This Week at Our House # 51

1. John's laptop that he uses for work died the same day that the brakes in the van squealed every time we used them. The laptop was a surprise. But we knew that we would need new brakes since October. We were just hoping that they would make it until January. John went in to work twice last week. He has something that he is getting ready to submit to his boss along with another proposal. On Sunday, John drove to Raleigh and picked Ruth up from the airport. So he had a pretty busy week finding and purchasing a new laptop, taking the van in to be repaired, working, and then driving back and forth to Raleigh.
2. I made a lot of cookies with the kids, read to them a lot to them, and did some Christmas crafts. On Monday, the kids did a little Nativity Play for family home evening. I think we had a nice week with lots of little things to celebrate Christmas.
3. Ruth finished all of her classes and projects. On Friday, she drove down late to Utah. She went to the airport the following afternoon, and sat there for two hours until they cancelled her flight to Chicago. She met another BYUI student who was trying to get home for Christmas too, so she was not too lonely for the next 7 hours when she was finally able to get a red eye flight to Philadelphia. She got into Raleigh at 11 am. By then she was sick and very tired. But we were so glad to get her home safely and to see her again. She dyed her hair black. She says it is brown. She says she gained weight too, but it does not look like it to me. Anyway, we are so happy to have her home for Christmas!
4. Kate spent the whole week excited to get Ruth home, only to be disappointed that her flight was cancelled. But she did spend the whole week baking cookies, doing crafts, and reading with me. I have been thinking how next summer Ruth will leave for a mission and Kate will leave for college. It's such a sad thought. They are my best friends. I will be lonely without them until Rachel and Anya get a little older and fill that gap in my heart.
5. John has been making Johnny do a lot more calculus. He has also been giving him a lot of very hard problems. Johnny doesn't like it. But he can figure them out, even if it takes a lot of complaining to accomplish it.
6. Adam had a party that his primary teacher held on Friday. He came happy, energized, and more patient with his younger siblings, so I am enrolling him into a homeschool coop school that meets for 4 hours one day a week in January. When Adam got in the car after church, Rachel announced that one of the girls in Adam's class said she has a crush on him. Adam said he knows because Rachel was the second person to tell him. Apparently, there is one other girl that has a crush on Adam too. The rest of us were a little surprised.
7. I am going to enroll Rachel with Adam, into the homeschool group. She is missing friends too. Rachel did enjoy  making crafts, and cooking and eating the cookies.
8. Anya spent time working on a new story. She also kept coming to me with new things for her Christmas list. But I am finished Christmas shopping, so she was too late. 
9. Joseph loves to ride his bike. He fell hard and got a large scrape and gouge on his knee, but that did not deter him. Joseph loves to bake. He makes something almost everyday and he often helps me with dinner preparation too.
10. Joshua loves video games too much.
11. I braided Arwen's hair on Sunday and she loved it. When it got messy, she asked me if I could do the same thing.
12. When Joseph scraped his knee, Susan just cried and cried because she felt so bad for him. It's just the cutest thing. She gave him a very gentle kiss and hug to make him feel better. Joseph jokingly said, "that has no medical value." 
13. Sam is sleeping more at night on the whole, but he takes a very long time to fall asleep most nights. Sometimes he won't get to sleep until 2 or 3am.

Tender Mercies

1. Even though no one wants to have to pay for a car repair or a new work computer during Christmas time, we are just so grateful that John has a job and we can pay for these things.
2. Ruth made it home safely and after some rest and good food she felt much better.

This Week's Pictures

This Week at Our House # 50

Indeed the year is coming to an end. We have begun to enjoy the Christmas season together as a family. Most nights we sing carols and read Christmas stories. I have been trying to do a craft or some cooking or a trip to see the stores each day with the kids. John is still working and Kate and Johnny have seminary each morning, but other than that, we are on school vacation and things are pretty calm and relaxing. Baby Sam is growing fast. He will be a month old tomorrow. I am starting to feel better. Last night for the first time, I could sleep on my left side without my hips hurting and popping. Ruth will be home in another week. The kids are counting down the days until they see Ruth and the days until Christmas. John and Kate and I have spent lots of time looking for Christmas presents. Most of them are bought now. All in all things are very nice, and we are looking forward to lovely Christmas.

Goals Completed

I began 2016 with the goal to read the Old Testament. In late February, I was going slowly and knew that if I did not pick up the pace, I would never finish the Old Testament in one year. I also felt promptings to make sure I read the Book of Mormon in 2016 too, so I picked up the pace. I began using the early morning seminary time to read scriptures. (I had been reading Charles Dickons in that time.) I finished the Old Testament in June and began the Book of Mormon. I kept up the same pace that I had been keeping while reading the Old Testament. I realized that if I put my mind to it, I could read the entire standard works. I finished the Book of Mormon the first of September. Then I read the New Testament, the D&C and the Pearl of Great Price. I completed my goal last Monday. I learned so much from reading through all of the scriptures in a short period of time.  The Old Testament came together in a way that it had never done before, and I found all of it very interesting. Parts that I used to think were boring, I learned things from. I was also able to read all of the General Conference talks given by Ezra Taft Benson and all of the General Conference talks given by Gordon B. Hinckly through the 1980's. I will continue with his talks and then read all of President Monson's before I go back in time and read all of David o. Mckay's. For now, I have decided to go back and read Isaiah through Malachi in the Old Testament while making notes about certain gospel principles.

A year ago, I would have decided that there was no way I had the time with this many children and homeschooling and everything else to read the standard works in just one year.

This Week at Our House # 49

1. Wow! This is weekly update number 49. That means there are only 3 weeks left of the year. Time sure goes by quickly. John had a good week, I think. Work went well. He has been taking the kids to seminary for me because the baby doesn't sleep much at night. He has also been making about one meal a week and trying to get in his exercise. 
2. I am slowly healing, and I emphasize slowly. I generally feel fine doing housework and taking care of the kids, but going out for any reason exhausts me. I am going to start trying to go on walks to increase my stamina. I think it will be a month or two or three or more before I am back to my full capacity. But as hard as it is to have a baby after 40, I am loving little Sam. He has been completely worth all of the exhaustion and pain and everything it took to get him here. We are starting to celebrate Christmas some. I have been reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and A Christmas Carol to the kids. I really like how well my kids are understanding the language of Charles Dickons.
3. Ruth has two more weeks left of her first semester of college, so she is swamped with final papers, final projects, and final exams. Her art class has been particularly difficult and time consuming. We are praying for her to do well and survive these whirlwind weeks.
4. Kate loves baby Sam so much. She loves to tell people about him. She said she thinks she is boring people because she likes to talk about how cute he is.
5. Johnny spent another week playing too many video games because he is on school break. Whenever I tell him he needs to take a break and do other things, he always agrees with me.
6. Adam loved going to a gun and knife show with John. Adam also finally had the opportunity to attend the young mens wednesday activity and pass the sacrament. The birth of the baby and holidays had postponed that for him. I love watching my boys worthily passing the sacrament.
7. Rachel told me there are not enough pictures of her on my blog, so we made sure to take plenty.
8. Anya has been using popsicle sticks and construction paper to make a nativity set of puppets.
9. Joseph has been working really hard to memorize Luke 2:1-19. He has the first 13 verses memorized already.
10. Joshua doesn't usually like me to read to him,but one morning when I said if he would get some books, I would read him some stories, he grabbed a large pile and sat and listened while I read them all.
11. Arwen went on a walk with John. She saw some yard Santas. Of one she said, "look it is a Christmas guy. He has reindeer." Of another, she said, "it's a reindeery guy."
12. Susan is as cute as can be half the time and the other half of the time she is either screaming because she did not get what she wanted, or she is getting into things she is not supposed to.
13. Sam is losing his baby hair. He is chubbier and too long for his newborn clothes. He is holding his head up more and more everyday. He is already starting to smile too. He is such a sweet cuddly baby. We all love to hold him.

Tender Mercies

1. I can't always say everything in such a public manner, but the gift of the Holy Ghost and how it operates in our everyday lives is probably the truest manifestation of the tender mercies of the Lord. It keeps us safe spiritually and physically.

This Week's Pictures

Some of Ruth's art for her class