The United Families International Myth Buster Monday

Myth Buster Monday: Is homosexuality genetic, immutable and unchangeable?

No scientist or researcher has ever proven that homosexuality is genetic, immutable or unchangeable.  In fact many of the so-called gay gene studies, such as the Bailey/Pillard “twin studies,” prove the exact opposite – homosexual behavior is not genetic.  Homosexual advocates and the media have pushed the “there is a gay gene” myth for over a decade and a large share of the public has bought into this misinformation.
Even the American Psychological Association (APA) now acknowledges that there is not a gay gene.  In their “Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality,” they state the following:
“There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles….”

It is necessary for homosexual advocates to equate homosexual behavior to an immutable and unchangeable trait (like race or sex) in order to claim the “gay rights” movement is a Civil Rights issue.  But can those who deal with homosexual tendencies and behavior change?  Yes, thousands of former-homosexuals are testimony to the fact that change is possible.  Gay advocates and psychological associations are particularly eager and aggressive in their efforts to discredit reparative/reorientation therapy groups who work to aid individuals who wish to escape homosexual behavior and lifestyle.
The success of the gay movement seems to hinge upon their ability to convince the public that change is impossible.  That National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) has an informative white paper explaining the success and challenges of reorientation therapy.  See it here.  Again, homosexual behavior is neither immutable nor unchangeable and thus not a Civil Rights issue.  Some famous African American Civil rights figures have made that point as well:
“The comparison with slavery is a stretch in that some slave masters were gay, in that gays were never called three-fifths human in the Constitution and in that they did not require the Voting Rights Act to have the right to vote.” (Rev. Jesse Jackson, address at Harvard Law School)
The recent refusal of the Obama administration to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) included a perpetuation of the myth that homosexual behavior is immutable and changeable when the Justice Department’s claimed that “sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny” in the courts – a classification reserved for cases involving discrimination on the basis of  such things as race or sex.
This particular myth is pretty deeply entrenched and requires each one of us to become educated on the topic and not allow the misinformation and misconceptions to continue.  Spread the word.
For a list of studies related to this topic, go to UFI’s Guide to Family Issues:  Sexual Orientation (pg. 26-28)

How I Do It: Organization in a Big Family Part II

The Laundry

This has been the hardest chore for me. I have done this many different ways since I got married. The first few years I did between 2 and 4 loads of laundry all on one day once a week.  I kept our dirty laundry in a hamper in my bedroom or the bathroom. When our family grew to 5 people and before we moved to a big city with no washer ans dryer, I did 6 loads on one day. I would take our dirty laundry out of our bathroom hamper every couple of days and separate it into 3 baskets (white, lights, and darks) that I kept near the washer. After the big city move, I went to the laundry mat once a week. Our dirty laundry spilled over 2 hampers in the kids bedroom. It was quite a yucky sight by the end of the week.

When we left the big city, and had 4 children, I washed 1 or 2 loads a days an folded and put everything away twice a week. This meant that we rummaged through baskets of unfolded laundry if there was some item we needed. With the dirty laundry, I kept a hamper in each bathroom and separated the laundry into my 3 dirty laundry baskets near the washing machine. I haven't changed our dirty laundry method. It works well.

Once we hit 6 kids, big folding parties twice a week did not work. My mother said she always folded right out of the dryer. So I set up our old kitchen table next to our washer and folded our clothes in piles onto the table. This worked okay because I was able to keep up with the laundry by washing and folding 2 to 3 loads of laundry a day.  Since I now only emptied the dryer by folding right out of it, this eliminated baskets of clean wrinkling laundry. This method also took out the time to put the laundry away because I could just do it as I needed or have the kids grab their own pile of clothes to put away. But, a table takes up a lot of room, the piles of clothes would fall onto each other and mix up, and occasionally a toddler would dump clean clothes into the dirty clothes. 

When baby number 8 was on his way, I knew I needed to change things around in the laundry room and use my space more wisely. Plus, I did not have room on the table for another pile of clothes. I knew I needed something thinner than a table that used the space vertically.  I also wanted to do something about the separate piles of laundry crashing into each other. I spent about an hour in the shelving/organizing isles in Lowes and came up with this (see above picture). I bought a plastic shelf for $25, and 8 milk crates for $4 each.

This actually works really well. The shelves don't take up much room and they give me more room. The milk crates hold the clothes really well. I can even just toss in socks and underwear. The kids can carry their laundry to their bedrooms easily. Also, we can just leave the little kids clothes in their crates and grab them as needed right out of the laundry room. I still  put their clothes away in their drawers, but only when I have spare time.

So, I fold our clothes into the milk crates when the dryer is finished. I fold towels onto the top of the dryer, and I put blankets and sheets away immediately. I wash and fold about 3 to 4 loads of laundry a day just in between other chores and activities. Sunday, is my rest from the laundry day :).

What works well for you with the laundry?

Sweet Little Joseph

My little Joseph is not so much my little angel of destruction anymore. He is still getting into plenty of things, and we have quit getting library books for a while because of him, but it is not as bad as it has been since he started walking. In fact, Joseph has become quite a fun, cute little boy. Joseph goes around singing, "Happy Birthday" a lot. When he sits and looks at books, he sings, "Baa, Baa Black Sheep". Joseph is our most concerned child when Joshua cries. When Joshua starts crying, Joseph is the first to give him a pacifier or a little hug. On Sunday, John heard Joshua cry and then John saw Joseph running down the stairs saying, "My baby, my baby."

Our 3 Day Weekend

On Saturday we had one sick kid, and on Sunday we had two other sick kids, but by Monday everyone was better, so we actually got to do something during our long weekend. Well, while we had sick kids we did watch a lot of movies and play a lot of games and that is John's idea of a nice vacation. But I like to go out. So it is nice that we got to do a little of both.

We took the kids up to This is the Place State Park which we have a family pass for. Since it is winter, they are only running the train and giving a tour of one home. So that is what we did. It was actually a lot of fun. We had  to wait a half hour for the train ride, so while Ruth and Kate browsed the gift shop the rest of us played in the snow.

I have been on that little train ride with all of our kids a few times. John never has and they surely frightened him with all their wiggling around. Of course, Joseph trying to jump off the train the whole time didn't help. When the train ride ended, we let Joseph jump off and he headed directly for the front of the train to check it out. I guess the front part is more interesting than the passenger seats.

I love this picture!

The Boys had a lot of fun throwing

Johnny got John pretty good

It truly was a beautiful winter day

Letting Joseph hold Joshua on the train ride kept him still for a few minutes.

On the way home, we stopped at a small art store in Sugarhouse. John took Ruth and Kate in while I stayed with the little kids in the car, feeding the baby and taking a few more pictures. That was nice because going to that store is the one thing John wanted to do for the day. After wards, we were all hungry to we went home and made cookies for snack.

Johnny's Calvin Pictures

How I Do It: Organization in a Big Family

When Ruth was a baby I learned a lot of good tips from other mothers on how to organize and how to keep house. These have helped me a lot over the years in organizing our growing family. I cannot boast the cleanest or most organized house, but I have found some ways to make our home easily manageable.


Currently, I get a lot of , "I don't know how you do it?" from a lot of different people.  I wanted to start posting some of the ways I do it.

Today, I am going to focus on how I keep the house clean. This is somewhat of a joke, because my house is generally a mess until bedtime. I tell people that if they want to come and enjoy me and a clean house they will have to wait until 8:30pm to visit. But, I have 3 ways that I keep a semi-clean home. First, I organize myself, second, I organize my children, and third, I organize the toys.

1.Organize Myself: I have a weekly cleaning schedule that I stick to better than glue. I confess that as far as my cleaning schedule goes I am ODC. It bothers my husband a little. He calls it my "self-inflicted job". But if I let things slip then I either have an "I can not be happy in this home" mess, or I lose precious time with my husband and my children.  So this is what I am currently doing. I always do chores first thing in the morning. I like to get these out of the way so we can do funner things the rest of the day.

Daily Chore Routine Monday-Friday

I clear out the dish washer first thing. 

I like to keep the dishwasher cleared so that I can add dirty dishes as they come throughout the day. This means I do dishes 4 to 5 times a day, but except for dinner dishes this take me less than 5 minutes.

 Next, I gather the dirty laundry

I collect the laundry from various hampers in our bedrooms and bathrooms. Then I bring it all to the laundry room and separate it to be washed and start the first load of laundry (I will make laundry its own blog at some point).

Third, I quickly clean the kitchen from breakfast.

Fourth, I do my weekly chore of the day.

Last, I do nightly chores

These include cleaning the kitchen, bathing the little kids and bedtime routines. For the kitchen every night we do the final load of dishes and run off the dishwasher. Clear off and wash all the counters, table, and stove. Take out garbage and recycling as needed, and sweep the floor. This way I can always wake up to a clean kitchen.

Weekly Chores Monday-Friday

Monday-- I run simple errands while Rachel and Anya have a 45 minute dance class.

Tuesday-- I do a hands and knees floor scrub of the kitchen, laundry room,and mud room hallway.

Wednesday-- I switch off every other week either dusting or washing the kitchen cupboards.

Thursday-- I clean the bathrooms thoroughly

Friday-- I pick up and vacuum the upstairs.

I like to reserve Saturdays for outings with dad, yard work, car and garage cleaning.

2.Organize my kids: During the school year I have the kids do chores once a day after dinner and if they are fighting.

Fighting Chores

If the kids are fighting then I will have them clean up the living room, wash walls or baseboards, wash bathroom sinks, organize the shoes, set the table for meals, etc. It really depends on what needs to be done. If the kids are playing peacefully, I am happy to leave the mess until chore time and enjoy the peace.

Nightly Chores

I pair a younger child with an older child. Part of the older child's chore is to make sure the younger child is doing work too. The current pairs are Ruth with Anya, Kate with Rachel, and Johnny with Adam. We have three rotations, so each pair does everything every three nights. The rotations are: picking up and vacuuming the living room, picking up the upstairs (each group gets one bedroom), and kitchen help.

I also am starting the older kids on Saturday chores to teach them how to clean. Currently Ruth cleans her bathroom every other week. When Kate hits 7th grade she will take this over and Ruth will do the laundry on Saturdays.

3. Organizing the Toys: This is a tricky one and I have tried several things over the years. I once had a play room or separate area for all of the toys. I have given up on that completely for 2 reasons. One, the toy room was too messy for small children to clean themselves, and two, the kids would just take what they really wanted to be playing with out of the toy room and play where ever I was at. So now I keep a small amount of toys in  the living room near the kitchen. This is because I am almost always in the kitchen or the living room. The rest of the toys I keep in bins in our storage closet. I rotate the toys about once a week depending on how much the kids are playing with those particular toys. This way of organizing the toys has one pro and one con. The pro is the younger children are not too overwhelmed by their own toy mess and can clean it up themselves. The con is our main room and visitor area is always messy with books, toys, papers and pens until either the kids fight or it is nightly chore time.I should note that Ruth and Kate keep their toys and things cleaned up in their own room. Johnny and Adam are starting to do the same.

Our Toy Area in the living room

toys in the storage closet

Future How I Do It post: (this is to help me organize my blogging :>) Laundry, Storage and general organization, Why less is more, Making cleaning simple, scheduling so young children let you get the work done.

How do you keep up on your house work with small children around?

Valentine's Day Lunch

 I made pink pancakes and pink milk (food coloring in white milk) for Valentine's lunch with my younger children yesterday. Adam loved it, Rachel picked at it like she would any food I give her, and Anya would not touch it. She declared that it was gross as soon as she saw it. This morning when my older kids found their milk all dyed pink, rolled their eyes at me!! So there it is. I can't wait until St. Patrick's day. I am determined that my family will only eat green food all day long! Bahahaha...


On a side note, we went to grandma's for a Valentine's party. My kids all enjoyed that a lot. The little ones ran around screaming for some time. Johnny and Adam played the gamecube straight except for dinner,and John, Ruth, Kate and I played John's game with some of the other adults. We thought all went smoothly until this morning when I read this about my daughter Rachel. It is funny reading about your naughty kid on some one else's blog. I  still need to have a little chat with her, but I am half humored and half too tired to bother. Maybe John can handle this one. After all, it happened at HIS parent's house :).

United Families International: MythBusters Monday

Myth Buster Monday: “Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce.”

“Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce” is such a widely touted statistic that it has become a part of our national mindset.  This mindset has lead to great pessimism and even fear for those who might be considering marriage and offers an excuse for divorce to those who have a marriage that is struggling – after all “everyone is getting divorced.”  But is the statistic accurate?
The answer is:  depends upon which marriages?    Fifty percent of ALL marriages do end in divorce.  But here’s the number we want you to remember and share:
More than 70 percent of all first marriages succeed.  Seventy percent of all people who have ever been married are still married to the same person!
So where’d the 50 percent number come from, you ask?  Those who marry, divorce, re-marry, divorce, and re-marry and divorce are dragging the overall average down to 50 percent.
Although a first-marriage divorce rate that hovers around 28 percent is far from ideal, that number tells a different story about marriage than the continual drum beat about divorce being such an inevitable part of marriage.  The vast majority of marriages can and DO succeed! 

For the entire article go here:http://unitedfamiliesinternational.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/myth-buster-monday-%E2%80%9Cfifty-percent-of-marriages-end-in-divorce-%E2%80%9D/

Star Wars III Synopsis

Synopsis of Star Wars III by Kate:

"It is just  movie about a guy throwing a tantrum and killing his wife."

Ruth's Valentine's

Ruth was inspired by Kate and made her own Valentine's too.

I love my fun creative kids!

Tid Bits

Joseph had his 18 month check today and he is 25 lbs and 32 1/2 inches tall. That makes him our only child to ever reach 25 lbs before 2, and he is only 1 pound less than Anya. Still, he is only just an average 18 month old in the 40th percentile for weight and the 45th percentile for heighth.

Last night Johnny was laying on the floor on his back with his feet propped up on the couch. Anya proceeded to climb Johnny's legs. When Johnny dropped his legs down, Anya fell and hit her face on the wood part of the couch. As a result Anya received a pretty good scrape and a black eye. Then this morning Anya woke up with a runny nose and a fever-- poor baby :(.

Joshua gave me his first little baby smiles today and even cooed a little bit. He is very sweet and cute and growing oh so fast. I will have to get him to smile with the camera around at some point.

I Love Dish Washers

The dish washer won't be repaired for two more weeks because it takes that long to get the part. I almost cried when the repairman told me that! We are mostly using paper dishes, but it still takes like 40 minutes to wash the cooking dishes and sippy cups all by hand. Yes, I know I would have made a terrible pioneer or even some one my parents age. My mom would laugh at my whining. When my parents dish washer quit working they had us wash the dishes by hand for two years before they thought they could afford a new one.

I am spoiled, I know. But I do not want to be unspoiled. We did not have a dish washer when we lived in Toronto, Ont., Canada with 3 kids. The dinner dishes took me 45 minutes. When we moved and had a dish washer, the dinner dished took me less than 10 minutes. I love dish washers!!

I cannot imagine having to haul water, heat water, wash all of the dishes by hand, dry them and put them away, and then haul and heat more water just to wash the dish towels. When did the pioneers ever have time to rest???? Oh yeah, maybe they used the time I take on the computer and TV. I still want my computer and TV. For that matter I still want my hot water, toilet, shower, washer, dryer, electric lights. Yes I am spoiled. I love my modern conveniences!

The United Families International

For longer than I have been blogging, John and I have been receiving emails from The United Families International. This is a group that works with the United Nations, The United States, and other nations to promote family values in law. Promoting family values in law actually means they are working very hard to stop a very well funded right wing group that would promote homosexuality to pre-schoolers on up, fund and promote abortions, have the government be in charge of what parents can teach their children etc.  Because of United Families International, John and I have been able to contact our legislatures when an important law concerning families and family rights is in the legislature. They also keep us informed on what is happening around the world with families. Recently, the United Families International Blog has been posting myth busters about family issues. I have found these very informative, because this information is not the kind you get from the main stream media.

I am going to start posting the family myth busters here. But I would also recommend this blog to every one who is interested in protecting their families. http://unitedfamiliesinternational.wordpress.com/



“Homosexual lives and relationships are just the same as heterosexual lives and relationships” is a common declaration of same-sex advocates and the media that supports them.  But is true?   Below are just a few facts; they tell a different story.   We prefer to not overwhelm you with statistics, but if you would like more information on this topic, we direct you here,   Or   here.

Relationship Longevity
If you’re in a male same-sex marriage, it’s 50 percent more likely to end in divorce than a heterosexual marriage. If you’re in a female same-sex marriage, this figure rises to 167 percent.  These statistics come from Norway and Sweden where five out of every 1000 new couples are same-sex. Gunnar Andersson, “Divorce-Risk Patterns in Same-Sex Marriages in Norway and Sweden”2004.
An Amsterdam study found that the average homosexual relationship lasts only 18 months and that “men in homosexual relationships, on average, have eight partners a year outside those relationships.” By comparison, more than two-thirds of heterosexual marriages in America last longer than ten years. Maria Xiridou, et al. “The Contribution of Steady and Casual Partnerships to the Incidence of HIV Infection Among Homosexual Men in Amsterdam,” AIDS 17, 7 (2003): 1029-1038.
Clinicians Mattison and McWhirter studied 156 long-term homosexual relationships, but found that not one couple was able to maintain sexual fidelity for more than five years. Most maintained a monogamous relationship for less than one year. Homosexual theorists respond by redefining promiscuity as normal and healthy for homosexual men. David P. McWhirter and Andrew M. Mattison, The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1984).

A. P. Bell and M. S. Weinberg, in their classic study of male and female homosexuality, found that 43 percent of white male homosexuals had sex with five hundred or more partners, with 28 percent having 1,000 or more sex partners. A. P. Bell and M. S. Weinberg, Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), 308-309; See also A. P. Bell, M. S. Weinberg, and S. K. Hammersmith, Sexual Preference (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981).
Fidelity
In their Journal of Sex Research study of the sexual practices of older homosexual men, Paul Van de Ven, et al., found that only 2.7 percent of older homosexuals had only one sexual partner in their lifetime. Paul Van de Ven et al., “A Comparative Demographic and Sexual Profile of Older Homosexually Active Men,” Journal of Sex Research 34 (1997): 354.
Among heterosexual couples, 75 percent of husbands and 90 percent of wives claim never to have had extramarital sex. Robert T. Michael et al., Sex in America: A Definitive Survey (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1994).  Other studies and surveys confirm the percentage of faithful spouses between 75-81 percent for husbands and 85-88 percent for wives. Michael W. Widerman, “Extramarital Sex: Prevalence and Correlated in a National Survey,” Journal of Sex Research 34 (1997): 2.
Violence in Relationships
In regard to Intimate Partner abuse and violence:  11.4 percent of homosexual females report experiencing violence at the hands of their partner and 15.4 percent of homosexual males report violence, while 0.26 married heterosexual women report violence and 0.05 percent of heterosexual married men. “Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence,” U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs: 30; “Intimate Partner Violence,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report:11

Health
The risk of contracting AIDS from a single act of unprotected heterosexual intercourse is 1 in 715,000. The risk of contracting AIDS from a single act of unprotected homosexual intercourse is 1 in 165. Tom W. Smith, “Adult Sexual Behavior and Risk of AIDS,” Family Planning Perspectives 23, 3 (May/June 1991): 104.

Thirty-two percent of homosexual men and women abuse alcohol, as compared with seven percent (10 percent of men and 5 percent of women) in the general population. L. Fifield, J. Latham and C. Phillips, “Alcoholism in the Gay Community:  The Price of Alienation, Isolation, and Oppression,” A Project of the Gay Community Service Center, Los Angeles, CA (1977).
Clinicians estimate an incidence rate of substance abuse among homosexuals to range from 28 to 35 percent; this estimate contrasts with an incidence of 10 to 12 percent in the general population. J. H. Lowinson, et al., Substance Abuse:  A Comprehensive Textbook, 3d ed. (Baltimore, MD:  Williams & Wilkins, 1997).

Kate's Valentine's

Kate was inspired by Franny K. Stein. She says the "you stole my heart"  is NOT appropriate for boys, but the others will do. I love these cross between Halloween and Valentine's Day cards.

3 Weeks

Joshua 3 weeks old

Adam and Joshua

Joseph 3 weeks after Joshua's birth thinking he needs a pacifier for the first time in his life.

Wonderful Help

Last Night around 5:30 we got a knock on the door. My first reaction was, "Oh, I am not dressed and wearing a bra. Why do people always knock on Saturdays?" Kate answered the door and I heard, "Grandma!"  My second thought was, "What a nice surprise!"

The next thing I knew, John's Mom, and sisters, Amy and Emily were carrying in lots of food and putting it on our table. We couldn't believe it! Then they said, "You have us for an hour, what do you need us to do?" Then they proceeded to clean our house.

A few months ago, I put up racks for the coats in the hallway, and made the coat closet a second pantry to be. We hadn't had the money to buy the shelves for it. John's mom handed us her bank card and sent us off to buy the shelves. The above picture is of my now nicely organized second pantry.

While we were gone, Grandma, Amy, and Emily made our dinner, washed the kitchen floor, refrigerator, and sliding glass door, cleaned out the first pantry, changed my sheets, dusted and vacuumed. All we can say is "thank you, thank you, thank you." I am just so touched by their service. Thank you, Amy, Emily, Becca (who has sick kids but sent money for food), and Mom. We are so blessed to have you for family.

Kid Stuff I Want to Remember and Love

I love that Ruth got a 4.0 in all honors classes and doesn't even know it is hard to do.
I love that Kate is making her own monster Valentine's cards because all of the ones you can buy in a store say stuff she would "NEVER" give to the boys in her class.
I love that Johnny has been reading 500 page books in 2 days by staying up past 1am. John grounds him when he does this, which is funny because John did the same thing.
I love that Adam got an award in school for showing kindness and his teacher likes Adam so well she said she would love to have Rachel as a student.
I love that  Rachel sat on my lap singing the songs loud and clear in church today. She has such a nice, clear voice.
I love that Anya potty trained just as soon as the baby was born. Thank you little darling.
I love that Joseph points to books, movies, or anything he finds funny, laughs out loud and declares, "It's funny!"
I just love my sweet cuddlely baby, Joshua. He is so precious.

Life

Life has been busy and hard this past week. I have wanted to write about my kids and some things that have been going on, but it has been hard to find the time.

Two days after, Joshua came home form the hospital, our dryer broke down. On Monday, our dishwasher broke down. On Wednesday, our cable modem quit working and our washing machine started to have trouble. All this week has been difficult.

Wednesday, we woke up and found that our power had gone out. Oh, and Joshua did not sleep all that night. When John came down to get Ruth ready for school, he noticed that we had no internet. Expecting that it would eventually come back on, He gave Ruth our one cell phone so she could call home when she needed a ride home from play practice. Since I did not get any sleep until 5:30 when I brought the ever awake and ever wanting to eat baby down to his swing. I got up at 8:30 so John could get to work and take the Kate and Johnny to school.

Midmorning on Wednesday, the washing machine quit spinning. My first reaction was to call a repair man right away. But then I remembered we had no phone and no internet. I went into the laundry room, cried and said a long prayer. Not too long after I prayed the washing machine began working again. I know there was Divine intervention with this. The washing machine is still working too. At 11:20, it was time to take Adam to school. Because of parent/teacher conferences Adam has had school from 11:25 until 1:25 and Kate and Johnny have had school from 8:55 until 1:25 all week. (This has been a really hard schedule. I am glad it is almost done.) After that I got us lunch and read a few stories and then it was time to pick every one up.

Because we had no  phone and no internet and Joshua had is 2 week check and PKU test, I had to go down to John's work after I picked up the kids to ask John to look up on our online calendar exactly what time Joshua's appointment was. The calendar said 2pm. I barely had enough time to get the kids home. I left Kate in charge of Johnny and Adam. Put Joseph down for a nap and took Rachel, Anya, and Joshua to the doctors. When I checked in at the doctors office they said my appointment wasn't until 3pm. I am not sure what went wrong, but I know that I would never make a 3pm appointment when normally I have to pick my kids up from school 15 minutes away from the doctors office at 3:25. There wasn't anything I could do at this point. So I prayed that Joseph would sleep longer and went to Target to buy their diapers that they had on sale this week. Then I fed the baby in the car and went back to the doctor's for 3pm. The doctor took a long time. We didn't get out until after 4pm. At this point it was time to get Ruth. Originally I was going to take Ruth to pick up her new and first pair of glasses when I picked her up, but since I had not been home, this was not an option. When I got to Ruth she was a little flustered because she had been calling home and it was not working. Some how she happened to talk to Grandma and Grandma was worried that we had abandoned Ruth at school. Anyway, she was fine and had actually just finished 5 minutes before I got her. We went home.

Fortunately, Joseph had taken a long nap and Johnny and Adam behaved themselves. But it was after 5 by this time. John called our cable company to find out about our internet problem and determined it was the cable modem. John wanted to go and get that. So we put off getting Ruth's glasses a second day. besides I was TIRED and needed to help kids with homework, feed the baby and make dinner. Kate had girls acheivement night at the church and Ruth had Young Womens. It was a busy and a terrible day. But, John did get our internet and phone working again.

On Thursday, John was able to get in touch with the home warranty company. It is only going to cost us $60 to get the dishwasher repaired or replaced, but that does not happen until next Wednesday, and I expect it will be a little longer than that if  the whole thing needs replacing or if the company does not have the needed parts.

Thursday, Tuesday, and Monday were equally busy. I am glad that it is Friday is here and this week is finally coming to an end.

Hopefully, I will have time later today to write about some of the other things I wanted recorded about my kids.