This Week at Our House #47

We are now into December. It has been a very hard year for our family in many ways. I am sure I will never look back and feel like it was such a happy time. Certainly, we have had our share of good times and joy in our family, but on the whole, the year has been full of trials and troubles. They have brought me to my knees many times and have taught me a great many things that I neglected to learn in the past. I have now come to a place before the Lord that I needed to get to, but would no go on my own. For that, I am grateful.

The week itself was a decent week. We held school and the kids, for the most part, happily did their work. They continue to learn and grow and improve. One thing I have loved about homeschooling is that it gives me the chance to see their growth up close and personal. We all enjoyed some beautiful cool and some beautiful warm days playing outside. The beginning of the week was cold, and I actually turned on the heat for one hour, the end of the week was warm and we turned the a/c back on for a short time. Such is North Carolina in December.  We've had a little more mold to clean up, but not much. I also had an insurance adjuster come by to assess the roof. After sending the boys up for a week to repair the roof, I realized that it would be much harder than replacing a few ripped shingles. The adjuster totaled the roof without going up. I think we made the right decision here, but our philosophy is to do all we can to help ourselves before petitioning for help.

1. Job-wise, John had one phone call and nothing else. He continues to work on game development. John also does a lot to make my life easier. He plays for and cares for the kids everyday. He reads to them, sings with them, plays soccer with them, and teaches them, and puts them to bed at night. This makes dealing with a high-risk pregnancy a lot easier.
2. I have had some weird things with my blood sugar. Lots of exercise and less food seems to shoot my blood sugar up way too high. I have to be careful not to do too much, and if I do, to eat more protein. I am feeling the baby move plenty, and enjoying that as I will not have that again in this life.
3. Ruth had 4 marriage proposals in one week, as well as several date requests. I think when she gets home, she will not have so many. There must be something glowy about missionaries. 
4. Kate continues to work hard on her many projects and bless our home with her strong spirit.
5. Johnny is very cautious to make sure I am not doing too much. He gets frustrated with me when I wash the dishes, and always tries to stop me.
6. Adam finally got his new glasses. He put them on and said, "Oh wow! I can see again."
7. Rachel is continuing to learn how to cook. She made us a perfect salmon dinner on Wednesday with no tears.
8. I have been surprised that adding and subtracting negative numbers has come very naturally to Anya. Maybe she is going to be another family mathematician. Until now, she has hated math.
9. Joseph finished reading the Beyonders Series and is now onto Fablehaven. He reads pretty fast and can be found with a book anytime he is not outside playing. He has always been a very good reader, but until now, he could not sit still long enough to enjoy a book.
10. Joshua likes the scriptures and goes to John every day to ask him to tell him a scripture story.
11. Arwen talked about and searched for our attack uno game for the whole of the week. When she found it, she convinced me to play a couple of games with her. After that, no one else would play with her, so she taught Susan how to play.
12. Kate sat down with Susan to tell her a scripture story before bed. Kate began telling her about Adam and Eve. Kate said that Adam was the first man on earth. Susan laughed and said that's silly. She knows Adam because Adam is her brother. Kate then asked Susan if she knew who Adam's wife was, and Susan said Rachel.
13. Everyday someone reported to me that Sam actually played with toys. And as it turns out, we had less Sam destruction.
14. I am 7 and a half months pregnant, so the time to meet baby Gideon is coming upon us. 

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