This Week at Our House #51

This is the last post I will be writing in 2018. I have not reflected back much on the year yet other than it has been very hard in a great many ways. That's okay, though. Hard times in life are to be expected. Hard years happen. I know the Lord is very mindful of our family and through the hardship we have seen a lot of miracles. Those miracles have increased my testimony and my confidence in my ability to hear and understand the Holy Ghost. This final week of the year we have been on our Christmas break and things have been generally quiet. We've watched too much tv and played too many video games, as well as playing lots and lots of board games, outdoor play, and family soccer games.

1. John has continued to work through the holidays given our situation, but he also has spent plenty of time staying up late playing with the kids doing things that they like. I am glad that even though there is a lot of stress with supporting the family, John is still mindful of his children. And I think he has seen the blessings from that since our children are good and their testimonies of the gospel are stronger than we expected. 
2. I am between 8 and 9 months pregnant and have not joined in the family soccer games. Walking is hard enough. The last week and a half my blood sugar has been spiking even though I am staying strictly on the diet. I am glad that this pregnancy is almost over.
3. I knew that I had one friend, Laurie White, who was sending a gift to Ruth and her companion. I also know that Laurie and her husband are retired and not well off. So I was surprised when I received this note from Ruth: "Tell your friends thank you so much for the gifts! Sister Shin and I were touched! I had no idea they gave us so much! It was so kind of them! I am very grateful. They got us some food and also very warm leggings, socks, scarves, and all these useful things!" I sent this thank you on to Laurie who told me that while she contacted me expecting to do it herself, just after she got ahold of me, our mutual friend, Jan Tolman contacted her and about 5 of our other friends and secretly put together a large Christmas for Ruth and her companion. I think this is especially nice since Ruth's companion is from Burma and I know that her family sacrificed a great deal to send their daughter on a mission. This is a family that does not have the wealth, that even we, as poor Americans, have. 
4. Poor Kate is so sad that she has not been allowed to leave on her mission yet. I am praying and praying that her righteous desire will come to her early in the new year. She is so diligent and true and good. She has always tried harder, worked harder, and done more service than any other person I have known. 
5. Although we are on vacation Johnny continues to work on his programming and transcription as if it is a full time job and more so. 
6. Adam was glad to take the time off and enjoy the holidays. He delighted the younger kids by jumping with them on the trampoline and playing outdoor games with them. He is a good older brother. Susan and Sam are always sitting on him and wrestling him and Joseph, Joshua, Rachel, and Anya are always asking him to play games with them. 
7. Rachel's favorite Christmas gift was a baby doll she got from the dentist. At first I was surprised that a 12 year old would be so taken with a doll, and then I remembered that just before I was 12, I had made a lot of babysitting money and spent a portion of it on a newborn cabbage patch doll that I loved for years until I had my own little baby. Oh and she is going to finish the Book of Mormon just in the nick of time. She had me worried there for a while.
8. This morning Sam was being rather difficult and had made it extra hard for me to make the large brunch I had planned for the family. Anya noticed my frustration and said, "I need to play with Sam." After that she spent time playing with him and watching over him. 
9. Joseph has spent his vacation playing chess with Josh, playing outside with the chickens, and reading. 
10. Josh was very, very happy about the chess game for Christmas and has played that a lot. He has also enjoyed having new crayons again and has hung out with his sisters coloring and having coloring contests. 
11. Arwen has loved her crayons and coloring books. She got a one dollar clip board and told John that she thought having a drawing board is a really nice thing to have. She also got sick a couple of days after Christmas. We knew she was not well when we said she could play a computer game while she wasn't feeling well and instead she laid down on the bench next to the computer. After that we let her watch cartoons. 
12. Susan has enjoyed the crayons and coloring books and the time she has had to watch tv. She has enjoyed those things enough that she wet her pants several times.
13. Sam loves the truck my mom got him. He pushes it all over the house making car noises and then he rides it all over the house. He is an adorable little boy, when he is not getting into everything.
14. Gideon passed his non-stress test the day after Christmas and the ultrasound showed that my fluids are down some, so that is good. I am praying that these spikes I am having in blood sugar will not affect him. Sometimes, I think I should just not eat. That keeps my blood sugar down, but it also makes Gideon very sleepy. Again, I am glad that this pregnancy is almost over for both my sake and Gideon's.  I am also glad that I will get to meet this baby soon. 

Pictures

Rachel's personal Cheese cake

Stories from Ruth # 65

 

This week has been a lot of fun! On Thursday we went to the temple and yesterday was Christmas! I am honestly so tired so I want to say thank you to everyone who was generous to my companion and I for Christmas and thank you so much! I love you all!

Alma 7:7 "For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people.
9 "But behold, the Spirit hath said this much unto me, saying: Cry unto this people, saying—Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight; for behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth.
10 "And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.
11 "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 "And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people;

and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
13 "Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.
14 "Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.
15 "Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.
 

16 "And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me."


I know that Jesus Christ condescended and came to earth to save us from our sins. He is my Saviour and I m grateful for both the Bible and the Book of Mormon which are true and testify of his resurrection. He is the God over the whole earth and I am thankful for the gospel and for this chance and opportunity I have to declare it.

Christmas 2018

About noon time on Christmas Eve, we got to visit with Ruth for just over an hour. She is looking good and doing well, and it was wonderful to talk to her. So much as happened since Mother's Day. We had a lot to discuss and catch up on.

 As it grew dark, we started a fire outside. It took a while to get our wet wood burning well. Some of the family stayed indoors to finish up dinner preparations, and other things. I sat by the fire with the kids for a couple of hours singing carols and star gazing.

 Eventually the whole family made it out to the fire. We sat and sang carols under the stars. The night was clear and a little crisp-- a perfect night to sing about the Savior underneath the stars.

 Most of us have large portions of Luke 2 memorized. Kate and Johnny and Rachel have nearly the whole chapter committed to memory. We recited the scriptures together outside by the fire and under a beautifully starry sky.

 After pointing out the constellations, singing a good many carols, and reciting Luke 2, we decided to recite the story of the Grinch as many of us have large portions of that book memorized.

 I really loved our camp fire Christmas Eve. There's something wonderful about being out in nature while thinking about the Savior.

When all was done, we went inside for our traditional shepherd's dinner of naan bread, lamb, and pomegranates.  By then, the family was quite hungry, and our dinner went by fairly quietly.

 Christmas morning, the kids slept until 8am, and then Sam came and crawled in to my bed and cuddled up next to his warm dad, who wanted to continue to sleep.

 Eventually all the kids joined us in our room and made space for each other on our bed. I love these happy faces.

 I joked with them a little about having a big breakfast first, and then having to clean up and wash all the dishes before even getting to their stockings. Then I joked with them that Sam could decide when we could go open presents. When we asked Sam, he promptly said no. He wanted to stay cuddled in bed.

 Susan understands about Christmas morning now. She was full of joy and excitement and so fun to watch.

Susan can blow up balloons and is only 4 years old. While I took this picture, Rachel confessed to only being able to blow balloons up for the first time this fall.

We had a lot of people help us out this year. My mom bought all the kids warm jackets and a small gift. We had other people give us money. We mainly used the money to pay our bills, but we also provided a small Christmas. This jacket that my mom got Johnny is my favorite gift. He has not had a warm jacket that fits him for some time now, and he is always cold. This jacket will be worn a lot. I suspect he will even sleep in it.

Joseph and Joshua asked for their own chess game. My mom got it for them, and it was the first thing they did after the presents were opened.

When this box of crayons was opened, a great many of the kids cheered.

We had a lot of homemade gifts including lego creations that the kids made for each other. They were all quite happy with what they made.

Rachel had a heavy gift that we said she had to walk across the room before she could open it.

This is the game my mom got for the 4 oldest kids. They were all very happy about it.

Joseph painted this picture for Josh because he loves fish and whales.

Rachel painted this for Susan.

And Anya painted this for John.

Most of the kids got clip boards from the dollar store. They were all very happy about that. They are good for homeschool and excellent for drawing.

 Later in the day, John took the kids out to play a family game of soccer. And then they came in to the hot meal that was lovingly sent to us. It came from Honey Baked ham, and was plenty of food and delicious. I especially loved having a big Christmas dinner that I did not have to prepare.

We definitely had a Merry Christmas!

This Week at Our House #50

Kate's drawing of everyone getting their portrait taken

I guess I am off in my numbers this year, and will only be posting 51 updates. No big deal. We had a busy week with a lot of doctor and dentist appointments, so Monday morning I made the decision to give the family the week off from school making our Christmas break 3 weeks instead of just two. I did not get any complaints from that, and I am glad that I did. It made our week a lot easier and more Christmasy. We sang a lot carols, and played a lot of games together. Though the week was busy, it was good.

1. The kids love their time with their dad. I notice that most of them go to him each evening to ask what activity he will do with them. John plays soccer and lots of games with the kids almost everyday. He takes Sam for a shoulder ride everyday. When night falls, Sam will usually seek out Dad, raise his hands in the air and ask for a ride.
2. I had 2 doctors appointments this week. Monday was the specialist appointment and everything was looking so good that they said I do not need to come back to them. Friday I had the midwife appointment and the baby failed the non-stress test. He was sleeping and we just could not get him to move around and raise his heart rate. I had eaten a small breakfast of an orange before going, and thought that might be the reason. Still, they sent me to the hospital for more tests. I had little kids with me, so I took them home, got John and a big lunch. I drank a cup of orange juice, which I never do because of blood sugar, but I wanted to be sure all was well. All was well. The baby passed the non-stress test at the hospital within the first half hour. I just needed to feed him a little more. The next non-stress test is the day after Christmas, and I am going to eat a big meal before going. 
3. We may hear from Ruth a day early because she might not be able to get to wifi on Christmas day.
4. Kate made ice cream snowmen and snowflakes for some Christmas crafts with the kids. They loved it.
5. Johnny felt ill most of the week. I don't feel like I saw him much as he was either laying down trying to feel better or working on programming and transcribing.
6. Adam woke up early on Saturday morning and cleaned inside and underneath the couches, his bedroom, and one bathroom as a surprise for me. Adam had a dentist appointment and has no cavities. He confused the dentist because she was wondering why he had some missing teeth. They took a whole set of x-rays to find out that his 12 year old molars have not grown in yet. Funny, because he is 14, big, and has a deep voice.
7. Rachel finally made a lot of progress on her Book of Mormon reading. She might actually get it finished before the new year. 
8. Anya has no cavities too, but has to go back to get a sealant on one of her 6 year old molars. She will have that done on the same day the rest of the kids have their check ups. 
9. Joseph has no cavities, and given how awful his mouth was the last time, that is really good news. I think he has learned to take good care of his teeth. 
10. Josh had no cavities too. He talked and talked and talked the whole time he was having his teeth cleaned. He also gagged and complained about the taste of the toothpaste, and called the dentist old. I think I need to take him into public more.
11. Arwen's quiet and content and because of that she tends to stay in the back ground a lot playing and taking care of herself.
12. Susan asked Kate her name and Kate said "Kathryn". Susan told her that Kathryn is not pretty, so it is not her name. But "Kate" is pretty.
13. Miracle of miracles!! We have our presents wrapped and under the Christmas tree and Sam has not opened them. That's surprising because Kate wrapped a bunch, took a short break and Sam snuck in and unwrapped two. 
14. As of last Monday, Gideon weighed in at about 7lbs. His brain is completely healed, though I feel to be cautious with anything after he is born since he basically experienced encephalitis before birth. I wonder if he will be sensitive to chemicals and medications and such. 

Pictures

the last of our beautiful fall leaves

A very kind reader of my blog sent us a Christmas dinner from Honey Baked Ham. All we have to do is stick it in the oven. It is in the fridge thawing and awaiting Christmas! 

ice cream snowmen