Bible Bee

my first "post" sickness outing.

the boys competed in the annual national Bible Bee!

they both did okay. there was a lot less studying going on in our home this summer. we've had a lot going on!

i was really pleased that they both still competed and ultimately, that they were able to hide more of God's Word in their hearts to be used by Him later in their lives.

update: both boys did well on both the written & oral portions. they did not place very high, but we weren't really shooting for that. BUT our good friend Everett (who we started this Bible Bee adventure with 2 years ago) took 1st place in the entire nation!!! we studied together a bit our first year, then last year, he didn't participate. this year, he asked his mom if he could sign up. she let him know that she didn't have a lot of time to devote to helping him, so he would have to study mostly on his own and this 10-year-old boy said that's what he wanted to do! he studied 4-5 hours a day for most of the summer and seeing his devotion, mom joined him part way through. he even got a perfect score for his oral recitation and now he is going to compete at the final bee in nashville, tennessee in november! congratulations everett!

"mystery virus"

sunday, 8/14, we went to an evening celebration to hear about our neighbors' missions trip to ecuador. monday, i got super sick. (and i didn't even get to GO to ecuador!)

anyway. i had a high fever (like 104) for almost 14 days. it would spike 3 or 4 times each day for a couple hours then go down. but monday night (8/15) it had the symptoms of meningitis, so after a trip to urgent care to verify it wasn't the regular flu or something else non-deadly, we made our way to the ER to get a spinal tap to test for meningitis. 3 taps later, we were told i was negative and could go home and ride out whatever i had! (i was quite relieved to find out i probably wouldn't die and therefore didn't push to know what it was i actually had - we just labeled it the "mystery virus").

well, it has been a ride! every time the fever spiked i had scary hallucinations. not fun. i decided to play either the Bible on cd or worship music at all times in my room and that way i would at least have some good input going on while i was delusional.

so i was in bed for a week, then on the couch for another week. during this time, the kids had to take care of quite a bit, because grandpa still couldn't put on his own socks and now mom was down too! however, by this time, dad had been meeting with OT & PT who both wanted him to start doing some things for himself so that everyone could see that he could survive on his own at home. consequently, he had the opportunity to do more and was actually helping me by the end of this! (which i may not have let him do if i was well). God's perfect timing!

and can i just say "praise the Lord" for all the amazing families that are bringing my family dinner while i've been down. seriously an amazing blessing this family of God that takes care of us!

life with grandpa update

life with my dad here is going well. the first night was rough as it was difficult for him to find a comfortable (aka bearable) sleeping position. :( but since then it's gone pretty smoothly.

we had moved ky & sy into the boys' room the day after the surgery. and we can't bunk the beds, because those beds are higher than the other twin we have and dad needs a high bed so he doesn't sit down too low with the new hip. so, they kids' room has 2 twins and a toddler bed and a mattress that we're pulling out from under one bed each night. a bit crowded, but definitely cut down on the clutter - there's no place for it! and the kids think it's super fun to all be together. :) party every night!

dad is doing well. he has OT & PT and a home health nurse coming to the house. he does his PT everyday faithfully and though he's not progressing as quickly as he wants, the therapists are both very pleased with his progress.

we've had people in the house about 7 times each week and we go to a doctor appt 2-3 times, and only once have i had to take all the kids. that was an adventure too. (by the way, regular school is pretty much on hold - the kids are now "enrolled" in OT classes and other "life skills" classes for now.)

it's funny to look around our house, too. we've got new equipment for our new "classes": a wheel chair, 2 walkers, and a high potty seat, tons of drugs, and our furniture is all moved every which way to make room for all this stuff to fit through the house.

ideally, if this was longer-term, a single story house with no entry steps would be ideal. (things i never thought about before).

pictured: kids doing a puppet show to their captive audience (grandpa).

kik is grandpa's personal sock "aide". they have this sock-aid you can buy, but dad keeps insisting that he's got 4 sock-aides right here, and another at his house when he goes home (shawnie). these ladies are not going to get him to spend $9 on something he won't ever use! :)

goodbye chicks

we knew they would have to go sometime, but we didn't think it would be so soon.

chickens are not allowed in our city, so we knew after hatching them, they would have to leave. but we thought we'd have them for 6-12 weeks.

at 2 weeks old they are so big, they cannot be kept in their container - they're hopping out and flying around the room!

we can't keep them outside because we have several neighborhood cats who might enjoy that and knowing we can't have them too much longer, i don't want to go to the expense of building a safe place for them (not to mention they are illegal once they go from science experiment to pet or whatever).

so, the chicks had to go.

the kids were all very attached and were hoping they would go to a friend so they could visit later, or just know they were at a friend's house, but after a few emails advertising, there was nobody who could take them. so we took them to the feed store where we bought our original chick feed and where they sell chicks. they kids said goodbye and quickly moved to petting bunnies, etc. but when we got in the car, everyone was all tears. :(

sad day.

random photos

reading in the tent

science experiments

braving the arctic cold in your imagination

domino fun

VBS - Gold Rush

we have VBS every evening this week. we're using Answers in Genesis' Gold Rush program. i am so pleased with the content that they get from AiG. they do a fabulous job of introducing our need for a savior, introducing Jesus, and then showing kids how to follow Him.

i am pitching in a bit less this year since my dad moved in tuesday and there's a bit of a learning curve going on. still, i am teaching the memory verses every night and helping with snacks, etc.

i love getting the kids to memorize the verses each night and hearing them recite them for the rest of the week. it is such an accomplishment for them, too, as the verses are not super short and require practice. amazing how motivated they are by the "gold" nuggets they earn!

grandpa comes to stay

my dad had hip-replacement surgery on monday 7/25. he has to have 24-hr care for 6 weeks so he has moved in and i am the 24-hr care. :) this is a blessing to me as i've always told all our parents that they may not live in a home as long as i am around - i will take care of them. well this is my trial run. what does this really mean for me?

so far, having him here is good. slightly less "away" time than when i was running to the hospital every day for the first 9 days. we still have doctors appointments to do and most of them are a 30-40 minute drive because they're on the other side of his home from here. but scott has been fabulous taking care of the children while i run dad around, so it's working.

VBS & 24-hr care do not necessarily work together, but God is gracious with me and it's all working out!

praise God i have a dad who is so healthy at 71, able to get through this surgery and do the physical therapy needed to recover!

our own petting zoo

we invited our neighbor, terry & her granddaughter, haley, over to see the chicks. haley was shy at first, but soon warmed to the little birdies.

2011-2012 soccer season is underway!

as if we don't have enough going on right now!!!

the boys had their first soccer practice tonight. (right before the opening night of VBS!)

back in june, we let them try out for a special team. it was just for fun, to see how they did. well, they both made the team - so this is the first season that their dad is not their coach.

in fact, scott is not head coach of any team (1st time in 6 years!) he was planning to coach the boys and our good friend steve is coaching ky with scott assisting.

sy will play for the first time this year. all the 4-year-olds meet at the same time with one master coach. it's parent-and-me style, so scott will be coaching a few little guys each week.

let the soccering begin!

here's sy with his cleats on for the first time.

and here's the kids practicing out back with daddy - he'll get some coaching in yet!