The J6 Journey

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Year 5, November 2nd-5th, 2020: General Election 2020

It's going to be an interesting week. From rumors of riots no matter what side wins, to rumors of going on lockdown back to stage 1 on Wednesday AFTER the election, to rumors of stores running out of toilet paper and paper towels, oi! Get a grip! We just opened all of our Sunday School rooms this week. I'm not going to stop meeting with people at my house. You can't make me. In fact, I've already invited some friends over on Friday. And I'm going to meet up with a friend for coffee on Thursday. Life is going to continue on. In fact, today, we went to a ninja warriors gym and only a handful of people were wearing masks. The kids weren't required to wear masks. The gym teacher wasn't wearing one either. And I was ok with that. They all washed their hands before they got started. They had to sanitize their hands if they left the gym floor and came back. And then they all washed their hands after class. And they deep clean the equipment frequently. It was kind of weird to see that most people weren't wearing their masks. I'm so used to the strictness at church and in the grocery store. It was kind of nice, actually! But I made sure I wasn't in people's faces and I gave them more space.

Yes, we went to a gym called Hoosiers Warriors Gym where they do tumbling classes, parkour classes, and ninja warrior classes. The owners were gymnastics coaches for a long time and then their kids got interested in ninja warriors so they decided to combine a few things. It's a small gym but worth the 35 minutes drive to Avon on the way westside of Indy to see the excitement in Abishai's face! He was running around the house this morning saying, "My battery is at 100%, can we go now?" After class he was nearly at 0% he said. When I asked him what does he need to recharge, he said the tablet. I said, no, you need food, and your charging port is your mouth. So on the way home we got McDonald's, which was right next a Chick-Fil-A. Of course they wanted Chick-Fil-A and I said no it's too expensive plus we don't get a discount. We spent $19 instead of $29 or $39. The reason we went all the way to the westside was to maybe meet a few people from that group and make connections. I didn't do a great job, but at least my face was visible. And the boys had a blast!

I mean so much so that I either have to find one on the eastside, or I might sign Abishai up for a class there. He just jumped right in with the older kids and did everything! And when he didn't know what to do, he asked another kid or asked the coach. He was bold and went for it! Right up the climbing wall! A bit up the rope! Jumping over blocks! Determined face on the balance beam! And he did listen to instructions, too. And Justin got to get some tips on how to do the warped wall and also tried the salmon ladder (that Oliver Queen did in the Arrow tv show), but didn't know the bar would be that heavy. The photos and videos say more than I could ever say. Abishai wants to go back. He just tackles these things like crazy!

When we finally did get home and settled, we managed to get through everyone's school work. Abishai fell on a brick outside and scratched his arm, so we went looking for a long sleeve shirt that would be long enough All his pj shirts and long sleeved shirts are too short, so I dug through the bigger sizes. I said there's some footed pjs in there, and Abishai wanted to wear those to Grandpa's house for Grandpa Bible class. I said, nope! So he went in pj shorts, a long sleeved pj shirt, his brown shoes and socks, a fall jacket and a winter hat. The funny thing is, when Jared texted that supper was ready for the kids, he phrased in such a way that it made Grandpa think they were invited for dinner! Bwahahaha! It's a good thing it was a big pot of chili! And it wasn't too spicy! That was fun, actually, because Grandpa had been out of town. So we shared our day's stories with them. Grandpa's heat went out. Aaron and Shauna finally got power back on at their house after 6 days without it. We told them about the Smith's plight of mold and water damage in the kitchen. And of course the other parts of the day.

The kids do not have their regular TV time because of attitudes and such, but we didn't have time for it today anyway. I did allow Abishai to do game time with Daddy, and Justin had his phone and nightly computer time, and Keturah got nothing. I'll have to remedy it that tomorrow because I needed to curtail Justin's usage as well. Whoops. Tomorrow will be a different story with voting and haircuts. We'll see!

That's pretty cool!

I did this yesterday, but need to do today's. Yesterday was Jared, today will be Socks of course.

Baby girl many moons ago. Abishai still uses that carseat, which is probably not as wise as we think. She and I loved those boots though!

When the coach says not to sit down or stand still but keep moving, you keep moving! He's ready for station 1!

Hoosier Warriors Gym, Avon, IN

Justin started out on the ropes. It took him a few tries and some tips with the coach, but he eventually did it! Actually, I'm pretty grateful that BOTH of the boys asked the coach for help and didn't hesitate like I would have done.

First attempt. And he got rope burn on his thighs.

I barely caught little guy's first attempt at the rock wall!

When you get to the top, you jump down into the pit, but there's a ledge for them to stand on briefly to get their bearings.

Uh, now what?

Lots of fun things to play on.

Little man's first attempt at the rope! Look at him go!

Justin hanging onto the bar for as long as he can.

Abishai scrambled up these boxes quick as a fox.

Justin's turn for the rock wall.

No fear these two have.

Crab walk.

Another attempt after some tips from the coach.

Is he going to make it this time?

Why yes, he did! I think a few people clapped for him, too! It was a sweet atmosphere. I saw no fighting, and most kids obeying the rules.

Bigger rock wall on the back. Those long monkey toes of Justin really come in handy!

One of Justin's attempts at the warped wall before he got the coach's help. Afterwards, I saw him help a girl younger than him, but older than the rest of the kids with the same tips.

The gym had a small blow up jumping thing and most kids did the right thing and jumped on it and then go off for the next kid, including Abishai.

Cutest little beamer in the world!

Ready, set, jump off!

But first, that stance and concentration. Love it!

Swinging on the cheese boards for a minute during free time.

And he got it!

Yeah Justin!

This combo is the best! But it also remind me to pray for the family that used the coffee company as a fundraiser. They fund-raised for their foreign adoption of a 12? 14? year old boy. So I pray for them as I drink my coffee because I'm sure there's a lot of hard mental and emotional work to be done with all the scars that orphan boy might have from being in the home and then the cultural differences and language barrier. The work doesn't stop when the adoption papers are finalized. It has only just begun.

Oh my word, what?! So, I guess I took the class with Laura in November and December of 2016. I vaguely remember a snowstorm the day of the last class and I don't have Week 6's notes. And then in November 2017, she made it into the devotional, and I was a "promoter" and got a preview copy of that first chapter. And now, I'm going through week 1 for the third time! I wish I had more notes from the class, but it will be interesting to compare it all. So apparently I need to hear this words in November/December every year.

Today is November 2nd, 2020. 4 yrs later I'm doing the same study in a way different attitude and a different group of women.

Yup!

Gorgeous sunset on this chilly day.

One of the first pieces of college mail for Justin.

Well, Election Day has come and gone. Jared got up at 5:30am and actually voted at a different church than Indian Creek. He got home around 8. I went at 10:30am to a local high school and had NO wait, and was in and out and done in 7 1/2 minutes. Maybe the lines would have been longer if everyone voted on the same day in their normal precincts. But with 187 polling locations open in Marion County, including Lucus Oil Stadium and Bankers Life Fieldhouse and with a website to tell you the wait times, you would think that people who were whining about standing in line for 3 hrs could have gotten back in their cars and found somewhere else just 15 minutes away from their current location. But no, we are creatures of habit and ignorance. And it frustrates me to no end. And I put that on Facebook and took it down less than an hour later because what does it matter. Actually, I think it matters a lot because fools that whine about it and don't do anything about it are just fools. We need to think creatively and our country can't seem to do that. That why we had fools running for political office. And all of those fool are watching the news waiting for election results. Nothing is going to be decided tonight, folks. The mail in and early voter ballots have yet to be counted. Chill out. And I need to chill out, too. But it's over. And I stayed away from social media as much as I could.

In fact, the boys were able to get their haircuts today and then we ran around a bit doing the minor errands like the library, recycling, Goodwill drop off, clothes dropped off to a friend, GameStop, and CVS in less than 2 hrs. I kept up with email and my game but didn't have time for anything else. I didn't get to much schoolwork with the kids but oh well, tomorrow is a new day. And we have ZERO extra obligations next week! Woot! Woot! That gives me peace of mind that I will get to some things around the house and catch up a bit or something. We'll put in some extra school work, too. But this week, we just have to manage what we got. So Keturah and Abishai are watching the original 1984 version of Ghostbusters because Justin ordered it from the library and we picked it up today. Justin will watch it on his own later. (And they loved it! Not scary at all to them! But so cheesy!) And I'm going to catch up on some computer work and listening to things and reading things. Then we will start afresh with school tomorrow.

Um, no, you can't declare election results at 8 pm. What about all the mail in and early voters? Did those already get counted? And I'm talking about the main media outlets making declarations. As a political enthusiast all of my life, I've been at the polls from dawn until the votes were counted. It's easily midnight before local races are declared. Stop creating drama you dumb mass media outlets! I love your reporters, especially here in Indiana where there's some really awesome people, but still, just there's not need to create drama where there is none. I will check results in the morning, but even then, I don't think it's going to be finished.

Meanwhile, I've shared coupon codes with others and did my Bible study. Lots more to do so I'll move on. Kitchen is clean, laundry is running. Not sure on dinner tomorrow. Need to declutter a bit before we have guests on Friday. I'm excited for guests! Eek! Just praying we aren't put on lockdown again. I'm not staying home if we are. Normal routine for as long as possible over here.

Anyway, get this, Abishai said he wants to get baptized on Daddy's birthday as a surprise! And only by Daddy! But when questioned further, yes, it's the fact that he wants to take communion. So, we still have a bit of discussion to be had. I did ask him if he believed in Jesus, and he said, oh yes, I do! But I think he has bit more to go on understanding sin and forgiveness and all of that. But we'll start the conversation. No need to wait! He'll be 6 yrs and 3 mos in May, and Justin was 6 years and 10 months when he was baptized. Benaiah was just over 7 yrs old. Keturah has yet to be baptized despite going through the baptism class. She has no interest in it or following Jesus 100%. She knows though. And that's all we can do. Some teens make that commitment and make our faith their own during events like CIY. That's why I want CIY to come back, or some kind of experience like that. Yes, it's an emotional high, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes. I think because of other circumstances, Keturah has some mental and emotional barriers to work through, similar to what I struggle with. All we can do is pray for her. And for the other adults in her life to speak into her life about it. Maybe she'll see her friends make the commitment and finally decide to do it. But, God's the one to help her. We've done what we can for now.

"It's Bud the spud from the bright red mud
Rolling down the highway smiling
The Spuds are big on the back of Bud's rig
They're from Prince Edward Island
They're from Prince Edward Island"

Oh how I miss the red mud! This is Justin at the playground that was in the common green space behind our Charlottetown, PEI house. 2012, so Justin was 7 yrs old. It was nice having this climbing structure nearby and I know Abishai would have loved it because he climbs on them all the time here in Indiana!

He'll always be our baby.

This was on Facebook. These pumpkins represent a woman's dilation when she is in labor and about to deliver a child. Yes, pretty freaky. And to think I've done it 4 times and once without medication. Our human bodies are incredible things!

Abishai actually pulled out this game and played it today. It's all about balance! Science!

You would have thought we could distribute ourselves more evenly, but no. Nobody wants to go somewhere unknown. I think we need to go back to our regular precincts next time. Sigh.

Justin's "before" photos.

Abishai has the most beautiful natural highlights!

It got pretty warm today!

Leaves that Abishai and Daddy collected on their walk to Grandma's house this past Sunday. They are huge!

Abishai's "after" photo.

Much better length, and you can still see all the natural highlights.

Justin likes it longer, but thinned out so he can keep his dandruff at bay.

Day 1: Jared; Day 2: Socks; Day 3: Anytime Jared and I are snuggling in front of the fire or in bed and NOT saying anything. I feel all cozy, warm, at peace, safe, and protected.

Reposted on Instagram a short video of Billy Graham urging people to vote. Probably in the 1960's or something. Man, was Billy Graham passionate! Crazy!

Well, I checked the election results this morning, and although Indiana declared herself for Trump, Holcomb, and our State Senator and Representative seemed to have won, I still won't have confidence in the final results until the news outlets stop saying "predicted results" which could still take a while. Gary apparently stayed up way too late and another friend stayed up until 4 am. Why? The results won't change. In fact, I didn't see much difference between 8 am and 4 pm when I checked today. The most interesting thing I've seen is just how evenly divided the House and Senate are in Washington. Some sources say, for example, Republicans lost a seat but gained another and that the Senate is 47 Democrats vs. 47 Republicans. No wonder nothing gets done when politics are based on what side of the aisle you are on! There's no overwhelming majority! Indiana is very conservative and so we pretty much stay Republican most of the time, except Indianapolis. They tend to be a bit more liberal. And a county or two near Chicago. So, it definitely wasn't worth staying up for. Silly people.

I went to bed super early but had a very intense weird dream that involved hanging out with Michael W. Smith and some of his grandkids at a pool and then I was brought in for questioning by a mob in Franklin, TN or something for something I said on Facebook. Something political I think. Anyway, I woke up with the worst headache from a dream ever! I clench my jaw during those kinds of dreams, so it's common for me to wake up with one. But it took two doses of Excedrin Migraine, 3 cups of caffeine, a hot shower, lots of drinking water, and 4 applications of Frankincense, CBD oil, Peppermint oil and Copiaba oil to get rid of it. Oh, and Advil Migraine, so straight up special kind of ibuprofen, too. And I picked up extra masks and candy from CVS when I got the medication. But you know, that happens. Bible study was very good, and we still got to sit outside although it got a bit chilly. Maybe 65 degrees? Great conversation, too.

Justin got up late as usual, but we managed to get all our schoolwork done, today. The status quo is solid and our routines keep us moving. Even when I think I'm behind or I can't muster up enough strength through a migraine, we seem to still get it all done. I have leftover things like science experiments or like today, I skipped out on some read alouds because we had done it twice already this week. But the rest is so solid, I never worry about it. We finished up leftovers for dinner, too. Time for something new tomorrow! And I have a coffee date with a friend.

Abishai's fun moment of the day was playing "garage band." Although I had a headache, he managed to piece together and practice playing a drum set, a guitar, the recorder, and the keyboard. I texted Jared and he said to tell Abishai to take everything to the garage and practice out there, so he did. And then he put on a concert for Daddy. It was so adorable! He even had magazines for Daddy to read while he listened. Just another example of the imagination that Abishai has, or his copy cat ability from watching a lot of YouTube. Which I relented on today. Bryce was on, so I let Justin go on, and Abishai watched only one or two kinds of shows. So, I let Keturah on as long as she promised to stay off the pre teen shows. Oh man, I think I forgot Justin's piano lesson this week! Whoops! Well, it's because I shooed him off from playing the song he WANTS to play and he never went back. to practice what he was supposed to be practicing.

Other than that, normal day. Oh, Socks did eat some grace and threw up a bunch of phlegm on the living room rug. It's a good thing I have my steam cleaner now! I hadn't given him breakfast because I needed to clean out his dog dish first. But first I needed a shower, so, he didn't get fed until afternoon. Poor guy. Everybody needs mama's attention all at once. Quite annoying. I feel like I say "hold on, one minute" all day long. Oh well. Keep the plates spinning. Jared and I finished the day with our new ritual of the 10 minute Bible hour and he posed a question for me to think on about financial adventures. Great question, too! Hm,....

And that's it!

Gorgeous day outside, I wish I could have spent time out there!

Kiddos had some fun time! Abishai can run up the slide no problem!

Head first like a penguin!

Concert for one, and only one, Daddy. The video is adorable. Abishai's intent look to his final bow. Adorable!

Great day again, great coffee date with a friend, finished school on time, all the things. Abishai went in and out side a dozen times today, which is fine! Except her got a nasty scratch from the plastic coated wire clothesline that helps to hold up the bigger tire swing. Poor thing! All my words and memories of the day just vanished. Maybe because I was just trying to get things done? I don't know. I was scrolling Intagram for the last hour and poof, any focus and clarity I had just vanished. Whoops. I did do a bit of tidying and cleaning for our friends to come over tomorrow. But not much. I spent too much time on my phone, as always, but there was a lot of texts and messages to answer today. I still didn't get phone calls made, Bible study caught up, or other random stuff like that. Grrrr, next week! No appointments next week! Woot! Woot!

A Canadian friend posted this on her wall. Thank you, my northern friend, and right back to you!

Hey, bud, the one I dreamed about two nights ago, lol. Loking a bit grandfatherly these days. Not like the 37 yr old I was listening to today on his 1995 record. I saw a couple of clips of him singing today in at his home studio (recorded today), and he definitely sounds a bit different when he sings. But that's ok, he's still Smitty. And he still loves America. And he's still praying and so am I.

Baby guy hurt his neck on one of the plastic covered wires on the big tire swing today! Owie! I put some lavender on it, AFTER I put an oil blend called "en-r-gee" that had pepper oil (not peppermint), pepper) and few other things that I would not suggest using at all on skin like this. Whoops! It had a purple label like lavender does! I quickly wiped it off and found the right bottle. It stung a little bit. And if it had been really bad, you can also rub coconut or almond oil where you've put the essential oils to dilute it. Although the skin does absorb it in 23 seconds or so. Brave boy.


A few hrs later. I put more lavender oil on it, too. And a few hours after that, it wasn't raised up anymore. At least he was outside playing, right?

Borrowed from a post on our Franklin Township page. I'm sure I could do this on Google Earth, too, because Jared has done it that way before. But this is why our school are overcroweded. This is why we need all these roundabouts. While it's awesome people want to leave in the suburbs, putting houses so close together has caused so many issues. From HOA's to small yards to overcrowded streets and schools. This could have been planned better. At least in our older unnamed neighborhood, we have more space in between each home.

2019!!!

Uh, we never put the lights away. The strings of lights just sat on the front windowsill for 6 months. But now that it's dark at 5pm, Mama needs more lights! It's awesome having a tall boy around!

Oooo, the treehouse is nearly done! It's cleaned up and stained. That was such a task because of how much garbage Keturah put on it and it's normal wear and tear. It won't be ready for tomorrow's playdate, but Jared spent about 20 minutes tonight before dark putting it together a bit.

I don't think that it's final resting place, but it's approximately where we want it.

Sorry, Benaiah and Ava, it's been months since I posted a photo from you guys and you are part of our lives still. And yes, Ava, you took an amazing photo of our young man! So handsome!

Yup, I knew it! Actually, I didn't take a photo, but I got my 2nd copy of the new album toady, woot! woot! Normally I don't do this, but they advertised a signed copy 3 days after I purchased a copy of the album, so I bought it again! It's a Christmas album, and those are easy to give away. Well, it is a CD and not many people use cd's anymore. I like just using the CD player in my car and not having to worry about hooking up my phone, which won't be loud enough anyway, or using it's battery power, etc. Both cd's came with a digital copy, so I have the raw files as well and I'll try to (again) figure out iTunes or something because I couldn't get the songs to play on my phone. I want to OWN the songs, not just play them on a streaming service. But they are beautiful signatures from the guys. I don't think I own anything with their signatures. I think I might have their sister's, Rebbeca St. James' signature somewhere. Anyway, now I can finally sit and listen to the whole thing! I usually can do that on YouTube, but they haven't released all their songs yet on there because they want people to buy the album. "Drummer Boy" came out years ago, but it was an EP, not a full album. I love the new version and I'm excited to hear the rest! Bring on the Christmas music! I'm getting ready a little bit at a time.

Sunday, November 1, 2020

Year 5, October 30th - November 1st, 2020: Once In A Blue Moon

Yes! This October, we have two full moons, and thus, the 2nd one is called "The Blue Moon!" And it also happens to happen on Halloween, which is also on a Saturday, so, the year of crazy, 2020, continues!

Crazy busy week. I'm still feeling tired and blah. But we made it to the weekend. Today we went to our last homeschool park day of the year, and it was at Southeastway Park. So, we brought Socks with us! He loved it! He barked loud and proud at all the dogs, but other than that, he didn't pull too hard on me while I sat at the picnic table with him. There were only 3 families from our group and 3 families from another group. It was a little awkward because the other group's leader didn't quite understand that when I meant "let's network," I meant, "let's say hi and just know about each other." She was trying to recruit more people to the group. The other group, the Free Your Mind group, has a lot of followers but not many actually attend the events because they are a bit more disjointed or people get busy, or something. I have gone to a few events, and it's fine. And then I committed more to Early Years and Beyond because I liked the consistency better. The three of us did our best to nod our heads and we tried to not engage the others too much. They had mostly teens with them and we had younger kids with us. Oh well. We tried. The three of us had a good conversation and our kids did their thing. Abishai ended up taking off his jacket despite it being only 43 degrees outside and he only had a t-shirt on because the jacket "got in his way." He did have long pants on (that were too short) and his socks and shoes of course. His little cheeks were pretty red.

The other kids their homework for the most part. It's now 8pm and Justin is supposed to be finishing up his writing but he had also set up his computer so I think he's highly distracted. It's writing, so I'm not tackling it tonight. I've had a headache all day and can't think about writing well (can you tell?) But when given the choice, Daddy insisted that Abishai and I do his homework tonight instead of on play day tomorrow. Good choice. Daddy got to help and Abishai sat still better, especially since we were working on writing "s's." But Abishai was very tired. I only made him do the bare minimum. We'll do more read alouds next week. Keturah was done and checked before we left for park day. I didn't get a shower, so I'll have to do that tomorrow. I have a few more things to add to my list, too. But that's it. Nothing too exciting.

Abishai thought he'd be funny and put the hood of his coat on the dog's head to make it look like Socks was wearing it. Good grief this dog puts up with so much! And you know what? I think secretly he loves it because he loves to be with his humans.

Abishai set Dinosaury up in Daddy's chair for his daytime nap. Dinosaury sleeps during the day and then watches out for Abishai all night long. I love how he put an extra pillow there and had his face sideways and under the blanket. And he put the footrest up! And the cars fit nicely there, too.

Abishai thought Sophia was coming to play when she and her mom came up our sidewalk. But no, they were delivering a package of treats instead! How thoughtful! I think Abishai realizes that Sophia is a littler person than the tweens and teens like he his, so he talks about her sometimes. How sweet!

We are working on the first book of our reading curriculum! We've been doing phonics blends and individual sounds and some flashcards. But now it's time to put it together! Abishai understands mostly how to run the letters together, but I tend to jump in too fast to help. We'll get there. These books are on their 4 kid!

And since we did the letter "s" today in handwriting, he now knows how to write all the letters in his name. I know it might seem like he's "behind" a lot of other kids, but I'd rather that we spent our precious few minutes that he will actually sit with me to work on the sounds rather than the handwriting. First of all, I had just read an article last month about not pushing them to write to early because their toddler fingers are still pretty chubby and short, whereas just a year or two later, their fingers have thinned out and gotten longer, making it easier to grasp a writing utensil. Second, yes, the kid won't sit still. I can all endure the squirming so long. Thirdly, you don't have to do 100's of practice to understand the formation. He can practice as he goes and it will improve. Fourth, I've heard that some kids just have faster minds than faster fingers. I don't want to hold him back because of handwriting. So, I will do the writing for him (like his numbers in his math) for a bit longer so he doesn't get bored. Fifth, when you teach concepts too soon, it takes a lot more practice and repetition and frustration. What a little longer, and it's done in a heartbeat. I learned that with a lot of Keturah's stuff. Her mind wasn't ready yet. For Abishai, his mind is fast, and his fingers can do it, but it will take time to practice and catch up. But he will. I'd rather we go slow and well in formation of letters so he writes better than the others. Plus he's a leftie. We have plenty of time when you look at the big picture. Just like all my kids didn't fully potty train (daytime) until 3 1/2, the nighttime training was easy and came soon after. I just didn't feel the pressure to start reading and writing any earlier than 5. We didn't color and use scissors either. Same with piano lessons. The older the are, the easier it is. There's a huge difference between a 5 yr old and an 8 yr old when sitting down at the piano. Oftentimes, the 8 yr old who has played for 2 months will be just as far along as when the 5 yr old will have been playing for 3 yrs old. And that's how we've done it. And I think the method has proven itself. It's really that I'm lazy and I was busy with MOPS when the older 3 were little and I knew just enough that I would just let them play and not push the academics. Now I know the real theories behind my intuition. So while it might be a little embarrassing that my very smart 5 yr old can't write his name yet or doesn't color well, in the long run, he'll be fine. I know he doesn't have any learning problems. I just refuse to teach things too early to them. Although today, I did go over the names of the days of the week and months of the year because Keturah didn't have them perfectly memorized until she was 8 years old because I neglected to teach her (and how to tie her shoes). Whoops! There's always gaps in the education somewhere! Just stop, drop, and teach it to them then. And move on.

He was very excited to write his whole name for the first time by himself while Daddy was sitting with us! Woot! Woot!

Well, we just came back from an impromptu get together with the Smiths and Mahurins. Debi had taken some of the kids out trick or treating. Adrienne and Jim were preparing for them and Ava and her friends. Jared had gone over earlier to talk to Jim about some business stuff. So, Jared called about 5:15 and said why don't you bring the kids over at 7? What was just going to be Derrick ended up being for 6 kids! Lol. We put candy into baggies with a glow stick and then scattered them around the yard in the dark. The kids had a bunch of fun with that. And the trick or treaters got to add to their huge bags of loot from just two neighborhoods. Our kids of course got less, but we are fine with that. I'll go to Ollie's tomorrow and see if there's any good deals and we will be going to Aldi's later in the day as well, so I'll check there. We had brought the bag I had bought so there would be more candy for everyone. Abishai got his fill of people and he got to hand out candy. He and Lucky, the dog, ran to the front door every time the doorbell rang. Hilarious! I was/am super tired, but managed to make it through. Jared already went to bed and told me to come soon. Well, you dragged me out and I got a late start on the blog and I have one more episode to watch of my TV show so, you'll wait.

We did change our clocks so we "gain" an hour but I'm guessing Abishai will wake up at about the same time. And we have church in the morning. I really despise having to get up for the 9am service. I just don't like being forced to get up when the world usually gets up because it's not part of my regular routine. It means I have to get up between 7 and 7:30 and shove enough food down so I can drink enough tea to stay awake. It's just not ideal for me and my stomach, ok? I don't really eat until 9:30 or 10. I suppose I could try to not eat but then I'm up and hungry. I don't know. If we could just flip it where Jared goes at 9 (weekly or biweekly), and we attend at 11 again, and I don't volunteer at all, I would be a much happier camper. Everyone will say, "sacrifice for the greater good." I will say, "well, when you have chronic issues, you have to learn to protect yourself and save yourself so you CAN serve the greater good later on." It's not just selfishness. I meet with Joanna the nursery director this week, so I'll bring it up.

Otherwise, Jared finished staining the playground and he and Justin switched out the lightswitch in the boys' room. But then the lightbulb wouldn't turn on, so he replaced that as well and now because it's a "cool hue" fluorescent bulb, it looks like the glow from an alien space ship. I don't know but I don't like it. It's the only thing that would fit into that particular light/fan combo. The lightswitch itself was clearly broken and old, so even if it was just the lightbulb, it needed replaced. I listened to Scarlet Letter, did my Bible study, switched out winter coats, showered, looked at what to do about Abishai's clothes, and tried to take a nap. Keturah painted, read for school and screen timed. Abishai wandered around, got stain on his pj shirt, screamed and ran through the house on numerous occasions in numerous ways, and went with Daddy and Justin to get the lightswitch. He also screen timed and we picked out what Hot Wheels sets to put on his wishlist. Justin and I did some schoolwork, he played on his phone, and got annoyed that he had to do the lightswitch. He could have mulched our leaves today, but he didn't. And then we went to Smiths where Abishai's need for being with people was filled.

Oh, and I did hear Keturah say to the others, "We don't celebrate Halloween because it's an evil holiday and a selfish holiday." Meaning, we don't celebrate it because of it's direct connection to Wicca and all the celebration of death. And because I don't believe in promoting kids to say "give me a treat or I'll trick you" regardless if they are really understanding that phrase or not. Gimme, gimme, gimme all the candy and sugar and obesity. Two of the kids went as "dead sisters." Their make up was tasteful and you really couldn't tell that they were "dead" but still. No thank you. Dress up any time you want. Buy and eat candy any time you want. But not on a day where a real cult, Wicca, do all sorts of real, Satan infested deeds. And yes I know Christmas has pagan roots, too. And Halloween has some connection to the church somewhere. But no, we don't do it. We do however remember Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the door of the church on October 31st, 1517. That was the turning point that forever divided the Catholic church and the Protestant church. We wouldn't have our Protestant churches without that bold move. So, we don't do all the activities associated with it, but we remember it.

That's about it. Tomorrow is a full normal Sunday day.

Nice little video to explain that all the elementary rooms will be open this Sunday at the Franklin Rd. Campus.

Most places have already had more people vote before election than all of the election votes in 2016!!!! I hope this means that voter turnout will be really high and/or the lines on Tuesday will be short. Maybe when Jared goes at 5:30am, he can let me know how busy it is and I'll come join him or I'll do it the time I originally planned, 10 am or after the boys' haircuts. But wow! Why didn't they do this for the last two weeks?

Last Grandma Howell hand knitted sweater. I put it in a prominent place so that it would be the first thing we grab when going out. He likes camoflauge colors so hopefully he'll wear it! He seemed excited at the same time! He also graduated to the next size of snow pants and the size 6/7 jackets. Eek!

I can't help it, there's way too much to like about this photo. Horse, hair, hat.

Abishai likes to stack his candy.

This was in response to a post by Tayte that talked about writing down things she is thankful for instead of all the negative out there.

Abishai's always the first one to volunteer to help, for 1 minute worth of helping, lol.

We bagged up candy and put glow sticks in them so the kids could find them in the dark.

Abishai liked helping Mrs. Adrienne pass out candy. No, we aren't going to do it at our house next year, but giving is better than receiving, so I didn't stop him.

Helping the trick or treaters with their loot.

No, I don't think Mr. Jim would appreciate you doing that.

The kids came up with a game using a box that they got. Justin so good about jumping in with the younger ones.

Well, you can't see the candy but you can see the glow stick!

Finding Candy in the Dark

There you go, now you can see the bag of candy in a pile of leaves.

Abishai holding 4 bags of bandy and the colors were all different. He was just holding them and they came out looking like this. Cool! Then they all had some Star Wars light saber battles with the glow sticks!

Growl. Despite turning the clocks back an hour and going to bed at my "normal" time, I woke up moody. Sometimes I forget that depression is a real thing and that yes, in fact, I do have it. I want to dismiss it because I'm not like the person who has depression for months. But I can have it from 1-14 days or more. The lethargy and lack of caring about anything and the desire to go back to bed and ignore the world and the brain fog, it's more than just having a "a bad day" or a "bad attitude." If it was JUST that, you could change things around in a heartbeat I would think. No, this is more than that, and yes, I do get it, too. Today was one of those days. I did my best to engage in church. We had a wonderful sermon by my favorite pastor, Tom Harrigan. Whenever it's Tom, I try extra, extra hard to listen (and not criticize). And he nailed it. Now I can't remember how he nailed it. But, he was speaking directly to me in those moments and started to bring me up out of the funk. Then we didn't have any babies in nursery but ended up talking the whole time and although I was "on," it brought me away from myself a bit. I did have to walk away from political talk at the Sunday dinner table. No thank you. Not interested. I am not going to talk politics this week. I'm going to vote. I'm not going to fret over the lines. I'll go prepared. And not worry. And then I'm not going to seek out election results because GUESS WHAT?! It's going to be weeks before all those votes that were cast BEFORE election day are actually counted! So, chill, ok? I've made my choice, I'm done talking about it. So, I walked away.

Then I just wanted to go home but Leah wanted to show the kids something on a HGTV show. Oh, and on these two episodes, the house they were working on was finished, and then heavily damaged by a tornado so they had to rebuild it part of it! It was a show with some great hosts that I saw on the TV while waiting at the dentist's office. However, after seeing what our neighbors have to deal with this week and then this house, it made me jealous, again. Why don't we have money for someone to swoop in and do the work that neither of us can or want to do? I realized why I'm so discontent with this house. The Beech Grove house was old, but it was well kept. The wood wasn't all banged up. The countertops were old and the cabinets needed paint, but I didn't have wood shavings in my dishes and weird butcher block countertops with this huge gap between the stove and the countertop. I didn't have mismatched floors and trimwork not put back. Our current house is really a mess. We have a place for a fan in the fireside room but the housing is exposed because we haven't tried putting anything in there. Nothing matches. The vents don't go on properly. And all these little things add up. I like the layout. I like the square footage. I can deal with most things. But it's just how shabby this house is that gets to me, especially after being at someone's home or seeing something redone. And all of this mismatched stuff makes it hard to clean. I don't feel like the house is ever "done" even when I do clean. I wish I had done more up front or gotten a bigger loan to fix things or even known what to do. Because now we have to move things to get things done. And for me, that's hard. That's a lot of work. And I don't even know what to do half the time. So, all of that to say, it put me in a mood and I told Jared how I felt. He has some solid income producing plans he's working on, so there's hope. And he knows. He knows I try and I try and I try.

I also get fed up at the kids wanting more toys. The Christmas wishlists are so long. They watch ads on YouTube. And I can't physically keep up with all this stuff! How about 1 toy for Christmas and put the rest into a savings account? I feel like I need to purge before Christmas but I don't know what to purge and I don't have time. I never got to Abishai's clothes this weekend again. I'll have to push myself and sneak it in sometime this week. But it's another busy week. So, I put my pjs on at 5pm and told Jared to please take the kids to youth group. I just couldn't handle going out in the cold, 40mph winds again or talking to anybody or dealing with anything. I said he could go grocery shopping if he wanted to, or we could do it a different night. Bless his heart, he did the grocery shopping again and did a great job. I am some errands I would like to do this week, but at least we can eat more than PB and J this week. See, this is where the depression comes in. I don't care what I eat. I will scrounge around for whatever. But the kids and Jared expect, and need, better than that. But I don't want to think about food. I don't want to cook. But I also don't want to just have pizza every day. Sigh.

But, after I said, "Enough, I'm staying home. I need to do NOTHING," after Jared took the kids and went grocery shopping, and Abishai had his screen time, the world was still for a bit. I did scroll social media, but only stopping on interesting things. Skipping most of the Halloween things. Not stopping on the home decor things. And I played my games. And I tried listening to "The Scarlet Letter" but nothing was sinking in. I'll have to let Cliff Notes help me on those two chapters because I don't have time to relisten. Or maybe Justin read it better and can explain it more. Some days, I really wish we had a literature teacher in house. We would both learn so much! But that's when I know my brain is mush. I can't read. Even after coffee. Which did perk me up. But I needed rest. Especially socially. We have a field trip on the westside first thing tomorrow, so I needed to say no to something.

And by staying home, I had enough energy to put everything away, wash the dishes, check on things on my desk, and then pre make chili to go in the crockpot tomorrow. Well, the ground beef will need to be cooked when I get back and then added to the chili, and I don't think the dry beans Jared got and I have soaking overnight will fit, but, I've got a head start for tomorrow's dinner at least. And now I'm happy again that I DID something. Oh, which reminds of one of the quotes from the sermon today. He said something to the effect of: "Don't get so wrapped up in the self-care culture, that you forget to let GOD take care of you." And that can happen through people like Jared did for me tonight. He cared for me but getting groceries and then I had the energy to do a bit more at home while it was quiet. And I do physically hurt today. That wind was brutal. I forget how exhausting it is to have fibromyalgia. And I don't want to take pain meds every day, so I was taking the day off from that.

Wow, that's too much about me, but it's hard to concentrate on kids when my stuff keeps getting in the way. Abishai had a bunch of attitude about screen time, so I declared a screen free week starting Monday. He lost game time with Daddy because when he put away the tablet, he slammed it in the drawer and acted like a teenager. He balled big tears after that. And came running for a hug to try to get me to relent. Nope, not today buddy. And too much talk about the toys he wants. Keturah gave attitude as well. Justin is transitioning away from siblings much like Benaiah did and I don't like it. He could definitely have less screen time overall. Like last night when I told him to put my towel IN the washing machine because it was already going. Well, I went to switch the load over to the dryer and there was my towel on TOP of the washing machine! Goof!

Oh, Keturah did bring the freezer jam to her leaders tonight, so at least I got her thinking about giving instead of getting. She is working on a paint by number thing and gets mad when we interrupt her. I think she is planning to give it away for Christmas. But at least we got it pulled out again. I need to model giving more for the kids. Whoops, and that was something I was going to do at the grocery store! I need to fill the orange bag again for church. Hm, I can try to get some things at Ollie's when I go this week. Maybe we need to do a service project with the neighborhood kids and rake leaves. I don't know. Or bake cookies and actually use my mixer? After this week. I've got a full week.

Benaiah started Door Dash this week and made $60! Woot! Woot! He says he has his wishlist together and each item costs at least $50. Hm,.....And he's buying a $120 gift for himself and a second one of something for $120 for Ava. He says he hasn't really done anything for the past couple of holidays. What holidays? He does a ton all the time. But, at least he's now doing a second job which is what I suggested. He is doing it at lunch time on Wednesdays. I really need to dig out that blanket he wants. Abishai's clothes are in the way, that's part of the problem. Grrr. But otherwise Benaiah seems fine. He likes his car. Life's moving forward for him. He wants to be a CFO and build a mansion of a house that is like a barn or something or other. They all clapped for him when the computers indicated that he was a first time voter. Man, he should have gotten David and Ethan to go with him! Oh well.

Yup, and then Jared went to get the kids from youth group and it's all quiet again. Ninja Warrior gym tomorrow, so light on the schoolwork. Early start to the day. Then it's election day. Fun times!

So fitting for the days I thought I ruined our vacation to Madison, IN by bringing up such deep, emotional topics. Jared says I didn't ruin vacation, and I'm glad. I'm a failure, but nothing can keep me from God. I live forever with Him.

Yes, sometimes I think we focus too much on "me time" or "I deserve this coffee or win" or "I have to have a spa day." Which is all well and good, but if we live for that and not God, there's a problem. Allow God to work.

I walked into the garage at 12:30 am and found this. I told Justin to put my towel IN the washer. Why would you leave it on top of the washer that is already going? Is that a normal thing for me to do? No. I got a big hearty laugh out of it though.