the phone on Sunday when I arrived about how he wouldn't recommend traveling on is the same exact airline as these tickets I found in this book! In fact, these tickets WERE the flight he was talking about! I don't know if these are Polish books or Austrian or Ukranian or what, but somewhere over in Eastern Europe. This book is in English though. I'm not sure why it's in our book box, but I'll throw it in with our 20th century studies.

Bible story coloring books in a different language.

Even a full color Bible story book to read. Polish? Ukranian? I have no idea but definitely Eastern Europe.

Haus Edelweiss where Gary and Leah (and Jared) have been for their mission trips to Austria to teach pastors from Eastern European countries. The recipes are actually pretty American because it's a gathering of anybody and everybody's favorite and best recipes and a lot of the cooks have come from America. But there's a few local recipes thrown in there, too.

Hanging out with Mommy.

Don't let today's high and thunderstorm fool you. It's just the cool/calm before the wall of heat coming this week.

We are going to die! Super hot! Hotter than any day on PEI, hotter than most days in Indiana or New Orleans or New Hampshire. So hot you can't move. I'm not looking forward to this. Cue the migraines.

I spent 90 minutes preparing this meal. It was really yummy! I just wish I didn't have to rush through it to take Abishai to karate class. It was worth going to class though because Mr. Uriah and Mrs. Tess were back and I got to hug Mrs. Tess and ask about their adopted daughters! And guess what?! They will come with them on Thursday night! Ooooo, I can't wait to meet them! Abishai is excited, too!

I did spend the day finishing up the Abishai's Lego table project. So now, the boxes are condensed and under Abishai's Lego table. The themes are put together and nearly all the pieces are found for all sets. Here's Abishai's Star Wars and Hot Wheels Lego sets.

City, Marvel, DC, and Misc. Lego items. It's time to upgrade shelves, don't you think Daddy and Justin?

It doesn't look less messy, but it actually is. There's a lot less pieces to sift through to find the one you want. Plus there's nothing in the dinning room. And there's no random Legos anywhere. That's the whole point!

The majority of the library books were dropped off and the couch is pretty clear.

And the Legos are off of the table! Just a few things to bring to Jared's attention (and here we are 3 days later and they are STILL on the table! One of the biggest house pet peeves I have. Once I declutter, I want it to stay that way. No such luck with the slobs in my life. But that's life, right?

Tuesday - 

- Well, Justin's boss told him not to come in today because there were too many teens working and it was going to be super hot anyway. Well, he was happy it and we were actually pretty about it, too. I knew he would be way too hot and I didn't want him to have a migraine. Plus, it meant we could go to Kya's house to swim! I knew Kellie would probably invite us over there, and she had, and because it was a Tuesday, we didn't have Tang Soo Do, so we could stay a little longer, and not feel as rushed. That made my heart happy. It still took as a bit to get out of the house because the morning was delayed a bit, but we had a good day.

- Justin slept in, and Keturah, too, of course. I tried to convince Keturah to come saying that I don't know how much I was actually going to make it to other pools, but she didn't care. She was already neck deep in rearranging her bookshelves AGAIN. Ok fine. I didn't argue with her this time since I pushed her to go hiking last week. 

- Meanwhile, I had promised Abishai that we would go to the library to get new books since I had taken his old books back after having them from 4-6months. So, went out and did that. Well, lo and behold, he saw some kids doing a scavenger hunt and getting a reward, so he wanted to do it, too! In all my years of taking kids to the libraries or events, and encouraging them to do things like scavenger hunts, I've never had one of them actually see other kids doing something and ask to do it, too! So of course I had to say yes! Sure! Grandma must have shown Abishai who the children's librarian was and where the children's desk is because Abishai walked right up to her and asked about it without any help from me. I don't think I've really done that in our branch. I've always gone up front, and really, I haven't done it that often. But he just did it without hesitation and we went to get the papers and a crayon and went on our scavenger hunt to find animal tracks and parts of a poem. When our papers were full, we went back to the desk and picked out some stickers. Abishai even wrote down the names of the animals for the animal tracks without whining about it. Yeah! He's going to be so much fun to take on field trips! He actually wants to participate in this stuff versus Keturah and Justin who say, "Nope, no way. You can't make me. Why do I have to." Eek! Abishai got four new books, two on Star Wars and then one on Fortnite and one on Minecraft. I didn't get any! That's a miracle! And then we got gas, $70 to fill it, 15.1 gallons or so at $5.15 a gallon. Blech. And finally went home to gather Justin and the pool stuff up to leave for the rest of the afternoon.

- Well, it was a good day because I managed to fit my other bathing suit on instead of my maternity bathing suit on that I wore last year. Thank you Covid for helping me loose that weight. I mean, the bathing suit was very tight and the seams left marks in my hips, but it fit. I did find some two piece suits I had saved from a bag of hand me downs, so I'll see if any of those fit now, but I was too excited just to try on this suit again. And actually, once I got it on, it wasn't going to come out off without Jared's help when I got home later, so there's that. And I was so excited to wear it, that, although I took my long sleeve swim shirt with me, I didn't put it on and I didn't take the time to put on sunscreen. Big mistake! I'm now suffering the consequences of a nice big sunburn, something I haven't had for several years. It hurts like crazy. It hurts more than it itches right now. I can't put enough aloe or lavender or lotion on it to soothe it. Anything with straps digs right into it. It's miserable. I'm just dumb. I thought the pool was under more shade. And I though I was under more shade on the deck. Sigh. My face was fine. Maybe because I did have a slight tan on it. And my forearms. And my legs seemed ok. But my shoulders and upper arms and upper back. Wow. Bob the Tomato red. I didn't put any sunscreen on Abishai either and since he has a short sleeve swim shirt, he did fine. 

- We did spend a good amount actually in the water, even Kellie and I did. She used the skimmer and got the leaves out, and I made sure my kid didn't drown when he took off his floaties. Abishai learned to pencil dive both ways, cannonball, and twirl dive. At one point, we had to pull him out because his lips were blue and he was shivering. But it took less than 5 minutes before we were all blazing hot again and ready to get back in. I didn't go back in, but the kids did and we just watched them. My body was exhausted. Just that amount of physical exertion was enough. From not sleeping enough and then dealing with some health issues with Socks, my whole body felt so heavy. The heat was oppressive, even in the water. And I could easily stand in it as it was only 42 inches deep. I did start developing a migraine as well, despite drinking caffeine and water. It wasn't enough. I'm just like my mom, I get heatstroke and sunstroke. Ugh.

- Thankfully, I did watch the time well enough and got Abishai out of the pool and dressed in time to leave to get home and feed him before Jared and I went to the Homeschool Awakening movie. We did leave Justin with Kya and Kellie for the rest of the evening per usual. They did swim for awhile, but then went inside for the rest of the afternoon and binged Stranger Things. When I went in to check on them, they had their heads on opposite sides of the couch, and were under separate afghans, with their feet near each other's heads. It was quite comical and cute at the same time. Very kosher, too. Adorable. I think Kya didn't want to be outside with the kids because her niece and nephew were there and they have been at her house a ton due to some family issues. She's not used to all the chaos. Justin brings a break from that kind of chaos to a different kind of chaos and stress relief because they can go hang out somewhere else and Abishai can hang out with the other kids because they are his age. They were going to leave soon after we did, so Justin and Kya were going to have a quiet evening with Kellie and Tom. 

- Meanwhile, like I said, Jared and I went out to the movies! For the first time since Covid happened! And what did we see? Not Top Gun: Maverick like I had planned to several weeks ago. But "Homeschool Awakening" a 90 minute documentary movie by Kirk Cameron and his crew. It was only on for two nights and I was going to support it financially anyway by buying the two tickets whether or not we went, so we were in a good enough mood to actually make it out the door and go. I actually wrote Wednesday's blog entry first, and wrote a long paragraph about the movie in that entry, so read about it in the next section under Wednesday. What I don't think I said though was that the theater was HOT. And there was only about a dozen people there. That was disappointment. We were one of the only theaters playing it, too. Oh well. You never know how these things are going to go. I still owe Jared and want to see Maverick actually in the movie theater because it's the sort of movie you need to see and feel and hear in a theater.

Abishai had all these clips clipped together in pairs because "they were fighting each other, Mom!" The things he gets up to when he's waiting for me to get out of bed!

Oh Disney, do you have to? Really? Villians? You make it sound like such a great thing! Satan is not even playing in the shadows anymore. He's out in broad daylight every single day. From June being Pride month (I did NOT want to capitalize that) to a tv show all about the bad guys? Ok, Boba Fett is also a bad guy and Mandalorians are the bounty hunters, which technically are bad guys, too. And yes, they are produced by Disney, so I guess, I am not watching the right things either, am I? Whoops. Man, entertainment is such a slippery slope! You have to stay so vigilant! Even the new Buzz Lightyear movie had an overtly lesbian couple in it and I can easily defend how "normal" that is and how at least it's not as bad as transgenderism and gender fluidity and that at least they aren't trying to become men. Yeah, that's sad. It's still all sinful and not how God designed us. But nothing new is under the sun. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, they all did this out in the open, too. That's why it's in Mosaic Law. Guard your hearts, the Bible says. Be on guard, the Devil, is like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. And devour Satan does, even if it's just a nibble here and a nibble there.

Pure innocence right here. Abishai the 7 yr old enjoying a cardboard play house you color on. So cute!

The good old call-a-story where you pick up the phone (he was so confused on what it was) and listen to someone read a story!) They also finally brought the computers back! The programs look brand new, so I think they were updated while they were away.

Checking out his books as usual.

Abishai doing his scavenger hunt looking for animals prints and photos that are part of a poem in a book. He wrote down all the names himself for the footprints. I just helped him find the actual cards on the bookshelves. He got some stickers for finishing the scavenger hunts. The older kids never would do these for me. But it was Abishai's idea to do them after he saw other kids doing them.

I've still got decent gas mileage even after running the a/c full blast lately.

Abishai learned how to dive, pencil dive hands first and feet first, cannon ball with feet tucked in, and corkscrew dive at Kellie's house today. He's getting there!

I finally taught him the real way to cannonball instead of him falling straight onto his stomach! I told him to tuck his legs in with his knees to his chest like he picks up his knees for Tang Soo Do. And it worked!

Jumping into the middle of the tube!

Well that's one way to eat cereal with no spoon. Lazy days of summer!

First time in a movie theater in 2 1/2 years and I dragged him to a documentary about homeschooling. It's only on for two nights and I bought the tickets regardless of him agreeing to go or not. I still owe him tickets to see Top Gun: Maverick, too. I think we actually heard it being played next door. Or it was another really loud action packed movie. The Homeschool Awakening movie was awesome for what it was. But I could have just watched it on YouTube later or bought it when it comes out on DVD or streamed or whatever.

Whoops! I was too excited to fit into my other bathing suit to care about putting on my long sleeve swim shirt or to put on sunscreen. Now I'm as red as Bob the Tomato! Ouch!

10 guesses who this is and the first 9 don't count. Abishai, yes, has always been this excited about "buttons," aka video game controls, and always this excited about life in general. He came into this world in an excited way, too. He wasn't loud, mind you, he took his sweet time to make a sound, but he was alert. Jared said Abishai was 1 years old in this photo. It just sums Abishai up so well!

Wednesday - 

- Phew! What a morning! I spent the morning approving people for the IAHE Indiana Homeschool Marketplace page. I was up earlier with Jared because I had slept on the couch and then was able to sneak back into our room before Abishai got up. So while Jared was making tea, I jumped on the computer thinking I would just write a quick answer to someone's post about wanting to post about being tutor. Well, I took it a step further and wanted to advertise the group again because there's at least a dozen or 2 new listings a day right now because everyone is trying to sell off their old stuff so they can pay for their new stuff. And we've had two failed attempts at local in person book sales in my area, so my friends are the ones who are desperately trying to sell their stuff and I want them to have the best opportunities to get rid of it. So, I made a post on our Discussion group and copied and pasted it on the other state wide groups and my local groups. Well, one of the other volunteers decided to invite her whole entire huge group to the page, so I had 50 new people to approve within the first hour! Say what?! Well, I bypassed the usual procedure and just approved them all and sent my usual welcome message. But come to find out, I think there's a limit to how many messages a day I can send to people I'm not friends with and it might be so business people can't spam other people. That's my guess anyway. I approved everybody on the list anyway, and will go back through and resend my welcome message tomorrow just to make sure everyone gets it. I think I approved at least a dozen or so more after that. But that took quite a bit of the morning to get through. But how fun! Connecting people to curriculum and then to our other materials. I love being able to connect homeschoolers to resources from the comfort of my own home. It makes me feel useful despite my physical and sometimes mental limitations. 

- We were exhausted from Tuesday, so we took it pretty slow all day. I took a shower and didn't push myself to perform in any other way. I had wanted to get more computer work done, but oh well. I did take Keturah to her counseling appointment, and that went better than I had expected. She did say more words than "I don't know" like "I don't know why Mom thinks I need to be here," and she gave fuller answers to the counselor than she had 4 years ago, so I was very, very pleased to see that. I am hopeful now that in a few sessions, we will see some growth. I don't even care if I know about what is talked about in the sessions. I just want to know that my baby girl can have healthy relationships with people, better than I ever have, and despite what she has endured. More time and money spent now working on it will benefit her so much in the long run later. So I will be praying that is the case. We knew we would be revisiting some things and coming back to the counselor sometime in the teenage years. Although there isn't a major issue, we are trying to head off some things before they became major issues. Just some redirection like Jared and I are doing in our own counseling sessions, which have done us a world of good. We've gone over things we know we should be doing, but having someone else say them and keeping us accountable and staying on top of them with us has helped us a ton.

- For example, take last night, I finally got Jared to go with me, to a movie, that would not be his cup of tea. Actually, the movie was something that we really could have just watched on YouTube later for free but it was one of those things where you go see it as a two night event and pay to offset the costs of making it. It was called "The Homeschool Awakening" and Kirk Cameron and crew made it. I knew it would be perfect for Jared because the trailer for it showed that it was going to mostly positive, not political, not anti public school, and not even super religious. And I was totally right! Kirk Cameron himself has begun to align himself with people that are pretty political, super religious, right wing, very Constitutional, and all those things, so if you go and watch his weekly show or read up on his stuff, you're going to see his opinions as that, but it didn't come out in this movie. He and his wife, who was also in the movie, held back a ton on those views, in order to make this film more palatable to a wider audience. And so did all the other families that were featured. I don't even think all of them were Christians. I knew one other family that definitely was because they live in Indiana and spoke at our conferences and even at our IAHE Volunteer picnic last year, but the editors either cut out a lot of it or they also focused on the non religious benefits of homeschooling. I was super impressed that Jared said that he couldn't find fault with the trailer of this movie and despite his hesitation of watching something by Kirk Cameron, it wasn't enough to not say no to doing something with me. My heart just melted into a puddle right then and there and all I could think of  was how much I owe him now. And how just a few months ago he wouldn't have said that to me. I'll willingly watch 1,000 videos of whatever kind he wants me to watch, I don't care. I've dreamed of this moment for years that he would sit next to me and watch something about homeschooling! YEARS! 

- My goal for having Jared watch this with me was to just help him understand what I have idolized and idealized all these years. I have spoken about it and he says he knows, and that nothing was new to him, but I think seeing it adds a new perspective to it. The film was pretty boring to me. Jared was checking his phone for the time because the theater seats hurt his back, and then I ended up checking my phone as well because it was boring. Basically, it ended up being like our Homeschool 101's we do, answering the basic myths about homeschooling like socialization and do you need to be a teacher and what if you don't know something and what about college. Because Jared hasn't watched homeschool videos or read any books, I've always tried to send him things here and there to help him understand my world better. Or when I say I'm jealous of this family or that family or how I'm disappointed in myself or the kids for not reaching a certain standard of mine, I've wanted him to really grasp that. So hopefully seeing this film gave him a little bit more understanding, although, like the kids' say, he said he already knew it. I did, too, but I'm always LOOKING for a nugget I can take with me, even with the most repetitive material I know like this homeschooling stuff. Actually, with a film like this, my job is to act like a critic and see if I recommend it or not. I was scouting it out for my fellow IAHE volunteers just in case they didn't get a chance to see it. Now I can go back and report that it's fine, go ahead and share it, there's nothing to worry about and I can't wait for it to become available to share even further. That way I do pay attention during the whole thing. I do that with other seminars where I think I know everything they are going to say. Or sermons on a familiar passage.  Never ever "check out." Find something to keep you stimulated.

- And that's why I was exhausted mentally today. I was social yesterday and I had to think critically last night. I went to bed way early, falling asleep on the green couch with Jared's knowledge this time, so I could keep an eye on Socks in case he started to lose control of his bladder or something and he started to majorly decline. I was going to try to watch a TV show on the tablet but it was out of power and once I laid down to stretch my back, I was out by midnight. I woke up 6 1/2 hrs later with a headache and I could still feel my body as being dead weight and my eyes hurting. Swimming just that little bit and being in the sun just for a few hours really did a number on me. Plus the sunburn. And the Friday group is planning to go swimming at one of the bigger pools on Friday, which is awesome and in my head, I would love to do it, but my body is very unwilling and I'm getting another headache just thinking about it. So I've texted Jared to see if he'll come with us. If not, I'll just suck it up and go like I always do. My mother didn't take us to the beach, which was 1 hr away or to the city pool or anything because she was prone to heatstroke and migraines and sunstroke, so I get it from her, but I suck it up, take meds and go anyway. She was also very busy with our extracurricular activities. But I'm determined to just make it happen regardless of my needs. I'll wear my hat and my long sleeve this time though and it will help. 

- Abishai was also tired and I gave him his ADHD med today, but only 4.5 ml and not the 5ml. He was still pretty whiny and groggy. Man, I wish there was another solution. I want to calm him down enough to sit him in a chair, but not at the expense of making him feel miserable. There's got to be something in between! I'll try the 4ml again and see what happens. I'll do that dose tomorrow and skip altogether on Friday so we don't have the whines at the pool. He had 4 hrs of TV today but that's ok. He played so hard yesterday. And I didn't know what else to do with him. It was too hot outside and I couldn't make myself go outside to set something up for him to do. And I was gone with Keturah for 2 hrs. And then I was going to get on the computer but ended up just sitting on the green couch resting instead. And I knew we would be going out for the evening and he had karate, too. It's summer. I'm trying not to worry about it too much. He read a TON of books this morning while I was in the shower. And I'm not talking about just looking at pictures. He likes to actually read the words and stories. I can't wait to see where he's at with his reading by the end of the summer. I think I might have to bump him up a grade level in reading and language arts, which means buying more books, but who cares! This kid is genius! His memory is huge! 

- Justin got up late as usual, but got some math done. He spent a chunk of time on his video games of course. Sigh. The accountant didn't get his paycheck cut again, so he's pretty broke. Which is unfortunate because Dad said he was to pay for the trip to Greenfield on Monday and he wanted money for tonight's Taco Bell run with his small group, so, we said you pay for whatever you want at Taco Bell and then you don't owe us for Greenfield. He was going to eat his dinner at Taco Bell but realizing he was now paying for it all by himself, he decided to cook himself dinner at home. See, that's why we don't spend all our money all the time at places like CVS on Monster Energy drinks. He was also off work yesterday because of the heat and too many employees at work at the same time, so he didn't pick up his paycheck then. I suppose we could of stopped by on our way through or he could have gone over there today. Oh well. He has to be an adult and remember these things. Natural consequences. But oh wait, Lego is coming out with a new series of Legos for the Avator movie and retiring Ninjago. Now that's something to show Mom and to talk about and be excited about. Hm,...yup, we still need to work on this kid. He's not done growing yet.

- Jared and I are still talking about the pool situation. He said that either he thought about it or talked to Rick May about it, but we could turn one of the electrical outlets on the back wall around to face the outside and drill a hole in the siding. We'd replace the actual outlet with an outdoor plug of course, but we wouldn't have do any wiring! And as long as the pump we use is watted for that type of plug, we should be fine. Now, I don't know what circuit those plugs are on versus my computer and wifi strip, so we'll see. I do know that the plug next to the door is on the same breaker as my computer and the wifi breaker and that I can't have my heater on in the winter and run the vacuum on the other plug at the same time or it will trip the breaker on my power strip causing the wifi to go off. SOOOOO, I'm hoping that all the electrical outlets in this room are NOT all on the same breaker. And if they are, maybe Rick can split them or something. But there is hope that we will get a pool going this summer. Jared wants to buy a pool in person instead of through Amazon so we are going to check them out at Meijer where he saw some for $300. He's going to be surprised that that price is only for the pool and none of the accessories. The pool I'm looking at on Amazon, which dropped again in price (after having risen in price last week) from $2,000 to $1,200, includes the filter, cover, skimmer, and a couple of other things. We'll need pool chemicals, sand underneath the pool, vacuum, etc. And we'll need the initial water filling because I'm not doing it with our rust infested well water. No way jose'. If I can get something set up for under $2,000, I'll be extremely pleased. Some said they bought a better sand filter system than what comes with this particular model, but we'll see. I can invest in something more next year. That's my plan anyway. I'm just glad we are talking about this again. It makes my heart happy after having to go to my friend's house to play in the water, getting a sunburn, having a headache, and all that. I just want something my backyard that I can send the kids outside to play in and I don't have to make as much effort to attend to. I will still be out there watching of course, and I'll clean it, but I can do that when I feel better and sit in my own chair or watch from inside the house in the a/c and not in the sun through the window. I think Jared understands that more now.

- Oh.....my......word.....that was an adventure! So....Jared took Abishai to karate and then met Keturah, Justin and I at Meijer. That was the easy part. What we didn't expect was that the pools that Jared found there were the exact same brand that I had seen on Amazon AND the exact same all in one kit and model AND it was selling for LESS than Amazon. So we didn't come equipped to purchase a pool tonight. Well, we ended up purchasing a pool! Oh my word! Crazy! And then Jared saw buy one pair of shoes get another pair for $1, so he just HAD to go through all the men's shoes looking for the right pair of shoes, which would have been fine, but I hadn't calculated enough time for something like that. Nor had I calculated any time for purchasing a pool and getting it into a vehicle either. But, with many moving parts, and lots of last minute changes, it all worked out. Jared found shoes. We finally checked out about 8:10. Keturah was supposed to be at Ritter's at 8pm. Well, then the pool wouldn't fit in the van. So, Jared took my car to drop Keturah off at Ritter's (just one block south of Meijer), and went to get our truck. Meanwhile, I let Justin go ahead and walk across the street, which is also one of the busiest in all of Franklin Township, Southport Rd, to Taco Bell to see his friends. I told him to come back by 9pm with a couple of his friends so that they can help get it into the truck and give Dad a break. Jared got back a few minutes earlier than I expected but that was ok. I sent him into Meijer so he could use the restroom and get him and Abishai some water while we waited for Justin. Meanwhile, I texted Keturah to get her to find a ride back to Meijer when she was done at Ritter's. Surely one of her friend's or a leader was heading back past Meijer into Franklin Township, duh. It happened to be one of her leaders that she asked I think, but ok. Then Justin came walking back across the parking lot. Why he didn't drive over with his friends who came over after him, I don't know, I didn't ask. But a truckload of 3 guys showed up and helped make the final shove over into the truck. It really wasn't necessary for them to be there, but man, I was tired of seeing Jared struggle and I didn't want to see him in pain later. I also texted Benaiah to see if he could help out when he got home, but he was busy. Fortunately, Jared, Justin, and Keturah were able to get the pool into the garage (thank you, Jesus, that I had cleaned out that aisleway!) and now it will sit until we get the rest of things sorted out hopefully in the next week or two. I don't think Jared will procrastinate too much longer with this as he prayed about it when praying with Abishai and I, and it was him that asked Rick May about the electrical outlets in the back of the sunroom and he had been looking at the pools last week with Abishai and Keturah, so there's hope for this whole thing. But the pool is on deck now. And that makes me extremely happy. My dream has become reality. No going back now. Well, technically, yes, we could, but, the decision was made now. We shall proceed forward. Just like paint for the bathroom was purchased. We only stopped with that because the weather was so nice and before that, Jared had those papers to finish. SO, despite the adventure, major progress was made tonight and my heart is full.

- The kids are ok with everything, despite having a shorter time with their friends. I didn't get to sing Happy Birthday to Keturah in front of her friends, but she didn't want that anyway. She got to talk to the new youth minister, Brandon, and enjoyed that. She said, "My friends actually respect that I didn't want them to sing to me, Mom." Ok, fine. I would have wanted my mom to tell my friends to sing to me. It wouldn't have embarrassed me at all. Actually, we had our youth group thing, Workcamp, during my birthday week every year during high school, so I did get sung to or mentioned, I believe during those weeks. Or at least one year I think my mom had one of the cooks, a friend of ours, have a special bowl of strawberries or something for me for my birthday. Anyway, I'm so different than Keturah is in that way. I'm like "Notice me! Notice me!" And she's like, "Don't notice me! Don't notice me!" Anyway, it's good to hear she spoke to Brandon. I hope that buds into a special relationship because it's important to respect your youth minister and look up to them. I know Justin had that with Luke Green during middle school at least. It was harder during high school because Luke wasn't really supposed to be the high school minister but was double duty with being in charge of everything and overseeing high school until they got one. And Chad was there for a year or so, but Justin didn't really get in the groove with Chad, I think because Benaiah didn't and because he had been so close to Luke. And now he'll only have a year with Brandon but not really because he's going to New Pal on Sunday nights and won't see Brandon at all. So Justin is kind of in la la land when it comes to high school youth group ministers. It's a good thing he's had consistent small group leaders. Without them, that group of guys would have totally fallen apart like all the other small groups have at Indian Creek in the youth minister. They seem to die out by senior year except for the girls that Lise Caldwell led and Justin's group. The graduating class of 2022 from Indian Creek's youth group that they shared on social media was less than a dozen students and that was girls and guys. That doesn't seem quite right given that dozens and dozens go to to CIY each year. So weird. I just don't know or understand. Benaiah's small group fell apart, too, except for a handful of them. They just start going separate ways. And I think it has to do with separating the kids by their grade levels. They should be interacting with other ages, older grades should be mentoring younger grades, and they somewhat do, but they don't necessarily mix together on a Sunday night. I don't know. I miss my old youth group. We worked together so beautifully and we were in different grades. I looked up to the kids a year or two or three ahead of me and I helped those under me coming up the ranks. I talked with everyone. We didn't segregate except for jr. high and sr. high. That meant that siblings were in the same group sometimes. Oh well. We lived just fine. It's how the world works. Anyway, all that to say. We'll see how the next few months pan out. I think we'll see some new dynamics here real soon.

- All is now quiet. Everybody is either in bed or in their quiet spaces, as it should be. And there is a pool with it's accessories in the garage! Eeek!  Homeschool movie last night! Pool shopping tonight! What a week! I owe the hubby huge accolades! And the biggest Father's Day card and giftcard to Home Depot on Sunday I can find! Something! Anything! I'll work on that tomorrow! Eek!

For a man who always was a late riser, it really impresses me that Jared is so disciplined now about getting up and out the door so early, and so early to get Justin to drive for an hour before both of them go to work. I used to be like that, and now I'm the total opposite. So now Jared gets to enjoy these kinds of views that I used to enjoy in high school, the sunrise. I enjoy the moonrise and very, very rarely, I've actually seen the first glimmer of the sun and then I go "Oh crap, it's 5:30am and I'm still awake. What have I done?! I did NOT just stay awake all night watching stupid videos, did I? Why yes, I did. I'm going to pay for this for the next two weeks! I better not complain about it because I did it to myself!" Anyway, get yourself a guy that blossoms later in life. It's amazing.

Like I said in my response, yup, this is me. It's gotten so bad. Even on days I'm more disciplined and I try to rush and push, it still doesn't work out right. I don't get it.

So I was up early and I posted about the IAHE used book group on several other groups and then one of the other volunteers decided to add all of her people from her group to that group, plus my posts did actually work, and within an hour, I had these 49 member requests. By the end of the day, I had approved 72 requests! You just never know how well your efforts are going to be within the FB algorithm on any given day on any given moment. You can try to plan and guess based on all kinds of factors, but it's just a guess. My goal is just to match up sellers and buyers. I have many friends who are trying to sell stuff. They people who will actually buy stuff. And a lot of people think they are going to get deep discounts like at garage sales. Well, that's not how it works. My selling friends want to get some money out of their barely used textbooks, plus there are shipping costs when it's done this way. So, we've tried to tell people this, but it's hard to keep everyone educated. Local in person sales are great, but when people don't sign up to be vendors and/or people don't show up to buy, it doesn't work. So, we work all the angles. I admin this group for the IAHE, so it's my little "baby" and I'm working hard to find ways to improve it. I haven't been able to do the rest of what I wanted to do this summer with it, yet, but I've gotten started with the project, so that's good.

It's true. And unfortunately, I'm the one who on the other side. I'm the one who makes others out to be villains in my story. It's because of the wounds in my past. And it's been a long, hard journey that I still have work on and past those barriers. And I honestly don't see that I put up barriers a lot of the time. I have to be told that I did. I've learned to accept other's help when they say that I have. I'm getting good at saying thank you for that advice. So that's a big step. But I have a lot of misconceptions about people. I stereotype people a lot. It's a stumbling block for me in relationships.

Socks slipped and hit his chin on his food bowl and couldn't get back up tonight or the night before. We think it might be related to the new medication so I looked it up. Sure enough, because of the relaxation properties for the muscles and nerves, it can cause weakness. I've always found this medication helpful for my restless legs and the grogginess it brings helps me fall asleep but maybe it's too much for Socks. Maybe it makes him stumble too much. He's actually getting 2, 100mg caplets a day, so we can back it down to 1, to see if that changes any overall unsteadiness. And then none. I only started it because of how his handquarters seemed to be in more pain. But the vet said we could go over the max dose on pain med and if that's the case, I would be ok with doing that and dropping this med. It's just medication. I'm great at going on and off medication to see what works. It just takes time and patience to let the body adjust. A lot of people don't have the patience to go through the side effects fully until the body stabilizes itself. They feel the first side effect and say, "Nope, not doing that." and then stop without letting it subside. It's why doctors do follow up appointments in 1 month for most meds. It takes that long for most side effects to go away and meds to take their full effect. Unless it's something like antibiotics or a side effect like hives or allergic reactions. Then you'd call sooner. So, we'll see. But it was very, very scary to see Socks slip like that. We didn't know if we were losing him for real, or what. I slept on the couch just in case he started losing bladder control or had heart issues or breathing issues. I really didn't think he would, but just in case. We did put a rug in front of his food dish now so he at least his front legs won't slip so he can eat and drink.

Not only did Jared endure a homeschooling movie on Tuesday, but he scored a pool for us on Wednesday! When he said he saw pools at Meijer for $300, I told him I would go look at them with him and in my mind, I was totally going to debunk him and show him how they don't contain everything we need and there was no way we were going to buy something other than the one I had picked out on Amazon. So, I just met him there in the car after he took Abishai to Tang Soo Do. He was in the van. Well, we didn't find the $300 ones, but we did find this one, which was the EXACT same one that was in the listing of several pools that I was looking at on Amazon! AND it was cheaper! He scored big time! I wanted the slightly bigger one that Amazon had and Meijer didn't have. He wanted the smaller one, but we compromised with this one in the middle that had the sand filter, 16 ft by 48inch sides, 42 inch water height, which is what Kellie has for height, and I think width as well. It comes with a ladder, tarp for under the pool, and the solar cover. All for $800! That, my friends, is a steal!

Same brand, same model, everything! I can't believe it! Go, Meijer! Go, Jared for finding it! I can't believe he had listened so well and had actually looked at the listing I had sent him. Especially after he kept saying no, we aren't getting a pool. And he has talked to the electrician, too. So amazing!

And so, we bought it! We didn't expect to buy a pool tonight! In fact, we only budgeted enough time to look at it and discuss it. The kids had other activities to go to. You can read about it in the blog post. Justin had to pull the cart by pulling the pool box with Jared standing on the cart as the counterweight. We looked ridiculous, but it worked.

About 90 minutes later, we got it loaded up onto the truck, had our kids collected back from their two social activities, and were driving away from Meijer. What an adventure! And now we have a real pool sitting in our garage, waiting for Mr. Rick to come and fix the electrical outlet issue before we even attempt to do anything to set it up. And in J6 family style, I don't expect this to be done in an instant. Jared or I will get it scheduled soon, but we've both been stupid busy lately, too. We couldn't pass up the price, and that's the main thing. I had planned to have a pool for the whole season, but you know what, who cares. We've made progress. I'm content enough. It's happening. On the J6 timetable as always. Slow and steady. As it happens. And we've already been swimming for the year, too. And we'll go to a big pool on Friday. It's not like we are totally missing out. We are all very excited.

Thursday

- Happy 14th birthday, Keturah! She might be a middle child, she hasn't been completely forgotten today like she was last year or in years' past. I did ask her small group to sing to her last night at the late night Ritters' thing. But she saw me post that and told them not to. Abishai, Jared, and I did wake her up with singing Happy Birthday, and she smiled. We ended up going to our haircut appointment early, which was just now Abishai and Keturah and Justin had to be rescheduled, so I took them out to eat where she wanted, McDonald's, so she could get a Buzz Lightyear McDonald's Happy Meal toy, and then to Dairy Queen for a very cherry Blizzard treat. She binge watched all 3 of the Hobbit movies and has started on The Lord of the Rings trilogy using my old laptop. She went for a lap around the block on her roller blades. I told her that Daddy can take her out to see the new Buzz Lightyear animated movie sometime this weekend. She's had access to her dog all day to love on. She can stay up until she actually turns 14 at 11:17pm if she wants to. Her new Converse brand shoes were supposed to arrive today, but they didn't show up. They are currently sitting in Greenwood at a FedEx depot somewhere, lol. Ok then. I could go pick them up myself you know. They will be here tomorrow and I've put a text alert on my phone for them. So, I think she's had a decent birthday for once.

- For the rest of us, it's been a little topsy turvy, but we've survived. It's cooled off slightly, aka, down to like 92 degrees for a high today. Justin and Jared went to work after doing an hour of driving. Like I said, we were supposed to have haircuts for all three kids after Justin's work, but our hairdresser had a cancellation and could move us up so I took the younger two in. That way she could get her son to his tuba lesson and then her husband didn't have to leave work early. I totally get it. Then we arranged for me to get Justin in during one of her other appointments where she has to wait for her client's hair color to set. So, it's all good. We figured it out and everybody is happy. Meanwhile, I was typing to Jared and forgot to pick up Justin at 2:30. When he texted me at 2:39, Kellie was calling me so I picked up her call. She said she was at her mom's nearby and was wondering if she could drop of Kya for the afternoon because she was bored. I said sure, but I hadn't picked up Justin yet. So Kellie offered to do that and bring them both back here. Awesome! Kellie was all dirty from mowing her mom's yard, so no hugs today, but that's exactly how BFF's should work. Last minute phone calls and texts, "Hey, I'm nearby, can I?...." Ah, this is what I've longed for my whole life! I finally had it on PEI, and I finally have it again here in Indiana. "Here, let me just swing by and drop off...pick up....do this...." Yup, it feels so good! So Kya was here with Justin, Keturah was working through the Hobbit movies, and Abishai as back on some more TV time.

- I reduced Abishai's medication to 4ml today and he was less groggy today, but still chilled out. I'm not sure why I hadn't seen it before. We should have stuck with the 4ml dose. When I call to get it refilled, I'll ask the doctor for the 4ml chewables as well as ask the question about using only when needed or do I need to use it every day like mine. Abishai bounced back quicker today, too, and was able to communicate better with Jennae at the salon about his hair and find the chickens. He was much better to handle and not too clingy and mopey. 4mL looks to be perfect. I don't think you can go any lower. Time to test it out on some sit down activities. If we decide to actually stay home and not just watch TV. But I've been trying to catch up on the blog and do my IAHE stuff, so I can't be doing that and playing with him, and because my plans keep changing this week and I've been off physically with migraines and sunburns and who knows what, it just hasn't gone well. So Abishai's had a bit more TV time here yesterday and today. We'll be going swimming again tomorrow at the big pool, so that will make up for the lack of physical activity today. He also did have Tang Soo Do tonight, so that helps with being physical active on the hot days. The studio is air conditioned and they have a big floor fan so the kids get hot, but not to the point of heat exhaustion like if they were outside. That's why I've been a bit more lenient at home. And Abishai has been working hard with me about this medication stuff and the constant changing schedule and he rotates what he's watching and on what device. And he does read and play Lego, too. He tries so hard. It's hard not to let him go ahead with more screen time. It's just so hot. What else can a little guy do without their mom to pull out the art supplies and do things with him? With big sister engrossed in her binge watching and big brother at work, there's no one to play with either. And I can't arrange play dates for every day of the week. Some days are lazy summer days for chilling and binge watching.

- And then I watched the IAHE Rep meeting I missed on Tuesday night because the movie (I bought the movie tix without realizing we had a mtg because it wasn't written down on my calendar!). It wasn't as exciting as I had hoped for. The "Big 3" were on a two day retreat, so they joined in and introduced themselves to the new people gave us an update on what's going politically speaking and some basics about who they are and what they do. We did get an update about our ties with HSLDA. All is good, it's just a changeover in who works with us. And staying always vigilant with who we work with in the state legislature. Great for newbies, some new stuff to hear, not helpful to me right now, even with talking about high school things. Sigh. Stuff to follow up on for sure. But that's another day's work. I'm glad I could put it on fast forward. Then it was time to get dinner ready.

- Time to rush putting rotting meat in the ovens and rotting potatoes in the air fryer. Justin vacuumed for Keturah since it's her birthday. And then he did the big trash after Abishai did the little trash. Abishai had already changed into his Tang Soo Do t-shirt. I'm glad he's really excited to go to his class. It makes the 5pm dinner time rush worth it. I really despise the shorter afternoons we've had for the last 5mos and I feel like I still don't have a good routine with them. I wake up fine enough to get breakfast done in a good time, but dwaddle long enough to have breakfast late and then lunch is late and then I don't want to start making dinner at 4pm. I don't want to eat at 5pm myself. So I didn't tonight. And then I left the food out on purpose because I thought I'd be hungry and go back and eat in a bit when I took a break from writing up this blog. Well, I never took a break because I got into the zone. So Jared came home from dropping Kya off and taking Justin to the bank to drop off his paycheck and suddenly it was 9:30pm. And I'm like, shoot, I never put the food away! And here he is, for a third night in a row, earning brownie points, putting the food away after driving for more than an hour. It's my job to clean up supper. I mean I did make supper, but I do the domestics for the most part. He earns the money. I like when he does it, but I've never really expected him to do it. My dad didn't do it. Gary doesn't do it most of the time. We run mostly traditional patriarchal households where the men work, the women cook and clean. Men can jump in and help and they often do, but we don't expect them to. And vice versa, we can go out and work, but typically we don't earn the big bucks. We stay home with the babies. And we generally enjoy it and don't mind it. It's never forced one way or the other. It's just something we do and it has worked out. So, anyway, I always feel bad when I was going to do something like put away food and then forgot to do it. Now, the question is, am I going to be hungry later? We'll see. I had that McDonald's large cafe' mocha frappe with tons of caffeine and sugar and then a caffeinated bar with a few calories plus chocolate covered coffee beans, so I just don't feel hungry when I'm caffeinated and it's hot. But i'll tank here soon and will be looking for something. Mark my words.

- All is well. Everyone is in their places. Keturah's working on whatever waiting for her birth time at 11:17. Jared's off to bed soon because of his Friday early morning accountability group. Justin is chilling in the garage on his video games which he hasn't had all day. Abishai went straight to bed a little after 8pm with no problems. Tomorrow, we hit up the Shelbyville pool. A new mom and 8 yr old is coming and despite feeling like crap and not wanting to be in the sun again, I will go and make her feel welcome. The 8 yr old doesn't seem well yet, just like Abishai, so hopefully they will hit it off and we can just sit and relax and watch them. So, we'll see! Jared can't come with us, which is a bummer, but I'll put my big girl pants on and do my best. And then I have Mom's Night out. Keturah and Daddy might to go that Buzz movie, leaving Justin and Abishai home alone, fun times! And then Saturday is the free air show! At least the high will be 82 degrees. That's manageable And then it's Father's Day! Can't forget that one of course! 

- And I'm utterly exhausted. And my doggy doesn't feel well. And I just want to be there for him and cry over him. I told Jared that I'm going to be the one making any final decisions since it's been up to me to make all the other decisions. I know it's been me driving everything with the dog since day 1, but I'm getting nervous that Jared will step in and push euthanasia before I'm ready. And I know enough to know when it's time, hopefully. I just need someone to stay quiet and hold my hand through it. It's going to be absolutely mind blowing to have to go through it. I'm scared to death. And I'm scared of death and the moment of death being my decision. But I want to be the one to decide that. So, I cried after I said that and I felt better. I had been holding that in all week after Socks' slipping accident. He needs encouragement and love right now. That's all. One day at a time.

A great way to wake up on your birthday, with earphones, your phone, YouTube, and your doggy beside you.

Abishai wanted his hair long in the front so he could fling it like his big brother's. And all I could imagine in my head was all the celebrities we teens had crushes on that had hairstyles like this that Justin or Abishai could easily pull off. This is actually not Chris Hemsworth. This is his brother. But I did download photos of both of them because they actually currently rock the '90's hairstyle today!

I've seen this meme before, but it's totally true! See! This is what I envision in my head! These are the kids/tweens/teens we crushed on! And Justin and Abishai fling their hair like these boys did!

Even Michael W. Smith tried it out for a couple of years in the late '90's. It didn't quite suit him so he went back to his other side swept hairstyle i loved and he's had ever since. Except for when he went super short and had blonde "tips" on the ends of his hair. That was also sometime in the '90's and that was a very popular '90's hairstyle on young men. Mind you, by this point, Michael W. Smith was 35ish and on his way to age 40. So, time to upgrade to being more midlife and a dad like figure to these young people growing up and less a peer. That's his wife Debbie of course, too.

I sent this to Kellie because it totally describes her.

Speaking of '90's, Abishai watched Madame Blueberry and a couple of other Veggietales on one of our DVD's today. He fast fowarded through Madame Blueberry because he said it was too boring or scary. He stuck with all of the Esther story though.

We own an original Madame Blueberry VHS circa 1998. Yes, it came from a Christian bookstore, not eBay. I purchased it, yes, in 1998. Jared remembers it playing on a loop when he worked for the Christian book store. Benaiah and Justin used to watch it on this VHS version. I took it to college and watch it for comic relief, it was a thing to do back then. This is 25 years old!

And if that wasn't enough, this one is from 1993. And it, too, was purchased in the flesh at the brick and mortar Christian book sale when it was first relased. That's nearly 30 years ago! Time flies!  Crazy town!

Abishai with his big boy haircut with a longer front fringe so he can grow out the fringe (or bangs) and he can fling it like his big brothers. He looks so much older now!

Smile, Keturah, it's your birthday! McDonald's for lunch, her choose. She opted out of Chick Fil A Culver's, Wendy's and went straight in her mind to go to McDonald's. She got a Big Mac and a large fry. She didn't eat the fries. We got this wolfed down pretty quickly. Then it was off to Dairy Queen to get the queen herself and Justin some blizzards to finish off the treats for the day. She wanted to dip the remainder of her fries in her sweet treat. Fun stuff!

- Topsy Turvy day but it turned out to be great!

Friday - Pool Day in Shelbyville

- Justin, Abishai, and I skipped our regular park day morning and met up with our a few of our homeschooling friends at the Shelbyville pool instead. I begged and pleaded for Keturah to come with us and she refused. The old laptop refused to cooperate for her, so she went on my new laptop without permission, so I had to punish her and take the Lord of the Rings DVD's with me because of that and because of her attitude and because she refused to go swimming with us.She ended up watching other things on her phone while we were gone. I've struggled with her quite a bit this week and just gave up, again, on pushing her to go. I didn't want to fight with her or her attitude, at the pool, so I let her stay home. Some don't agree with it, but most days, I come to a roadblock with myself and those that argue with me and I can't stand up to people. Part of it is that I don't want to get to the point of having to physically move that person to where I want them to go. I also don't want to yell and scream and argue because it literally gives me a headache or makes my headache worse and I don't need that either. It's a way of self preservation to stop. And thus, the person does win when I get to that point. So, I try to find a different punishment instead. Take away the electronic device, or the DVD's, right then and there. Or find a punishment when I get home. With Benaiah, I fought him at this age and because of our other situations, I was on mental and emotional overload and I could not spend time the time and energy to work out the problems with our relationship in this way. This time, it's different. The rest of our life is very stable, so I can save some mental energy to work on my relationship with Keturah and help her grow, with help from her counselor. So, I am hopeful. But in the meantime, I do have to protect myself and my social time with my friends. If I bring her along, all I will hear about is how she's bored and doesn't want to be there. It's not worth it. And today, it really wouldn't have been worth it because Abishai and I had a best time! Well, except for the last 15 minutes. That's when the day totally broke down.

- We spent 4 hours at the pool. The day was perfect! It wasn't blazingly hot, but just hot enough to be in the water for the kids. The adults could sit in the lounge chairs under the big umbrellas, enjoying the nice breeze and chat. I was able to talk to Kellie for awhile and rest but also to the new homeschooler who just moved here from Wisconsin, Amanda, I think her name was. She's the one with the autistic 8 yr old named Bryson. It seems like she is very willing to get involved right away so she's going to do just fine. This is going to be her first year homeschooling, too, I believe. She spoke a lot to Brenda, too, so I fell like we both made sure she was taken care of. Abishai and Bryson didn't hit it off, but that's ok. It's hard to in a situation with lots of movement and lots of chaos. Maybe when we go to a regular park day. 

- Abishai was in the pool for the most part by himself. A good portion of the the pool was 3ft 6 in to 4 ft and since he's grown a ton, he was able to touch the bottom and still have his chin and mouth above the water. They technically don't allow water wings, but several kids were still wearing them. What Abishai ended up doing for most of the 4 hours was jumping into the pool from the side near two different ladders, mostly in a pencil or cannon ball type style dive. I think he did ask the lifeguard(s) if that was ok. Either that, or, they didn't mind as long as he watched for other kids. I caught him running on the deck a couple of times, so I made sure to tell him no running in front of the life guards. This pool tends to be a little bit lax in the rules as long as everyone is having fun and parents are paying attention. The main things are being covered like no running, no climbing up slides, don't hang on the rope separating different areas, etc. For example, it didn't say yes or no if a parent could go down with a child that is under the height for the water slide, but they let us. And the water wing thing. And bringing in outside food. No one gets caught for that. I still obey that rule for the most part. I only bring in my snacks because I know I can't eat from a concession stand and can explain why to someone asking if I get caught. The prices at the concession stand were very reasonable anyway, $1-5 for most things. I can handle that. The entrance fee was $5 per person. 

- But back to Abishai. I think he probably jumped into the pool 300 times or more. No joke. He would jump in, swim to the side, climb the ladder, get out, and do it again, and again, and again, and when I was filming him, the whole routine took way less than 30 seconds. He would check in with me every 15-20 minutes to see if I would take him down the slide or tell me he was hungry and if I said wait a minute, I'm talking, he wouldn't bother waiting, but go back out and jump for another 15 minutes. Occasionally he would go over the young kiddie area with little slide and sprinklers. But that's about it. For 4 hours. Back and forth. And he didn't get bored. When it was time to leave, he refused to get out. He even blamed me for his disobedience because I had brought him to somewhere that was fun! I'm no, buddy, that's NOT how this works! I did catch him and give him a 5 minute warning. But after about 15 minutes of staring him down and motioning him to come over to me, and him clearly seeing him and vanishing to the opposite end of the pool, I was livid. Both Justin and I had already changed out of our swimsuits. I was just about to have Justin changed back into his swimsuit but I had him yell one more time at Abishai that he was going to be grounded from screen time or rather he was already grounded from screen time now. That was the only thing that got Abishai to stop and come in. Those moments of disobedience totally soiled the whole afternoon of fun we had because I was exhausted, hungry, and had to be back at certain time. Oh, and I was embarrassed, especially after a friend had called me out about my parenting style. It wasn't pretty.

- One last bit about the fun Abishai and I had. I did get in the water and took him down the water slide 5 times. That was the highlight of the day! It was the perfect speed for me! I'm glad he didn't mind it was a tad slower than maybe it could have been. I also did spend some time in the water while he was jumping, watching him jump, and then chasing him from one ladder to the other. I also had worn a two piece bathing suit that restrict my middle section so much and I made sure to put on my long sleeve swim suit and put on sunscreen on my exposed body parts. I also made sure Abishai was also lotioned up before we left the house. Justin didn't lotion up until we got there, which wasn't smart because then it didn't have time to really sink in and start working. Justin came home with a slight sunburn. He did reapply his sunscreen a time or two, but he wasn't quite dry when he did it. So, I'm not sure it really stuck or helped. It was just him, Kya, and Caiden today, but they had a good time bobbing up and down in the pool and going down the slide a few times. They got out when they were hungry and we fed them in our various ways. And then back in they went for another couple of hours. Molly and her crew weren't there because they have Covid again! Otherwise they would have had a great time with them, too. 

- So after Abishai's shennigans, we came straight home. I threw all the leftovers out on the countertop to see if we had enough, and we did. And then I went to lay down and figure out if Mom's Night Out was on or not. The ladies went back and forth on it for awhile and we officially canceled it but then someone jumped on and said, "Wait a minute!  I didn't get to be part of the conversation! I want to go!" and because one of our friends who had moved away was in town and was still up for meeting, she, this lady, and another lady got together. And then, I took a little nap while Jared fed the kids. I was just done with the world, with the kids, with everything for the week. I hadn't eaten much so I was technically in a fasting period so my stomach wasn't quite hurting or hungry. And I didn't want to sit with the family given what had happened earlier and that I was supposed to be out with the moms. I needed my brain to clear. So, I just went to sleep. Meanwhile, Jared did make me some Chinese rice noodles, warmed up some salmon, and brought over some raw carrots. He sat with me while I ate and then just let me lean on him for a little bit. And that's all I wanted. I was out of thinking power and words so I couldn't write the blog. I  went online and watched my Facebook videos, cleaned up my email inboxes, and watched my TV show. I don't remember really what happened in the TV show because I was half asleep. I didn't want to play my video games, my office chair was uncomfortable, my desk was unappealing, so I went to bed by 1:30am. I know, I could have gone to bed even earlier. Bad habits die hard. I think I need to really revamp my desk space because it's boring and I wouldn't say useless, I know what is here and why it is here, but I'm not getting to certain things, and it's just blech. I need a do over. I have time next week to tackle it. Maybe take everything off and start fresh. I don't know. I have some shelves behind me now that I could store some things in that don't really need to be on my desk. And there are things I need to act on or remove or throw away. So, I'll add that to my summer clean up list.

- Speaking of, I just thought of something for Justin's Legos. Keturah didn't need the plastic shelving anymore, but they are lightweight enough that they could possible go on top of the Lego table in Justin's room towards the wall. Keturah had them on top of a bookcase, so they are short enough to go on something. And they are wide and open, perfect for displaying Lego sets. That way we don't have to drill into the wall and Justin can get his sets up vertically, making room for in progress items. I can help him sort by theme. I also need to remove Benaiah's things from the other shelves, too. And tackle the backroom. Those are my priorities this next week. But I have to be home to do them. And I will be. I just chose to be busy this week and front load the summer with the bucket list for once. Yeah!

Bwahahahaha!

Gorgeous! Time to mow!

I spy a lump. What is this lump made of?

It's made of Abishai!

I got a bit of backlash when I posted this one, particularly from someone who lived in a rural area. And sure, maybe out in the boonies the schools in the Midwest the schools can hold on to more traditional values a tad longer, but they will continue to push the agenda further and further. And you have to think of a wider audience that somewhat like Kirk Cameron and I personally speak to. I live in a suburb and my audience, the area I represent, is the city. And, I have more than 1,000 friends on Facebook from all over the world. I have friends in a very post modern Europe, which have no connection to a church and where homeschooling is banned. I don't speak to rural America only. Kirk Cameron still lives in Beverly Hills or somewhere in California. We have to be watch out for the wolf in sheep's clothing. Ever vigilant. Cautious, not in a panic.

Trying to convince Keturah to go to the town pool is a daunting task. In the end, we left her home. She used to love to swim. I don't know what's gotten into her.

My flower beds are on point this year! We've gotten just the right amount of rain this year and the soil must have the right mixture of ingredients. They are incredibly vibrant!

Pool time! This kid went the whole time without his water wings! It took him about 15-30 seconds to jump into the pool, get over to the ladder or side, climb back out and jump in again. I think he did it literally 300-400 times. I'm not joking. He moved back and forth in the are I could see him that was 3 ft 6 inches, and then the rest of the pool was about 4 ft. He could technically touch, but I'm glad he stayed mostly in the 3 ft 6 inch part. He had to jump in feet first. The lifeguards were right there and they never had to blow the whistle on him so he must have talked to them and made sure it was ok and everything.

Abishai wasn't tall enough to go down the water slide by himself so I had to go with him. The water was warm at the top, which was helpful because you were kind of cold exposed to all the wind up there. We did it 5 times. I know he wanted to do more but the hardest part for me was climbing the stairs. It was the perfect speed for us. Next year he'll be tall enough to go by himself. He was only like 1 1/2 in too short. He did play in the kiddie playground area bit, too.

Cheap lunch by the pool side. Two slushies and a slice a pizza for a total of $5. That's my kind of price! Oh, and it cost $5 a person to get in. So all told we spent $20 for today's fun.

Ah, that hits the spots! No worries about the sugar calories since you're playing so hard in the pool.  We were good people and obeyed the signs that said no outside food or drink. Our friends were not. We did bring our own water bottles for sanitary reasons and because they hold more and we can close them, etc.

Little bugger man kept running away from me when it was time to start winding down the fun.

Everything was honky dory until wee man literally saw me and swam to the other side of the pool. Justin and I had already changed our clothes so we couldn't go after him. I sent Justin to the other side on the pool deck and I stood on this side. When that didn't work, Justin got in the water close enough to yell at Abishai, "You're grounded from screen time!" That finally did the trick. But it was the worst 15 minutes of embarrassing parenting of my life! It was mortifying for Justin, too. We had had such a great day and for Abishai to disobey in such a profound way was awful. And THEN Abishai said, "Well, if you hadn't brought me here, I wouldn't have had so much fun and wouldn't have wanted to stay." Well, now, boy, don't you talk to me like that. Abishai's wit and smarts are just too much. I was too angry to laugh this time though. And no, he didn't get screen time. I definitely followed through on that punishment.

At home, Keturah got her birthday card from the cousins. Everly made it from pressed flowers!

And Keturah's birthday gift from us came! Name brand Converse high tops! There's NO pink in them, they are just a light colored camouflage pattern.

What a wonderful quote! I need to take this one to heart!

I always seem to forget that while my kids are in this season of getting older and graduating, so are all the other kids we've known from other places are getting older and/or graduating. This is Nicolas (yes, without the H) Dickieson from PEI. He was just, well, a little guy when we met him 10 years ago on PEI. And now, he's, well, big! And done with high school! And, yeah! One of my absolute favorite families on the Island. They know our story fairly well. Kerry teaches at Nicolas' school as wonderful kindergarten teacher and Brenton is the one who is the C.S. Lewis guru complete with his Ph.D. in Lewis studies (or whatever facet of Lewis he did his thesis on). And Brenton is the homegrown Island guy with loads of unique stories to tell about growing up, but such a deep thinker that it is hard to talk to him sometimes and following his tweets is just, um, wow. Nicolas is a musician and I'm sure impressive in his education as well. I'm not sure where he's off to. But he was always great to talk to and hang out with our boys. I miss this family so much! So humble, yet super smart! Lovers of Jesus most of all!

There's the cool cloud formation the weather man talked about! Jared captured it himself!

Saturday - Indy Air Show

- After a good 12 year hiatus for us, we finally made it back to the Indy Air Show, or whatever they call it now. I think it was called the CAF Wings over Indy.  http://www.wingsoverindy.com/ It's now free, but they ask heavily for donations for down syndrome. I will look it up later to donate to the cause. It was too chaotic today to do that bit plus we didn't have cash on us for this thing or that. You see, it was the most gorgeous weather for an air show I have ever seen! 72 degrees, bright blue skies, wind blowing in the right direction at the right speed keeping everybody at the right temperature. It was extermely crowded. Jared hadn't filled the gas tank before we left and the gas light came on halfway there. Then we hit stopped traffic right before the Indianapolis Executive Airport. It took us over an hour to get there when normally it would have taken 40 minutes. Not nice. It was actually in Zionsville, northwest of Carmel, about 11 on the clock face. Some consider Carmel and Zionsville still a suburb of Indianapolis. But if you do that, you need to consider Greenwood and Franklin, suburbs, and New Pal and Mt. Comfort and maybe even Greenfield and Whtieland. Anyway, it was far up there, but it was a pleasant drive. And we made it without running out of gas. We ended up with a great parking spot, too.

- I had told the kids what the weekends in June looked like and I had assumed that they would take it to mean that they were indeed involved in those events, too. Well, because I didn't make it 100% clear that this child or that child would be going, it came as a surprise to Justin specifically that he was on deck to come with us today. I guess I had assumed that since we had gone to the air shows in the past as a family, that they older kids would understand that they were going with us today. Plus, I had mentioned that it was part or all of Dad's Father's Day gift (although it didn't cost us any money directly). So, I wasn't clear enough and Justin wasn't putting two and two together no matter of my inconsistency. Bad plan. He was told 15 minutes before we left that he was going. Keturah didn't throw a fuss about going because she threw her fit yesterday. And Abishai will do whatever Daddy is doing. Also, Justin had gotten a text from Grandpa that morning about doing yardwork. And thankfully, Justin said no. Grandpa, you can't schedule yard wrok at the last minute. Yes, we've been home most Saturdays for most of our lives together, but you, too, need to realize that we are in a season of busyness. You have to plan days in advance. And if you're only doing it to help out the grandkids, well, it's obviously not helping them if you only need them when they are busy.

 - Since the airshow was free, there was no one at the entrances to the event, so we walked right in a small gate. You could have brought in your own food and no one would have checked it. We of course had looked online and followed the rules and only put a small cooler of food in the car for the ride home. We brought camping chairs to sit on but really, we didn't need them, except for the 15 minute actual airshow bits at the top of every hour. There was a lot of walking around and standing in line. Abishai liked to set out his chair to sit on while standing in line. My feet did hurt after standing for most of 4 hours, which is pretty typical even when wearing my "field trip" sneakers. We were on concrete the whole time, too. Like I said, it was crowded, but we found ways to just wait until certain lines were shorter, like in the bounce house place. I'd take Abishai to a different bounce house and then go back to the one he wanted to use in the first place and there wouldn't be a line where once there was a huge line. But poor Justin, Keturah, and Jared got stuck in the longest line for the food truck there ever was. Actually, I have heard worse. It took a good 30-45 minutes to get up there to order food and then another 1hr or more to receive the food. I just don't understand how it can take that long to make a chicken patty, fries, onion rings, and chicken tenders. Dunk them in the basket, and into the frying oil for 4 minutes and then out they come. How can they get so behind every time at every event? Surely they've learned their lesson and asked a restaurant like Chick Fil A how to improve their efforts? Or hired more people? Something. And the kids said the food was bland. AND it cost $35!!!! It was super frustrating because it was when the best bits of the airshow was going on and the kids were missing the part I wanted them to see. I had already eaten my snack and couldn't wait any longer to see the show. So I left one kid holding down the table in the eating area and I went out by myself to the viewing area near the runway. Probably 15 minutes later, everyone else joined me and we watched the 3pm show together. It just was a tough ending to the day. 

- But before that, we did get to go around and view the planes. Because this airport actually holds a lot more of the private jets, especially the bigger ones like the Colts fly on, we got to see those, and some other stunt planes and more modern planes than we did the old planes. That part was pretty disappointing for Jared and I. We missed being able to climb into the big old warbirds and seeing the fighters. There was just a couple of those. They did have an honorary flight with a few of them for the veterans and showed a couple of maneuvers like this cool flyover with about 9 or so of them in a flying V with the vapors on. There were small planes from 3 different colleges, Vincennes, Indiana State University, and one other, because I think they have programs for pilots or something. I even sat in the ISU one to see if I could handle being in the air in one, and I mean, you do sit pretty far down into the bucket seat, but still, there's not much between you and open sky. I'm just not sure. I definitely couldn't do the Huey helicopter rides they were doing all day where all you have is a seatbelt and the side doors are wide open. Nope. Nada. Can't get me up there! Maybe Abishai can do that when he's bigger and I'm NOT there watching. Take selfies and photos, but I can't watch. I don't want to be there if you sky dive either. Please no. I just can't. I would need to distract myself by doing something else in a different place entirely.

- I was disappointed that the kids really didn't show any interest in the planes. I guess I was trying to recreate something that wasn't really there to begin with. Going to the air show was something we did several times when they were young and Jared and I were really the ones into it and appreciated it. We think that maybe when Benaiah and Justin were 5 years old that they were really into it, but other than that, they didn't care. Jared said thank you for thinking of him and for insisting that we went. He had a good time and he went because I wanted to take him and wanted to take the kids. For him, it wasn't about seeing a specific plane because his favorites weren't there. He was very attentive to my needs and the kids' needs. That was very helpful in containing the chaos I feel when we are out and the kids are well, complaining the whole time. Justin didn't know we were going, so he was Mr. Grumpy face the whole time. It made me feel very frustrated and I did just turn away from him and cut him off every time he opened his mouth. I wasn't going to listen to his sob story because today wasn't about him. Not the best tactic. But the attitudes wear me out more than the walking at an event. And teens are just as bad for wearing me out as a tired and worn out toddler. They whine about food, feet hurting, wanting to go home, being tired, are we done yet, as as much as a 3 year old does. And they do it in front of adults, too. At least mine do. Which, I guess it's good to not feel like you have to bottle up your feelings in front of strangers, but at the same time, it's super embarrassing as a parent with social anxiety. 

- We started out strong, and then we hit a wall. And I was done. Time to make a quick exit, stage left. Especially when Abishai thought we hadn't gone into each bounce house. Well, that might actually be true. There might have been one extra one in the corner, but it was the very basic one that is at every event the church does. We went to all the other cool ones that he's never seen before. They had the bounce houses set up in one of the hangars, along with face painting and balloon animals. That was the other thing. They had that stuff, plus some fire trucks, and of course the food trucks, and various plane related organizations all set up on the grounds, which is fine. I'm glad it's a family friendly event. But I felt that it then made the event more geared towards the younger crowd and not geared the actual plane enthusiasts. It was a fundraiser for down syndrome, so if that was the aim of their event to entice young people to start looking into being pilots, they are hitting their target audience. If they had wanted to replace the previous Indy Airshow and keep those participants who are interested in the specs of the planes and the history and commemorating the fallen, etc., they missed their target.

- So, for us, it wasn't quite the same. Similar, but not quite. I don't know if we'll go again or look for something else that is closer to what we liked before. It was more of a reminder to me that life just isn't the same as it was. Benaiah is missing for one. We only had 2 summers to be a family of 6, and we really blew it. The first summer, Abishai was tiny and the 2nd summer, we were moving back here and couldn't be a family of 6, really. And the next summer, Benaiah was working 40 hrs a week. I grieve that we didn't have that time together. I griever all the time over it. I try to create these trips and moments and then they don't go as planned for some reason or another. And now Justin is aging out and really should be working full time this summer like Benaiah did. We are using borrowed time with him. I'm basically going with, "Well, you are not working, so I'm going to use all your free time to make memories instead." But then he resents me for pushing him to do things he doesn't want to do, and yet I take him everywhere he wants to go. So, I typically leave a trip with some memories made, but some grief as well. At least Jared was there to help hold everything together this time. And to do the driving.

- And yes, we were able to get to a gas station in time to fill up and get home safely. Jared made a quick detour off a nearby exit to one of the Aldis to pick pizza for dinner. And a few other things. I didn't even have to unbuckle my seatbelt. And he came out with the perfect amount of meat and fresh and frozen vegetables and carbs that will get us through a good 5-7 days. You have no idea how much of a blessing that is when I'm so exhausted and my brain is so numb. It's so awesome that we've gotten to do a lot of the domestic stuff together and I can just trust that he can go in blind and pick up our usual things. It also helps that Aldi carries one main brand and we get the same things week to week. And Jared knows what is kosher because he pays attention. Now THAT is a good man! And THAT is why I took him to the air show. Because he deserves to have fun with his kids, even if they act like jerks half the time.

The photos uploaded backwards, but it doesn't really matter in the long run.

Indy Air Show YouTube Playlist

 

One of the stunt planes. We watched this one do all it's tricks. It was flown by an older gentlemen who actually thought he was all that and a bag of chips. I'm pretty sure we've seen him at other air shows. His tricks were pretty familiar. But as you'll see, they really were impressive. Jared explained some of them when we got home. He didn't fly as many G's as the F-18's in the Maverick movie but just doing those upside tricks would make anyone hurl. I would get just get so confused as to where I am in the sky. I do pretty well on land, but I would lose my sense of direction in the air and probably on the water if I didn't have land nearby.

Here's the other stunt plane I watched earlier while the kids and Jared were eating. It's pretty rad for sure.

Abishai took this photo. Oh my word. Suck it in, Melinda! Do I really look fat to the 7 year old? Yikes! Granted, that shirt is pretty tight on me and I don't usually where things that tight. This plane was one of the only ones on display that I recognize from other airshows as being popular in WWII. Oh, and Jared is definitely sucking in his stomach like he always does for photos. His gut is smaller than mine, but he fixes his posture to look like that.

End of show fly by pose. To hold that pose, wow. I can't imagine.

So many loops! I love when they use the "smoke" to make the contrails on purpose so you can see where they've flown. So cool!

They had helicopter rides all throughout the days. You basically had to buy the rides online before today because they sold out quickly. They did NOT shut the side doors, so you only had a seatbeat between you and the sky. I could NOT do that. And if Jared or the kids ever did that, I would not come with them or I would turn away and not watch. It would scare me to death that they or their sunglasses or shoes or something would fall out!

Flying through the remnants of his contrail he just made (see the loops below).

How high did he need to go for this stunt?

The end of 23 loops I think? Yes, he came down from the top and spun around 23 times! Like without the engine on or something. Ridiculous!

The start of the free fall and the corkscrew. Incredible!

Money shot!

A WWII plane just doing a loop around the airport showing that it can still fly.

The other stunt plane with barrels of gas to fuel it. Quite interesting to see how they really do fuel a plan on the tarmac from just barrels! I mean we have playsets that have these barrels but it's not every day you actually see it in action like this. In the regular airport, they have gas trucks of course because the jets take on much more fuel than these little planes.

Teens are over it! They weren't supposed to set up chairs here but somehow the volunteers missed them sitting down. We, adults, however, stood up.

We finally found a plane we could get in! I'm fairly certain we've been in one like this before.

Cockpit of course. We couldn't get in though.

Taking on passengers. I wonder if this one gives rides. Probably. I love Justin's look! Actually they all have a different "look" that suits their personalities.

A nice fly over in formation of all the planes, especially the historical ones, that flew in for this event. It takes a bit of maneuvering to get into formation.

As I was just hanging out and watching other planes in the air, I watched these two get ready to take off. And I was thinking about how this lady has to put her hair in a pony tail to fit under her helmet all while it whips around in the air. What an incredible privilege to fly such a precious historical machine. And wow, what an honor to be able to look out those hatches and down at the ground and to fly over our farm fields sharing with us something that flew in the war that kept us free. I'm sure there's less and less of these planes around and the people that actually care about them. We have fewer and fewer WWII vets. And those that are still around are extremely old now. It's their kids that are continuing to teach us. It's an honor and privilege to watch these planes fly. And although this event was more directed at getting teens and kids interested in flying in general, there are a few that were here to watch the planes that carried their comrades into battle. Or their parents. The history of planes could be seen everywhere from the open cockpit to designs like this to even more enclosed and safe cockpits. The most simple dials to the computer modules. It's amazing that just a few mm's of material separate us from the open sky. It scares me to death but it's thrilling for others.  I touch a plane and think, "This has been up there in the sky and touch the clouds! Oh my!" Fascinating.

Doing some rolls. This was the other guy I watched by myself while the kids and Jared finally got to eat.

Missionaries! They didn't have a brochure for me to bring home, but it looks like they had New Testaments that they might dropped into "closed" countries. But perhaps they do other things as well. But that's cool!

The most perfect weather ever for an air show! Usually it's near 90 with no breeze at all! We had the most gorgeous cool breeze and clear skies and perfect 74 degrees!

While Daddy, Justin, and Keturah were standing in the long line for food (and even longer line to receive the food), we stood in the very short lines to bounce on every bounce house they had. They were free, too. And if the line was a little long, we would just go the next one and circle back. They set them up in one of the airplane hangars which was perfect! You didn't have to worry about the hot sun beating down on you or the bounce houses getting too hot. Abishai insisted he go in all of them, including this one which was meant for the toddlers. They let him since no one was in line.

Axe throwing except the magnets or whatever that made them stick weren't very strong anymore. They didn't stick well at all.

Nice throw!

Punch bags in this one.

One of those long racing ones where you race the kid next to you.

A nice big slide.

This was a cool big army one with these dangling balls you tried to avoid and this thing in the middle you could bounce around and off of.

This it the plane that we went into later in the day.

The tiniest airplane you ever did see! Like who flies in this one?! I'm not sure. But I think it does fit a regular sized person. It's so cute!

It's only a tad taller than Abishai!

That's it. That's the seat and navigation controls. Not much to look at! I mean it's more than the Wright brothers had, but still. That's crazy!

It's nearly Abishai sized!

Bwahahaha! How dare I try to recreate a photo from years' past. Good grief those sour patch faces! Ok, they both said they were squinting, but I also know the teens didn't want to be there, so, try again, you two.

At least the plane looks shiny and happy.

We were noticing how the plane was made up of stiff cloth and not fiberglass. So, like the hemp cloth that the Wright brothers would have used. And then we got in trouble for touching things.

Wow, totally open cockpit!

More their style. Grounded. Hehehe.

The driver. Keturah is the navigator since Justin gets lost half of the time.

And Abishai definitely has the better aim.

WWII Honor Flight was the three planes that were on the tarmac area that was roped off.

In formation!

Sweet!

A training airplane from Indiana State University that we can actually sit in. It's so small! But it reminds us of Uncle Ed's airplane.

Yes, I did get in it because I wanted to see if I could tolerate a ride in one. You sit a lot deeper than I thought you would. So I could literally turn my head inward and hide and not see where we were going if I started getting scared. It's like riding in a vehicle. Except, EXCEPT, you only have a thin layer of metal between you AND THE SKY! And it's a long way down to the GROUND! Doesn't that freak you out?! No? Ok, you're crazy. I still don't think I could get up in one. Nope. I'm still scared. I will not go to any place where my children want to sky dive or bungee jump or whatever from a high place. I just can't. I will hug them tight, tell them to have fun, and say to stay safe. And then stay home and pray. I can't even got to take photos and videos of that stuff. I'm way too scared. Nope. Keep me on the ground please and thanks. Keturah looks like she would be a natural though.

Getting into formation.

Contemplating a change in future career planes are we? Maybe? Who knows, but it is an option if he wants. Well, if he would pay attention better it could be.

Regular pilot? Fighter pilot? Who knows. He's just cute!

Rolling on done the tarmac.

So that's why we brought chairs, eh? So we could sit down in long lines. You can tell you're the youngest child when.....Mommy should be the one sitting not you, kid. And we just got here! We had a long drive in the car, too! Come on lazy bones!

The teens look soooo excited to be here. Not! Justin had a 15 minute notice that he was even going today. Well, I had thought I told him earlier in the week, but he wasn't listening.

We got to watch some of the planes as they were coming into the airspace while we were in line to get in. It was a long wait.

Someone likes their lawn ornaments!

Lovely day for an air show!

Sunday - 

- We are all exhausted. Two days of being out in the warm sun for Abishai, Justin and I, and one day for Keturah and Jared, and we are all dragging. But, we just have to keep going. Keturah had worship team and then I guess she also had to help out extra with the other worship team or in her new 2's and 3's room or something, too. Justin was out of  bed for only 2 minutes when Grandma honked her horn telling them that she was in the driveway ready to pick them up. Abishai was raring to go in his "church uniform," his gray pants with the hole in the knee and his red shirt with stripes, and I didn't have the heart to make him change. I guess he sees Keturah and Justin and Daddy wear the same shirt week to week so he figures he needs to wear the same shirt, too. I mean, this does bother me, we do have many church outfits for him, and I don't want his teachers to think we are poor and don't have enough, but when you put it that way, that it's a "uniform" and just symbolizes in your mind that you're getting ready for church, kind of like putting on the armor of God, then ok, what can I do about that?  Not much.

- I opted to stay home and listen to both sermons thoroughly. I was thinking about taking a nap or showering or both. But then I also needed to spend an hour making one of the Every Plate meals because we were having dinner with Gary and Leah instead of lunch since Gary wasn't going to be back until 4pm from wherever he preached at this morning. I also didn't think I would stay awake during New Pal's sermon on Daniel 8, so I didn't want to embarrass myself this week like I did last week and nearly fall asleep sitting up! I instead drank coffee instead of tea and got to some journal writing. So I had a good morning at home for the most part. I played the "compare and contrast" game between the two churches, which is not a good game. So, I'll put that one aside. And I processed some more about my inadequacies of training up teens. I suck at being a mom of teens. I actually really do not like it at all. It has to do with my childhood traumas mostly, and being a teen during them. It just kind of sucks. And I feel like I was a successful mom until Benaiah was in 7th grade when things started falling apart. And that's about when I felt like I was fine as a kid and then I started having insecurities, too. So anyway, new stuff to explore and figure out and get better at. I'll never give up fully, but I do give up by the end of the day because I get tired, hit a wall, can't take any more verbal abuse from the teens (that's a big part of it, verbal abuse was part of my childhood from my father to my sister or my mother), etc.

- Lunch came out good. I switched out the hot sauce for the other sauce. Except, then I found out it had wheat in it! Who puts wheat with soy sauce to make a opaque looking Chinese sauce that still looks like soy sauce and call it panku sauce? What? I don't get it. But it was already in the meatballs and that was the only meat available, so I ate it anyway, hoping it was pretty diluted by then. We'll see how bad my pain is later. Abishai of course didn't like it, but that's too bad. I guess we could have offered him pizza. I just get tired of working around people's likes and dislikes. Some day they will be at other people's homes and they just have to eat what's in front of them. They can't be such picky eaters. He wasn't allowed to get into any other foods, either. I think Daddy finally finished Abishai's lunch and now he'll get to eat the Father's Day dinner that Grandma made. But he can't have any sweets at it. Sigh. That's the compromise I guess.

- Keturah had to mow after lunch because she was supposed to start mowing last night and she was too tired from walking around the air show. Of course, after she did one part, she said she was done until after supper. This was at 3pm. She still had 3 hrs until supper. I told her she could take a 30 minute break. She took a 60 minute break and then the mower wouldn't start. She had to wait another 30 minutes for Dad to start the mower. And she fussed some more. So instead of finishing the whole yard before dinner like she could have done today, she's only go the front yard done and a tiny bit of the back. Today is a little warmer than yesterday but tomorrow, we will be back up to 90 degrees. Grandma questioned why we were having her mow on a Sunday. Well, Grandma, lots of people do yardwork on Sundays. We work when we have time to work. We were out having fun yesterday, so we work today. We "rested" and "Sabbathed" aka spent time with family yesterday, so we do our work today. Of course Grandma still holds to the stricter traditions of no work on Sundays. I also redefine Sabbath and work, too. I actually "work" on Sunday because socializing is a different kind of "work" for me and it's exhausting. So Saturdays, although we do "work" according to the world's perspective, is actually more like a Sabbath to us because our work is restful, we work on our own stuff, we don't interact with many people, and we aren't doing things that are taxing our brains like the stuff we do during the week. We switch gears on Saturdays, focus on our J5/6 family, reconnect with each other as us, and our house. Then we separate and go our different ways starting on Sunday, which is the start of our actual work week, socializing, which for introverts, is hard work. It's not necessarily peaceful or restful or cup filling. It's exhausting and come Monday, we already need our first break from people. So we run our household very differently than most. We try not to do physical housework on a Sunday, but we were out on Saturday, so we squeeze it on Sunday while the weather was cooler. I just didn't expect Grandma to be so shocked still. We can always hear people mowing in our neighborhood on Sundays. Sometimes it's the only time they have to mow when they have kids in sports on Saturdays. It's not that unusual, really. Or if I've rested and listened to podcasts all day on Saturday, I'll be finishing up the blog or the IAHE newsletter or something else on Sunday afternoon. It doesn't matter when you Sabbath. Or really what you do or don't do. It's that you take the time to commune with God and then with God's people at least once per week.  Lighten up on the legality of it. I commune with God sometimes way better at home on a Sunday morning than at the church building and sometimes I need to be in the church building with the people. Sometimes I need to be having those conversations in person with friends during the week, and sometimes, I have a late night chat and encouragement session with someone (to me or towards them) over FB messenger that is totally God honoring and full of Scripture references (at least phrases from Scripture that we both know well). There's no right way or wrong way. So, yes, my daughter needed to mow rather than sit in her bed all afternoon watching junk videos on YouTube. She was serving the family by taking care of the house, blessing the house. Just like I blessed the house by standing for 3 hrs cooking the noon meal, folding and putting laundry, washing up after the meal, checking this week's calendar, cleaning up the couch, feeding the dog, and all the million and one things I do every single day, Sabbath or not. Chores are chores, regardless of the day of the week on the calendar. Jesus did away with those strict laws anyway.

 - The weather was so nice out tonight that we ate dinner on the deck! Hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, tossed salad, fruit salad, green beans, tomato and rice with pork sausage, and ice cream cake for dessert. The typical summer faire. The men got some Dad cards and Gary opened up a yard game from Aaron where you throw a frisbee into basically a round bin for points. There's also a slit on the side where if you get the frisbee in, you get more points. Gary obviously read all the instructions on how to play the game and then he cheated according to Keturah. I would have skipped the points and just let Abishai try to get it in. It's hard enough just to get it over to the bins. Lol. Anyway, now Gary and Leah have the whole plethora of up to date yard games that the younger generations like. I mean, the older generations must like them, too, otherwise they wouldn't have gotten them. We'll see how it goes. Maybe our kids will play outside more at their house with all these games around. They kind of grew up out of blowing bubbles with Grandma and Grandpa and riding bikes down the driveway. 

- Dinner conversation centered around today's sermon at Indian Creek on unity, which to me was yes, very pointed, but nothing really out of the ordinary from what Gary would have said about it. Benaiah was all hyped up about what Dan said. Benaiah thinks Dan and the church is where it's all that, and that may be true. I just did a little calculation by looking at Indian Creek's current staff. First of all, I pulled up the staff directly and I had no clue how much changeover there has been in the last 6 months. So much changeover that there isn't pictures for some of the spots and I have no clue who these people are by there names alone. I jotted down how many people were our age and had children around our older kids' ages. Only about 25% of the current staff our age or older and have kids around our kids' older kids ages. That number was closer to 50% just a few years ago. No wonder I feel like the millennials are taking over! It's because they are! And I did this because it was announced that Tom Harrigan and his wife are leaving to go preach at another church. They are just a few years older than us and they are like the only other couple I sort of trust in the staff. Poof! Gone! I think I left just in time before the 20 yr olds and 30 year olds take over for good. No wonder I feel so left out. They changed the staff, they've now changed the aesthetic, they all drink spiritual milk because they grew up on spiritual milk in the 90's and early 2000's, and they aren't ready for the deep stuff. Well, let them all grow together as one unit. I don't have time and energy to play mentor there anymore. And, no wonder they are short on volunteers. There are dozens upon dozens like me who have left, not just on these minor things that were talked about in the sermon today, but because we were crowded out by the next generation. We no longer had a place to be. They did away with our Sunday school classes, and our in depth Bible study classes. They only served spiritual milk. There was nothing keeping us there. Basic sermons and these basic Rooted groups. Starting over, pushing out any policy or group that didn't fit their agenda. We voiced our concerns and we weren't listened to. We were only seen as complainers and whiners that wanted to stir up trouble or that we were sinful because we cared more about the color of the carpet rather than the unity of the church. No, I tell you, the people of my generation (or the ones I more identify with which is the Gen Xers, or rather the 40-60 yr old's) that have left, left for more than 1 reason, and for much deeper reasons than a coat of paint. And they also left after much prayer and thought as I have. Pastor Dan, it's not about the 5in by 7in piece of cloth over your face and the policy you and the elders decided to enforce that caused me to loose my only contact with a community there. It's about the overall changeover and transition from one generation to the next, totally skipping the one in between, and not providing any kind of buffer zone or effort to maintain us. And now, the ones who could have been the volunteers in Sunday School because we don't have to get our kids out the door on a Sunday morning, aren't there to fill that need. We're gone. Now, you have to beg the parents of the kids you are trying to give a break, too, the ones already frazzled, the ones already overwhelmed, to help out. Well, good luck with that. I hope you all grow together from the ground up. You missed out on a wonderful generation. You can be heartbroken when people leave over one little reason like paint color or music choice. But I can guarantee, if that's what they express to you in a one minute conversation, there's actually a million and one other reasons they've chosen to move on. And I'm not going to let you stand there and call me sinful and condemn me from the pulpit and throw Scripture at me telling me I'm causing disunity because I simple don't like the black and white color scheme and I hate concrete floors and the music is too loud. All of these things are legitimate reasons to not attend a certain church. People have physical and mental issues to contend with. You are not being very sensitive at all. I will not be a pushover just because I have an opinion. You are saying to not speak up at all. Just shut up and do what you're told for the sake of peace. I will not tolerate that. Tell me when and where it is appropriate to speak up and I might change my tune. But alas, you didn't provide a place for that today. You just picked on the naysayers. Again. Thanks. I'm glad to not be going to your church anymore.

- And then, Gary asked Justin one more time about Israel. Justin said, no, let someone else who really wants to go have the spot. Gary turns to Keturah and says, what about you, do you want to go? Um, wait a minute, how about asking the parents if she can first? Um, no, she doesn't have a passport. Um, you're putting it on me to fastrack another passport before she turns 16 so it's only good 5 years, again? What a freaking waste! How about you give me the evening to think about it first? How about we discuss this? Was is it so important for you to fill that spot with one of MY kids? Why can't I experience this trip with my kids when I'm ready? She's my daughter. Just like Aaron, Shauna, and the girls and me done with it. This has been such a freaking nightmare of a trip. Three years in the making? And we've had to say no a billion times, and Gary keeps coming back to it. Just pressuring me. Maybe my kids are just not meant to go. Take your free tix and give it to someone else. What if I just want to go with my kids on my own dime someday. It's not like you care about my other kids' real lives anyway. I could barely change the subject long enough to talk about the airshow and Gary wasn't interested. I tried to get Abishai to talk about Sunday School and the subject changed again. We didn't talk about going to the pool on Friday or Kellies' pool on Tuesday. Or anything else that happend in the J5's world this past week. Or what's going on in my head. Nope. Leah kept changing the subject to random things like she was flipping TV channels. It's mentally exhausting. I was trying to eat and pick through my dinner, just trying to keep it together. I was having a hard time swallowing. I had just finished my coffee at home and wasn't quite hungry for all the things on my plate. Anyway, so I don't know what to do. I want to be extremely selfish and say no. Just take the other 4 and be done with it. Hold to my convictions. Stop pestering us about it. But then I'll be seen as weird and selfish I'm sure. I had already forgotten the plate Leah wanted to put the ice cream cake on. Well you didn't tell when you wanted it back. I got caught up in actually having fun this week. Next time, don't send it home with me.

- So, t-minus 11 hrs until I make a final decision. I have Keturah writing up why she wants to go and how it would benefit her. I can't just rely on "because she needs it, maybe she'll get closer to Jesus" kind of statements. I've brought that girl to every single Jesus experience there is. She doesn't need more of those experiences. She needs her mom. Being with her Grandparents and a bunch of random, probably older people is not going to  appeal to her. Plus, it's in 16 weeks, how am I supposed to get a passport in 16 weeks? Sigh. And now Justin is asking for a ride to Kya's house tomorrow and I am not done blogging. Sigh. Life marches on.

Yup, even when I was getting more sleep than I do now.

Aaron, Shauna, Everly and Nora sent a new lawn game to Grandpa for Father's Day, the frisbee and can game. Of course Grandpa wanted to know what the rules were so he could break them and win, lol.

Nice

Yup.

Soda that they handed out to the Dad's at Indian Creek. It looks all good from the front. Interesting brand.

Now check out the sugar count! 47 grams of sugar!!! That's double what it should be! GROSS!!!!! Not worth even my sip! grosss!

I stayed home and enjoyed both sermons and had time to cook lunch and such.

Abishai earns bouncy balls at church for bringing his Bible and saying his Bible verse. He's getting quite a collection now.

"I slaved over this for over an hour. You better like it!"

Looks pretty close!

Abishai thought that since it was Father's Day that Daddy needed some special table decorations.

I think they liked it!

Our resident bunny was taking care of the front weeds for us! Nom, nom, nom!

I love that little white spot on it's face. That's how we know it's our bunny.

So beautiful!

Healthy bunny!

Chomp, chomp, chomp!

Even more blooms today!

The Easter lilies finally came up!

Justin drove his bike over to Grandpa's house for family dinner. He looks so big on a tiny bike, lol.

I think my husband had a great Father's Day weekend. At least until I screwed it up with being triggered with what was said at dinner, but that's Monday's problem. Sunday was great.

 

The End