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Thursday, 12 March 2009

I haven't blogged in so long there is much too much that has happened. Since December, I have had a hysterectomy and my pelvic floor repaired and on Feb. 16 had some nodules removed from under my arms, an abdominal hernia repair and abdominoplasty. I know in time I am going to feel like a new woman. I am just now starting back to exercise and can't start working out till April. Hopefully by my birthday, I will feel like a healthy "40" year old. During this time, friends have been so good to bring in meals and my husband has so faithfully taken care of me and the children. I am so thankful for Troy. I love my husband like crazy and I am so thankful God brought us together and gave us these 12 children. Raising 12 children is the hardest and busiest job a woman could imagine. I know, I don't do it "right" many times. I hope and pray that God will fill in my gaps and help us raise these children to love God with all their heart, soul and mind. Homeschooling drives me insane. I love it and hate it. Teaching is definately not my greatest gift. But, I love my children and have several with learning disabilities so in order to provide them with a safe home environment where they can learn at the pace that is best for them I surrender and pray constantly for God to help me and enable them to learn in spite of my weakness. Today, my friend Julie brought her son John Isaac over to play with my children and it was fun for them all. Julie, is a friend that is so faithful. She used to come to my home when I only had 7 and help me on Fridays. She is one of the most Godly and thoughtful woman I know. She has just moved back to Little Rock and I can't wait to spend time with her again. She is a great blogger, which reminded me I should try to do better and blog, so that I can remember this busy life and one day sit back and laugh....
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Recent happenings
This week I am potty training my 3 year old Joshua
Being interviewed by someone from the local paper about what a large family really looks like(they are trying to get some real life stories since reality tv seems to be very interested in large families)
Had to take MaryGrace to have a button removed from her nose.
Lauren turned 17
Jonathan turned 6
Oh did I mention my handsome husband turned 43?
Took our whole family to Chick-fil-a watched Troy take the boys up and down the escalator several times. Then I accidently walked into the men's restroom, thankfully no one was in there. They had a special whatever you spent on food this week you get free next week with your receipt. My kids love it and we normally cannot afford to eat there but with the special it was a real good deal for us!
Soon, I am going to update with some new pictures.

Saturday, 23 August 2008

Pine Cove, Tennis, Texas and Homeschooling

Wow, August has been a very busy month. We had staff conference at FamilyLife and then we had to get in all the doctors and dentist appts before school started. I have been on a mad quest to get in better shape and loose some weight.no easy task for a woman almost 40 and with very little extra time. But, I am determined so my days come early so that I can work out at Curves and get on my treadmill to run. Except that I have shin splints from running so I have to stop. Today I had the idea of trying the Eliptical machine to see if would hurt my leg too bad. Oh gracious what a hard workout! 25 minutes and my legs were like jello! Much harder than running on a treadmill.
We also went to Pine Cove family camp for our vacation. Wow, did God ever meet us there! I should have known it was going to be good because everything that could go wrong did go wrong up until the last minute! It was a wonderful time as a family. The weather was perfect! I mean August in Texas is normally hoootttt! But the temperatures were very mild. The speakers were terrific. We just fell in love with them from the beginning and our families just clicked. We are going to spend Labor day with them next weekend the 8 of them and 14 of us! I had some time to read. I read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers ( I think that is her name) and what a fabulous book. One of my all time favorites, I had time to work on chore charts, menu planning, school schedule and time to be in the Word. It was refreshing. I even made it up to Water Ski after not trying for over 17 years ago. It was much harder work than I remember from my younger days! Our friends the Molegraafs were at camp as well and boy was it fun to connect with them as time allowed! Pine Cove christian camp is the place to go if you want to be refreshed and here from the Lord and have fun with your family at the same time..
I think I mentioned that Troy and I were taking tennis lessons. It has been so much fun for us to play with each other and other couples. I talked Troy in to signing up for our neighborhood tennis weekend and he was playing singles this weekend. He played 4 matches today with 2 scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. It was so fun watching him play. The kids and I had a good time cheering( I could see in his face the pride and joy of being loved by his wife and children). I did have to remove some of the cheer leaders who were cheering way too much and Daddy could not concentrate! The were way to excited to not call his name over and over. One of the opponents that does not have children was quite speechless when he found out all of those kids belonged to Troy. So maybe Troy did not when the game of tennis, but he is definately doing well in the area of sacrificing his own desires to raise his family. After the games we invited our friends the Williams over for pizza, it was great fun!
Back to homeschooling this week. What a hard week. We started a brand new curriculum called K12 with 6 of the children and 3 are taking classes at a co-op, with 3 preschoolers. I knew it would be hard and it has been. Not to mention I had the stomach virus that hit me like a ton of bricks. It was a rough 2 days, but I am feeling much better today. Well I must go and hit the sack!

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

My kids never want to sleep! The only person in this family that I don't have to make go to bed is Katherine. THe others are awake forever! We have staff conference tomorrow and will be leaving the house by 7:40. So that better get in bed or they are going to be grumpy.
Troy and I are having a lot of the b b fun playing tennis. I even bought myself a tennis outfit. I feel like a pro even though I am not. So many things are going thru my head right now. How is my school year going to flow, how am I going to get everything done that I need to and still have time for the want to's, the unknown is always scary. So I must rely on the the Grace of God and take it one day at a time. Please pray for me.
I learned something for the first time from my friend Melissa. She came over to the tennis courts while I was playing tennis with a friend and I was sweating so bad. She told me I should get some sweat bands to wipe the sweat of my forehead and I was surprised that the wrist bands were for your head and not for your wrist. I mean my whole life I thought they were for your wrist. Ok, I know that is crazy but I am still learning some things in life. I hope I learn soon, how to have more patience with my 3 younger boys. Luke, Jonathan and Benjamin can bug each other to death!
MaryGrace has started a new thing and it is so aggravating. She doesn't want to leave her diaper on. Today at Walmart she had on a sundress and kept pulling it loose and saying yuck poo poo! Of course it was a clean diaper. I was ready to ring her neck. But then she was so cute giving me and Katherine kisses. And talking to everyone who walked by. She would smile and say hey to everyone!
We are getting ready to go to Family camp in 10 days. It should be a fun week!
That's all for now. I need to get to bed so that I can get up early and get on my treadmill before the meeting.

Sunday, 13 July 2008

I can't believe is almost mid July. Summer just goes too quickly for me. I am so loving the pool this summer, for the first time I can relax a tad while my kids swim. MaryGrace can do pretty well in water wings and Joshua wears them and loves the baby pool. The older kids swim in the "big" pool. It is a lot of work to get all my stuff and get there and get all of my stuff and get the kids out of the pool but it is a great thing to do the summer. We especially love when Troy gets to come with us.
Ryan is home from boy scout camp. It was definately different without him home.
I can't believe that yesterday was my kids last swim meet. I always enjoy cheering for them and watching them swim. They continue to improve year after year. Swimming is so good for you. It is something you can always do no matter how old or young. I was racing my children in the pool yesterday and it is nice to know I can still swim pretty good "for a mom" according to Caleb. I can swim faster than all but Ryan and Caleb. Caleb and I go neck and neck and well Ryan even beats me with him swimming butterfly! Oh well, it is good exercise for me and fun for them to watch us race.
Today our sermon at church was heartfelt. It was one of the moments where I didn't want to leave church because the Lord had so clearly spoke to me. I want every single thing I do to be in check with what God wants for me.
Troy and I are learning to play tennis. Well Troy already knows and I am learning so that he and I can play together when we can carve out a little time. We will see how it goes!
Let me tell you about some ice cream I love. I love the Coldstone yogurt called tart and tangy. It is 25 calories per ounce. It is my favorite!
Off to read for a few minutes.

Monday, 30 June 2008

I made it thru the last few days without my husband. Of course, I forgot several things! Like I forgot Jonathan's last swim lesson. I had to deal with getting Lauren's paperwork notorized(went to the bank and the notary was off this week, went to the other bank and hoped that wouldn't ask me if I was a customer....which they did after they had already done it for me) Then of course I had to go exercise by then I totally forgot swim lessons didn't remember them until Saturday morning when I was sending 3 of my kids off at 6:20 in the morning to a swimmeat. After they got home at 11:30 pm from boyscout camp...exhausted! But they wanted to swim.
Troy and the girls left for Nashville. They were taking Lauren to Camp Electric. They had a great time being noisy, silly girls and I had the rough and tough boys. Not sure who had it crazier???? The boys(oh and MaryGrace) and I went to church Sunday and then to the pool for the afternoon. Troy and the girls minus Lauren got home at 1:00 am. Troy has had his share of late nights or would you say early mornings lately. They arrived in Nashville about 12:00 pm on Sunday morning.
Things you do for your kids!!!
Funny for the weekend...
I took the kids and told them we were getting Little Caesar's for dinner and we were going to stop by Walmart and get some cookies. I asked them what cookies they wanted. I came back with 3 different kinds. Then we stopped to get a movie and so Ryan pipes up and ask "When am I going to die" and I am like what?? "He said you are being so nice and all about fun I am worried that you and Dad are not telling me something." I was like no I just thought we would do something special since the girls are doing something special! We had a good time, poor Daniel he fell asleep in the first 5 minutes of the movie and has tried to watch it 2 other times and still can't stay awake. He gets it from my mother! She can never stay awake in a movie. Then last night it was just Ryan and I once the kids crashed and he and I watched the olympic trials in swimming. It was fun. Quite unusual for just he and I!! Normally there is a house full.
We are all missing Lauren. She seems to be having fun and said she is learning lots. It should be a great experience for her. To do something for just herself. She is always doing for others.
Well it will be another busy week. Troy and I are driving over to Nashville on Wednesday and will bring Lauren home on Thursday. My dear friend , Lora Mesker will come stay with my kids. (Don't tell her how crazy she is). She has been so kind to keep my children since we have lived here these past 7 years. I totally appreciate it. So Troy and I will have 22 hours to ourselves. Of course then Friday, we have our July 4th festivities at the pool, and we will have homemade ice cream, barbecue, baked beans and potatoe salad for our family meal. May even have some friends over (if they will come). Have a Happy 4th.