Quote of the Day

"It's OK with me if Darius takes over the kingdom from Belshazzar." Hannah's thoughts as she closed a game of chess with Peter last night. They've been playing every night since Thanksgiving, and Hannah has named the pieces after her favorite story in Daniel 5. Leave it to Hannah create stories for the pieces to all have interpersonal relationships with each other!

Happy Days

Does anyone remember the theme song to the show "Happy Days?" I feel like I could sing it today.

We had such a terrific Thanksgiving weekend. It was such a treat to have Peter home with us for four whole days! Even though the kids and I were all under the weather with wretched colds, we were so happy to have so much Daddy time. We all walked around smiling all day long.

One night as we climbed into bed, vaporizers steaming up each room, I told Peter that that was one of the happiest days of my life - just having such family harmony. The kids were all so kind to each other. Peter and I sat and talked on the couch in the middle of the day (wow!). We brainstormed and planned for the upcoming year. We ate leftovers and take out food. We all went shopping at hardware store together... It was all no rushing, no pressure, and all just enjoying each other. It was the kind of day you dream about as a single person who has hopes to marry and have kids someday.

I guess it is just one more thing to be thankful to the Lord for.

It's HEEEERRRE!!!

Late yesterday afternoon, my dad got a call that their new home was ready - and would be here at 8am this morning. Wow!

So here it is, passing our front gate!

It is beautiful! Somehow I managed to only get video once it was put into place so you'll have to use your imagination for now. It also looks much bigger than I expected - it is like 1700 or 1800 square feet, but it just looks huge when you get up close.

We have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Crazy Week #2

Thank you to everyone who prayed for our very busy week a few weeks ago. Here is an update:

We survived the termite tenting experience.

Peter and I had a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful weekend away BY OURSELVES(!) at a nearby resort. The kids had special time with Papa and Mimi, and then we all stayed with Papa and Mimi. It was so much fun! We've never stayed with my parents because we live in the same town, and we all enjoyed our time there.

Now, we have 6 dumptruck loads of rocks in our back pasture for the new septic system. My parents home is coming sooner than expected, so we are in a race to get everything ready. It may be here as soon as Friday!

Between homeschooling, holidays fast approaching, Caleb's chicken pox, sprained ankle and cutting 8 teeth all in 5 days, getting ready for my parents move here, Peter's business exploding with work, and my insanely timed redecorating the living room, things are hectic around here.

In short, please keep us on your prayer list. I am especially hoping that the other kids and I don't get the chicken pox...

What a Week!

This is a crazy week. If you think of us, please keep us in your prayers!

On Tuesday, the barn was demolished.

On Wednesday, the foundation of the barn was ripped out.

On Wednesday the tree crew (finally) showed up and pulled out the trees that needed to be removed for my parents' new home.

Thursday (today), the Wonderful Werzinskis came and packed up everything for our house for...

The the termite fumigation on Friday!

The termites are a story in themselves. The only thing we can pass on to the world by way of advice is that the home inspections they do for termites are worth about as much as the paper they print them on. When you buy a home, you have to have a termite certification. This means that the inspector comes and looks for the pests and/or damage done by them. It does not mean that you don't have any pests or damage, OR that they can at all be liable for saying that you DON'T have any, even if you do. It just means they didn't see any.

Well, back in July, six months after we moved in, we discovered termite fecal pellets inside the house. The look like yucky little very hard things (they eat wood, you know). We called the people that certified the house. They came out and said 'Yep, you've got 'em. We'll fumigate you for a few thousand dollars.' Termites are great business!

Long story short, the tent goes up when exterminators come tomorrow. I can't believe I'm sitting here typing this, except that the Wonderful Werzinskis came and double bagged and sealed up every food item, medicine item, everything that might make it into one's mouth and/or be ingested, stripped all the beds (the vinyl mattress covers trap the gas), watered the ground around the foundation 12 inches out and 6 inches deep (to protect the plants near the house), and were just basically their wonderful selves. Thank you Werzinskis!

Since the only thing not packed is part of a lasagna, dinner is ready! All I have left to do is iron a few clothes for the kids for Sunday, and throw a few things in a suitcase for Peter and I!

Thank you to those of you who have helped in various ways, lending hands and PRAYING for grace and strength for this week. We're gonna make it! Please continue to hold us up in your prayers. God is so good.

The Barn is Down

Some of you know that my parents are getting ready to sell there lovely home in the city to come live in our back pasture. (It is not quite as bad as it sounds.) They have purchased a beautiful and spacious double wide mobile home, which should arrive sometime around Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for!


In preparation, there are many things that needed to pave the way, so to speak - among them, the demolition of our charming (if dilapidated) barn.


On Tuesday morning, this is what it looked like:

Then this Bad Boy showed up:

This is what we looked like, faces pressed against the gate:

This is what it did to the barn:

This is what it looked like on Wendesday evening:

For those of you who don't currently read toddler boys' books, this giant machine is called an excavator. Daniel says "ours" is different though, because "ours" has a giant claw arm, like Diesel 10 (from Thomas the Tank Engine). He's become quite the construction worker this week, running around with his little hard hat, digging up everything. That's our boy!

We'll keep you posted when the space gets filled with my parents' new garage.

Seeing the Light of Hope

I just finished reading the headlines of several major news sites, and have determined the news today to be in accord with the weather outside: bleak.

I was just about to be feeling down over the fact that our governor has just signed into law that boys can use girls restrooms at school now (to help those with gender identity confusion) (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58130), that Algore has just won the Nobel Peace Prize (http://blogs.abcnews.com/scienceandsociety/2007/10/everybody-has-a.html), that Turkey is set to go after the Kurds as well (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301748,00.html), together with countless other quagmire news, when I remembered one joyful moment today...

Peter and I decided to put away the Jonah Veggie Tales movie, because Hannah is starting to think that that is exactly the way the Bible records the story. When she was looking for it, I explained that we were going to put it away for a while until she and Daniel knew the REAL story of Jonah in the Bible better than the characterization by the cartooned vegetables.

She didn't complain. Instead, she quietly went to the bookshelf and pulled down her Bible. She asked me to help her find Jonah. When I was delayed, she decided to read 2 Kings 2 instead. To hear her read the story of Elijah being caught up to heaven, and Elisha insisting on a double portion of Elijah's spirit, with perfect clarity and inflection, I had to sit down and quell the tears. She asked pertinent questions demonstrating that she was trying to understand this supernatural event, and continued through the chapter. What a beautiful picture it was, and what a blessing to have a sweet hearted daughter who has amazing phonetic ability beyond her years - she is 4 years old!

My children are young. They need to be shielded and protected and trained now. But I hope that one day our little arrows will pierce the darkness of the world with the Light of Hope that is our Lord. There is hope for tomorrow, and the next day, and the next...

Daniel Quotes of the Day

Daniel is becoming quite the conversationalist. He's three now, and he's proving that he's not going to be outdone by his big sister. Here is a snapshot of his thoughts:

"I go play with my big big trains for 44 minutes!" 44 minutes is eternity to this 3 year old.

"Asteroids are rocks that orbit the sun." He's right! He explained this after viewing a brand new planets placement. I asked him how he knew this, and he said "Hannah told me!" Apparently, homeschooling has a trickle-down effect...

And our most recent favorite --- "THANK you, Hannah, that was very kind of me!!!" He is mixing up 'of' and 'to,' but that just makes it all the more endearing!

We love you, Daniel!

OBCL BBQ

Earlier this month we decided to round up as many "OBCL Family" friends as were in our area for a little get together. We ended up with about 40 people! It was nothing fancy, just a fun potluck with hamburgers and homemade ice cream. We had such a good time, we're already planning one for next year!

Hannah and Sally catching up on life

Peter, Jonathan, and Mark trading stories

Chris (& Jonathan and Mark) giving Sean relationship advice

Playing a little basketball in the front yard (Jamie, Mark & Peter above)

Hanging out and getting to know each other (Jodie and Brian)

August Birthdays

My mom and Daniel both have birthdays in August. It seems right that they can celebrate together, since Daniel's best friend is his Mimi. He wants to go to Mimi's house every day. In fact the other day I told him that Mimi and Papa might move from their house to be our neighbors in our pasture. You should have seen the look of sheer bliss on his face! He checked with me several times throughout the day to find out if they had moved yet...

As a little surprise, we took the train boy for a short ride on the Amtrak to a nearby locale. Here we are as the train pulls up...Daniel is mulling the fact that real trains are bigger than he expected, and my mom is laughing at his comment "Look at the big BIG TRAIN!!!" (in his deep little voice). He uses a lot of double adjectives to get his point across.

Here we all are in front of our big big train. Hannah and Daniel didn't have to be told twice to stay close to Mommy! They were right beside me. The conductor was fabulous. Hannah had this paper luggage tag from the station that we told her to hold on to, and it somehow got dubbed "Hannah's ticket." When the conductor came through the car, I gave her the ticket stub for all of us, and Hannah pulled out her 'ticket.' The lady didn't skip a beat! She congratulated Hannah on being so alert, and promptly punched her 'ticket' as well. Hannah just beamed. I have it on video, but I haven't figured out how to condense it yet...
Speaking of not knowing how to do things, I'm not sure how this photo got in here. This one is at the zoo earlier in August. They are showing you how tall they are these days. Daniel actually had his 3 year old check-up this week, and he is definitely on the tall/thin side of the growth charts. He grew 4 inches this past year! (The average is 3.)

Back to the birthdays...This was taken at Daniel's birthday party. This is where Daniel can be found at any given play time outside - in the dirt. He is drawn to it like a magnet! I'm not sure what he's doing here, but it almost always involves moving dirt by fistfuls from Point A to Point B. We do have plenty of outdoor toys, but nothing can compare to DIRT. :-) Isn't he just so cute?!

We had a little kids Thomas the Tank Engine birthday party for The Buddy. Somewhere along the line, I decreed that I would not do a party for everyone every year, so they get to have a party every 3 years. This was Daniel's first one, and he had so much fun!

Hannah did too. A couple of her friends that are big sisters too came along to celebrate. They are (of course) playing dress-up. I think those feather boas were tied to the back of Peter's truck when we got married. We cleaned them up a little bit, and they made wonderful dress-up material. Notice the high heels too. You can't dress up without those! Those are shoes that I had from being a bridesmaid in several friends' weddings. It cracks me up to see Hannah get everyone all set up. This is Isabella, Hannah, and Brooke on parade.

Perhaps Daniel's favorite part of the party was the birthday cake. Notice the blue mustache...

I realized after the party, that this is probably the first time I've ever given Daniel his own plate of dessert. (OK, I know it is about time, but I really limit their sugar intake.) He was so sweet. He nursed that scoop of ice cream like it was the sweetest thing, and likely his last meal. He was still sitting there eating it while everyone else was up and running around, savoring each bite. It was a Thomas the Train Cupcake Cake.

If you want to see more photos from the birthday party click here. Veronica is professional photographer, and her shots are really good...

Lini's Wedding

Well, we finally have our Lini Bell. Isn't that a great name?

The wedding was lovely, the bride was calm and radiant, the flower girls were nervous and glowing. As far as our little brood was concerned, everything went fine, except when Daniel walked up to stand with Mommy and the rest of the bridesmaids a few times. (He was in the front row with Daddy and Mommy was just too close to not go hug. I love him.)

Hannah's hours over the last 7 months of practice paid off nicely. She even smiled while she walked and scattered the petals! It helped that she had two bigger girls with her (that were probably equally nervous). Right before the wedding started I heard the oldest one, Lydia, say to Hannah "OK. We're going to walk. If we run out of petals before we get there, we'll just hold hands and smile." I couldn't help but smile!

Here is a shot of all of us before the wedding:
Lini was so calm and beautiful. It was like she was just walking out her dream. She and Adam are so cute together.

Speaking of walking...

Here she is!!! My big girl is in the center. This was her dream come true. You know, goals you can achieve, but dreams just happen. One of Hannah's dreams was to be a flower girl - this was before Lini and Adam were even courting. Peter and I explained to her that we couldn't make it happen, she would have to be asked, and we didn't know who might ask her. She was convinced that she would be one soon. Is that faith?

Finally, here's the 5 of us:
Congratulations, Adam and Lini! We love you!!!

Caleb's Great Escape

Before I go on to all of our July events, I just have to tell one hair-raising story about #3.

When we got to our condo in Florida (for Lini's wedding) the kids needed to a quiet activity, so I set the older kids up at the kitchen counter barstools with crayons and coloring books. Caleb was right there under my feet (where he always seems to be).

The next thing I know, he was gone. I started calling him, but he's at the age where he can walk fast but hasn't fully grasped the meaning of "come." I started looking through the condo, which wasn't that big, and realized he's not here. I shouted to Peter to come look for Caleb, and headed outside.

My first thought was the water out in the back. In Florida, they don't necessarily have fenced backyards, and standing water of some sort is always right nearby. In this case, there was a very nice lake/pond about 15 feet from the back door. I ran around the back of the condo calling his name - but no Caleb. There was just a man a little ways down sunbathing, squinting at me quizzically, as if I had just awakened him from a nice nap. Then I realized, the grass was probably 5 inches tall, and Caleb has short baby legs. He couldn't have come very far back here, and there is no movement in the water. I ran around to the front.

Peter was checking the side of the condo, where the trash area was. I ran to the front calling him, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was a surreal moment...Here I was in Florida, far away from home, we've only arrived 10 minutes before, and I've lost my baby boy. I'm thinking of the horror of not finding him...

Then, waaaaaayyyy down the street, I saw Caleb toddling out of the parking lot and into the street and some guy reaching down and picking him up!

I ran over there (with no decorum at all) screaming "That's MY baby!!!! That's my BABY!!!!," to which the guy started to bring him towards me. Caleb immediately reached down to me and kissed me with great delight, and the guy was clearly checking me out with this 'how could you be so negligent?' look. But I didn't care. All I knew was that he was home with me and safe. My precious little guy!

Following that, we started to deadbolt the door whenever we closed it. We don't know if we had accidently left the front door slightly ajar, or if he let himself out (the door handle was the flat kind that he can do).

When it was all over, Peter said "Well, I wasn't so much worried about the water, or the street...I was more worried about alligators."

Ugh. I don't even want to think about that.