The Lord's Hands

How things Are:

As I wrote in an earlier post, John's company has not been paying him or any of the other employees. Late last week we found out that not only have we not been being paid, but all of the time that we thought we had health insurance we did not. The company had taken the premiums for health insurance out of the paychecks (until they stopped paying) but then never paid the insurance company. The company also had told us that we did have health insurance. But apparently they have not paid it since July or so. So now we have no income coming in and about $700 worth of unexpected medical bills that we would not have had if we knew that we did not have health insurance. (If I knew that we had to pay cash for the kids vaccinations I would have postponed the vaccinations until we had the money to pay for them.) We do not have any bad pre-existing conditions, so we, unlike other employees with chronic conditions, are okay that way. John has been applying for jobs since the first paycheck in October had not come through. (We are still without any job offers.) John is planning on asking to be laid off and we are going to apply for unemployment. This morning I applied for free lunch for the kids for school. Once John is officially laid off we will consider applying for health aid and food aid, but I think we will wait a couple more weeks and keep living on loans before we go that far. We really feel like God is watching over us and that John will have a job soon.

The Lord's Help:

Besides having a fairly consistent feeling of peace and assurance, many people have been praying for us and helping us in amazing ways. John's parents who are in the same situation that we are in have been sharing their food storage and food from their yard that they worked hard to produce. They have also been allowing us to borrow from their low interest home equity loan to cover our rent and bills. My parents gave us $100 for food last month, bought Ruth and Kate winter coats, and most recently they have bought some warm pajamas and sweaters for the kids. John's sister Emily and her husband Ben have given us $300 for Christmas presents for our children. Our next door neighbor has given us left overs and last night brought over dinner. We are very grateful and very blessed to have so many people help us and take care of us when we have not been able to do that for ourselves. I know that these people have been the Lord's hands in taking care of us during this difficult time for our family. I only ask that we too can be His hands and pass on His blessings.

Ready To Potty Train

Anya is ready and I am not. Before Anya gets into the bathtub, she insists on trying to go potty first. When she can get to her diaper (we try to make it unavailable to her with different clothing) she will take it off as soon as she pees or poops. That can be a very yucky mess! If she cannot reach her diaper, Anya will come to me and say, "It's disgusting." She usually does this when she has pooped. When I was listing off things that she may possibly want for Christmas the only item she said yes to was underwear so she can go potty on the toilet. Should I start????? I guess it will save us about $20 a month on diapers--but I will need to buy underwear.

A Family Home Evening Story

Last night we had family home evening down stairs with our pillow couches, the soft carpeting and toys because Rachel wasn't feeling well and had been laying on the couch. While John was trying to give a lesson, Ruth, Kate, Johnny, Adam, and Anya were tossing the pillows, getting out toys, wrestling, and talking. At one point Rachel said she had to go to the bathroom. I picked her up and took her upstairs to the bathroom. She looked at me when we got up the stairs and said, "I am listening to Dad. No one is listening to Dad, but I am listening. Ruth and Kate are big. They are not listening. I am little, but I am listening."

What I Learned in Church

Adam came out of his primary class and very happily announced, "We talked about throw up and puke and being sick today!"

"That's great, Adam."

Some More Political Commentary

All of the news stations and internet news sights that I listen to or read, both conservative and liberal really bother me. I don't like the conservative sites/stations because they are ridiculously critical of Obama and the Democratic party. For example, Obama, met some families at an airforce base as the bodies of their children were flown home from Afganistan. I think that was entirely appropriate and good. The conservative news criticized him for making a public showing to support the war, but that he really doesn't support the troops because he has not yet decided to send more troops to Afganistan. Well actually, I think that is a huge decision that should be made slowly and carefully. I think that is totally ridiculous and an inappropriate criticism. It makes it hard to take the conservative side seriously.

On the other hand, I hate how the liberal stations take anything that is sin and make it out to be what is good and right. For example, I read a cnn news article about a doctor who preforms late term abortions and another man who is the head of an anti-abortion group. With the doctor the article spent most of the time talking about how he fears for his life but that he is doing a great thing because he aborted a baby in a 10 year old and some other women for their health. He said he was saving lives. He has preformed more than 60,000 abortions. When the article focused on the anti-abortion guy they mostly talked about the recent murder of Tiller (a notorious late-term abortion doctor) and how badly that affects the pro-life group. The doctor was the hero and the man trying to stop abortions was the villain in the article. Again that is ridiculous! How can one say a man who has killed 60,000 unborn babies is saving lives and another man who has done no harm to any person is trying to stop these lives from being saved? Now of course, hardly anyone would think a 10 year old victim should have a baby. It would probably kill her little body. On the other hand, one knows that most of the 60,000 abortions were not to save a persons life.

I feel more strongly about promoting morality than I do about not criticizing the good things our president does. So I tend to lean toward believing what the conservative stations say more than the liberal stations. But when I vote I try to ignore what the candidates and the media are saying and look at voting records. That way  I can have a closer knowledge of who the candidate really is. It is harsh world right now, and it is scary to vote. I do worry about the social and political future of America and what that will mean for my children.

Bummer Birthday

On Wednesday, Adam turned five. But he was quite sick all day. In fact, Adam was up most of the entire night before his birthday with croup. Then he still had a very bad croupy cough and a fever most of the day of his birthday. We had to cancel the party that we had planned to have with his cousins on Thursday. We will reschedule that when everyone in our family is better. But Adam is 5, and he is quite excited to be 5. Yesterday, he wanted to go out and tell all of his friends that he is 5. But he couldn't. We did still have a family party for Adam on his birthday. John frosted Spiderman on his cake for him, and we had ice cream and presents. We also had Tacos for dinner and Lucky Charms for breakfast at Adam's request. Despite all, if you ask Adam, he will say he had a happy birthday and now he is "one whole hand." Happy Birthday our fun little boy!!!

2 Funny Conversations

Rachel: Achoooo, Achooo
Adam: Rachel, Don't cough on me!
Rachel: I didn't cough on you. I coughed on my mouth!

Ruth: Mom, it seems like a dream when I was a kid.
Mom (Smiling): I know what you mean.
Johnny: What?
Ruth: It seems like a dream when I was a kid.
Johnny: You are still a kid!!
Ruth: Johnny, you know what I mean-- when I was a toddler. It is all like a dream.