Our Family

On Sunday evening we asked someone to snap a quick picture of our family.  Here it is:

Okay....So I'm the overweight one second from the left.... next to my handsome husband and surrounded by our three cute kids.  I think it's time to go back on a strict diet.

It's late at night....

...and I'm still up listening to Caroline and her friends giggle and laugh....but they are having such a good time! I'm going off to bed....

Today I made everyone breakfast, went to co-op, taught British Lit, taught Beginning ASL, helped in Chemistry class/lab, took Caroline and three of her friends to paint pottery and out to eat (late birthday celebration), came home and watched a movie with them, and now am definitely ready for a good night's sleep.  Hope they all go to bed and get a good night's sleep, too.

God is so good.  All day today I've been thinking about how blessed I am to have a Saviour!  And beyond that, to have a great husband and wonderful kids is just icing on the cake.

Today is Caroline's Birthday...

...and I can't believe she's 16 years old already.  Especially after seeing a baby born yesterday, I keep remembering the day she was born.  She was nearly nine pounds, extremely alert, and ravenous from the get-go, not just for food but for knowledge.  Sixteen years have flown by in a flurry of learning to sit, crawl, stand, walk, run, talk, sing, read, write, play the piano.....and a blur of birthdays, growth charts, new clothes and shoes, first tooth, first tooth lost, and so much more.  Now she's 5'9" and I think she's absolutely beautiful.  She's not just my daughter, she's one of my best friends.

What I Did Yesterday....

....was just as amazing as the first time I was present for a baby's birth.  I was honored once again to be able to assist my sister-in-law in child birth.  They had a beautiful baby girl, and my S-I-L did an outstanding job!  I'm so impressed with her labor and delivery skills.  Here I am with my sweet, precious niece:

A Scarlet Amaryllis....

...sure adds a gorgeous splash of color to our kitchen during these cold, gray winter months.  Here it is in various stages until full bloom:

It Snowed!

We got about half an inch of the white stuff last night, but by this morning it had all melted off.  We all ran outside and acted like kids.....It was great fun.  Caroline heard our little three-year-old neighbor exclaiming "Daddy, it's snowing!"  She had never seen snow before.  Our poor sago palm and azalea bushes didn't know what was hitting them.  There has not been a snowfall with significant accumulation here in Savannah since 1989.  Eric is tossing around the idea of getting T-shirts made that say "I Survived the Blizzard of 2010."

We May Actually Get Snow....

here in Savannah tonight!  Weird.  The weather guys are predicting we could have a whopping 1-3 inches of snow accumulation.  (smile)  That may not seem like much to anyone living in the north, but down here it's a nasty business.  Consider:  no salt or sand for the roads, no snow plows, and most people have no idea how to drive in snow or on ice.  Most of us are just going to stay inside until it all melts off, which should be tomorrow by about noon, I guess.  If it does snow we'll take pictures.....

Sleep Study Failed, Semi-Trailer Prevailed

Last night I was supposed to be doing an at-home sleep study with the device pictured here:

But it was not to be.  (And yes, it's a little annoying wearing the device, but from what my Mom tells me it's a lot more comfortable than the sleep study they do at a sleep center, with multiple wires/leads hooked up all over you.)  As I lay down to sleep, I pushed the tiny "ON" button to start the device.  I heard a woman's voice say, "Unicorder is ON."  Great, I thought; I'm on my  way to finding out if I have obstructive sleep apnea.  But the nice lady's voice continued:  "Call tech support.  Internal check failed.  Study cannot be performed.  Code 5."  I called tech support.  I got an automated system.  There were numbers to push for Code 1, Code 6, and other general alarms, but nothing for Code 5.  After two more tries at starting the thing up, I removed it from my head and went to sleep.  I took the machine back to my doctor today, and my sleep study will be re-scheduled for whenever my doctor's office can get the little device fixed.

On my way home from returning the WM Ares Unicorder, I thought it would be nice to get my kids some junk food/fast food for lunch, a treat they don't usually get.  So I pulled through the drive-through at our nearest Wendy's, which is adjacent to our Walmart.  Fast food: got it.  I pulled out the access road from the Walmart parking lot, and stopped at a red light.  I was on the phone with my sister-in-law Esther (It's not illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving in GA.  Maybe it should be, but nevertheless....) and I saw a Walmart tractor-trailer turning in front of me into the entrance road on which I sat.  I was commenting to Esther that the semi seemed HUGE, when I suddenly realized that  he was not going to make the turn but was in fact going to hit my van in some manner.  My words to Esther went something like this:

"Are they making semis bigger than ever, because this truck seems enormous....he's taking the turn REALLY tight and awfully fast....I think he's going to hit me!  He's going to hit me!  HE'S HITTING ME!  HE'S HITTING ME!  Aaaaaaaahhhhhh! (screaming like a little girl)  Oh, okay, he's stopped!  THANK GOD!!!! He stopped!!!!"  Poor Esther.  Here is my little diagram of how the accident looked:

He stopped just before his back wheels were going to hit the front of my van.  Thank God he stopped!!!

So, to make a long story short:  I called the cops, they came, they wrote up a report, it wasn't my fault, the officer in charge was really nice and told me there was nothing I could have done without backing into the pickup truck that was behind me, and I am okay physically although rather shaken up emotionally.  There was actually a split second there where I thought that I might die.  It ran through my mind that it would be pretty terrible for Esther if I died while I was on the phone with her.  It also ran through my mind that I really don't want to die yet.  

Here is what our van looks like now.  It's really not that bad considering what could have happened.

Isn't it nice of God to give me some interesting things to write about now that I've determined to get back into blogging?  I'm only kidding.  I did learn some patience today through the sleep-study delay, and I learned once again that God is in control and has complete charge over our lives.  I'm grateful to be alive.

I Was Shocked to Discover....

...that more than 3 people actually read my blog!  Oh, the pressure to perform..... : )  Just kidding.

So....I went this morning to my doctor's office and picked up this thing.  I will wear it tonight while I sleep, then take it back to the doc's in the morning.  It will tell us if I have sleep apnea or not.  Then, if I do, we'll figure out how to treat it.  My doctor says that having my tonsils/adenoids out is one possible treatment option.  OW!!!

The kids are busy doing schoolwork.  Caroline is still all stuffy and not feeling good.  I still think it's allergies.  Our tree pollen has already started, and mold is really high in this area from all of the rain.  It's beautiful and sunny here today, although only about 40 degrees and feels like 30.  I can't complain, since we aren't getting pounded with snow.

Last night our Women on Mission (still called the WMU at our church) group had a good meeting.  I'm always encouraged to see ladies come out to discuss outreach, and last night we talked about local, national, and international opportunities.  It was great.

We have this week off from our home school co-op, which is a much-needed break.  Of course, I'm still doing work on my classes this week, but it means we have Friday off from co-op.  Sort of.....I'm inviting my British Lit. students over to watch the movie of Pride and Prejudice.  It ought to be fun.

Maybe more later from my perch at the dining room table.

The More Things Change....

The more they stay the same....

If things go much longer this way I may have to give up the blog entirely. I have so many things floating around inside my head, brewing and boiling, and yet rarely have time to sit down and write about them. Even now, as I'm writing this, there are other more pressing responsibilities that I'm ignoring. If I don't blog, I feel guilty, and if I do blog, I feel guilty. It's time to go somewhere and indulge in a primal scream.

I wrote that in September 2006 before we headed overseas. Here it is 3 1/2 years later and it's still the same story. I think I need a new approach---perhaps just blogging a little here and there about more mundane things, not thinking that I have to expound on a subject and sound smart all the time....


So here goes:


Today we're doing school as usual, and Caroline isn't feeling well.  I think it's allergies.  It's cloudy and rainy, which I'm sure people will complain about, but we need the rain after so many years of drought.  My scarlet amaryllis (which my friend Allison gave me for Christmas) is starting to bloom.  I'll post a picture of it when it does.  Later today I have piano students, and then tonight I have Women's Missionary Union, which should both be worthwhile endeavors.  I'm currently reading or re-reading several books:

Pride and Prejudice (teaching it in my AP Brit Lit course)
Frankenstein (will be teaching it in a couple of weeks)
Pontius Pilate (Christian historical fiction)
The Time Travelers Guide to the Medieval World (just for fun)
David Livingstone (YWAM biography)
The Bedside, Bathtub, & Armchair Companion to Jane Austen
Genesis, Mark, Job and Romans (reading through the Bible in a year using this resource)


So there you have it, all three of you who still read this blog!  More later today....