The Cold That Kicked Me To The Curb

By God's amazing grace, I managed to miss out on all four rounds of the Great Stomach Virus of 2014-2015.  Managing morning sickness was pretty much enough for that stage of things, and I was so glad to not add other unpleasantries to the mix.

Been there.  Done that at least twice.  Not fun.  In fact, it's kind of like a cruel joke.

"So, you have morning sickness, do you?" asks the stomach virus.  "Well then, take this!"  And before you know it you are out for the count.

Aside from the Great Sickness, the kids have been sick with colds all winter.  Jeremiah and Rachel seem to get one every other week.  I'm pretty sure this comes from their time in the nursery with other wee ones who are getting colds on the weeks our kids are healthy.  They meet up on Sunday morning, swap some germs, and say "See 'ya later" until the next week, when they trade colds.

The Lord has spared me from these colds.  And I have been very grateful.

This past week, however, I finally succumbed to the milieu of germs that is our household.  Even while pumping my body with vitamin C, I still couldn't manage to keep this one at bay.  It hit like a ton of bricks on Friday night and I have been wiped out ever since.  Ugh.

Claude put it best when he said, "This one has been carefully selected by the kids."

Yes, it has.  After all the rounds of colds, the Little Crew has filtered out the weaker viruses and only the hardiest has survived.  Now this virus is kicking me to the curb...and boy is it hard to get back up!

Rachel and Jeremiah are sharing in the joys of the current illness.  They seem to take it better than I.  I've grown to be quite wussy in my old age.

Anyway...this is about as good as I have felt this week.

Obviuosly Rachel is not her usual self, either.  Or is she?

She really has been frowning since just moments after birth.  She has now had 15 months to perfect the frown, though.  She's getting better all the time!

In all seriousness, this is a terrible, no good, very bad cold.  Poor Rachel and Jeremiah.  I feel your pain.  But have no fear.  We shall prevail over this villainous virus.  Until the next time you go to nursery...

Settling In

The boys are upstairs in the toy room playing with trucks.  The girls are outside riding bikes up and down the driveway.  Rachel is napping in the downstairs bedroom.  And I finally find myself without a long list of things that need to be done yesterday.

For a month now we have been moving at approximately 100 miles per hour.  Claude and I have kept very late nights trying to get through all that needed to be packed, cleaned, tied up, set up, unloaded, or put away.  In between the packing and unpacking stages we managed to drive our little family from Texas to Virginia without any major issues - not even a bout of motion sickness to report.  Praise the Lord!  :)

It has certainly been an exciting month.  And stressful.  Let's not leave that out!  I don't think I have ever felt more stress than I have during this move.

Now that the house is pretty much set up and our relocation is essentially complete, I have time to think and pray about re-establishing our routines and schedules.  Usually I love working on things like this, but today I'm not wanting to tackle the issue.  Hence the blog post.  ;)

While many things can remain the same, there is much that must change in order to fit our new normal.  The problem with making the changes is that I don't yet know what the new normal looks like.  I'm still figuring it out.  And the adjustments necessary to make a long-distance move work seem to never end.

For one thing, we find ourselves living in a semi-rural setting.  I say "semi" because we can see neighbors on both sides of us and across the street.  We are not truly isolated, but neither are we close to amenities like shopping, doctors, libraries, and the like.

We will have a lot of practice riding in the car since pretty much everything is 45 minutes from home.  I can't really complain about the driving, though, since most of it looks like this:

And once we get near to our house, it looks a little more like this:

We can drive 45 minutes and find ourselves at Walmart, Sam's Club, or church.  But we can also visit places like the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park where, just about 150 years ago, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General U.S. Grant and the Civil War came to an end.  And it's "just down the road".

Other adjustments have mainly to do with how our household runs.  Laundry is changing some because we now have two different baskets for dirty laundry - one on the main floor and one upstairs.  Chores will change since we have a different setup than our previous home.  Even sleeping arrangements, and therefore bed times, have changed.  Our upstairs bedrooms are gigantic (a good "problem" to have) so we decided to have a bedroom for all five kids and a toy room.  And with that come more and more adjustments.

The funny thing about all of these changes is that I feel like we have never lived anywhere else than here.  It's surreal to think that just a few weeks ago we were Claude was dragging a very heavy washing machine up the front steps, into a house that was cold, dusty, and full of unpacked boxes.

Is it telling that the first thing that made this house feel like home was having that washing machine and dryer hooked up and running?  You know you do a lot of laundry when...  :)

Yesterday as the kids and I drove home from taking Gramma to the airport, I felt a sense of relief as I saw the sign with the name of our little town.  It may be new.  There may be dozens of adjustments to be made, but this is home and it feels great to be settling in.

Blessings Abound: Big Red

It's huge.  It's red.  And it's amazing that it is sitting on our driveway.

We, the Chew Crew, are pleased to present to you the newest member of the family.

Big Red.

After accepting a job offer at University of Virginia, Claude's and my thoughts turned toward the lack of heat in our van.  One day, as I drove past a large car dealership in our area, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be great if God just bought us a new van for our trip?"  I laughed about it then.  But I'm laughing even more now!

As some may remember, last week we came to a crisis(ish) point with our Chrysler van.  I left that post with an addendum saying that the car was going to the mechanic because the repair might be about half of the original quoted cost.  It turns out that the mechanic was hopeful but not accurate.  Once he had a good look at the van, he gave us the news we knew to expect.

Everything.  Absolutely everything, from the dashboard would have to be removed.  The HVAC needed to be taken out, and one or two small, inexpensive parts would need to be replaced.  It would take 10 hours of labor to get it all done.  The mechanic even asked Claude if he really wanted to pay for this work since the van was barely worth the price of the repair.  But we didn't have another vehicle, so what else could we consider?

The question still remained, though.  How were we going to pay for such a pricey repair?

In the midst of all of this, Claude had emailed our church community and asked them to pray.  The problem needed some big intervention from God and we needed a lot of wisdom to make appropriate decisions.  So, our church prayed and we prayed and after a couple of days we thought we came to a solution.

We would get some heated blankets for the kids, rig up a space heater to warm the inside of the car in the mornings, and wait until some funds that we hadn't considered using before would be available to purchase a different vehicle.  This seemed like a reasonable solution that would work within our means.

On Sunday evening we were about to make an online order for electric blankets for the car when we received an email.

The Lord had provided a very generous gift to us to be used for the repair or to go toward a car that would fit our needs.  We were stunned.

As we prayed to thank God for giving so abundantly through His people, we started asking how we should use the funds.  I'm not sure what happened, but something switched in both of our thinking.  We sat down, ran some quick calculations, and realized that we could probably get a new van before we left Texas.

Claude hit the ground running on Monday morning, calling a dealer where we had found a van within our price range.  By the end of the day we had put a deposit on it and were getting our Toyota Corolla ready to be traded in.

Come Monday night, I was feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing.  What if we weren't supposed to be going through with this?  What if the cost ended up being too high?  What if the wheel covers for the Corolla didn't arrive in time for the trade in?  What if...what if...what if???

We even realized that we had a gap in our moving budget.  A gap that we couldn't close on our own.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't stressed out about this!

So, we just kept praying, knowing that God would do something.

About 11:00am on Tuesday morning I got an email from Claude.  His department at work had won some award or recognition and everyone in the department could expect a bonus in their next pay check.  The amount was for nearly the exact amount of the gap in our moving budget.  I couldn't believe it!

Five minutes later the doorbell rang.  On our doorstep were the wheel covers Claude had ordered just two days prior - wheel covers we needed to put on our Corolla to help out its trade in appraisal.  Again, I was blown away by God's timing.

Then came Tuesday night.  Claude came home to tell me that more had been added to the monetary gift we received word about over the weekend.  He put down two checks and an envelope of cash.  We were amazed!

Before the week was over, God provided again and again.  Envelopes from people at church, an email saying that someone was giving toward our move/car needs, and support from family and friends.

 
Needless to say, it is incredible that just one week from writing a post about coming to the end of our resources, there is a monstrous red van on our driveway.  For a few years Claude and I have been talking about our next "move" with a car.  We would love to have more children, and if the Lord gave us more then we would need more seats in our vehicle to accommodate them.  But we never imagined that it would happen like this or at this time.

This process has reminded me of how God gave me a violin back in college.  He could have been conservative in His provision, but He wasn't.  His gift, through a very generous believer, was extravagant.  With our heater situation He could have also been conservative.  We could have been driving to VA with electric blankets and a space heater.  We would have been warm and we would have been content.  But God didn't stop at just providing a working heater.  He blessed us above and beyond our needs and our expectations.

We praise the Lord for His abundant blessings!  And we are incredibly grateful to each person who played a part in the pouring out of His provision to us.  We don't even know who most of you are, but we want to thank you for being a part of God showering His love on us.  It has been overwhelming and so amazing!

The kids are calling the new van "The Big Red Van".  Jeremiah has deemed it "The Big Red Bus".  But I have been thinking of it as "The Blessing Mobile" to remind us of this time, when receiving the Lord's blessing has been like standing at the foot of a breaking dam.

And who knows.  Maybe one day the seats will be filled with blessings.  And no, that's not an announcement of more additions to the Crew.  ;)

 

Blessings Abound: The Story of My Violin

There are times in life when God steps in and does something unexpected.  Usually these divine interventions coincide with a situation in which we can do absolutely nothing for ourselves.  We have reached the end of our resources, strength, or wisdom and God is the only one who can do anything in the situation.

I usually think that these situations will only be dire needs, and Claude and I have certainly been on the receiving end of God's gracious provision for many of our needs.  What strikes me, though, is that sometimes God doesn't stop at providing for the need alone.  He goes above and blesses us abundantly beyond what we ever dreamed or imagined.

Why does He do this?  Why in some situations does He leave it at meeting the need and other times heaps on blessings for no apparent reason?

I don't really have answers to those questions, except that I know God is omniscient.  And, surprising as it may seem, my knowledge is very limited.  I don't understand, but I can tell the stories and pray that God will be glorified and that His people will be encouraged.

One story that always sticks out to me as a blessing for the sake of blessing alone happened while I was in college.  Currently, Claude and I are experiencing God's abundant provision on steroids.  Just when we think the huge way He has provided for us is "it", He piles on more...and more...and more!  And each time throughout the days as I am blown away and reduced to tears over His great gifts, I remember a summer day back in 2001 when I was left to try and comprehend God's goodness.

Of course it goes almost without saying that God's greatest gift is the salvation He offers through His Son, Jesus Christ.  And I can tell of a spring day back in high school when I received that amazing gift.  But again, the thing that really gets me about God is that He doesn't stop there.  He just keeps going and going on the blessing front.

When I was in high school my parents gave me a wonderful gift - a new violin.  I had been renting one from the school for a few years, and after showing that I was committed to studying violin and had been in private lessons for a while, they decided it was time to own one myself.

Fast forward to my college days and I was "outgrowing" that violin from my parents.  If you are a musician, you have probably come to this stage with your instrument as well.  Every instrument has limitations and some are great for intermediate students, like I was in high school.  But I came to a point where a new violin was in order.

The problem was that I didn't have the money for it.  My parents didn't have the money for it either, and by this time I was becoming more responsible for my financial needs, so the ball was really in my court.  My resources hardly made a dent in the price of a new violin.  So I started praying about it.

The solution was to rent a violin from the university.  That in itself was pretty amazing.  The violin I had in my care was one that I couldn't have dreamed of playing, ever!  The rental, however, was for a limited time and once summer rolled around I was back with my own instrument.

I was planning on attending my all-time favorite music festival that summer, but before the semester came to a close I had the opportunity to play some new instruments for a friend who was in the market to buy.  She wanted to hear the instrument as well as play it herself.  I probably played 3-5 instruments for her but there was one that really stood out.

Even though I had no idea why I said it, I told my friend about this particular instrument, "You can't buy this one.  This one is mine!"  I know, it sounds pretty selfish.  Maybe it was, but I don't think I intended it that way.  Something about that instrument felt perfect under my fingers.

In the end she bought a different one, and that was the end of that.  While I didn't forget about the violin, I didn't think about it much because the price was way out of reach.

So, after attending the music festival, someone I knew fairly well approached me.  She had heard that I was in need of a new instrument.  We chatted about it for a while and then, as the conversation turned toward the cost and my lack of funds, she looked me in the eyes and said, "I'm going to buy you a new violin."

And then, she left the room.

I remember sitting there, wondering how to process this.  One minute I had a need, had no resources to meet that need, and was really just waiting on the Lord to do something.  The next minute I was left to figure out if I was dreaming or if I had in fact just heard someone say that they were going to fill this need.

Within a couple weeks of that conversation I was practicing on the violin I had played for my friend in the spring.  The one I had claimed was "mine" was actually mine!

I do wonder why God did that.  He could have been more conservative with His provision of an instrument.  He is all-knowing, and He knew that 15 years down the road I wouldn't be playing that violin very often.  He knew that my life would take a very different direction and focus than the direction I was headed in my college years.  And yet, He still blessed me with an incredible gift of a beautiful instrument.  Just because He could.  Because He is good.

And that, I guess is the crux.  God gives because of who He is, not because of who we are or what we've done.  I certainly hadn't done anything to deserve such an awesome gift.  While my violin playing had advanced to a certain point it wasn't as if I was some superstar.  I had prayed here and there about a new instrument, but I wasn't fasting or anything like that.  If I thought of it, I just put up a short prayer and moved on.  I hadn't given such a gift to anyone else that I deserved one in return.  And the person who reduced me to silence with an eight word statement had no reason that I could see to choose me to be the recipient of her extreme generosity.

That violin has been a reminder to me of just how much God delights in blessing His children.  It taught me a lot about His character - He doesn't just stop with the basics, He exceeds our needs and expectations because His love knows no bounds.  And what an expression of God's love that instrument has been over the years.  Over a decade later I am still stunned by God's generous gifts and the willingness of His people to be the means through which He provides.

It is humbling, astounding, and simply incredible!

The Blend Door Actuator Saga

Our 2003 Chrysler Voyager has been a great car.  It has low mileage, plenty of seats for everyone, and is in fine working order - except for the heater.  We bought the car in the spring of 2012 and with warming weather the thought of testing the heater didn't occur to us.  Dumb, I know.  With a very costly quote to repair it, we opted to leave the heater alone for the summer and tackle the issue when we might need heat.

Then we moved to warm, sunny Houston in October 2012 and we realized that we didn't need the heater.  Yay!  There has probably been one day that we actually needed heat, but otherwise it has been a non-issue.

Fast forward to the current day.  In two weeks we are moving again, back to cooler climates and at a time of year when the temperatures are dropping.  If ever our car needed heat it is now, and now we don't have it.  So, with a diagnosis from a couple years back and having put in a good deal of research since then, Claude and I started to tackle the problem ourselves.

A couple nights ago we went out to the driveway and removed part of the dashboard.  We were looking for something called a blend door actuator.  We read in many forums and heard from the original mechanic who diagnosed the problem, that this part might be what was broken.  If we replaced it the heater just might work.  But first we had to find it.

After removing the top portion of the dashboard, we found what we thought was an actuator.  This, for the record, is NOT actually a blend door actuator.

It controls the remote entry on our van.  Of course, we didn't find that out until we were locking up the car for the night.  You can imagine how disappointing that was.  We thought it was as easy as removing one piece of the dash, finding a replacement, and putting it in.

We weren't even close.

Not wanting to quit, though, we tried again.  This is what I did during nap time yesterday.

Pretty cool, huh?  I thought it was fun.  Well, aside from feeling a little bit awkward when the mail lady walked up the driveway to see me hanging half out of the driver's side of the car.

And this is what the older kids did during nap time yesterday.  :)

The efforts yesterday afternoon were successful.  We found the actuators!  There are two.  The one pictured here controls the temperature (the one we thought might be broken).  The other is just barely in the photo - it controls the vents.

They are in a hard to reach spot, as you can see from the picture below.  They are, however, still within our reach, but just barely.

If you don't know anything about cars, beware of the following sequence - you may be confused.  If you know a thing or two about cars, beware of the following sequence - you, too, may be confused because I have no idea what I'm talking about here.

An actuator is a motor.  The temperature control knob connects to the actuator that turns a gear that's wired to the blend door that opens to allow hot or cold air through the vents.

We thought the actuator was broken and needed to be replaced.  Come to find out, it works just fine.  Naturally, the "easy" fix turns out not to be the problem.

Claude made an interesting discovery, however, while he reached into tiny, tight spaces with big clunky tools.  First, he discovered that we needed smaller tools, which he procured from our local home improvement store.  Next, he found that a little gear kept being pushed back into the abyss of the center console of the car.

You see, only certain parts are accessible from what we opened.  Everything else is somewhere inside there.  Behind plastic and metal, in unknown (to us) territory.

Unlike the actuator and because we are not mechanics, this is very much out of our reach.

The little gear is possibly disconnected from whatever wires or other things it's responsible for turning.  Or blend door itself is the problem.  Supposedly it's not uncommon in our type of vehicle for these doors to be stuck so that only cold air can come through.  The problem now is that we have no idea what we're doing and taking apart more of the dashboard is daunting, to say the least.

When I'm stuck on something like this, I usually turn to Google.  Surely there are tutorials of how to access and replace the blend door in a 2003 Chrysler Voyager.  What we keep finding in our searches are forum posts that go something like this:

"Does anyone know how to access the blend door in a Chrysler Voyager?"
"Nope, sorry.  No can do.  Too much work.  Mine broke, too, and I'm sure glad it's a secondary vehicle because I can't afford to repair it and I can't spend two days taking apart my entire dashboard - it's way beyond my comfort level."
"Maybe it's not the blend door, maybe it's the actuator?"
"Try a space heater!"

Needless to say, these things are not helpful.  It's like a merry-go-round - you keep circling around to the same spot, never getting anywhere.

And for the record, we have tried a space heater.  The car was just as cold as ever.  Perhaps a better one would work??? 

I even tried to find out where the blend door is.  Maybe, just maybe, we can reach it on our own.  Perhaps this repair is within our resources and capacity.  But all I find are manuals for professionals who know what they're looking at and have an idea of where to find things.  No one takes pictures of the blend door or whatever else it's connected to, because very few people have gotten there.

Apparently finding a blend door on a Chrysler van is like trying to find the secret passage into Mordor - you need to go through a lot of junk to get there and you won't even get close unless you have an experienced traveler to lead the way.  Frodo paid for his guide by losing a finger...ours will cost the proverbial arm and a leg.

But now for a spiritual application.  Claude and I have been through countless situations where our physical needs have outstripped our resources by a long shot.  We were in crisis mode for several years and it gave us a lot of practice turning to God to provide for us.

Since moving to Texas, life has been comfortable in terms of financial and material provision.  Yes, we have needed to trust God for many things.  But we haven't actually reached the very end of ourselves in a long while.  We've been able to eek by, barely making it, but still remaining within our resources and capacities.  Like the actuator - difficult, but not desperate.

That's not what I'm talking about here.

This repair will cost just about what the van is worth were we to sell it or trade it in.  It is equivalent to the cost of the moving truck rental that we will need in just a couple of weeks.  And I'll be honest here, it exceeds our savings since God timed appendectomies and other unexpected expenses in the past couple of months.  Options for replacing the van are just as out of reach.

The conclusion we came to last night as we realized that the actuators work, but the heater still does not: We simply cannot do this on our own.

I realize that for some this is probably an uncomfortable thing to read.  It makes you feel worried, nervous, or uneasy.  But it's life.  And it doesn't matter who you are, how well you know the inside of your car, or what is (or is not) in your bank account - you will find a time when what needs fixed is out of your reach, out of your reckoning.

Bu praise God!  Because even blend doors aren't out of His reach.

Updated to Add:  I just received a phone call from Claude.  There is a mechanic down the street who quoted us half the cost of what we have been told previously.  Still more than we have to spend, but a HUGE improvement to the situation.  Hi, ho!  Hi, ho!  To the mechanic we go!

The Tale of Two (or more) Lizards

I am not a fan of lizards.  Something about them just makes my skin crawl.  But living here in Texas means that there are lizards galore.  We have long, sleek anoles that come out and sunbathe during the day and bumpy, little geckos that perch themselves on the windows and eat bugs through the night.

Last summer we had a gecko who came to our bathroom window every night.  I couldn't handle it.  So, after a few months and it having ample opportunity to become big and fat, I decided to open and close the window a few times to shake it off.  I shook it off, alright.  And I think I killed it or at least mortally wounded it in the process.

This is the baby gecko who came to stake out the awesome bug-catching spot from where his ancestor, just a few nights before, had been driven out.  We only saw this guy one time.  I was not the one to encourage its departure.

Claude made me feel bad.

Okay, okay...so I felt bad all on my own.

I had lived my entire freshman year of college with a lizard at large in my shower.  Did I feel differently about lizards way back then?  No, I did not.  They creeped me out like they do now.  The difference was that I was willing to pretend that this little lizard did not exist.  The lighting was dim in the shower and without my glasses I couldn't see well.

Ignorance is bliss, right?

Well, at least it meant protection for the small bug-eater.

Consequently, I never gave a thought as to what food source this lizard might have had which supported it for a year.  Ewww....

I've often thought of this juxtaposition of responses.  In one case, most recently, I had had enough of the creepy, crawly gecko and tried to stamp it out.  But long ago, before being a mother had tested my patience, I let another lizard go.  It wasn't hurting me.  It didn't do anything wrong.  It was better to pretend that it wasn't there and let it live then to try and snuff out its life.

How often do I respond with such grace to my children?  Those little habits they have - ones that aren't harmful to themselves or anyone else and are simply annoying by the sheer fact that I can't get away from them...ever.  Oh, and I can't forget about my own sin that makes these habits seem so frustrating - selfishness!  I have preferences, 'ya know.  And sometimes I prefer not to have five people whistling and singing at me all at once.  Sometimes I prefer quiet.

What do I do with those preferences?  Do I insist on having things my way and squashing my kids in the process like I injured the innocent gecko on our bathroom window?  Or do I take my glasses off, turn down the lights, and let them go about the business of being kids?

I have resolved to do my best at tolerating both the lizards and my children's idiosyncrasies.

On the kid end, my resolve is tested daily.  I don't often succeed, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.  Thank You, Lord!

But things on the lizard front have been slow because we haven't had as many lizards this year.  Over the past week, however, my lizard tolerance has been tested.  Hannah found a baby gecko in our music area last week.  It scurried under the piano pedals and we didn't find it.  For several days it didn't show up.

After a handful of days we caught a glimpse of the gecko and just as quickly as it hid under the piano, it ran into the grating around our fire place.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't on high lizard alert by this time.

Late last week I came into the house after Bible study and found Claude standing over a clear plastic container, a tiny lizard inside - its tail wriggling outside.  Can you see why I can't handle these things?  He had spotted it on the windowsill in the kitchen, stunned it with some bleach just to slow it down so that he could catch it, and he set it loose in the front yard.

We had caught the lizard at large.  Or so we thought.

Less than an hour ago, after a lovely nap, I walked into the kitchen to find another baby lizard.  I sprayed it, caught it, and set it loose out front.  Was it the same lizard from last week?  The one that we assumed made its way from the fire place to the kitchen, hid all day, and only came out after bed time?

I don't think so. This guy had a full-length tail.  I know they grow back and all, but in just a few days?  I have my doubts.

My thought is that our gecko family has come back, somewhere in or very near our kitchen.  And they are abounding in offspring.  Sounds familiar, doesn't it?  ;)

This leaves me with a couple of questions, however.  Where is the musical lizard?  And where are these baby lizards coming from?

Maybe it's better if I just close my eyes and sing a happy song.  Ignorance is bliss, right???

Lumberjack Hack

Note: I keep trying to take pictures on our camera and every time I get a message that there is insufficient space on the memory card.  So, in an act of frustration I deleted every photo on the card.  I thought I had copied the existing photos onto our computer.  I hadn't.  There were lovely photos to accompany this post to show that the branch really was quite large and the tools I used really were not meant for cutting wood.  You'll have to take my word for it, because as much as this experience connected me to my rugged Montana roots and made me feel like a lumberjack, I will not be repeating this if I can help it.  Next time I may take my own advice and borrow a chainsaw.

About a week ago we had a fairly intense storm come through.  Claude and I heard the thunder and rain one night and didn't think much of it.  It's summer.  There are storms like this often enough.

The following morning, our early riser (Joshua), ran into our bedroom shouting, "The storm last night blew a huge tree branch into our yard!"

Being one prone to exaggeration and drama, we didn't think much of it.  So, when he insisted we come out to see it, we were pretty surprised to find this in our back yard.

[Insert photo of REALLY big tree branch here]

Yes, half of our neighbor's dead tree fell into our yard.  There wasn't much to do about it right then and there, so we assumed that we would just take care of it when Claude was feeling better from his surgery.  I suggested we ask a few friends if they might have a chainsaw we could borrow.  This was a suggestion that I really should have followed, but didn't.  Oh, well...

Fast forward about a week and I was ready to deal with this thing.  I needed to mow the back yard and the branches sticking out in my way absolutely had to go.  That day.  It really couldn't wait.

So, I started breaking off twigs and small branches.  That lead to realizing that if I started taking off some I might as well cut a few of the bigger limbs off.

I went in search of some tools and found this.

[Insert photo of hacksaw here]

I thought it would do the trick, so I started sawing.  And sawing.  And sawing.  For at least two hours, and I'm not even making that up.

Then I ran into some thick branches that I just couldn't hack (pun intended), so I went back to the garage to find something else that might work.

This is what I found.

[Insert photo of axe here]

In my ignorance I was calling it a pick axe.  Apparently it is called a pick mattock, made for hoeing.  Yes, it is designed for the ground.  No, it is not meant for chopping wood.  It is not sharp.  I used it anyway.  The tree had to go.

So, I began chopping and chopping and chopping.  I chopped for at least two hours, and I'm not making that up either.

I developed a rhythm of 30 swings with the "axe", take a breather, repeat 4 times.  Then I would get the saw out and saw 100 times.  Then it was back to the "axe" and so forth, until I had successfully cut through 3 very thick branches.

Then my work was done.  I had reduced the half-tree to this pile of twigs and branches.

[Insert picture of giant stick pile here]

I had sweated through three different shirts, drank four 32-ounce bottles of water, and acquired a good many ant bites.  Now I had to move the tree carnage into a neat pile so that I could mow.  Remember, I was doing this so that I could mow.

5:00pm, approximately 6 1/2 hours after I had begun - of course, I did take breaks because children were in the house and needed me, but still, my time working on the tree was about 5 hours at this point.  Now, enter the neighbor.

"I'm so sorry about that tree.  I saw that it went down so I tried to reach over the fence and pull it back, but it was too heavy," he explained apologetically.

"Yes, I can imagine you wouldn't be able to lift it.  It is very heavy," I replied.  I would know, I just dragged half of the half about a quarter of the length of our yard.

"I thought of trying to do something about it, but both of my chainsaws are broken," he continued.

"Yes, that could be a problem.  I just did this with a hacksaw," I'm not sure if he saw the "axe" and the saw on the ground, but they were there in all their glory.

And so he continued to tell me his name and all about his teenage daughter who is learning how to drive and how concerned he is about her having an accident.  When he had successfully changed the subject he offered for me to throw some of the debris into his yard so that he could at least help throw it away.  I didn't think that would be necessary, and so he left with a promise to take down the other half of the tree, which was hanging into our yard, and off of which I had already cut the biggest, lowest hanging branch earlier that afternoon.

He cut his part of the tree down on Saturday.  I saw him working out there and heard his chainsaw.  It seemed to take him about 15 minutes.

But he missed out on a really good, total body workout.  And I do mean really good.  My little fitness app on the iPad gave this update Tuesday night:  "Rebecca burned 1,268 calories doing 155 minutes of cardio exercises, including 'chopping wood'".  I think it could have been a higher calorie burn, since I only recorded two hours of work on the tree and just over 30 minutes of mowing.  You better believe I enjoyed a big bowl of ice cream that evening!

As I told this story to my Bible study later in the week one person said, "Hey, we have a chainsaw you could've borrowed."  My sore abs ached as I laughed.

No Matter What Happens...

Claude and I had plans for this weekend.  Big plans.  Plans that involved planes, babysitters, and a hike here:

Photo from www.huffingtonpost.com

But sometimes God has other plans.  Instead of trekking through Shenandoah National Park, I found myself sitting here.

"Here" was just minutes from our house, in an empty surgery waiting room.  It was quiet and peaceful on a Saturday morning.  The nurse thought I might like the TV on while I waited, but I assured her that with five little ones at home tI welcomed one or two hours of dim lights and no noise.

And here is where Claude found himself.  Probably not as nice as having some quiet time in an empty waiting room, but at least the pain he had all of Friday was about to be remedied.

And here is the note that I found in my Bible just a few minutes after Claude was taken to the surgical suite to have his appendix removed.

A good reminder from our 5-year-old!

From last minute childcare throughout the weekend, to a great hospital just minutes down the road, and everything already set up for Claude and I to be away for the weekend, God worked out each detail of this unexpected set of circumstances.  With weeks of planning we could not have orchestrated this half as well.
 

Maybe another weekend Claude and I will find ourselves hiking (alone!) through the Blue Ridge Mountains.  For now we are enjoying being back together at home.  And we are praising God for His grace and goodness, and for the wonderful friends who have helped us out and prayed for us in the last 48 hours.

Sunday School

Claude and I are teaching the preschool Sunday School class this term.  It's been fun getting to know the children that come on a regular basis, and especially entertaining to hear what they choose to divulge during our hour-long class period.

Here are some snippets from yesterday...

Child A to Child B: My mom's birthday is soon.  She'll be 31.

Child B: Well, my mom is already 32!

Child C: Yeah, my mom is like 50 or something!

Rachel joined us for the class and got some attention from the girls.  When she started crying here is what one child had to say about her:

"She's loud, but my brother is louder.  He cries so loud that the whole neighborhood can hear him!"

Child A: My brother is from Colorado.

Child B: Well, I'm from New York.

Child C: I think I'm from England.

Teacher: Really, are you sure you're from England?

Child C: Yes, I'm pretty sure.

Teacher: Hmmm...I think I've heard the story of when you were born and I think you were born around here.

Child C, no insistent: No.  I'm from England.

Child A to Teacher: My mom can't even read.

Teacher: Really?  Are you sure about that?

Child A: Yeah.  She can't read at all.  Whenever she writes something my dad has to tell her how to spell the words.

Teacher: Well, spelling is a bit different than reading.

Child D talking to Claude: What's that black thing in your nose?

Claude: That is a nose hair.

Child D: Oh...

Claude: You probably have nose hairs in your nose, too.  You just can't see them.

Child D, after a moment of contemplation: No.  I only have boogers in my nose!

Vacuums and Things

Claude reads a passage of scripture each night at dinner.  We are currently in the book of Zechariah, Chapter 5.  Apparently the kids have been listening but not too carefully.

Before picking up in Zechariah 5:5, he asked the kids what Zechariah had seen when we last read together.

Hannah exclaimed, "A flying squirrel!"

Which led to a short discussion about what was really flying. Mere semantics.



Also, Abby is sure that we went to the "Older Store" today.  She will not believe Joshua as he (rather impatiently) insists that it was the Dollar Store.  And since she can't read, his attempts to spell the word are in vain.



And I've had my senior moment for the week.

The kids have been spending every spare moment in the backyard.  I'm not sure what they do.  I hear them barking and howling which, as I am always assured by their ringleader, is their way of giving signals to each other.  They are not trying to scare away the neighbor's dogs.

I also see them sitting on balls looking intently at the back fence.  I'm guessing that since watching cats out the front window in the evening is such great entertainment seeing tiny glimpses of the neighbor's dogs through little slits in the back fence must be equally enthralling.

It being "winter" and all down here in Houston, our yard is full of leaves.  We haven't bothered to rake except when Joshua needs to get some energy out.  Then we let him go to town.  And I think the girls had fun making a pile and jumping sitting in it over the weekend.

So, back to my senior moment.

The kids play in the backyard.  Then right into the living room they track every last leaf, pebble, and stick from our backyard.  We could just pretend that we're living on the patio and then maybe it wouldn't be so bothersome.

Anywho...tonight I needed to vacuum.  Again.  Things were going pretty smoothly but I noticed that some leaves were blowing around the carpet.  A little odd, but okay.

Then it dawned on me.

The vacuum is bagless.

But it's not this bagless.

It really does work better when fully assembled.

And then I tried to put the digital camera into the computer's DVD drive.  It made me think of my Grandma Phillips.  She gave the best hugs, made the best cup of tea, and had a way of causing you to feel special.  She was also electronically challenged.  I'm following in her footsteps.  Hopefully my hugging, tea making, and making others feel special skills will improve along with my growing technological impairment.

Family Update - August 2013

Our family update is a bit ordinary, but since I'm sitting here with nothing to do I thought of recapping a bit of our lives over the last several weeks.  So, here I go...

The kids have just finished up their first 6-week school session.  We started earlier than I originally planned so for now we're "ahead" of schedule.  This gives us some nice flexibility through the rest of the school year.  I tried to push through a seventh week to finish out our subtraction unit and we all crashed on Monday afternoon.  Definitely a sign that we needed the scheduled break.  So, we're taking it and I'm trying to figure out what to do with these guys to keep them busy.

 

You may have seen the first couple installments of our annual birthday line-up.  This weekend we're gearing up to celebrate Claude's birthday which also happens to be our wedding anniversary.  Once the first birthday of the line-up comes around I know that the rest of the year is going to fly by.  After Claude we wait a few weeks to celebrate Abigail's birthday and then two weeks later it's Hannah's turn.  After that we're on alert for our newest addition and what will be the end of our birthdays until next year.

Speaking of Chew Crew 5...we're plugging away through her pregnancy.  I'm hoping that she can beat the odds of an early-ish arrival and actually come around her due date (three of the four little Crew members were born from 1-3 weeks "early").  This is mostly because my mom might be able to be here then and it would make logistics easier and would be really exciting if she could be here when the little bundle is born.  But, since babies don't read calendars and aren't really aware of their estimated due dates, I'm not holding my breath.

Regardless of when she makes her appearance, this baby and I are certainly entering the home stretch...kind of.  We hit the first day of the third trimester and suddenly I couldn't stay awake through the day, my back started feeling stiff and sore, and my belly touched the steering wheel for the first time.  Despite how big I feel or how gigantic the kids think my belly has become, I know from experience just how much more growth will happen in the next 10 weeks or so.  And I'm looking forward to it, even if I am stiff and sleepy.  :)

Along the baby lines, we decided to switch our care provider.  I had randomly chosen an OBGYN near our house in the start of the pregnancy.  She was alright - cheerful and friendly - but I was having some doubts about how much support I would get in having a natural birth.  Then we got a ballpark figure from the insurance company about our out-of-pocket expenses for a hospital birth.  We decided to look into finding a midwife since even the out-of-network cost might be the same or less than an in-network hospital delivery.

We've found a great group of midwives and are glad to have made the switch.  One of the greatest advantages at this point is that I can bring the kids with me to appointments, something that was not possible at the other office.  It's a bit of a drive to their birth center - 45 minutes without traffic - so hopefully that won't be a time crunch thing when labor day comes around.  All in all I'm really happy with the change and I'm glad to know that we will have ample support for the natural, intervention-free birth that we hope to have (barring any unforeseen complications, of course).

In other news we managed to kill a baby lizard in the sliding door yesterday.  It provided a bit of excitement for the kids - excitement that they did not have to create on their own.  Claude threw the lizard out on the back patio and it was gone by the morning.  I don't really want to think about how it disappeared...  Ick!

We're looking forward to some time with Claude this weekend and next.  He's had some crazy hours at work this month, which has been tiring for him.  We have a little "stay-cation" planned, if you can call it that, and hope to enjoy some time at the Children's Museum on Friday.  We even found a Groupon!  If you live in the Houston area, take advantage of this ongoing deal - the museum is tons of fun and if you can swing going on a weekday (afternoon is best) you can avoid some crazy crowds.

And, of course, Claude and I will be going on an anniversary date along with our usual family birthday celebration for the kids' favorite person on Saturday.  It should be fun and I think the little guys will enjoy a change of pace.  Who am I kidding?  I think ALL of us will enjoy a change of pace! 

Summer here hasn't been as hot as everyone made it out to be.  Temperatures are definitely lower than when I was at school in Arizona (and I wasn't even there for the summer).  Yes, the humidity is a bit oppressive sometimes, but most days aren't terrible.  Inf act, we had days just as hot and humid back in New York.  The only difference is that here the temperatures stay the same day in and day out - and therein lies the challenge.  I haven't been very motivated to get outside with the kids, so everyone is a little (or a lot!) stir crazy.

In reality it's not any different than winters were in New York.  Not being to get outside feels the same whether it's cold and snowy or hot and humid.  As a result, I feel like it's winter time (even though we have the AC blasting when we drive in the car) so my internal calendar feels pretty skewed.  I have actually asked my mom how school is going for my youngest sister...she's on summer break, of course.  But the heat here is better than the cold in the Northeast - at least there is a lot of sunshine here!

And, back to the new baby thing for a minute.  We made room over the weekend in our 7-passenger van for our seventh regular passenger.  How does a family of seven fit 4 car seats and 1 booster seat into a mini-van?  Like this!

It looks a little bit like how we drove a Toyota Corolla with three kids in the back seat.

It's actually a lot of fun seeing the seats filled up.  And it'll be even more fun when the infant car seat is occupied again.  Not that it had much of a break...  :)

Along with rearranging the car seats came a strong desire to clean them.  You know you're nesting when...  ;)

It was not the best timing on my part, but we managed to wash all of the car seats and covers, and the double stroller and it's seats (this stroller is awesome - everything except the sunshades can be removed from the frame and thrown in the washing machine!).  And no, I don't receive any commission for my recommendation, but if you are looking for a durable double stroller with lots of storage space, versatile seating arrangements, a reasonably compact fold, AND seats that can be washed easily try to find one of these.  We got ours used on Craigslist.  It's been the best double stroller we've owned!

Now, if you'll excuse me there's a half-naked baby toddling around with marker all over his stomach, a mess of toys that seems to be oozing out from the school room, and some birthday gift shopping that must be done...perhaps I should be on my way!

 

I know I'm skipping over some other newsworthy tidbits - like Joshua's tooth hanging on by a thread (the first loose tooth in our family), his budding ability to ride a bike without training wheels, Abby's potty-training adventures and successes, and a host of funny conversations the kids have had recently about giving birth, but time does not allow for these to be told today.

Oh, yes...there is also one last bit of exciting news to share, but I think it deserves it's own post.  Keep your eye open for it!  Until next time, here's a sneak peek into what that's all about...

What's been happening in your life lately?