Year 7, June 27th - July 3rd, 2022: Cousins!

 Monday - 

- What more can I say?! Cousins, cousins, cousins! Man, I'm so glad that the kids love to see their cousins, especially Keturah and Abishai. They would play with them all day long. And that's pretty much what they did. They didn't get up extra early or anything, but they bounced between Grandma's house and our house together. Justin forgot his sandwhich for lunch, and there was kittens at work, so Aunt Shauna kindly took the sandwhich and the other 4 kids, Keturah, Abishai, Everly and Nora, to Wanamaker Feed and Seed and killed two birds with one stone. They did eat lunch at Grandma's house first because Abishai and Keturah had walked over mid morning to hang out.

- And then the 4 of them came back to our house to play Minecraft. It was quite interesting to listen to them set timers as they had to share controllers because we didn't have enough controllers that work with the PS5. And then there was all the discussions about who was to build where and how to build and what was what. I had no clue about any of it of course. Keturah only uses the PS5 and plays Minecraft when the cousins are here. Of course Abishai will build on his own a lot or if Daddy gets on with him, so actually, he knows a ton more than Keturah does. So I'm sure he helped the girls a lot.

- Meanwhile, Kya wanted to spend some time with Justin, so Kelly drove into town and kidnapped him from work. So I didn't have to pick him up, although I could of. They stopped by the house and he showered (he really didn't need to) and grabbed his swimsuit. And then they headed to Southeastway again to play on the playground with two of the smaller kiddos and Kya and Justin to practice their skateboards. And then they were headed back to Kellie's house for swimming and hanging out. Justin said they watched some more Stranger Things and he finds it well, strange, but the plot perfect. Not too slow, not too fast. Jared didn't get out there to pick him up until like 9:45 because the evening got away from him. And he was fixing the blinker light on the truck. I don't know if that means he took the truck to get Justin or not. I was fixated on my computer at the time. Justin is done with his night hours, but that doesn't mean we can't change his night hours into day hours. But whatever.

- While that was all going on, I left the other 4 kids at our house and went to my chiropractor appointment and to Aldi. Shauna stopped by but she also had some errands to run including seeing her cousin about rotating the tires on her van. I told her to just leave the kids and they'll be fine. Everly is 15 and Keturah can take care of Abishai. I think they ended up going back over to Grandma's house and leaving our house unlocked, which is not smart. I should have left our key, which I had thought of doing but didn't. Grandma was at crochet. Oh well. Whatever. They were all back at our house when I got back though. 

- Ugh, I hate grocery shopping without helpers! I thought I had a short list of groceries, but I ended up getting a whole cartful. Although I did say no to a ton of things in the non food aisle because they were more expensive than I thought they needed to be, I still spent $300. I didn't buy any meat either. I bought some basics, or backup of basics, just in case. I bought some ice cream treats. I bought Abishai's fruit snacks and granola bars because he was completely out. I just don't know. When I saw the receipt later on at home, I almost cried. It hurts so much to see these bills. I said "no" to things so much in the store. And I still spent twice what I thought I should spend. It's not fair. It's not my fault. It makes me so angry. And the gas prices are starting to bother me, too, since we do drive so much right now. And I can't get the Amazon card paid off. I don't want to take our IRS refund to pay it off. I want to pay it off with our regular funds. But again, it's not our fault products have gone up so much. We are just trying to live and even with our cost of living raises each and every year, it's never enough. Especially this year. It's not our fault. It really isn't. We are as frugal as they come. We can't eat rice and beans. We put off lots of things all the time because of money. We hesitate hiring people to fix things. But how long can we do that? We are 20 years into our life together. And I still like we are newlyweds in this regard. We should be further along in this life, not living paycheck to paycheck, just scraping by. Not on Medicaid. Not on the bottom of the barrel. It's just so upsetting to me. We can never ever get ahead no matter what we do. We have no retirement. Jared is halfway through his working life. We have nothing we've personally saved for the kids for college. And it's not for the lack of trying. And we are not alone. I hate the government. I hate the last two presidents and the congress. I hate what they've done and how they've lined their own pockets on both sides of the aisle. It's totally not fair to the working middle class. I hate how people like my brother and his ex can mooch off the system. And I hate how those of us who try to live life honestly get the short end of the stick. It sucks. And yet, other families have it all. The big house, the pool, the smart kids, the college funds, the retirement, the nice cars, the nice hair and makeup, time to relax on a weekend, the big vacations to the Bahamas, everything. They make $100,000 or more a year per person. How? And they live in $500K homes. How? And we are stuck at the bottom, busting our butt every day. And sick as a dog. Fat and ugly. It's depressing. That's how I feel about it. Some days I feel fulfilled, yes, and then some days, I wonder if my children are any different than others because they aren't the super rockstars of the homeschool world that I wanted them to be, that I was, that I preach, that I want to believe in. It's hard. But, then I have to remember, my children do have our beliefs. They all volunteer hardcore at church. Even Abishai got a volunteer t-shrit this past Sunday because he saw in extra one in the cabinet in his Sunday School room and Mr. Rob let him have it because he does help. Lol. You actually officially can't help until you are in 6th grade. They are all pro-life. They are all baptized. They are all independent learners. They can make their own phone calls, their own food, do their own laundry, clean house, etc. They can think independently. They can talk to strangers (in a good way) and adults and younger kids. They can handle money. They can mow a lawn. They can buy groceries. And that's what matters. They can carry and handle themselves away from us. They can be on the internet and behave. They don't want social media. They don't hide any of that anymore from us. We know who they're friends are. And this is all because we are involved in their lives. I am home and not at a job making $100K a year like I could have been. I am home watching over them, teaching them skills constantly. I am home so I can take them places giving them experiences and opportunities to practice those skills under supervision. And then when I've not been home, they can also practice those skills and become trustworthy. They've been protected from the evils of the world. And that's what I wanted. I wanted their innocence protected like mine was. I wanted them to maybe hear about it but never experience it. So, no matter if they remember all the content I shared with them, at least they weren't exposed to the negative content the world had to offer. We didn't have to try to counteract that nonsense. They didn't have to wrestle with it. They know the truth. So was it worth it? Has it been worth it? Just look at Benaiah. Was he worth it? Absolutely yes. He will deny that we did anything to help him grow up during high school. And while some of that is true, we laid the foundation and we continued to make sure he was in a safe environment while he was finishing growing up. God provided all the details for that. But we were still there and still praying. It takes a village to raise children, but it has to be the right village, a village that the parents create. And that's why we choose this lifestyle. It's just too bad that this nation doesn't like it and fights against it making it so difficult to live it out. And we have to fight and the battle is tough and we have to live in near poverty to do it. Ok, not poverty. But we have to live much poorer than others in our social community. And some days, that's very, very hard. We want to be good stewards of our money. And we do our best. And sometimes we are very impulsive, we both are. We have our reasons and things don't go to waste, but it doesn't help. And it only makes me feel guilty and ashamed that I can't stay out of credit card debt, however little it is compared to other families. It's not Biblical. Plus the extra mortgage on the house, which is also eating into our budget now because we put the profit from the last sale into the new house flip, which should be on the market now. So hopefully we can get a bit of cash flow there. "Money is the root of all evil."

- Meanwhile, I left Keturah in charge of making a frozen pizza and I had Everly warm up some gluten free leftovers. Abishai wanted the girls to come to his Tang Soo Do this evening to see what he does. So we all had to leave at 5:40. We cut it close but we made it. Jared of course had Bible study. And he wasn't even home when we left because had a bunch of packages to mail, poor thing. 

- We had a good time at Tang Soo, it was sparring night! I don't think I've been to a sparring night since the beginning. And Nathan was leading class this time and more kids were there than there has been. So, the girls were in for a treat! And what a night it was. It was hard for us to keep in the giggle once Abishai got his gear on. He looked like a little hockey player or marshmallow because he had a white soft helmet. He put on the chest piece, which Daddy doesn't like him to have I guess because he thinks it restricts his movement. When he went to put his mouthpiece in, I had to go and rinse it because it looked all nasty. I think he actually chews on it and has bitten off pieces of the plastic. Oh well. That part didn't matter tonight. What did matter was his face. He was paired up with Marcus, one of the tallest boys in the class. Well, Marcus was doing fine and being gentle and all that. They are told to use as much force as they want used on them. Abishai doesn't use much force. Well, when Marcus punches straight out, his fist goes pretty much in direct line to Abishai's face and top of his head. So, for Marcus to hit at the target area, Abishai's chest, it is difficult. Well, tonight, Marcus missed and he did hit Abishai's face! I didn't see the punch, but next thing I know, Teacher Nathan is escorting Abishai off the mat with a bloody nose!! What?! We know Marcus and his family well, so no worries. I was in the middle of a conversation and true to form, I was a tiny bit mad that I was being interrupted. But ok, whatever. I take Abishai to the bathroom and get him cleaned up. I ask him if he's ok and that if it hurts to tell me and you don't have to be brave, you can cry a little, no one can see you. I think it shocked him. He had his glasses on, so I think the nose piece hit one of his nose vessels pretty hard. It was bleeding too quickly, thankfully, not like a regular nose bleed. So it did stop pretty quickly. Abishai was eager to get back out there though and show that he's a tough guy. And then, a bit after that, they paired him up with the other big dude! I'm like, oh come on, didn't we figure this out the first time that the big dude can't reach the little properly? Well, maybe it's because of scoring or points or something. I don't know. Abishai was fine out there. Still a bit timid, but it worked out fine. He's one brave boy though. It wasn't the night he expected it to be, but he learned a lesson, a) duck or move over and b) how to take care of a problem and then move on. Oh and he did take his glasses off after that and I think he told the other two boys with glasses to take theirs off too so they didn't get hurt. He's such a boss.

- We went back to my house, and then immediately the 4, let's just call them the Fab 4, wanted to walk over to Grandma's house. I said sure and my two could walk home with Daddy when he was done with Bible study. Well, I thought that would be around 8:15 or so. 8:50 rolls around and they finally walk in the door. Abishai needed bedtime 30 minutes ago, then I guess Keturah needed her reading, and I hadn't made a specific time for Justin to be picked up but we usually get him by 9pm. It was closer to 9:45 I think when he was picked up because Jared was fiddling with the blinker light in the truck. Which I'm glad that he was doing it himself and he came in very pleased that he did it all by himself, but really? He never picks the right time to work on these things! Ever! For all the logic that man has sometimes, sometimes, he's just way off. Sigh. And that was the rest of the evening.

Cousins are for hugging? Wrestling?

Socks thinks Aunt Shauna is the best, too.

This kind of cartful used to cost me maybe $200, maybe. It was over $300. And I didn't have helpers, so it took me at least 15 minutes to pack it myself. Sigh.

Camp Allendale came home with Abishai. Since nothing can grow here because it's just mulch with no soil underneath (the old sidewalk is still there), it has now become Abishai's rock garden. He can build with his rocks or spell out a word. At least that's my hope.

Camp Allendale has a place in my flower beds now.

Just a small little guy in the company of men.

My little (hockey looking) Tang Soo Do sparring dude.

He does keep his fists up the whole time!

Nice kick and block you two!

Go get Marcus, Abishai!

Abishai taking a rest next to Donavan, the other little dude who is also 7. They would make a better match. Although I was watching Donavan and he goes all out when he spars. He's Marcus' little brother.

Abishai forgot to give me his mouthguard so he kept it in while he was trying to do his spoken rules stuff at the end of class, lol.

Teacher Nathan asked if anybody got hurt today, and Abishai immediately put his hand up. Poor guy.

Gotta love when a knock off brand looks very, very close to other brands. At first I thought this was a certain brand and Yuban was that brand in a different language. It totally could be, but I'm not sure. The container is very similar to another brand, too. It's probably the cheapest coffee Jared could find. I don't buy cheap coffee anymore. I buy the bags of flavored now. It's to make up for not going to coffee shops.

Keturah the wrecker did it again! I have no idea how she did it. But she managed to break the chain on the 4 tire swing. She's just got that wrong Midas touch. She touches something and, poof, it crumbles under her fingers. Poor girl. She just needs to be on a demolition crew. I totally could see her in a big machine destroying buildings for a living. Somebody has to do that job. She could make good money doing it. And then, she just needs to stay away from everything else!

I'm hoping by the end of this week, this will be flat and ready for the frame of the pool, if not, even have a pool set up on it. I hope! We will see. I need to come with a good name for how the J6 do projects. The J6 Shuffle? We will get stuff done, but only when we are good and ready. We work hard and we try to push ourselves, but it simply isn't as fast as the world goes. Not because our minds are slow. Our bodies are slow. Our physical bodies cannot move faster for one reason or another. We have all the plans in the world, but we weren't blessed with health to do it, nor wealth sometimes. And we've embraced that (at least most of the time). It drives others completely nuts. It drives me nuts and embarrasses me when certain people ask me if I've gotten to something or not. I'm fine when I'm left alone and set my own deadlines. And then have to reset them. But if I miss an outside deadline, I go crazy. Because I'm embarrassed. Stupid ADHD. Anyways, hopefully, we will have a pool ready by the kids get back from CIY. That's 11 days from now. Can we do it? If we hustle a little. If Aaron helps a ton. It's up to Jared. I gave him that goal. But it depends on Rick's schedule and the water guy's schedule. I won't schedule the water guy until I know when Rick will get his job done and the frame is put up. But, Jared moved the trampoline without being asked, so there's hope.

Tuesday -

- So Abishai woke up about midnight with his nose bleeding again, so I had to go sort that out. I cleaned him up and we dabbed at his bedding, pillow and Dinosaury. Dinosaury got clean but the bedding was a bit wet, so I opted to come lay down in the sunroom. Well, that didn't work so I moved him to the couch in the fireside room and I joined him on the green couch later. I put a towel under him in case his nose started bleeding again and thankfully it hasn't. Poor guy. Just a life lesson that he choose a sport where there is contact. It's not all fun and games like on a TV screen. Actually, it might make him think twice about playing some of those games.

- Abishai and I didn't really sleep in, well, not at first. Abishai got up and had his sugarfest now that I restocked his drawers, from fruit snacks to a pop tart. I wasn't going to fall back asleep but I must have because I had a little dream and when I looked at the clock again it was 9:30am. Oh my word, I was wasting the day! I was going to go through Keturah's stuff in the hallways and get on the computer before the other two girls were up and wanting to do things. Ugh! So it's been a short day and I feel very behind with not much done to show for it. Grrr

- Justin woke up with a headache, and he wanted to figure out what was wrong with his bank card and using it on the playstation. He called the bank but it wasn't them. I had told him it wouldn't be. They are the most reliable piece on anything. It's the websites and servers of everything else that make the mistakes. He's going to try it again this afternoon on the PS4 but I told him to just wait and let them sort themselves out for a day or two. Usually it resolves itself. It's like hitting the esc button too many times and freezing the computer. You can't do that. You confuse the wires. Unless it's urgent and I'm in the red, I try to let the bank accounts and bills sort themselves for a day or two before I panic. It's usually a timing thing for when each entity posts their debits and credits. That's why I try to give a good margin of time so timing isn't an issue.

- The Fab 4, once Keturah was awake, went with Shauna to Southeastway to play on the playground, play in the Creek, and the best aunt ever took them to Frosty Boy in New Palestine for pineapple whips! I asked Abishai if I could come along and he said, "No, I just want Shauna. I want the girls." Hey now, I haven't seen you much since last Thursday. What's wrong with you, kid. I'm chopped liver when other people are around? It's ok, I needed to be on my computer. Shauna can go enjoy the heat and bugs and noise and I can stay home and not get a headache today. So I packed up his lunch, got him in his swimsuit, sent some bugspray with him, and sent him and Keturah on their way. Shauna was needing to get out anyway. Family drama or just trying to figure out when, where, how to meet up. I get it. I leave the house so I feel less available to talk because I have to pay more attention to the kids. I do that every week. And now it's been 4 hrs and I haven't seen hide no hair of them. Wow! They must have gone back to Grandma's house to watch a movie or something. Yup, there I see them. The "my phone" app is nice because I can track Shauna, Justin and Keturah's phones at least any time I want to. Gary lets me track his as well. Grandma doesn't care to be tracked and Jared definitely doesn't want to be tracked. I did get my sister to let me track her so I don't bug her on her move to Houston on Thursday. Benaiah doesn't want me tracking him because he doesn't need me and Aaron is minimal on his phone. Anyway, I like to creep on those I can track and say, "I see you're at Frosty Boy, eh?" It's the "big sister" in me, always watching ;-)

- There's the Fab 4. Time for some more Minecraft if they can find enough controllers that have enough power. They forgot to them on chargers yesterday. Oh boy, too many bosses stirring the pot. My turn to intervene.

- I sent the girls home when it was time for dinner and it was a good thing. Our kids needed the break. We had smash burgers, caramelized onions, home fries, and raw veggies for dinner. And then Jared got a cleaner for the water softener from Lowe's while I cleaned up and finished chores. We watched the 5th episode of Obi-Wan and it was intense. Time for bed!

- The girls are going to see other relatives tomorrow, which will be a good break for us to catch up on some things here. Then we have evening activities. Uncle Aaron flies in on Thursday and then I think there be a flurry of activity until everyone leaves on Monday and Tuesday. Here we go!

My baby boy got punched in the face by mean Marcus. Just kidding! Marcus was as gentle as a lamb. Abishai was shocked, though, more than anything. But now he knows how it feels.  I haven't been able to talk to him about it today because he's been busy with the ladies. I think he really likes being with all the ladies. He's a ladies' man. And now I know why he has latched on to the young lady helpers at church! Because he's always had older girl cousins! Duh! Oh, he's on the couch tonight with me because he woke up to his nose bleeding again from when Marcus hit him on accident at Tang Soo Do this evening when they were sparring.

I woke up before my baby today. But his arms and legs are getting so long, and his fingers, oh my, just like Justin! Skinny and lanky!

And he promised not to take off his bracelet at least until next year's camp. It says Camp Allendale on it. I told him that if Tang Soo Do asks him to take it off, that it's not breaking his promise. It's a safety issue. He will need to take it off for class and then he can put it right back on. Just like taking off his glasses.

I was just going to write Happy Birthday USA and then I remember Canada. And I wasn't going to add either to the list on the left, but we had the extra blanks, so there you go. July is now complete!

Aunt Shauna took the kids to Frosty Boy for pineapple whips after going to Southeastway Park, but see, I was thinking of my nieces and kids, too, when I went to the grocery store yesterday! They had all kinds of camping stuff out, so of course they s'more flavored stuff, too. Everly can't eat this though.

Oh bummers, she can't eat the unicorn cones either! She can eat the ice cream part though. Grr, I can't believe I forgot that part! Oh well, I did think of them though! Girls and unicorns! But I also forgot that Everly is 15 now, and 15 yr olds don't eat unicorn cones. Well, she can have my Magnum bars or fruit popsicles then and be more sophisticated. I just always forget Keturah still like the little kid stuff. She won't admit to her friends though. Oh well, I did try! I'm just not as good as Shauna, though, according to Abishai. He didn't even want me to go to the park with them! So I stayed home and work on this blog. Oh well. I've enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Walking down the creek at Southeastway park. Smart girl wore her sandals in the creek. Granted their her new ones which if she had broken those she wouldn't have them for CIY, however, at least her feet were protected.

Looks like a lot of shallow parts at the creek today. Shauna said Keturah did get brave enough to go in to a 3 ft depth and Abishai said he got in to his waist. The bugs weren't bad but the white fluffy pollen was everywhere still.

The Fab 4 at Frosty Boy in New Palestine

At least some Johnsons can't get enough outdoor time! And they pull my kids outside with them! They also went out in the front yard, too.

Abishai took one of the long fence railings and came at the girls with it. I made him put it back obviously. What possessed him to do that, I don't know.

Nice and cool in the shade.

Doggy loves.

Peek a boo on the smash burger.

Inspecting how messy and gooey it is.

It's the size of his head! At least the bun is!

That's me! The Enneagram 6! Always! I OVER everything! Bwahahaha! Overpack, overdo, overpromise, overeat, overcook, overshare, overapologize, over everything!

Wednesday - 

- Uh, well, that was an interesting day. I had a big to do list, and I got a couple of things done, but I pretty much had a mental breakdown/mental health day today. I broke down over my sister's move to Houston tomorrow and how signicant that is to me and not having immediate family in New Hampshire to watch over my parents' gravesite and to potential go visit. Not that we've visited in the last 6 years though. It just ends a very long chapter of being connected to New Hampshire. My aunt and uncle and cousin and his family still live there, but it's different. And then there's none of us within driving distance of my other sister in case she gets into trouble. My cousins and other aunt are there, and hopefully they would contact us, but as the big sister, it worries me and makes me nervous. I don't know if my sister Stefanie has processed all of this and I don't want to burden her with all of this, but ever since I found out about this move two months ago, I was very unhappy about it and it's been hard to process. I now figured it out. Plus, I'm just worried in general about the driving with Auggie and his issues and I know how hard it can get on anyone's body and then how significant a change it's going to be for my sister who has never moved in her life more than a town away from where she lived before. I'm just a big sister with a big heart and it's hurting like crazy right now. 

- And then our financial picture really hit home this week. And while nothing significant happened, it just overall is continuing it's slide downhill because expenses keep going up without anything in our life changing. Fees and groceries and gas, everything keeps going up and there's nothing we can do. We just have to wait for the other house to sell and pay off credit cards in chunks. But our bank accounts are heading towards zero, all of them at once, and it makes me so scared because I work so hard at not doing that. I swore off not buying fast food this month. I did buy a few things online that possibly I could have waited on if I had been more series of a "no buy" June. I was finishing up my Old Navy returns so I had to pay that smallish bill. And there was yet another charge for a doctor from back in February. And then I just wanted a few treats for the girls while they were here from the grocery store and the whole grocery store bill ended up being $300 because our pantry was significantly empty, we had no fruit or vegetables, I was out of any type of gluten free carb that I could quickly make or grab, and we were on our last roll of toilet paper and paper towels. Abishai had gone without his snacks for at least a week if not two weeks. We are eating a substandard diet now. And it still cost $300 for the next 2 weeks of food, maybe, and that's only because I accidentally let another EveryPlate order go through (and those are expensive) and we still had meat from the previous trip and we had gotten a ton of leftovers from all the special events for e2 last week. Yes, we live on someone else's leftovers. It's very humbling, and sometimes I freakin' cry over it. But not in a good way. It's a blessing, yes, but it also reminds me that sometimes that's the only way we've survived, on handouts. Always on handouts, and hand me downs, and others' generosity, just like I did growing up. I've always lived paycheck to paycheck. Always lower middle class. Always scrounging for the next deal, not for the fun of it, but because I have to. 

- And that was the trigger today. The dentist called Jared today. Justin and Jared had appointments tomorrow. But at the last minute the dentist realized that because of timing with our dentist of 30 years officially retiring tomorrow, and the guys being officially under the new guys' care, we are no longer eligible for free dental care. I'm like, it's just one more appointment! Why can you just wait one more day on this! Why are you putting us on panic mode! Why didn't you tell us this weeks ago when we had to reschedule this appointment! Because Jared doesn't know what to ask, I had to call them back and ask if they take the type of Medicaid that Justin is on, and yes, they do, so they put him back on at least for his appointment. And then I had to do the legwork to see how much the low cost clinic charges for their exams and cleanings. Well, $50 per visit under our discount and it includes everything, exam, cleanings, and x-rays, vs. paying $400 a year for just two dental cleaning, and x-rays are extra. Why the heck is there such a discrepancy? Is there really that much difference in the care you get? Or is one freakin' dentist that greedy vs. another? I swear I get the same care at the low cost clinic with the kids' pediatrician as I do the doctor I see at a regular doctor's office for my stuff. In fact, the pediatrician works with me better. The care is exactly the same. And so much cheaper. It's absolutely ridiculous. So I guess, after seeing our dentist whom we've gone to church with for 20-30 yrs, who sold the practice to this new young dude who needs to pay off his student loans, we'll be switching, at least Jared and I will be. Because I'm not paying those ridiculous prices. We don't have dental insurance. We only have the HSA. And right now, it's empty. We'll have to wait awhile to get in, but whatever. It's what we'll do. We are poor folk. So we'll go to the poor folk clinic. 30 yrs of a relationship with this dentist office down the drain. I didn't like the new guy anyway. Just fresh out of dental school. Just married. No kids. Just getting started. And now just handed over this practice with a boatload of patients. Talk about privileged. Have fun, we are out of there. Nope. Can't afford you. I'll go to my friends at Barrington. They know me. I like them. I trust them. And I don't have to go to the far ends of the earth to see them. 35 minutes to the old dentist vs. 15 minutes to the new dentist. Bring it on. 

- And then to top it all, I find out birthday dinner is on Friday night and I'm the one who suggested it based on what we talked about a month ago. Really?! I don't remember that conversation. I have slept since then. I have 1,000 things on my plate worrying me right now. And no one reminded me. Or talked about it. Or discussed it. Or asked about what I wanted for my birthday dinner. Or what the rest of the weekend looked like. They must have talked amongst themselves in person and assumed things and forgot that I'm over here by myself and out of the loops. I don't have physical contact with anyone. Jared and Gary are in the office together or on the phone. Leah and Shauna are together at the house. Benaiah is there overhearing things. Aaron and Shauna talk. Jared doesn't tell me things. He doesn't overhear things. So I'm out of the loop. Thanks for letting me know, peeps. Glad I asked today and not Friday. Plus Jared wants me to be ready to go somewhere on Friday at 9:30am without the kids. I was planning on finally going to park day and talking with my friends whom I haven't seen in weeks. I missed Moms Night Out. Molly's been sick. I barely talked to Brenda at the pool. I haven't seen Melissa for awhile. I did get to hang out with Kellie today, which was impromptu but good. And I'm glad that Kya came today because now Justin really won't see her until after CIY unless we squeeze something in on Saturday or Sunday youth group perhaps. And pulling out everybody's schedule for the next 4 days is like pulling teeth! I swear! Never ever plan vacation when the other parts of the families have to work. We can't do this. It isn't fun. Either we are all on vacation, or we aren't doing it. Last time we were down in New Orleans and the girls still had stuff going on and Aaron had to work. This year, Jared and Gary and Benaiah and Justin had to work, and I had stuff to do, and Abishai had class, and we were gearing up for CIY, and it just doesn't work. Vacation or not vacation. No more mixing. And perhaps no staycation either. I'm over it. So now I've made the family kind of mad because I've taken my other emotions out on them. Yeah, it's been that kind of day.

- And now I'm writing this blog post instead of my IAHE blog post that is due at midnight. I tried to get on the computer today to work on it, but I can't be all cheerful when I'm mentally not there. I just wanted to play my video games and be left alone and not do anything that had to do with the world. But I had to keep putting out fires. And deal with things of the world like feeding kids and taking them to their youth group thing. I had to get gas and drop off recycling. I didn't make it in time to pick up my other medication, so I have to get that tomorrow. I didn't get to shower today, so that's tomorrow. I did sort through Keturah's things. She was adamant she wanted to get rid of her toddler and elementary kid things that we've saved and said no way, child, just because they are pink, doesn't mean I'm letting you get rid of them. The box is just down to a few things anyway. It's a good sampler of that time period of her life. It stays as is on the top of her closet. And I gentle told her I don't want to see her get it down for another 5 years. She can leave it up there and forget it for 5 years, 10 years, or longer. I don't care if I keep it forever. It means something to me. She can sort and go through anything on the floor or in the bottom of the closet. The shelves on the top just need to stay as is for permanent storage. She said ok and understood. And I know she doesn't want to see that stuff. I know why she doesn't want to see that stuff. It's not much. There's a backpack full of her Frozen and Cinderella stuff. Then a Hello Kitty very small suitcase of her Melissa and Doug wooden dress up dolls and a few pink things. There's a bag with a latch hook rug that has pink and blue teddy bear and a pink heart rug, plus the pink bottle piggy bank that was at her baby shower that Sheryl Morning threw her. A few papers, the painting that Shauna drew her and she could paint her self, another piece of artwork, her musical book that she starred in, etc. So, three bags total that we saved. I pulled a magazine rack, several folders and papers, a few misc. items, and a dry erase calendar board. So, significant enough of a purge. But no more than that. Please don't do it again with these bags. Leave them be. It's all you have of your childhood that is separated out from the general toy bins that is mostly geared toward the boys' stuff. I've let her get rid of more toys than the boys did because we have Abishai. Like the littlest pet shop stuff and the hero girl dolls I just took to goodwill two weeks ago finally. She's done a great job of it and I've honored it, and winced at it sometimes. But we did get this done and the hallway is clear. She had to vaccuum early in the day though because she messed a ton with her vacuuming last night. I was not pleased.

- Kya did come and stay with us for the afternoon and evening. She went with Justin (and Keturah) to his pre-CIY meeting where they finalized roommates and hung out with people and what not. I'm not really sure all that they did. I did have to go back and fill out some forms again this week though. I'm so tired of filling out waiver forms for camp! Oh, and I better check with Jared about the Israel trip one! Ugh! I feel like the kids' secretary! So much paperwork and then I don't even get to go enjoy any of it! I'm stuck here in the dirt of my household. Yes, my house needs a major deep clean, and it's grossing me out right now. But that's another story. Jared picked them up afterwards and I guess took all three of them plus Abishai all the way to Greenfield to drop Kya off and give me some peace and quiet I guess. Keturah wanted to go see the cousins at Grandma's house, which would have been fine, but I guess Daddy wasn't listening. The cousins were out visiting other relatives today, so we stuck close to home and had a normal day with normal screen times and all that. Although screen time for Keturah was her working on her Minecraft house.

- Oh, I almost forgot! We had a 35 minute power outage in the middle of the day today! I had to eat my pizza pasta cold because I couldn't warm it up! I had just finished making Abishai's microwave mac and cheese thankfully when the power flickered for a minute and then went completely off. And wow! 35 minutes! That was a long time! Keturah had noticed some trucks going down the hill from us this morning when she was out getting a suitcase from Grandma's house for CIY. And there has been some serious electrical work down in the neighborhood while they have been putting in some streetlights. So, who knows if it was them or not. But, it was funny for the kids to realize that no, you can't use your tablet because it won't connect to the wifi to play your games. No, once your tablet loses all it's power, that's it, you can't charge it. Oh wow, we need to be even more careful about closing the door because the a/c is off. And don't open the fridge door for the same reason. And no, you can't warm something up for lunch, because the electricity is off. Both Keturah and Justin were online, too when it happened and they both got up to find me to tell me. Yeah, dudes, you don't need to be online so much. We've got a high electrical bill because of your usage. Go play. 

Woah! That's cool! Not sure how they got it all in one shot, but hey, it works!

Abishai, with some ideas from me, spelled thief, last week, on the side of the fridge.

Boom, boom, boom. Some states were ready to enact their previously voted on legislation when Roe v. Wade come tumbling down. Indiana was going to hold a special legislation session on July 6th for abortion laws and economic relief, but because there's more to discuss or something, both the governor and the leaders in the House and Senate agreed to push it back to the end of July when more of the Legislature will have had time to get back from pre planned vacations and such. Regular session doesn't start until January so at least the economic relief can't wait and most of do want the abortion laws changed now.

Jared sent this to me. And it is absolutely true. Coffee absolutely hurts my gut. But I absolutely need it for comfort and energy. But I do have to limit myself to two cups a day, or one large one at a cafe'. I was trying to use up a sweetened creamer today that is sweetened with stevia and I've had a horrible stomachache since then. I meant to send it home with Kellie, but forgot. I can't drink it. The other ones I get in the same brand are not sweetened and I do absolutely fine with. I don't need the sweetener. And had I known that this one contained stevia I wouldn't have bought it. I can do xylitol ok or splenda, but I can't do aspartame or saccharin or stevia.

Oh my word, take this bag out of my hand. I must have been hungry and emotional, too. It is the perfect mix for me! Aldi knows what I need before it need it every single time! This trail mix has dried sweetened strawberries (which are hard to chew when you leave the bag in the fridge like I do because I hate melty chocolate), and these teeny tiny looking strawberry and chocolate flavored chocolate cones that really do like ice cream cones! There's also white chocolate chips and cashews and almonds and oh my word it's all yumminess by the handful! Ah!

Grrr, my mpg went down because I've had to run my a/c at full blast! I think I need to get my a/c recharged or something. It's not putting out as much cold as I think it should. I'm running it full blast for most my trips, even the 30 min long ones to Greenfield. Not nice. But I did get $.20 off a gallon thanks to either my Kroger card or using the Bank of America credit card. I would have used my Amazon card (because our checking account is too low for comfort) but I left it at home on accident because I was buying books today).

At least I can go pretty far on one tank of gas.

Yup, just like everyone else, $75 for a tankful. I was very empty this time. It was really $4.79 a gallon, which is a significant drop in price, but I had some fuel points or something.

Last sleep in Manchester for my sister Stefanie.

I didn't even get to visit her in this home. That's how long it's been.

This is a rough estimate of how long it would take to see my sister once she moves. That's about how long it takes to get to Manchester from Indy, 1,000 miles.

Oh my word. I had no idea! 1,900 miles! 27 hrs! That's huge! This is why I'm so nervous for them! This is not an easy trip with an autistic 11 1/2 yr old kid who very rarely travels more than 30 minutes at a time. Holy cow.

Compare that to our trips to PEI. 23 hrs. 1,600 miles. Almost as bad. But we have great travelers and experienced drivers. We took 4 days/3 nights when we had everyone in the van and the trucks. When they moved us back, I think they did it maybe with one overnight. And we've driven the van all in one go as well. (Never ever ever do that).

Someone at work gave Jared a venus fly trap just because. It's already got one fly. And now that it's been home just for a couple of hours, it's caught a couple more. I guess we really needed it! I love these things! I typically accidentally kill them after awhile, but they are so fascinating!

The first fly was caught in the leaves or whatever they actually call them down there in the front. I think there is a different for them, but you can call it a mouth. And the "bugs" are fake. It's just on the plastic shell covering the plant. I think it needs to come off actually.

Thursday -

- Up and at 'em! Justin went out driving with Dad and off to work they went. Abishai got his sugar breakfast and did his wanderings. I tried not to dwadle too much because I had the IAHE newsletter to write. Keturah got up at her normal time around 10am. Abishai and Keturah were both anxious to go find the cousins to play with, but I think they were out and about with their parents somewhere. Eventually, they did go over to Grandma's house after an early lunch. I had showered and was ready to finally get the newsletter started.

- It took me about 5 hours to get the newsletter done, not because it was that involved, but because I was mentally and emotionally exhausted from yesterday. I just couldn't work fast enough on it. I kept nodding off, too. But it got done.

- Meanwhile, the kids came back with Aaron and Shauna in tow and for the rest of the afternoon, everyone worked hard to prepare the ground for the pool! Aaron and Shauna even got a load of sand to fill in the area to make everything even. They took out the clothesline pole. And now we have an awesome spot ready to part the tarp down and a pool on top. Too bad it's going to be a couple of weeks before Rick can get here. 

- While they did that, Jared picked up Justin and got him to his dentist appointment. I finally got off my computer after finish the newsletter and sending it off the to the editors, around 4pm, just in time to make supper. Boo! No down time for me! I hodge podge some hot dogs and brats and salad. Jared took Abishai to Tang Soo. The teens proceeded to be short tempered with me because they were hangry, and eventually I left to get my other medication and dry dog food. I ended up getting a new dog tooth brush as well.

- When I got home, I tried the doggy tooth brush on Socks and I accidentally made his gums bleed, so he must have some gingiviitus, poor guy. I felt so bad. Jared and Abishai got home soon after that. Then Jared put Abishai to bed and the he and the teens got ready to go back out again! They and Aaron's family were going to a drive in movie to see the Lightyear movie! How fun! I don't think our kids have experienced that, and I'm glad they got to go, although sometimes their attitude should cause them to miss out on such fun things. We are too soft, I know. And they are too spoiled. But cousins aren't in town that often, so it's hard to say no.

- It was a hot day, but a very accomplished day. I'm just tired and hurting. Jared's taking me some where first thing in the mornign so I'm trying to finish way earlier than normal. I'm exhausted, too. I didn't work outside in the heat, and it doesn't look like I did any physical labor inside, but I'm fighting internal battles that others aren't. So I'm weary of the battle. I just want to relax and play my games. And not physical hurt anymore. And go play. That's it. Good night.

Throwback Thursday to 9 yr old Justin, 4 1/2 month old Abishai, 7 yr old Keturah. Awww.....

And now look at this crew. A 16 yr old Justin, 15 yr old Everly, 14 yr old Keturah, and 12 year old Nora.

The chaperones waiting to enjoy Lightyear. And waiting to cringe at the lesbian story arc. Brave souls. It's only because of the nostaglia that I'm allowing it.

The movie was a great reward for all hard this crew worked today. They took the backyard, which looked like this at 1pm.

Jared said to make Aaron's gift wrapping look childish. The girls did a great job. My kids, not so much!

Waste not, want not. Refusing to just throw the whole thing directly in the trash, but I know there were items there that could be refused. And today they were! Except for the glue bottle that had mold in it. That was a fun discovery.

Abishai writing Happy Birthday on the side of it.

These blocks became MM's and Nora drew a surfing person.

Then Justin and Jared got home just in timee to clean up the last little bit sand from the truck.

Ta da! All ready for the pool!

Who's ready for dissections and the latest and greatest from Dr. Jay Wile?! Actually, he had a real live biologist help on this one. Dr. Wile is a chemist and physicist. But it's written in his style and it's hot off the press as of two weeks ago. And I bought a dissection kit to do with Justin later in the winter. Yes, that's a real frog, fish, worm, and crayfish in there. We will be doing it on the kitchen counter on a special tray with special tools just like I did when I was a freshman homeschool student.

Half of my crew is out in Shelbyville watching a movie on a big screen with bugs biting them and in the darkness of the night. Tell me that's not an interesting way to watch a movie. We'll see what they thought about the controversial story arch with the lesbians main sidekicks. We'll see.

Yes, I'm stalking them. Here they are in the middle of the field. Nice! I've been at this venue for a concert last year and it was pretty cool.

Friday - 10th Anniversary of Leaving for Canada

 - Today was the 10th anniversary of us leaving Beech Grove, Indiana for Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Jared took me out for a little breakfast date. I had no idea where we were going but he started driving east, and at first, I was like oh, maybe we are going for coffee at the Brew 52 in New Pal. And then we passed New Pal. Then I thought, ok, maybe Hitherto in Greenfield, nope, wrong again. We went the backroads to Morristown, of all places, where Keturah used to do gymanstics 5 years ago, to the Bluebird Restaurant, near the Kopper Kettle. He picked it because someone said it was good (probably a dinner recommendation) and because it was new and out of the way and driving time would give us more of a chance to talk. I didn't talk much on the way out because I was still sleepy and hadn't had my caffeine yet. But once I had my two eggs, shredded hashbrowns and coffee, I perked up. Jared had eggs, sausage and toast. I think we spent something like $15. I think we spent more on gas juts getting out there! He showed me again the quote in one of his Bibles from Mark Moore, who wrote the Core 52 books, who at the time, was one of his professors at Lincoln Christian College in 2000, who said in chapel one, something to the effect that a great goal would be that a tithe of your professional working life should be in cross cultural ministry. If you consider 40 years to be your working life, then our 4 years in Canada was exactly a tithe of Jared's working career. Unintentional by us, and Jared quickly said he would have stayed longer and we would both agree that it it's a minimum kind of thing, just like a monetary tithe, and you can always give more than that. But it's not a coincidence either. It's something to pause and ponder on. And feel confident that God was behind it all. But I actually did break down and start to cry. Because it's still not fair. Even 6 years after leaving to come back. 10 years after leaving Beech Grove and starting the adventure and remembering the feelings of the day we packed up the truck (which was yesterday) and all the anxiety and embarrassment when it didn't fit. It was the most stressful day of my life. Moving back wasn't as stressful at all because I knew what I was doing. And all I could think of yesterday was my poor sister doing the same thing. She had no clue what was hitting her. She, too, had to go back to UHaul to rent a trailer unexpectedly. She also didn't have enough helpers and she was up until after midnight cleaning their rental house. She didn't leave Manchester until 11am today and only drove 2 1/2 hrs because she didn't give Auggie dramimine and she couldn't stay awake because of how exhausting yesterday was. I was stressed out thinking about her all week. So my feelings about today, the 10th anniversary, were heightened by that extra stress and anxiety, and having Aaron and Shauna here, and having Keturah and Abishai extra tired and snippy because of that. I can only handle so much at once. I think God orchestrated that John and Stef choose this weekend to move because it was a holiday weekend, same as we did, and this was the year because it was our 10th anniversary. And to some, moving isn't a big deal. Even a big move. To us, because of the drama 4 years later, it's the biggest line in the sand, single biggest chapter in our life so far, it's what has made us who we are today. Not our wedding or births of our kids. Not any of the job changes except it. It's the most all encompassing thing that changed our family dynamics, our physical location, cutting our apron strings from his parents (which made us finally grow up and changed our relationship with them), truly changed our relationships with God as the drama unfolded as we came back because of Benaiah and the job, and changed our relationship as we have healed quite differently. This is THAT significant. It's the first thing we really choose to do as a couple. It's the first thing we contemplated and prayed over as a couple. The first ministry thing we did. The first time I poured my heart and soul into a place intentionally. The first time I made real friends. Friends I didn't want to leave behind. And my friend group there has stuck together and continued on without me. A friend group that I would still be part of today. A friend group I still cry over and about often. The grief has not waned. I did not cry over or grieve over leaving New Hampshire like this. I did not cry over and grieve over leaving Indiana like this. I don't know if this means I'm still not healed, or I still haven't forgiven someone, or that I really truly made some best friends for the first time in my life and I was open enough and vulnerable enough to have real feelings for once. But for me to sit there, 10 years later, and openly start to cry in a public place, that's not me. That wasn't me even a few years ago. And I still want to cry just typing this two days later after having rested a bit this weekend. 

- I've always said that I left a piece of my heart on Prince Edward Island and I used to think it was a little tiny piece because I knew 4 years wasn't a lot of time in the grand scheme of things. I knew that hopefully someday I would move on and have more experiences and I would push myself to get over it and move on and maybe have even better experiences. But so far, it hasn't happened yet. And I'm thinking, it wasn't just a little tiny piece. I'm thinking, it was a big piece, a God shaped huge piece. I finally grew up while I was there. I finally grew up into my true self. And Jared was able to see for himself who he could be outside of his family. And who he was not. Remember, he didn't enjoy PEI like I did. He was stuck at the job. I think he could have enjoyed it and found something else more enjoyable and we were literally two months from permanent residency where we could have stayed and found something else if only the school hadn't terminated us so soon. It came down to the issue of timing. And that's part of what makes me so furious. They did not consider our needs before their own. They didn't wait until after graduation that year either. It was a hot mess. And left us in a hot mess. And left a huge hole in my heart that is scarred for life. It has healed up some, maybe a lot, but then the scab rips open and it's raw again. And this week has been tough because of my sister. Thankfully not because of my in laws that are visiting or my in laws that live here. And thankfully, I've been able to control my attitude and my tongue. Praise the Lord.

- On the way back from Morristown, I was looking up where John, Stef, and Auggie were on their travels and I noticed Gary was at our house. So I texted Keturah and Justin asking them why Grandpa was there, and they responded that Grandpa was getting more sand for the pool area. I internally rolled my eyes and told Jared and said, oh boy, who knows what we are going to walk into and did he know anything about it. He didn't say anything of course. I tried to keep my mood up and laugh it off and play it up and walked around to the back of the house when we got home like, "oh boy, he's at it again, meddling in where he didn't need to." And I saw that the pool box was gone from the garage because the garage door was up. Yikes. I was kind of hoping that yes, they were putting up the pool and I was actually going to be happy if they were because that's what I wanted! Because who knows how or when it was going to be done with just Jared in charge of it. Well, sure enough, everyone but Leah was over there and they had the pool up! Yeah!!!!! I was surprised Aaron, Shauna and the girls were there because I knew they had a lunch date. They all said it was my birthday present. I said thank you!!!! Because truly, it take a huge load off my mind. Now all we have to do is get Rick here to do the electrical, and we are on his list already, and then we have to study and assemble the filtration system, which I know I can help from Kellie if we can't do it, and we have to get the pool water guy out here to fill it with the already chlorinated city water, to jump start it. Yeah! So major progress this week! I keep looking out my back windows at it and smiling! My dream is finally coming true! A pool in our backyard! No more headaches at the city pool! I can send my kids out there and I can watch from inside! Just a 30 minute dip and then we can all feel better! Abishai can learn to swim faster! Ah! I don't have to wait for the city pools to open and close every year! Eek! AND I said what I wanted to do with the IRS refund, and how I was saving for a pool, and how I wanted money at Christmas for one, and I've followed through for once! That means a TON to me! A TON! Doing a house project start to finish! Eek! Ok, it's not finished but there's no going back now that it's out of the box. I was getting nervous with it still in the box. Thank you family!

- Speaking of pools, after Aaron and Shauna did their lunch date with her dad, and we had some quiet time at home, we did got to a friend of the family's wonderful backyard pool and the dads and kids got to swim. Shauna went home to rest, Leah was working on our birthday dinner, Grandpa was there for a bit, Benaiah had to work, and I was going to swim, but it didn't work out. I got some pics and vids, but yeah, I wasn't a happy camper. The kids had a wonderful time though. Thankfully it wasn't too hot in the shade and there was a tiny breeze. I was just done with the whole thing by the end of it. And I was worried about my sister since she hadn't made much progress today. I was ready to go home way sooner than anyone else.

- We had a late birthday dinner, our normal sides and grilled things. The cake was pretty cool, and looked like a gender revealed cake because Everly made half the icing blue and half of it pink because it was for Aaron and I, lol. But it was gluten free, which was sweet. I've had a lot of ice cream lately and so far so good. No stomach aches. Which is dangerous because I'm going to keep eating it and it's way too many calories for me. But things will settle down next week and I'll get back to my normal eating habits.  We had some laughs, decent conversation, some play time outside, a family photo of our Johnson 12, and I didn't get mad or blow up. We also had a couple of extra guests, Matt and Lola, friends who used to live in NOLA but now live in Georgia who came to go canoeing with Aaron and Shauna and I'm sure to do other things, too. They have a cool camper van and canoe that Matt made from a kit. Matt's wife and son stayed in Georgia I believe. It was decent evening and I'm glad it went well.

 - Overall, the bad part of the day was sandwhiched between two very good parts of the day. I loved that.

Since they didn't get done at the house until late, John, Stefanie and Auggie had to get a hotel for the night in Manchester. They were not expecting that. They also slept in a lot and didn't get on the road until after 11. They only traveled 2 1/2 hrs the first day because Auggie threw up and Stefanie couldn't stay awake. She didn't want to drink caffeine and have to stop for the restroom all the time, but I think that's the only thing that is keeping her going because I see her stopping at Dunkin Doughnuts a lot!

This is where Jared took me for lunch.

They stayed here for a long time. I'm guessing this is when Auggie threw up.

We came home after breakfast to find that our pool was up and they were finishing making the ladder!

Ta da! The sand is done and the pool is up! Now we just need to find a way to run electricity for the pump, set up the pump, and get the city water tank guy to come fill it up for us! There is no way I'm putting our iron filled water in this pool, at least not to start with. Yuck!

Abishai is such a great climber now. I can't believe we've been in this house for 5 years and he's grown from a little 2 year old to this monster of a kid.

Helping to finish the last touches so the J4 can go to lunch with Shauna's dad.

We actually got everyone to sign Aaron's card! It was meant to be goofy kid signatures.

I thought I was the queen? Am I the queen of the earth then?

Ditto!

We have a pool!

I put the ladder in, gently, and carefully got into the empty pool! Check out how big it is! I'm so excited! I hope the kids spend a lot of time in here! I know Abishai will!

Happy birthday to me! We have a pool up in our backyard! I followed through with a project! Yeah!

Swimming at Shafer's

Time to show off our skills at a friend's really, really nice pool. One of his companies is a landscaping business, and that's so evident in this backyard. The kids had a blast and it was perfect for this fairly warm day. A great way to end the week.

I was sitting under the deck out of the sun so I wouldn't have to put sunscreen on so my pictures are from far away. The water slide was very cool and fast. And yes, that's a splash pad area with a Mickey Mouse head. They love Disney World!

They tried out all kinds of things on the slide like how much water could they catch and then release. Do they go head first or feet first? On their side or back or front. They climbed the stairs dozens of times!

And they could stop themselves.

Adults talking while Abishai working on his diving skills. His floaties kept coming off.

For whatever reason, both Justin and Everly kept sitting on the wall after they slid down the slide, just because. They weren't trying to stop the water or anything. Maybe they wanted to be splashed?

Woah! That's Daddy and Abishai going super fast! The more weight you have, the higher the speed on a water slide!

Check out this little diver. Maybe she should be on a swim team. She wanted to practice her regular dives rather than do dive bombs and such.

Of course Jared had to do his infamous double flip. Thankfully he didn't hurt his back or even land on his back. I think he did slightly pull a muscle. He only did it once. He still displaces enough water to make a humongous wave. The little kids always thought it was so cool. The big kids were pretty distracted today and not as impressed.

That's an interesting shot. I caught Keturah just as she was entering the water for a pencil dive. It looks like she's walking on water! Nice form, too!

This is how far Stefanie got on the first day, poor thing. I'm sure she had hoped for more. I know when we left for Canada, we had a short day because we didn't leave until 2pm after church. But still, not the best first driving day. She had totally forgotten to get dramimine for Auggie. SMH She thought he'd be ok because he's been on some trips before. I'm like, honey, anything over an hr is cause to give the kids medication. They get sleepy within 15-30 min. Then they sleep it off in the car for the next hour or two, and then they are awake and ok and happy. Take the medication. Avoid the throwing up, deary.

Lazy boys.

Ha! I caught you red handed bringing sugar to the party! Sugar in squeezable form in a tube that looks like toothpaste! Ew!

What are you doing Nora! Nora is playing her part as leader, because she's an introvert, but she and Abishai are the natural leaders of the Fab 4 group. She told everyone to hike up their towels and then run down the hill, just because they could. The men were talking to Mike Kelliebrew's brother who was in charge of closing the pool when we were done. Abishai asked for his towel just so he could match Nora and have a cape flying behind him.

Apparently Keturah and Everly didn't get the memo to run.

Uh, time to go!

There you go! And then they went through some paths in the woods. Which was ok, but I really needed to get home and take care of myself. And the dads weren't helping. I was getting a bit mad. I had to take a few minutes at home to calm down before we could head over for birthday supper, which, btw, I got through without losing my marbles.

Oh teenager, you don't need headphones to walk the 5 minutes to Grandma's house. Listen to the sounds of nature instead!

Stomp, stomp, stomp. I can be mad if I want to be.

Thanks for the gluten free gender reveal cake, Everly and Grandma, lol! Too cute! Everly was trying to make it look like half was for Aaron and half was for me, thus the pink and blue. But it really did look like a gender reveal cake, too. I've been watching way too many of those gender reveal gone wrong videos, lol. Shauna understood what I meant.

Jared got Aaron the Bible version that he's been reading with Keturah. Instead of making the version easier to read in our modern English, this author take you make towards the Hebrew and makes you think more I guess. I think it's only Old Testament though.

Time for party games! I took this picture before remembering that Ava and Benaiah don't want their pic taken. Whoops. But at least Benaiah is playing with Justin.

Oh my goodness, the biggest one and littlest one. The biggest one teaching the littlest one how to throw a frisbee. It's the cutest, most heart warming thing to watch these two interact. They have such a bond since Benaiah had to be so involved with the cleaning up process after Abishai was born. Benaiah got to hold Abishai more and asked for Abishai to be on his bed. I would wake Benaiah up with Abishai's little body next to him. And Abishai looks up to Miah and doesn't troll Miah like he trolls Justin. There's more of a respect of authority with Benaiah. Abishai senses that Benaiah is now an adult. And Benaiah treats Abishai so gently, like a father and son almost. Benaiah will make a great dad someday just like Jared. Again, in that way, they are alike. Benaiah has shown that some of his thinking patterns match mine though, which is fun. He certainly has more impotence to get things done than Jared does. But yes, I love this stuff so much. And when Miah comes over, Abishai follows him around like a little puppy dog. It's so adorable!

Time for a little Nerts and no one is allowed to team up with Grandpa. He's on his own Nora said.

Abishai met a new friend today, Lola. Here they are pretending that they are on a stage. Her Dad, Matt, and her are going to go canoeing with Aaron and Shauna and the girls and enjoy the lawn mower race with them. They are Aaron's friends from NOLA who moved away to Georgia to be with family. Her mom and brother stayed home in Georgia. They can raise the roof of their van and make it into a sleeping camper. How cool is that?! Lola is quite sweet and such a talker. She's almost 5 and never meets a stranger. They will get to spend more time together at the lawn mower race. Adorable.

Miah wanted to shoot off a couple of fireworks, so he did. And of course, he's a great big brother and let Abishai help!

Summer skies are gorgeous! And the temperature was nice outside. The bugs weren't too bad either. And it was nearing 9pm!

The J12. Back Row: Jared, Benaiah (20), Justin (almost 17), Melinda, Shauna, Aaron. Front row: Abishai (7), Gary, Keturah (14), Nora (12 1/2), Leah, Everly 15. My oh my they just keep growing and getting older. Everly is taller than me. Keturah is my height. Nora is about my height as well. Wow my boys are much taller than me. Jeepers!

Saturday - 

- Today, the J4 headed north to go on a little canoeing trip and enjoy the Wabash area where Grandma and Grandpa Cook lived before they moved in with Grandma Johnson. I'm not sure what else they were going to do, maybe look into the festivities over at 12 Mile, the town where this lawnmower race was going to be, but point is, they weren't going to be hang around with us today. This was a good thing because the kids needed to pack for CIY Move and do their chores and have some of their regular quiet time before their trip. We also needed to do a little shopping as well. We've getting a lot of attitude from all our kids from too much people time. No one has stayed up super late, but it's a lot of activity for all of us, including Abishai. Nothing huge, no one is totally blowing up, we just needed some quiet time. I am having an extra emotional week, too, and needed the rest. We needed our normal Sabbath Saturday pattern, and that's what it was pretty much.

- Keturah got up and started mowing before 9am. I was pretty hopeful that with the early start she would get done quickly, but that was not the case. As the morning dragged on until early afternoon, I was getting more and more irritated by every passing hour. She was finally done around 3. Which meant that instead of settling into screen time, everybody was told to pile into the van for our errands instead. The boys weren't happy. But, the kids wanted drinks and snacks to take with them to CIY. And I thought we were looking for an outdoor canopy for beside the pool to put our chairs under or for Justin's open house next year. Jared was looking for one for the lawnmower race thing on Monday. We also could use new lawn chairs and air mattresses and maybe other things for our camping trip in September, so we were keeping our minds open for camping stuff that was on sale now, although honestly, we are dead broke. Credit cards are a thing and we are paid next Tuesday. Right now, we have to take advantage when we do have time to shop together because it's just rare that we can go out at the same time. So, we pay a convenience fee occasionally on a credit card. That fee is interest sometimes. Sometimes. Not all the time. I try to pay it down so it's minimal when we actually get a statement. But we often don't get interest because I pay off the previous month's amount before it's officially due. And then start the cycle all over again. Anyway, we typically stand in the store and think what else do we need while we are here at the same time? And go from there. And we often say no to things, more than often actually. Well, I guess Jared hadn't been in Ollie's before and didn't realize how good the book section was. We almost didn't get him out of there. Lol. He wanted to look at all the discounted modern books on airplanes and cars as well as some of the Bibles and autobiographies and biographies. Lol. We did find a canopy for $100. We found one at Meijer for that price, too. But I convinced him to just borrow one from Jim, which he found out was actually Mahurin's. I'm kind of surprised because I know that the Smith's have used it before. Anyway, cool, whatever, I didn't do the asking. Mahurin is Jared's friend, too. We found some cool snacks and drinks at Ollie's and then at Meijer, we found camping chairs for $12!!!! (Unfortunately, when Jared went back on Sunday he said they weren't on sale anymore. I'll go back on Tuesday or another day and try again.)  So, we got these errands done and everybody was happy. Even Abishai because we let him get a $13 Nerf gun at Ollie's that is battery powered to shoot 6 bullets pretty quickly.

- Then it was time to go home, let the kids have a little bit of screen time while we cooked one of the EveryPlate meals, and have them do chores. Eat dinner, finish off any clean laundry from earlier in the day, give Abishai a bath (Keturah and I had showers earlier), and finish Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show. The Obi-Wan show was interesting. Not anything terribly exciting, but then again, you know the ending and where the characters end up in order for Episode IV to start. Well, there's still 10 years we don't know about, and wherever they kind of where for Rogue One, the movie in between but you don't see the character in this show, but you know that most of them live and their relationships between each other. It did bring depth to all the characters though. I loved that part of this series. They did an excellent job of it without disrupting the whole Star Wars saga, at least to my brain. I'm sure there were nuances that the fanatics found. But only the YouTube videos will show me those. I was left satisfied enough. I think it was well done.

We have a bamboo forest in our backyard! Gorgeous!

Having a normal Daddy swing time on a normal Saturday.

Go, Steffie, go! How many states can you cross today! It was her first 8 hr day! And they got very far!

Changing the red color on the wooden J to a brighter color doesn't quite match the house, so we'll see.

The pyro boys talking about fireworks. Makes me nervous watching them touch that stuff near all my precious stuff in the garage.

Foam airplane Abishai built with Daddy.

Unfortunately, it didn't fly very well. We couldn't figure out how it balanced or which way to hold it best.

Woah! That red is blinding! It's called "100 mph" red. No joke! Wow! Can't miss it now!

Look at that sheen!

These guys are looking great! The bees will be happy!

Same here!

Another new state for the Wheeler crew!

It's kind of weird watching Stefanie travel closer to me. If only she could drive straight west until southwest. She came within 350 miles of me. It's not fair that we live so far apart and neither one of us makes the effort to see each otther.

Maryland!

Virginia!

Come see me! It's only a day's drive! Please?!

While these take way longer than the card says it does, at least it looks like the picture this time! It was pretty spicy because of the chili powder in the sauce. But everybody liked it.

We found this Bible at Ollie's for $13. It doesn't have any Star Wars trivia or anything, but it does have a few pages with some emphasis on Bible verses for the kid. It's the NIrV, which is the version that they use for their memory work. How can I say no when both Keturah and Abishai wanted new Bibles? Ok, then, have them.

A little Yoda speak on the back.

How far did you go? 8 hrs? Yeah!! Major progress!

Looking great! Well done for today!

Two more days of driving. But you can do it!!

Sunday - Typical

- Typical Sunday where I woke up from a dream with a raging migraine. Thankfully, excedrin migraine (the one with tylenol) took care of it and staying quiet and at home this morning helped as well. I listened to both sermons, Emerson's was on pride, and New Pal's was a guest missionary preacher that's been with the church for 20 years, who talked about their story and their new upcoming changes and mission, but also talked about calling vs. leading. Calling being your life mission, overarching life vision, and leading, the details about how you are fulfilling that vision. So, this missionary and his wife feel called to serve the 10/40 window and have been in China for the most part of the last 20 years and but will now search a country in the middle east, still in the 10/40 window, but being led to a different country, led to a different organization/partnership with some couples that they have worked with before through their contacts in China, doing something a bit different, but still serving the people in the 10/40 window, fulfilling their life's 10/40 calling. They have 5 children, too. A big change, for sure. 

- We had lunch with Gary and Leah, grilled chicken and brats and the usual side dishes, again. Not that I'm complaining too much because I hate cooking, but, yeah, a little variety would be good. Lol, it's just beginning to feel like they are in a rut like I was in a rut with raw veggies, fruit salad, maybe another veggie (at least this part changes), and some kind of grilled meat. And then buns (which I can't eat) or corn pudding (which I can't eat) and then ice cream for dessert. I'm glad we don't grill at home or it would be really repetitive. We purposefully had a chicken meal last night at home because we had had so much pork and beef at their house lately. Then they grilled chicken today, which I'm glad they did and it was very good. Gary actually seared it in butter and then put it on the grill. Leah had run out of ideas she said, which is fine. She has cooked a lot this week. I get it. We'll help clean out the fridge. I had suggested pizza, but if the fridge was full, like it usually is because Leah overestimates how much the J4 will actually eat, there would be no room for it anyway. 

- Lunch conversation was pleasant. We talked about our plans for tomorrow driving up for the lawnmower race at 12 Mile (it's a town). Benaiah talked about work, Ethan, fireworks, and all the things of course. And the other kids talked about getting ready for CIY. Abishai wanted to talk about what he would get from the helper room when he was a volunteer for KP and he wanted to talk about his new Nerf gun. I just wanted to keep following John, Stef and Auggie. Yesterday they made about 8 hrs of progress and today they made nearly 9 hours. They have about 9 more years to go, if they go via New Orleans. They are on the roads we use to get to NOLA, which is kind of interesting. Basically they are winging it and their GPS took them right through the Applichian mountains, straight southwest, which is not good on gas mileage because of those mountains, but ok, fine. I didn't know there was a highway that went straight through. We've always taken straight east/west and north/south routes because that's where we've headed. We'd go through Ohio and Pennsylvania straight east going over the mountains then and then turn north, or we went through West VA to Virginia to Deleware. Or we went over the mountains and into Georgia to Florida. Or we'd head straight south to New Orleans going over just one mountain pass in Alabama or something. So, I hope that didn't slow them down having to stop too much for gas or more car sickness. Would have been beautiful territory though. All that Davy Crockett territory in eastern Tenn today. Wowzers! They clipped through the northwest corner of Georgia and then went southwest through Alabama stopping past Birmingham for the night. Just Mississippi, Louisiana and then Texas! 1900 miles! 4 days! Ah! And they are running out of Dunkin' Doughnuts, too! I think, I could be wrong, but I've caught Stef stopping at them. And I don't know where else I could suggest to her that has something similar. Crispy Creme? Maybe. I don't know chain store coffee and doughnut shops because I don't eat doughnuts and pastries. I just know my local places and then Starbucks or McDonald's. Bigby's?  I'm sure there's lots of other restaurants she's noticing that will be new to her that isn't in New England. She can't go to Chick Fil A because she can't eat chicken she said. She might get away with something else though. But she can't have dairy either. Poor thing. But just you wait, she's got a lot of learning to do and lots of culture shock of how things are run outside of New England. Life is way different out here and I'm sure Texas is even more different than up here. The big truck stops. The 7/11's. How far you drive to get some place, like across the city even! The traffic. The heat. The Piggly Wiggly grocery store! The In and Out burger! Arby's! All the new to her restaurants! I should have her write down all the "firsts" for her. There's going to be so many! Her first hurricane. Her first tornado. Her first dust storm. So much fun!

- Anyway, the rest of our day was screen time and naps. Justin had his youth group so I took him and Jared picked up. He went back to Meijer for more camping chairs and they weren't on sale anymore. I made sure the kids were thoroughly packed for CIY before Abishai went to bed. Meanwhile, Benaiah stopped by to get some things done for his fireworks before tomorrow. He had Ethan with him. Abishai went outside to show Miah and Effan his new Nerph gun and shoot it at them. Benaiah was pretty impressed that it only cost $13 and I could see in his eyes he wanted one, lol. Benaiah also decided to shoot off a couple of his smaller fireworks. And then he took them back to Grandpa's house to get them ready tomorrow while we are gone to this lawnmower race thing. Benaiah also brought over his castoffs of drinks and snacks, and that helped finish filling up the kids' desire for extra snacks and drinks for CIY. You know guys, they feed you and you can always drink water there. Good grief. That's enough! 

- I got started on the blog post and I'm actually mostly done these paragraphs. I don't think I'm missing anything major either. I just need to load up pics and vids and journal. It should be easy to do. And it's easy to write when I forget all the juicy details or bits about why I'm angry. Oh, the details like how on Friday Abishai was all excited that Ava was there and he kept "checking in" with her and at one point when she was hugging him back, he farted! And he was all giggly! And she was like, "Ew, you stink!" I told her to not squeeze him again. And then Justin chimed in and told how he pushed him down with his foot and Justin had made Abishai fart. Yes, Abishai is a fart on command kind of kid. Thankfully, both Ava and Kya have brothers so when Abishai toots, they will make a comment and will just walk away. It doesn't deter them from my other boys. Abishai's just a kid brother being a troll, being the third wheel, trying to break up the party, and he doesn't need to be. We will distract him when we can. He's Abishai. He'll always be like that.

Aaron and Shauna drove by Grandma and Grandpa Cook's old house. Aaron said there's some raised garden beds out back, maybe some kid stuff. So at least some people live there and are maintaining the property. That's good to see.

Another day, another Dunkin Dounuts for Stefanie.

The closest that my sister has been to me in years. I should have planned a rendezvous with her in Tennessee or something.

The 9th grade girls were doing their annual Baskets for Benjamin lemonade and cookie stand today at Indian Creek so they shared pictures and interviewed Bella and Sarah, two of the shyest girls of the group! Lol! Anyway, Keturah was able to help out a little bit today despite having worship team because they didn't have any 2's and 3's to take care of.

So weird. So close, yet so far away.

Abishai wanted to get Justin with his new high powered Nerf gun. Justin was having none of it.

Daddy makes a better target.

Tennessee and close to Georgia, next up Alabama.

They will only be 5-6 hrs from Chalmette so the next time we got to New Orleans, I'll have to plan something to meet in the middle and hang out for an afternoon or something. Much more doable than the 16 hrs by car to New Hampshire.

Last hotel! Ok, I found out that when they get to Houston, they will crash at a hotel the first night and then unload on Tuesday, which makes sense. But still, last on the road hotel! Praise the Lord! Almost there!

That's how much they have left plus 30 minutes (I don't want to share their actual address, but I do know it now). Tomorrow is the last big push! Same as what we did 10 years ago, landing at our new home on 4th of July!

Baskets for Benjamin with 1 year old Hope on Allison's hip, how precious!

Our adolescent resident bunny popped out while Jared was outside listening to his Bible. Jared sat very still and it kept on eating just 6 ft away. It's gotten used to Jared being outside with it. It's that brown lump between the cardboard and black piping, right on the grass next to the sidewalk.

Right there on the grass above Jared's shoulder. And yes, Jared got out his pipe to smoke again. Not my favorite pasttime of his, but whatever. I just ask him to change his clothes and brush his teeth when he's done.

The End