My Apologies...

I had wanted to get a post up about God's gracious mercy to us when our daughter drowned, but I've had a very busy week.  I've also re-opened so many emotions and overwhelming feelings have flooded my being on how God so lovingly cared for us and our children during that time.  So, please be patient with me.  I promise to post all about it very soon.

Take heart!  She's alive!

Here she is hugging her Daddy!  :)

Praise God!

The Effects of Television...on a Child with an Injured Brain

One of the things I gave my husband for Christmas this year was a Netflix subscription.  We hadn't had satellite or cable TV in the house for 4 years, so I figured this would be a good thing to help him unwind after work.  After discussing it with him, we decided to get a 1 month trial membership.  We saw how many shows were from the History and Discovery channels, which we really enjoyed when we had satellite TV, so we decided to keep Netflix.  The educational shows on there were wonderful!

One of the shows, Burn Notice, my husband especially enjoyed so we watched it.  Little did I know the effect of the female character in this show on my daughter.  The character Fiona is very trim and muscular.  She is able to fix anything mechanically and built bombs for the "team" and their various needs.  She fights at the drop of a hat and exudes strength for her small frame, doesn't want children, doesn't know what to do around children and with them.

This character and similar types in each show we watched has had a draw for my daughter.  My sons were not phased by the shows like my daughter was.  She had taken part of the character upon herself and made it her reality.  The more I observed her reactions to those types of female characters, the more I noticed a common thread.  When reflecting upon situations in the past with doing drama through our home school group, I noticed this same pattern.  She lived the characters.  She lost herself.  She became someone she wasn't, until we realized what was going on and shut those types of shows down.

I can say that I am ultra vigilant now with the TV we watch for this reason.  And, for now, she will not be participating in drama.  She looses herself in her character and cannot draw the line to differentiate between pretend and reality.

She is 14, however, she has had an experience most of us haven't in that she drowned when she was 22 months old.  We don't know how long her brain was without oxygen.  We are still finding out the variety of ways her drowning has affected her brain.  One of those things that is hidden and the entire depth and breadth of the injury truly isn't fully known until situations arise.  I posted a couple days ago about her bedroom.  This has been a battle [for me] for years.  It isn't disobedience for her to go in to her room to clean and actually clean, but get so overwhelmed by everything that she shuts down.  I did not understand why she couldn't go in and just simply clean her room.  I would give her lists, breaking everything down for her to do, but by item #3 it was overwhelming to her and she shut down.  So now, I'm trying to give her specific things to clean up, then report back to me.  I'm finding that the FLYlady way of doing this is very helpful for her.  I give her 15 minutes to do two things like make her bed and care for her clothes whether dirty or clean and needing put away.   After writing the last sentence, I called her downstairs (away from the room where she could be overwhelmed at this time to purposely remove her from the source of her overwhelming feelings), to see what she's been doing.  I gave her "re" direction--declutter her top 2 drawers, put the stuff she decluttered in the give away bag, finish her hair, then come see me.  This seems to be working for now.  It gets small increments done, takes a little bit longer to do, but it needs to be done.

As I look at my daughter now, I thank God for her life.  He's placed her here and saved her life for a reason.  I pray for her future husband--that he would be kind and understanding, coming along side her and love her in spite of her brain injury and understand about her need for medication to help control her ADHD, but that it does not cure it, so for now, it would be a lifelong thing she would have to take.  Please join me in prayer on her behalf.

She is holding a reticulating python at the Creation Museum in this picture.  If you can't tell, she absolutely loved this!  

Socks

Knitting socks use to be an intimidating thought to me, until I found a very easy sock pattern and tried it.

This was the first pair of socks I'd ever made.  I toiled over these socks!  But, I didn't quit.  

Originally those were supposed to be for my beloved husband.  However, they ended up too tight for him, so I gave them to my oldest son, DA.  

I knitted these socks for my husband and they turned out very well.  

I used the Imagination Hand Painted Sock Yarn from knitpicks.com for all of the socks you see here.

I am currently working on a pair of socks for my daughter for Christmas.  I'm finding that I cannot work on them at night though because of the lighting and the color contrast when I get to the variegated part of the yarn where it is dark on dark.

I've found the perfect time of day to work on them is in the morning with the bright light all around me. I can see in the front and the light streaming through the sock fibers between my stitches.  I've also taken this with me to work on at the Dr's office while getting physicals and well child exams for the children.  

And, just in case you're curious about how the other side looks--

When you work on the heel, there are 2 needles that go "unworked" and just sit there holding stitches like you see here. According to my directions, after I repeat the pattern of slip 1, knit 1, turn, slip 1 and purl across just 15 times, then I'll begin using the larger end stitches you see below my thumb to knit the rest of the heel. :) I'll post pictures so you can see how things progress. 

I have not tried the two at a time method of knitting socks, nor have I tried the toe up method of knitting....and I've contemplated making crocheted socks, but haven't tried them yet. I share with you what I've learned, what I'm doing and hope I've helped someone along the way, or someone at some time could help direct me on the way as well.

My plans for sock making, God willing, is to finish this pair and a pair for my youngest son by Christmas. I'll start on my own pair of socks after Christmas. Then I'll begin again with my husband. 

I gave the upper 2 pairs of socks to my husband and son in 2010. I had planned to work on other projects, then get back to the sock making, which I did. Upon beginning these socks for my daughter, I ripped out countless times (at least 5) restarting and restarting again because when I increased, then decreased and did the repeat all the way around for the Jaywalker pattern, it always kept decreasing consistently and wouldn't keep the count even. I tried it a couple of different ways to only find the same problem again and again. I snipped the last swatch I tried because the yarn was so worn. I began again on the 6th try and decided to continue like I had for the previous 2 socks instead, using a basic sock pattern. Now, here I am. I regret not being able to conquer the pattern, but I guess you'll have those things.

Organizing

My precious daughter is so very creative and as such, she needs help to get her creativity organized.  Today we're tackling her bedroom.  It has been long over due.  I won't embarrass her by posting before pictures.

Next up, the boys' room!

I think that after this, I'll do more studying with all of them on organizing their things.  It's a slow process for me because I need to think and consider the items needing organized, then find just the right solution.  Fortunately, this weekend is the BIGGEST yard sale weekend around here where we live.  Maybe I can find something to help them with their bedrooms.  =O)  One of the biggest things we've done so far is pitch stuff and organize things in to like items--ie:  hair things, writing instruments, books, clothes, give away and throw away.  It is coming along quite nicely.  We're having our dinner here in a few minutes, then we'll get back to work.  =O)

I'll be sure to post the "after" pictures.  =O)

The Ending

If you have ever read an intriguing piece of literature, there is usually a cliff hanger signifying the pinnacle of the story.  After that, everything is "down hill."

This school year really had no cliff hanger.  There was no mid point noted, there was no "broo-ha-ha" when we reached the 180th day.  There wasn't even a celebration for the 100th day of school, much like many of our public school counter-parts celebrate.

We kept doing school daily as a matter of doing the next thing.  We've known for a very long time the course that we need to take for completion and we willingly  (most of the time) take it daily.  Some days the children are ahead of me in getting those things accomplished, but they forget the things they need to complete "before" getting to school work, like personal hygiene (yes, they forget) and their daily chores.  It is my duty as their mother/teacher to remind them to "go back and see what you've forgotten."   I know that one of these days they'll remember to make their bed, do their hygiene and finish their chores.  I also know that those days will most likely be when they have their own homes, or does it come with sheer repetition?

This year has been a very low key year.  It has been a year of very few field trips along with the one's occurring with the home school group.  The children have asked me, "Are we going to this month's field trip?"  Then I ask them if they'd like to go to that particular place and they most often tell me, "No."  I would like to say that this has been a year of excitement, or maybe I wouldn't.  Excitement is in the eye of the beholder, wouldn't you say?

Currently, I'm writing this post on Tuesday and set the schedule for this to post on Saturday at 10PM.  My family and I will have been on the road to the Columbus Zoo and the Creation Museum and on our way home.  It seems that our own pinnacle of the school year is definitively the end.  From this point to the end of June, we'll be finishing up some loose ends, as they are often called.  My oldest son will be completing his essay on "Operation Anthropoid" during our journey.  He has already been told that this is something that he needs to do and he agrees, without hesitation and with immediate acceptance.  If only all things were that easy.  Our daughter has completed her school work at breakneck speed with 90% and above averages, so we're giving her a break.  Our youngest son will bring his books to read and finish his book reports upon returning home, or a bit after.

Me?  I'm bringing the sock I'm working on for my daughter and Knowing God by JL Packer.  I'm limiting myself to those two things so that I get some reading done and some work done on the sock for my sweet daughter.  I try to work on it every day, at least until my carpal tunnel issues begin to rear their ugly heads, as is usually the case when I'd like to get something done a little faster than my body will let me.

What to do after our trip?  Well, we'll prepare for our final day of our home school group where we have awards and a picnic to follow.  It is a very nice culmination to our school year. All of the certificates the children get from all of their classes will go immediately in to their portfolios.  This helps us to keep track of all of them easier.  After getting their certificates in to their portfolios, we'll begin documenting the rest of the books that we haven't documented yet this year.  We'll take out the books currently documented that we've given away and add the new ones as well as the websites visited, educational shows watched and anything else we can think of.  The PA state home school law says "a contemporaneous log of subjects st,udied", so we fill 17+ pages of  "Educational Resources Used" each year.  If the children completely read the resource, then I document it AND they write a book report on it, usually.  This year, however, the older two children are writing reports on the Holocaust.  DA will be writing about his findings on "Operation Anthropoid" and HJ will be writing a synopsis on a book called Eleanor.  One of our topics we had chosen for History this year was "The Holocaust Through Children's Eyes."  It intrigues me to see the topics they've chosen to write about.  JL had written a book report upon completion of reading Who Was Anne Frank.

We'll start printing things out on the 28th.  Each day we will finish a subject, putting all of the records for it in to their portfolios.  The first subjects to do will be Math and Language Arts.  Then we'll add Science and History, then move out from there completing subjects one at a time.

Once we get everything done, we set the portfolios aside for a couple of days to "rest".  We walk, play, work on the garden and just get our minds off of them, or at least we try to.  It depends greatly on how well the printer is working.  If it is working at a snail's pace, then we're in for some frustration.  I think we'll probably get a new printer very soon.

When we go to our evaluator, it is a whole day trip.  It is almost a 2 hour drive, so we try very hard to visit friends when we go.  If it doesn't work out, we get something to eat and then come home.

From that point, we usually wait until the June 30th deadline to submit them.  In times past with previous superintendents they've compiled the portfolios until all of them were present until they did the evaluating.  This year, after calling, the superintendent told me that it would be a good thing to bring them in so he could look at them before he leaves for vacation.  It was a pleasant surprise.  Now we don't have to wait until almost the end of July to get our portfolios back.

After submitting the portfolios, there is still work to do.  Between submitting them and getting them back, I work on next year's objectives, getting the affidavit notarized and this year we'll be doing a religious exemption form for all the medical things they ask for.  In the affidavit we file, by signing it, we attest to keeping current with all of the children's medical and dental needs.  That should be enough, but for some reason the education system in PA is creating a database for all children who have had vaccinations and all who haven't.  For me, this isn't a debate about whether or not to vaccinate.  It is the basic principal that the school district is calling my home and requesting the medical records of my kids.  So, we just simply file the religious exemption forms and we'll be fine, in theory.  We'll see how well that holds up in the future.

Our new school year will begin on July 16th.  If the kids are picking berries at our friend's farm, then we'll start after they return home and shower.  But, that's not supposed to be in this post...that's another post, for another day, because that's the beginning.

This is the Ending.  And it went over with a SPLASH!!!  I loved seeing the polar bears and manatees!

Can you see it?

What am I doing here?  Talking to a Reticulated Python, of course!  LOL

Simple Saturdays

Today began with coffee--making it, then while waiting for it to brew, waking our daughter and getting her going on her morning chores.  Some friends of ours down the road invited her to their yard sale so she could sell some of her jewelry there.  She took care of the dogs, finished her daily chores, ate some breakfast and made her lunch.   After saying "Good-bye" to Daddy, she gathered all of her things in to the vehicle and we were on our way.  We needed to stop and get change so that if someone handed her a larger bill, she could make change.  While she was there, she sold a couple pieces of jewelry through the day.  When she wasn't selling jewelry, she helped them with the children and baked cookies as well.  When everything was done, she helped them clean and put everything away.

All in all, she had a wonderful time.  She's been invited back when they have a second yard sale in a few weeks.

While my daughter was helping our friends, our sons were working on lawn mowers, fixing them and replacing belts.  While  Mr. G ran back and forth to the hardware store, I sat on the front porch with the dogs, taking care of some paperwork that I needed to do.   It was such a beautiful morning with the sun shining.  I couldn't think of sitting inside!  Upon his return, the dogs ran to the truck and I went after them to make sure they didn't get out to the road.  I went out and to my pleasant surprise, my beloved brought me a Bouganvia for Mother's Day!  And, it smelled heavenly!  I've requested of my beloved Mr. G that if he'd like to get me any flowers at any time, I don't mind.  (Who would?)  I have, however, made a request that the flowers be living and plantable so that I can enjoy it for years to come.  For my beloved, he's come through so wonderfully through the years!  I get the pleasure of enjoying such lovely and wonderful gifts every year.

 Mr. G adjusted the hook and put the Bouganvia up for me, then went to work showing our sons how to replace things on the mowers, put things back together and set them to work.  I went back to my paperwork, which at that point had been almost non-existent other than online updating.

After a little while, my back started letting me know that I needed to find some place else to sit and finish my paperwork.  I came in the house, got another cup of coffee, a rarity here at our home since I usually only have 1 cup in the morning, and sat in the comfy chair to finish my paperwork and possibly do a little knitting in the quietness of the house.  I didn't get far though, but I didn't mind.  My handsome Mr. G interrupted my work.  Those kinds of interruptions are lovely and wonderful!

After Mr. G left a little early to go see how our daughter was doing, the boys decided to come in and have some lunch and rest a bit since they had been mowing for a while.  We talked about our upcoming field trip, about our dogs, the lovely young ladies who will be staying at our house taking care of the dogs while we're gone, what needs to be cleaned, what books needed to come with us and how much swimming we'll be able to do.  They're getting excited.

After our talk, they went on their merry way, taking care of a few things throughout the house that was their responsibility while I finished my paperwork.  When our daughter arrived, she excitedly shared her day with us.  Eventually, while we sat on the front porch, the conversation turned toward talking more about a variety of sin issues each of us have in our lives.  I encouraged the children to go to their rooms and take those things to God and ask Him to help them with it while I prayed quietly for them on the front porch.  They came downstairs with renewed spirit and ready to get to work on some school work.

During the quietness, I was able to get some knitting done on a sock I am making for Christmas for our daughter.

I have already made socks for my husband and oldest son.  Now it is time to make socks for my daughter and youngest son.  Perhaps I'll make a pair for myself too!  It is very slow knitting right now.  The stitches are very small with the needles being a size 1 and much of it is just knitting and knitting which is very relaxing at times, but my impatience gets the best of me at times.  I sigh and think, "I could start the heel now and make them short socks, but that wouldn't be right. She needs long ones just like the men."  So, I continue to work.

As I type this, I just finished my dinner of a salad.  Yes, very simple and plain with nothing fancy, much like our day.  What a beautiful day it has been!

Happenings at Our House

This week has flown by!  I can't believe it is Thursday and I'm sitting here writing to all of you!  Our local home school group met this past Monday.  We took our used books and tried to sell what we had.  We sold a whole box full of Box Car Children books and a few other books too.  We'll just pack up the others for selling next year.

I can't remember if we looked out at the full moon on Monday or Tuesday night, but my oldest son, DA, took bunches of pictures and by far this one is the clearest.

Perigee moon....13th try. This was the clearest picture he could get. I think it looks neat with the clouds. :)

On Sunday we decided that it would be a wonderful day to (yes, I'm going backwards) go for a walk or in some cases roller blade, in Cook's Forest.

Three Caballeros....2 Roller blading and 1 doggie walker.

Half yawn, half pant

Breathtakingly beautiful!

Hold on a second, Mom.  I've got something in my shoe.

So hard to believe this 12 year old is now taller than me!

And, I've decided to start selling on etsy, after encouragement from my husband.  My etsy shop name is ReginasApronsNThings if you'd like to see more pictures.  

It has been a busy week, getting our schooling done, working on more projects around the house, cleaning and living.  God is good.  I am always amazed by His goodness.  I was looking out my front bay window this morning while I talked with my brother for a few minutes.  I tried describing the beautiful sunrise to him where the clouds, while completely covering the sun, the light shining out fro m the bottom of the clouds and it was absolutely stunning.  There were clouds rolling in their darker form behind the light streaming from the clouds in front.  It was all so beautiful.  What a blessing!

Psalms 63:3-4 "Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise thee.  (4)  So will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name."

Music

Psalms 28:7 "The Lord is my strength, and my shield, my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly reioyceth, and with my song will I praise him." (KJV-1611)

Teaching JL to play the clarinet.

JL giving it a try.

DA giving it a try.

Do you see the music in these pictures?  

Eating tomatoes from the garden as a snack.

Music feeds the soul with sweet blessings that transcend time and space.  Music resonates within our mind when we are in places where we cannot listen to it.  Situations arise and a song comes to mind.  Words are said and we're reminded of that phrase in a song.  Memories of beautiful times of sharing a gift with others in song bring a sense of fulfillment.  Other memories of being alone with the Father ring in my mind, high in the mountains in the shadow of an old wooden cross, playing flute and clarinet in the wee early morning hours in praises to the Lord of all creation.  

When life gets out of control, other people force their own will or agenda on me, children get unruly, the pressures of life feel like a compression chamber, the indescribable grief of losing a child--whether unborn or not, it is music that speaks peace to my soul.

Praise God for music!

Returning to...

Somewhat normalcy is relative.

Since finishing the kitchen, there have been some interesting occurrences around here.

After a clipping and bath...must get snuffed by Biscuit and smile for the camera.

Firstly, our dog Rustie woke up one morning crying and whining.  Upon further investigation, we found that there was something not quite right with his paw.  Mr. G had to carry him downstairs so he could go outside.  We've kept an eye on him to make sure he's not in pain.  We've put some antibiotic ointment on his paw.  I've done some research and found that this particular ailment isn't all that abnormal.  The treatment the Dr's office would do is--an antibiotic, antibiotic ointment and a cone for his head.  They also said to keep it clean.  I'm getting ready to put him in to the bath tub to let his paws soak in some Epsom Salt.  Of course, that's after the kids get their Saturday night showers.  I'm hoping to do this once a day and see if his paw begins to heal better.  There is no redness in the split webbing between his toes.  The swelling is there, but not bad.  If there was oozing or redness, we would have taken him to the vet.  We're going to take it day by day with him.

As for working in the kitchen, there's more counter space!  The coffee pot came up the morning Rustie's paw problems began--no connection really, just a baseline in my own mind--so that we could enjoy coffee in the upstairs kitchen again.  Mind you, we were perfectly fine getting our coffee from the basement kitchen and doing our dishes down there.  We could have taken care of things from that point for longer, but we're thankful to be done--for now.  We are beginning discussion and pricing new upper cupboards for next year, base cupboards for the island and find out how much it will cost for the island.  It would be a good idea to anticipate every possible cost since we didn't anticipate the cost of the new kitchen sink.  We were anticipating reusing the old one, but dear Mr. G took it out and decided a new one was in order.  Thankfully, the new sink is deeper to accommodate the big pots we use for canning.

I know that a few more inches of counter space isn't really a big deal to many people, but to me it's a wonderful thing.  I've wanted to put my canisters on the counter for a long time, but couldn't since there just wasn't enough room.  If you look at the last kitchen picture in my previous post, you'll see canisters!  Yippee!  I love it!  Yes, it doesn't take much to make me happy, as I'm sure my husband would lovingly attest to.  Just a few more inches of counter space so I can put my canisters on the counter--that's not too much to ask, is it?  LOL  I can also put 2 large round baking stones of pizza and 5 plates to fill with pizza on the counter WITH everything still on the counter like canisters, coffee pot, Bosche mixer and strainer.  I am in awe and completely thankful that God made this possible!  As it stands at this moment, I'm still trying to decide what to do with things like chocolate chips, coconut and other things used for baking.  I would like to put them in containers, but I still need to get them to put in the lazy susan cupboard.  I'll wait until the next shopping day.  :)

I would just like to thank my husband for all of his hard work on this kitchen.  I know how hard it was, but quite honestly he kept at it showing our children diligence and he asked for help when he needed it, showing humility as well.  What a blessing he is for our family!  I'm sure I'll be telling him this every day for years to come.  I love to find things to thank him for. :)

Kitchen....yes, I know....

I know you've been waiting for these last pictures, dear readers!  I apologize for my tardiness.  I have a VERY good excuse!  I'll elaborate in a minute.

Yesterday morning, my dearest Mr. G was back at tending to the kitchen.  We had some dear friends the "A's" over the night before to help him get the cupboards leveled (the floor is dreadfully NOT so level which made things a challenge), then the counter top put together, leveled and in place.  What a blessing it was to have them so close by too!  The women folk and some of the kids went out to play on the zip line, tire swings and play hide & seek.  We got a little cold, so we started a fire in the fire ring.  The kids brought out all kinds of snacky things and hot dogs.  :)   Sadly, I haven't stocked up on my smore stash.  We must do the hot dogs around the fire again soon, though!  This time we'll have smores!  :)  

After the plumbing was finished, the sawdust cleaned up, the cupboards & drawers wiped out, it was time to reload the kitchen, selectively.  In this project, we decreased our usable counter space by taking out the peninsula, replacing and switching the stove and the refrigerator, but we'll have more counter space next Spring when we add a few more cupboards with an island counter top in the middle of the kitchen.  We'll extend the counter top just a bit to make room for a couple bar stools so we can converse in the middle of the kitchen...the gathering place.  :)  We've already decided that we need to tile the floor.  So next Spring the  journey continues.

And, the reason I am a day late in getting these pictures up is~

I know, this was about 11 years ago, but I still love this picture.  My hubby, Mr. G's birthday is today.  He has to work, so as soon as the kitchen was done, we went to work last night getting his birthday dinner prepared for him.

Now he's a little grayer, but still I love to see his smile.  Yes, I have a tooth story for you, but that will have to wait for another day.

Right now he's playing Texas Hold 'em on Facebook while resting before he has to go to work.  I think that's the perfect choice of where to be considering all the work he's put in to our kitchen.

Happy Birthday my dear!