This Week at Our House # 10 Ruth Returns

What a week!!

Monday we spent hours putting in the floor and only got the laundry room done. The boards do not snap in place well at all. Maybe that is why they were on sale.

Tuesday we woke up to snow. That was unexpected and the only snow we have gotten this winter. It did not last long. But it was cold all week until today. Today got up to 80 degrees. Such is the North Carolina winter.

Ruth flew in after 11pm on Tuesday night. We took the whole family to the airport to meet her. As

passengers were coming down the escalator, an old man stopped me and said, "I know who you are waiting for. Don't worry she is coming."

Kate met Ruth off the escalator. She had the camera, but didn't bother to take any pictures. She ran right up and hugged her.

Adam and Johnny were holding a welcome home banner and Ruth said she wondered who that strange boy was that we brought with us to hold the banner, before she realized that she was actually looking at Adam.

Within the first hour on the way home from the airport things returned to how they always were. Ruth was no stranger and fit in just as she had before and that is how it has been since she got home.

Wednesday morning while I was hanging out laundry, I noticed some water and realized it came from the septic tank. I knew the tank would be getting full, but 4 showers 2 baths, and 3 loads of laundry overwhelmed the little space we had left. I called and made the first appointment I could, which happened to be Friday-- ugh. No one was allowed to bathe before then, and we washed dishes outside. What a welcome to Ruth!

Wednesday afternoon, I took Ruth up to be released and we did all of our weekly errands. Kate, Sam,

Suzy, and Gideon tagged along. Kate got to visit with her old friend and Ruth and Kate got to see their favorite young women's president. That made them both quite happy. John and family at home were very worried about us, but we did come home to a completely cleaned up house and Kate immediately proceeded to make dinner just before 10pm. Kate was very grateful I said that she could stay and visit.

Thursday we held school and Ruth got to see how homeschool works once again. School is hard right now because Gideon grumps most of it, Sam continually sneaks out to get into things he is not supposed to, and Josh needs a lot of help and one on one attention.

Friday, we cleaned the house, as is our norm. It was nice to have Ruth's helping hands with that. Also, Ruth and Kate just keep their room cleaned, so that was one less room to clean up. Later in the afternoon, the septic tank got cleaned up. I watched for a moment, but it was too gross. After that, everyone continually felt guilty every time they turned on a faucet. But by Saturday night, everyone had showered and gotten over the guilt. I had to explain to them how the tank works. Plain water drains out deep underground into a rock and sand filter. Showers are fine, as long as the tank is not so full, it can't drain.

On Tuesday, we found out that our duckling have a duckling nerve disease where 90% die. Saturday,

after spending the whole week carefully caring for our sick ducklings, three more passed away. They came to us with the infection. One died from seizures-- indication of the disease-- the first night they were here. Since then, they have all gotten sick one or two at a time either with seizures or paralysis. It's been awful and hard. We have two more sick ducklings still alive out of ten and one looks really bad. The kids used their Christmas money for these ducklings, and my kids have had so little in the last year and a half. I feel devastated for them.

So this week was both very sad and wonderful. I am so glad to have Ruth home.

Some quick kid stories:
Gideon at 7 weeks is smiling big and beautifully dimply, though, I have not gotten a picture of it yet. He is also huge. His 3 months clothes are getting too small.

When I bought Gideon a pacifier and clip, I bought a new one for Sam. Sam would not go near the one I bought for him. Then this week, he lost all of his pacifiers. I brought out the new one, but he would not touch it, so I clipped it on to me. Later in the day, when Sam was tired, he came to me to suck the pacifier clipped to me. By the end of the day, he claimed it as his own. Since Ruth came home, Sam has been much happier. He is not that willing to hang out with Ruth, but he seems satisfied now that we have another stranger sibling joining the family.

Suzy has been wearing her hair in a ponytail, which is a huge milestone since she is four and a half and can just now fit her hair into a ponytail. I washed her hair this morning, so her curls would look nice for church, but she came to me and said, "But I wanted a ponytail, a big one!" I gave her a ponytail.

Rachel now always tries to dodge pictures.

Adam told a really good joke, Ruth's first day home. He said, "Ruth, you may have brought home a lot of things made in England, but in this house, we have a lot of things made in China!"

More Pictures

the chickens were hesitant to come out into the snow

That penguin blanket is Rachel hiding from the camera