Stupid Unknown (Medical Issues)...

"He is an excellent hurler." I actually typed those words out earlier in a comment on my Facebook page, in reference to Preston.  Truly, he is.  He gets it from me.  Poor kid.

This morning he woke up at 7am and got all ready and came in to wake me up because he was so excited about going to a church basketball day-camp.  I sent him back to bed because it was TOO EARLY.  Then, when I woke him up at the right time, he said "I have a headache... and a tummy ache" and ran for the bathroom.  Then he sat in the bathroom floor and cried because, "Why did I have to throw up today?!  WHY????"  I felt so bad for him, and I don't have an answer to his question either.

A very similar episode occurred just last week.  And about a month before that he woke up in the middle of the night with this same problem.  I'm glad he's an excellent hurler, but at the same time, I wish I knew why he had so much experience.  This has been going on for years, but never this close together.  I usually attribute it to simply "something he ate."  But I just don't know anymore.

I can't link it to any specific food, activity or situation at this point.  I don't see a pattern.  Which means I don't know what to avoid or how to fix it.  Stupid 'unknown.'

The 'unknown' already causes Michael's chronic migraines and nerve pain in his back/leg. He has had so many tests and they all come back positive or negative just as they should, no indication of what's causing his ailments.  The doctors just prescribe more tests, and at this point, we can't afford it anymore (nor the ones he's already had that have put us into more debt).  So... unknown, it is.

I just keep praying for complete healing.  Or, at least, a solid answer.

House Update, We're Moving!

Thursday, 9/19 Let it Begin: I can only hope and pray that this second contract on our house is the final contract we'll need.  The family came by yesterday to look at the house again.  They made an offer, we countered, they accepted and the contract was signed today.  So... we're back in this!  Now, off to find the house of our dreams...

x

Monday, 9/23 Update: We found a house we really like Midlothian and put in an offer yesterday.  So, waiting to hear how the inspection panned out for our own house and to hear if the sellers of the other house accept our offer or not.  Eep!

x

Friday, 9/27 Update:  It's been an emotional couple of days, y'all.  The inspection came back on our house and the buyers only asked for a few simple repairs.  No problem!  Their option period ended yesterday, so it appears we are full steam ahead on the selling of our house!  And we were proceeding just fine with the Midlo house, the sellers countered, we re-countered and they accepted.  Woo hoo, everything was falling into place beautifully.  But then, all of a sudden, we found out that Midlothian was being kicked off the USDA land list as of October 1st.  That didn't give us enough time to get everything submitted and close and all that.  So, we can't use the 0-down-payment financing that was our plan.  Y'know, the whole reason we were looking outside the "metroplex" in the first place, so we didn't have to come up with a down payment from out of nowhere (we are simply breaking even on the selling of our house, not earning anything in that transaction). But, after much prayer and conversation with a number of people (and each other), we have decided to continue pursuing that house with regular financing, and we'll come up with a down payment somehow.  It's scary, but we feel confident that this is right, so we're pressing on.  We have sent in our option fee, our earnest money and we have an inspector scheduled for Sunday afternoon.  Please continue to pray for us in this quest... I know that God can and will provide, but my logical side is terrified at all the 'what ifs' that go into selling and buying a house.

x

Monday, 9/30 Update: Ok, so the roller coaster ride continues!  Late Friday night we received an email from our lender saying that our prayers are working because the USDA decided to postpone their changes, meaning we can still get Midlothian with the USDA financing.  Crazy!  Thank you, Jesus!!!  Michael and I did a little jumping for joy, I must say!  So, Sunday we had the Midlo house inspected, and it looks good.  A few things are simply due to the house being built in the 1940's and the rules being different then, but nothing major surfaced.  Woot.  We drove around the town with the boys and checked things out.  We played at the park right by our 'new' house.  It was great.  I believe we are gonna like it a lot!  So, we will recap with our peeps today and see what the next step is... we gotta get both houses appraised still.  Looks like our biggest concern at this point is closing at the same time so that we don't end up homeless for a while.  Yikes!  We are scheduling or working on the little things that our buyers asked for, and hopefully those will be finished out this week.  Moving right along!

x

Thursday, 10/04 Update: And then... the government shut itself down.  Seriously, between last update and this, nothing has happened.  NOTHING.  As in, NOT moving right along.  The government can't get itself together and it's just decided to quit, apparently.  Meaning we can't submit our USDA loan... so it's not processing or getting approved.  We were already worried about not closing in time and being homeless for a while, and now... well, it's pretty much guaranteed that we won't be able to move into Midlo any time soon.  We are trying to negotiated a lease-back, and hoping the buyer of our house will cooperate and let us stay here till we CAN move, but we can't even give an estimate as to when that would be.  There have still been no appraisals on either house, not sure what's up with that.  Oh, this roller coaster ride is NOT the fun kind.  I gave up the house situation to the Lord a long time ago now, so ... :::throws hands up::: whatever will be will be, right?  God's got this.  I'm just along for the (nauseating) ride.  Massive prayers appreciated.  I know this government shut down is affecting a lot of people in a wide variety of ways, so prayers for our entire messed up country.

x

Monday, 10/07 Update: So, after hearing nothing for nearly a week, some stuff is finally moving forward.  The government is still shut down so we have just given up hope on the USDA and are just going ahead with an FHA loan.  It sucks for a lot of reasons, because the whole point of finding a home outside the Metroplex was to get use 0% down through USDA.  NOW, we have to come up with a down payment, have PMI and all sorts of other things that are going to cost us more in the long run.  And it sucks, because, frankly, we just don't have any more money to use towards all this.  But, God will provide, and we have fallen in love with that Midlothian house and area and truly want to move there.  So, anyway, we'll find a way... we truly believe that God has ordained this and it will work.  Both houses were appraised today, and Michael has been answering questions from various sources (realtors, lenders, etc) all day long and hopefully we have everything together that needs to be together to get this ball rolling.  The buyers of our house are going to let us stay here several days after closing so that we HOPEFULLY won't be homeless between closings.   We just have to see how quickly we can get closed on Midlo now that we are finally working on the right loan.  I am very sorely disappointed that the USDA thing didn't work out, especially after the roller coaster ride we had with it last week of not being an option, then yes being an option, and now we have a big fat no again.  But... again, God's plan, not ours.  He knows better than me, that's for sure.  Carry on.

x

Thursday, 10/10 Update:  Wow... the story continues.  We received word yesterday that the appraisal on our home came in under our selling price.  Lame sauce.  The appraiser was here for all of 7 minutes, no way he really LOOKED at the place.  So, to my understanding, we have to come up with the difference between the appraisal price and the selling price, which means... we have to come up with more money that doesn't exist.  Yay, magic tricks!  No... we are just relying on the Lord to give us opportunities to come up with AT LEAST $2000 in the next 10 days!  Not magic tricks... MIRACLES.   Our realtor and lender are working really hard to negotiate things and crunch numbers so that we can make all of this work, but wow... the things being thrown at us lately, mind boggling.  I am still confident that this is right, and we should move forward.  I choose to believe that it's just the devil doing his nasty work because what we are doing is right.  But he will not win, we will prevail with God's help.  Lord, Jesus, MOVE THAT MOUNTAIN!!!

x

Thursday, 10/17 Update: Fast forward a whole week and I've been a packing maniac.  Today we finally made some headway and got some news on the status of our transactions.  The buyer of our current home is signing papers tomorrow, we shall sign and close on the Midlo house on Monday morning.  It LOOKS like we won't have to come to the table with anything for selling our house, praise God.  We certainly aren't coming out ahead with it, but at least we aren't having to pour more money into it just to get it sold.  Praise God if that does truly work out.  They are supposed to give us final numbers tomorrow as to what our down payment will come out to be and all that.  So we are in prayer that the number they give us will be within reason and we can make this happen.  Ok, HE is totally making this happen, but you know what I mean.  So, numbers tomorrow so we can prepare for all that.  Then the owners of the Midlo house won't be out until next Thursday.  So, we'll get some of Thursday and Friday until 11:59pm to be out of Grand Prairie.  Crazy!!!  I feel like we're pretty much ready to be out of here, though I there are some areas I haven't packed up yet... but now, I have a whole week to do it.  I've been a frantic mess for the past few days thinking come Monday we'd be shoving our stuff in a truck, lol.  So, there's good and bad to that.  But, yes... still pressing on and praying hard!

x

Monday, 10/21 Update: We officially signed next to every 'x' and have closed on both properties.  Woo hoo!!!  While we are official, we can't move into our new place until Thursday, when the sellers get out, and we have to be out of our current house by 11:59pm on Friday so the new buyers can take over.  CRAZY!  We are mostly packed but still have some work to do over the next few days.  But, but the end of the week, we shall officially be residents of Midlothian, TX!

Spring Turns into Summer...

Well, we're on break from school.  You'd think I'd have more time to blog... but not really.  I still need to upload the pix from my real camera of our camping trip several weeks ago.  Oops.  And lots of other this and that's on my to-do list as well.

We are busy getting ready for a garage sale this weekend.  Trying to de-clutter the house.  Why?  Well, I'm sick of the clutter and everything collecting dust.  No more "maybe I'll need this someday..."  Ugh, no, get rid of it!  But, also because we are planning to put our house on the market and move.  Like soon.  CRAZY.  We've been here over 10 years.  And it's just time to get out from under it... find a bigger place in a different area and start over a bit.  Obviously, we don't want to go too far.  We are very connected to our church near here, our friends and my parents... obviously, can't wander off to far from them.   So, we're in full-swing to make this happen this time.  Talking and meeting with realtors, seeing what our options are, having a foundation company come out and fix what they can.  It's overwhelming, and honestly... terrifying.  But exciting as well.  Just praying that we are truly guided by God in all of our decisions with this.  Both of us really feel it's time to move, so... we're doing what we can to get that ball rolling.


The kids are going through their phases.  Callen is still in his "terrible two" mode despite having turned three in March.  He is challenging, and it's just a real good thing he's so darn cute.  Sheesh.  Preston pesters him like crazy and often completely lacks common sense, so he has his share of trouble.  I'm doing my best, but I often feel like such a huge parental failure with them so far.  Preston cries about everything.  Callen destroys everything.  I'm sure that most kids their age are like this, and I'm expecting too much on them and myself.  It's just hard sometimes to see the same mistakes day after day, and no real sense of them "learning" the right way to act/react.  I keep looking at myself and realizing that I'm the same exact way, though.  God must face-palm Himself a lot regarding my actions, too.  Lol. On a positive note, the boys and I have met a new family in our area that we have just fallen in love with.  They travel a lot so we have to take advantage of them when they're around, but The Stauffers have been a great addition to our friend circle in the short time we've known them.  April and I get along really well, as do Preston and her son, who is 8.  They have two girls, too... and Callen enjoys all of them! Another random, but positive, note is that the boys and I have enjoyed having smoothies lately.  Getting in our veggies where we can.  The boys have loved them all, so it's really easy to make us a quick drinkable lunch packed with fruits and veggies (spinach!).  I am loving having that option instead of always trying to come up with a lunch that they'll actually eat.  Whew!

Michael finished up his teaching semester yesterday and won't be taking on a Summer class since they wouldn't fit his regular full-time job schedule.  Hopefully he'll get to return in the Fall.  His full-time job seems to be going along just fine, no real news to report there apparently.  Other side things are going ok, and he only does pizza every once in a while when they need an extra hand and he's able.  His earache, migraine, hip/leg pains are all still present and bothersome.  As are the many medical bills arriving constantly for the things we've tried to do for those particular ailments.  I just want him to feel good again.  Is that too much to ask?  He works so hard to provide for his family, it just isn't fair that he always has to be so miserable.  The boys have enjoyed utilizing Netflix with him and they watch episode after episode of superhero cartoons.  I'm glad that Michael is good at deciding which ones are appropriate for their ages, 'cuz I have no idea.  But they're quickly becoming experts on all things superhero and comic books, haha.

I was able to accomplish this year's Connect4Challenge with my Usborne Books & More business.  I am going to convention in June for FREE!  That'll be such a blessing.  A chance to get away, learn more about making my business successful, meeting a bunch of people I only know via Facebook.  I'm really looking forward to it!  After the last four months of steady action, taking a bit of a break in May and then I have a bunch of events lined up for June to hopefully get right back into the swing of things.  Getting the commission checks for those months was definitely a nice thing, plus... now I don't have to spend out-of-pocket money and feel guilty about going to convention!  Woo hoo!

That's about all I can muster at the moment, as far as an update goes.  I do have several things on my to-do list that need to get knocked out over the next few months, so... prayers that those get taken care of easily.  And prayers that this moving business is a smooth transition for all of us.  I'm a natural worrier and get extremely stressed out with big change like this.  I'm TRYING to take it easy and go with the flow, but that is just not how I'm wired.  

Homeschool Recap, December 14th (Week 19)...

In my life this week...

It's been a crazy couple of days.  Monday was my birthday, and it snowed just a tiny bit.  But that was a really nice birthday gift for me!  Callen and I have been sick... just a cold or something, coughing, lots of yucky drainage, etc.  Well, it seemed we were getting better.  Michael and I dropped the boys off to spend the night with Grandma on Thursday, so that we could have a date night.  We used Christmas money my Grandma Evelyn gave us to go see the Dead Sea Scrolls in Fort Worth.  That was a neat experience!  We also found a revived Bennigan's and had dinner... oh, how many times we ate at Bennigan's back when we were dating, haha!  Meanwhile, Callen threw up a bunch of times while at my parents' house... not sure what the real cause of that was, but... oops, sorry, Mom & Dad!  Eep.  Friday morning I turned Michael's TCCC grades in for him, dropped a present off for a friend who just had a baby (a month early!), stopped by Auto Zone to see why my check-engine light came on (no big deal, whew!) and then finally made it Chickfila in Southlake to set up for their last Women's Expo.

Half way through the event, I heard the news of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.  I couldn't stop shaking and my eyes kept filling will tears... 20 sweet children killed along with 6 adults at the school.  Plus the shooter's mother and himself.  Unbelievable.  I know that we can never understand such things... there is no "answer" for something like this.  It's completely unfathomable and utterly heart breaking.  Last night, as I watched classic Christmas tv shows and movies with my little ones, all I could think of was how there were so many families who weren't doing the same thing that evening.  It's hard to celebrate a holiday after losing a loved one... but to lose a child so near to Christmas.  Wow.  Their precious ones were taken from them in what is supposed to be a season of cheer and goodwill.  I can't do anything but pray for peace and comfort and that despite what they're going through right now... that the family and friends who have gone through this tragedy will turn TO God and not AWAY from Him with their grief.  And as people scream and argue about gun control, better school security, etc....A friend of mine, Layne Rogers, posted this as his status yesterday and I just love it, and I pray we all remember it forever: "We do not eliminate darkness by destroying everything that casts a shadow, we push back the darkness by increasing the light."

Anyway, a quick recap of what we did earlier this week...

In our Homeschool this week...
Tot School: We continued the 1plus1plus1equals1.net "Tot School" printables this week with letter "N" for Net (insects)!  We read a lot of fun bug-themed books:



Bible:   This week's name of Jesus was Lamb of God. Preston's memory verse is John 1:29 and we looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that talked Jesus being a lamb. We also made a lamb out of the boys' hand prints and cotton balls.  They did not... um.. come out as I had hoped... Preston has a bit of trouble writing that day (due to his bad attitude about it, mostly).

Not exactly what I had hoped for.

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure.  Continued with lesson 40-42 in Primary Language Lessons. We finished our read-aloud, Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Preston wrote a short book review on it. We have been reading a ton of Christmas books as well to go along with our Advent/Christmas countdown. 

Writing the Farmer Boy review.

History: 
This week Preston learned about Johnny Appleseed, moving to Ohio and the state of Ohio.  We recreated a New England Primer, and Preston stumbled over the use of the letter "f" in place of an "s."


Math: Preston continued Part B of Math Mammoth, Second Grade.  Working on hundreds and skip counting by different numbers, using addition and subtraction.  He is zipping right through this stuff.

Science:  This week's theme was animals, so we read from the First Encyclopedia of Science on different kinds of animals.  We also played the Memory Match game included in MFW, helping to categorize different types of animals.  Oh, and we checked on and threw out our milk/bacteria experiment from last week... nasty!

Music/Art: Skipped music and art this week.

Spanish: Continued with the next episode of Salsa. We reviewed words having to do with "LaGente" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish. Unfortunately, I just realized that the box set of La Clase Divertida was incomplete and did not, in fact, include the second DVD with the last half of the lessons.  It had two audio CDs in it instead.  Oops!  So, we're on pause with that type of Spanish lessons for the moment till we figure out what to do about it.  We can order the Lesson 1 DVD set (of two discs) for $40, but dang... that's a lot of money right now.  So, considering my options and will hopefully have something figured out before we start up again after New Years.

We will take a break from MFW lessons, and do "Christmas School" next week, which will be fun things like crafts and simple lessons using the holiday theme.  And then we'll have a two week break off of school!

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.



[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

A Chickfila Civil War...

I don't have anything brilliant or terribly insightful to add to the recent Chickfila controversy. But since this is my blog, and I enjoy looking back years later to see what was going on in the world... I thought I would post something for posterity.

It is heart breaking to see this "civil war" breaking out right now over this.  Both sides seem to be spinning their wheels, and are only further hurting their causes, it seems.  If you like Chickfila and/or agree with what Dan Cathy said about traditional (one man-one woman) marriage, you're intolerant and hateful.  If you are on the opposite end, you're offended and want to shut down/keep out all CFA restaurants because of one man's comments.  Really, y'all?  Really?  Don't we have bigger things to worry about than whether or not it's ok to eat at a restaurant?  CFA (or it's CEO) has just as much right to be in favor of traditional marriage as the other side has to be in favor of same-sex marriage.

I am a Conservative Christian and I do believe in traditional family values, which seem to be so passé these days. We have been (and will continue to be) avid customers of our local Chickfila. #1, because we like the food. #2, because we appreciate the company as a whole. No other fast food chain I know offers such fantastic, high-quality product, outstanding customer service, seems to truly appreciate and work hard to treat their employees well, and has such a mindful attitude about family values. They have books as the prize in their kids meals! They do a fine job of keeping their restaurants, food and employees above most fast food standards.  Psh, and they're fun, too!

My family just a few weeks ago.

These recent someecards.com graphics sum up my thoughts nicely...

I mean, really?  What did you expect him to say?

There isn't just one side being "intolerant" here.

I appreciate Chickfila for taking a stand for what they believe in.  For not being "PC" just to make sure they don't lose business. I don't think Cathy's comments, in the grand scheme of things, are all that earth shattering, nor are they a reason for this huge uproar on either side.  I think those that are eating Chickfila today should be doing it to show their appreciation of the company's stance regarding their traditional values... not just to rub it in the faces of those who disagree.  We are entitled to our own opinions... this is AMERICA, after all.  If you want to voice your opinion, you should probably be able to handle hearing someone else's opinion.  Ok?  But, let's try to make ALL of our voices loving (I'm not saying "tolerant" here, I'm saying loving... this CAN be done, y'all).  We are still neighbors, and I'm pretty sure our top two instructions in this life are to "Love God.  And love your neighbor."  It doesn't say agree with your neighbor, and it doesn't say tolerate your neighbor and his actions... it says LOVE them. Period.

Tomorrow, We Start Again...

My sweet ones!

Tomorrow is our first day back to school for the 2012-2013 school year. Preston will be in Second Grade. Callen is a preschooler. I am excited about our new beginning, and am praying for that excitement to be continuous, for me AND the kids, throughout our entire year together. 

I get so wrapped up in school prep, all these brilliant ideas to try to incorporate (or, often, cram in!), and how things play out in my head... and then I sit down with the boys and they are grumpy, they don't find it as fascinating as I do, or we just hit a rough patch... all bets are off. I lose my cool, I misplace my motivation, I am disappointed in them and myself. But as long as God's mercies are new every morning, so, too, must my homeschool mom's heart refresh and reload each morning.  Mama Hall offered this free printable prayer on her blog last year . I have it printed and framed up on the top of my hutch in the kitchen-classroom. It is a great reminder to read on a regular basis. 

I want to enjoy my children at this age, not merely survive against them. I want to be a gentle, peaceful mother-teacher, who is given respect and authority. I want our "school" to be fun and exciting, where my boys learn about Jesus, life, values, history, math and all of those important lessons. But my main prayer is that my sons will look back at being homeschooled and be appreciative of the experience. 

My crazy-headed ones!

Here's to a new start!