She is finally four! She has been counting down and the day has arrived at last!  We celebrated with friends and siblings at Chucky Cheese.  She was thrilled with her gifts!  She especially likes her big doll.  Happy birthday to our sweet, spunky, curly headed little BIG girl!  We love you!!

Since daddy left about four months ago there has been a lot of television and movie watching around this house. First trimester yuckiness also added to the laziness around here, not to mention the extremely rainy summer. Sadly, the television has been on A LOT!

I have been thinking about cutting back for a long time but never had the real energy it takes to stick to my guns! All that has changed in the last two weeks. I do not know what did it but I am on a mission! I have found myself saying no just about all day long. We are far from where we should be. We still watch way to much but at least that box isn’t on all day long anymore. Even the Wii is on a break because it needs the television to be on to use it!

It has been hard. Like any addiction, it is hard to kick the habit. It takes more energy to use your imagination than it does to just sit and watch. Even though I have my 8 year old and 3 year old trying to convince me “it doesn’t rot their brain, they learn”, I am sticking to my guns! So, there have been a few tears. There has been a lot of “I’m bored!” There is still the constant asking. BUT there is a light at the end of the tunnel. My children are starting to play again. They are using their imaginations! Their toys are actually being played with! We are making progress.

The television is still on too much but we are moving ahead. Once we are in full school mode we will be cutting back even more. It is so refreshing to see my children playing, imagining, and learning rather than just sitting zombified in front of the television! It is hard but so very worth it!

Does any one else struggle with this in their home? If so, do you have any tips or tricks that made it easier?

All is quiet on the home front today. Not sure exactly how to handle it! ) One child is out looking for another job. Two children are at Bible study. One child is over at a friend’s house. Three other children went to the park with the neighbors. That leaves only the two little ones at home. They are strangely playing nicely together in the other room at the moment. What do I do with this QUIET!!!! Not sure I can stand it! I will do my best to enjoy it thought. It is just strange I tell you, STRANGE!!! )

Back and forth, back and forth.  If you have been following along you will know that I have been trying to guess the sex of this little bundle that I am carrying.  My gut instinct has been that we were having a boy.  I have guessed all but one child correctly.  Testing the heart rate has always worked for me.  Even the one I guessed wrong had been confirmed via ultrasound.  Only when I was told the heart rate later did I tell the doc that it could not be what I had been told.  The heart rate actually did win over the original ultrasound.  So I am convinced that for me heart rates can tell you the sex of the baby.

This baby has had me a bit confused.  The heart rate was high, then borderline, then high again.  All over the board.  My gut was saying it was a boy but I just couldn’t believe that it would be so.  After all, we have so many girls and my boys are now 19 and 14.  The odds are against us and the heart rate was not something that had been very consistent.

I went in for my ultrasound last week.  The heart rate was at 138.  I began to get a little excited thinking that just maybe my gut feeling was right after all.  The tech asked if I wanted to know the sex it was all I could do to keep from saying, “Heck yah, why do you think I’m here!?”  But instead, I very politely said, “Yes, I would love to know.”

He scanned over my belly and before he even said a word, I KNEW!  I responded before he could even tell me himself what we were having!  If you know much about pregnancy ultrasounds you will understand this….

There were no three little lines!  There was a turtle  instead!  Yes, indeed, my gut was correct!  We are having a little boy!!!!! Oh boy, A BOY!!  And isn’t he the cutest little guy ever?

I am interrupting the series which I am blogging to share this with you.  Jennifer @ Quiverfull Family left me a comment the other day about catechism resources.

I’ve been feeling led towards catechizing lately (I don’t come from a Christian background, so this is really totally foreign to our family.)

Do you use the Westminster Shorter? Any specific resources that you can recommend?

I decided it would be good to share the information with all of you.  Thank you Jennifer for asking!!  These are resources that I love and am so excited to be able to share them!

First, yes, we do use the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Second, here are a few resources that we use with our family! I am also listing a few others that are out there that we have not tried just in case you want to check them out!  I hope that these resources are helpful to you in training your children.

Big Truths for Little Kids

Training Hearts Teaching Minds

Vic Lockman’s Catechism in Cartoon form.

Songs for Saplings by Dana Dirksen

I know that Veritas Press also has a catechism songs collection and a song book but I have not heard them yet…they are on the order form for us to try out this school year.

We also have some of  THESE children’s catechism books…they were used along with their Sunday School curriculum a few years ago.

Covenant Home also has a catechism course which my hubby has used for youth group sessions.  It is designed for 5th grade and up.

Many think it is just an old wives tale but I am convinced.  The speed of a baby’s heartbeat can tell you the sex of your baby.  It has worked for me every single time.  In fact, one time we were told by our doctor that we were having a boy via ultrasound.  In my 8th month he told me the heart rate and I said, “I can’t be having a boy!”  We discussed this and I swore to him it was not a boy and I would bet money on it.  He even took me into the ultrasound room to prove me wrong.  Then to his surprise said, “Yep, that is definitely a girl!”

The heart rate has never been wrong for us.  The faster the rate a girl, the slower, a boy.  Now of course you have to check each month and find the most consistent rate.  The heart rate also tends to slow down a bit the further along you are.

I am not completely sure as of yet but I thought I would put the info out there and get your thoughts on it.   I have a suspicion though. I just am not convinced enough to say it out loud.  I have an ultrasound scheduled in four weeks.  We shall see if my suspicion is confirmed or not.

Ok, on to the stats…..

My girls have always been 145-160.   My boys 120-130.  Last month I was at about 150-155 (do not remember exactly).

I am at 16 1/2 weeks currently.  Heart rate today was 140.

So, here are my questions to you…

1. Do YOU trust the whole heart rate thing or still think it is just an old wives tale?

2. Do you think it is too early to make an assumption based on heart rate?

3. Boy or girl?  What do you think?

I love hearing little ones as they begin to talk.  Sometimes it is cute as can be, sometimes the words are very clear and other sometimes it has you scratching your head wondering what in the world they just said, and sometimes it even breaks your heart.

Hear are a few things my sweet pea has said in the last couple of days.

Buh lomp a bleen

This could fall into the cute as can be category and the WHAT?? category.  But I speak baby-ese and I knew exactly what she was saying.  Do you have a good guess?

.

.

.

.

.

Well, if you guessed trampoline, you were correct!  Cute as can be, huh?

Here is another cute one….

We went to the zoo not long ago and she was able to pet the goats.  Her word for goat came out one of two ways: Gloat or Goak.  Later that evening she asked for some milk or Muck.  So the older children asked her if she wanted goat milk.  Now we have all the children laughing at her as she asks for Gloat Muck.

Now this falls into the break your heart category.

We were at worship service this past Lord’s Day and little Bella was sitting on my lap.  She pointed at every man that walked through the door.  (We were sitting by the door.)  After worship had started, she looked up at me, pointed at the door, and in a questioning tone said, “Daddy??”

I said, “I’m sorry honey, but daddy isn’t here. Do you miss him?”

She nodded her head yes and replied, “Daddy, bye-bye,” and proceeded to lay her head on my chest, arms wrapped around me.

Heartbreak.

This past weekend I took the children to the Alaska Native Heritage Center.  It is a place I have wanted to visit before we even moved here.  It is a bit pricey so we waited.  So I finally bought a family pass, which is always the cheapest way for us.  We had a lot of fun.  It is kind of like a open air living museum.  You can walk around outside and explore the different kind of housing the different Native groups had.  There is always someone there to share about the structure, way of life, and culture.  Inside they have a little museum, a theater with short educational films, a gift shop of course, and a cafe that just smells amazing.  They also have story times through out the day as well as a Native dance session.  Some of my little girls even went up on stage where they learned and performed a Native dance.  All through out the year they offer classes to the community on Native culture and artistry.  It is a must visit if you are planning a trip to Alaska and are interested in learning about the Native cultures of this great land!

Now on to the Totem Tale……

While walking through the outdoor spaces we came across this huge totem pole.  It was located in the area that represented of the Natives of the Inside Passage.  To learn more about that, GO HERE.  As I was taking a photo of some of my little ones in front of the totem pole, the lady who worked there came to tell us the tale the totem told.   She said it was neat to have the children at the base of the pole.  You will see why when I tell you the tale.

At the very top is the elder.  He is holding the raven stick.  This is the talking stick and when the elder holds it no one else is allowed to speak but must pay close attention to the elder.  He share all his wisdom with his son who stands below him.  The son holds a box between his legs, this is the box of wisdom, it represents all that the elder has taught him.  Below him are the children. ( where my children were standing)  It is his duty and responsibility to continue to pass down the knowledge and wisdom the elders passed along to him.

There are of course a few more things but I don’t remember them all.  I thought it was so neat how the totem told such a great story.  It teaches the importance of teaching and training and passing on to the generations that which we know.  Still a very important thing for us today!

Here is a photo of the children in front of the totem pole.  It is a bit hard to see and it was even harder trying to fit the whole thing into the photo!  I think I still cut off part of it.

You know, I should know by now never to mutter the words, “What’s next?”  When, oh when, will I learn that lesson?  I want to forewarn you that this post may seem like one big, huge complaint but honestly it is not.  In fact, I am finding this rather comical at the moment.

You know they say big surprises come in threes when your hubby deploys.  We have passed that mark a while ago.  Hubby asked me in an email the other night if I was keeping a count.  Well, I really wasn’t, I was just remembering everything that had happened over the past two months that he has been gone.  But, I think I may just keep a count because I am beginning to think it may be a good thing to remember all that God has allowed to be thrown our way and what he has brought us through.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…

Let me share with you a bit of our surprises.  One of which was an AWESOME surprise, the others, well, not so much.

Here we go…..

This deployment started off with rush.  His date was bumped up.  I posted that story HERE.

Two days after hubby left we found out that we are expecting baby number ten. I blogged about that HERE.  This is the AWESOME surprise!  Now on to the rest…

I also found out that I had actually broken my thumb not only damaged the ligaments.

When hubby’s pre-deployment training was over there was a little bit of a stress in actually getting him to where he needed to be.  There was an uprising in a country he was to fly through and things had to be rerouted.  It took him a week, maybe longer to actually hop around and get to where he needed to be.  That was a little stressful for me. After all, the clock doesn’t start counting down until he gets there.

A few weeks after hubby left we had a bum tire on the jeep.  It had been giving us some problems for a while but it was to the point where I would air it up and by the next morning I was praying to make it to the air pump!  We needed all new tires anyway so that is what we did.  Cha ching…..

Time came around for us to switch the studded tires off the van and when I took it in to have that done they told me my brakes were almost gone.  So I paid for a brake job too.  Cha ching….again.

Now the service light for the jeep is on.  It needs the regularly scheduled maintenance for 50,000 miles.  I am afraid to check and see what that bill is going to look like. Cha ching….again AND again.

An outlet in the kitchen just quit working.  So the under the counter lights are useless and I had to move the microwave.  Easy enough I guess but now I have a hard time finding a place to use my chopping block when making salads and the like.

Then there is the whole situation with the post office.  Misdelivery of package slip and when we went to check on it (we had been tracking the package) they had actually given the package out to someone else!  Apparently, they didn’t check ID and verify that the person they gave it to was who the package was supposed to go to.  Basically, they will do NOTHING and my daughter is out over $100. Postal workers tend to run and hide when I walk in now! Mwahahaha!

Moving on…..

Since we have had several added expenses lately.  Aside from the ones I just told you about, I am trying to pay for camp and plane tickets to get there as well as the $100 a month bill for hubby’s internet service in Afghanistan.  At least, hubby gets separation and hazard pay to help out.  So you know what, it is just the perfect time for my vacuum cleaner to break.  I really have not had to money and honestly I haven’t had the energy to go and buy a new one yet.  After three weeks without vacuuming I decided to borrow the neighbor’s vacuum.  After all, if I hadn’t the loose hair on the floor would have formed into another dog.  And two dogs is enough around here.  I plan on buying a new vacuum this weekend.  cha ching….

Ah, and then yesterday….  My older girls were outside playing frisbee.  Do you see where I am going from here??  Yep, we have a broken window!  It was purely an accident.  After all, when a left hander decides to try and throw right handed and the frisbee hits the deck railing who would think it would bounce and hit and shatter a window?  After, the fear and shock of the sound of shattering glass and a bit of, “How am I going to pay for this?” wore off; all I can do now is laugh.  I emailed hubby and he said his first reaction was to laugh too!  cha cha chingaling….

As I sat last night thinking of writing this post, I decided I would entitle it, “What Next?”  After all, that question has been going through my mind for a while now.  But as I sat down to pay the bills this morning, that question was answered.

I usually just pay our mortgage payment and rarely open the bill, after all, it is a set amount.  But thankfully, today I did open it.  I noticed our mortgage payment went up a pretty decent amount.  Wondering what in the world was going on, I called the bank.  Apparently, our home owner’s insurance went up.  The lady on the phone even suggested that it was a considerable amount and suggested we look for a new insurer!  She asked if we had filed a claim recently.  Well, we had…you can read about the rain in the bedroom HERE. She said that was most likely the reason for the increase.  Of course, we were never notified and no one even alluded to the fact that our insurance would go up if we had filed the claim. cha cha chingaling aling….

So, now I have a higher mortgage payment, just what we needed.  But you know, none of this is a surprise to God and he is providing for us in ways that I could not even imagine.  We are blessed and I have not lost sight of that fact.  But, I don’t think I will be asking the question, “What next?” for a long, long time.  I think I have learned my lesson in that regard.  I have also learned to laugh and take life as it comes and not to get too overly stressed. Well, at least for the moment.

Well, my oldest son is turning nineteen years old today. I actually cannot believe he is that old. He has come a long way from his toddler days of playing trains all day long. We are very proud of him, love him very much, and are praying for the Lord’s direction in his life.  Here is one of his senior photos from last summer.  Handsome guy if I do say so myself.

Happy birthday son, we love you!