Yearly Archives: 2007

Daily Life, Project 365

P365 – Day 77 (Fresh Air)

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The flu epidemic rages on. Can I call it an epidemic if our whole family has it and our whole family is larger than the average American family? Let’s see, dictionary.com defines epidemic as affecting many persons at the same time, and spreading from person to person. That sounds about right for us.

daniel and david

Daniel and David strategize the best way to beat this flu.

Actually it’s hardly raging. Most everyone is feeling close to normal (as if that ever meant anything in our family). The coughing, however, continues. This morning we were a family symphony of coughs. It was truly remarkable – harmony and everything. We could be the Von Duckabush Family Coughers. That’s a pretty catchy title. Of course, ‘catchy’ might be a little too apt with all the germs flying around.

daniel and david 2

“David, if we move the tissue boxes here, the cold medicine there, and the soldiers over here, this ridge would be completely impenetrable and the flu defeated!”

We stayed home from church today. The weekend feels very odd when Sunday is no different from Saturday. Where’s that adrenaline rush in the morning as we shove food down the kids’ throats while gathering shoes and Bibles; brushing hair, all at the same time? What about the pretty dresses with messy hair? It is so hard to find a brush or comb on Sunday morning – I think they all sneak and hide Saturday night just to watch me scurry on Sunday. And then there are the handsome boys in their nice outfits complete with dirty tennis shoes. Sigh. The dress shoes obviously hide with the hair brushes.

Sarah smiles

See what I mean? This girl NEEDS a brush. It’s a good thing her smile is so big – distracts you from the wispy hair.

We managed to sniffle and cough our way through a nice family church service. We didn’t sing – wouldn’t be pretty with all the hoarse voices – but we did read a chapter of Proverbs together. I LOVE studying Proverbs with the children. It has brought such a richness and, dare I say it, WISDOM to our family. Today we read Proverbs 15. I know, it’s the 18th and technically we should be reading Proverbs 18 but we’re behind. This darn flu! Tim thought we should throw caution to the wind and go back and read one of the chapters we missed. He lives dangerously even when stricken with flu/allergies.

Rachel smiles

You can see by the look on her face that Rachel is wondering if we are going to read Proverbs 16, 17, 18 AND 19 tomorrow. Yikes! That would be SOME catching up.

All of the children (even David and Sarah, ages 6 and 4 1/2) are wonderful pray-ers. They are unabashed (unless there is company present) about lifting their prayers up to the Lord. It is amazing to me to see how mature and faithful they are in speaking to God. Our family prayer time, however, usually consists mostly of thanksgiving and requests. Nothing wrong with this but it does neglect some other aspects of prayer. When I meet with my homeschooling Moms In Touch prayer group, we pray very specifically through the ACTS model.

Adoration - praising God for WHO He is
Confession - confessing to God our sins (commission and omission)
Thanksgiving - thanking God for what He has given us and what He is doing in our lives
Supplication - lifting our requests before the Lord

I love praying this way as it focuses me on the attributes of God, gives me an opportunity to open my heart up to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and puts my requests and wants last. By the time I finally begin asking God for something, my spirit is much more in tune with who He is and what He wants for my life and the people around me.

I have been wanting to try praying this way with the children for some time but, like many good intentions, never seemed to get around to it. The night time chapter/Bible reading is Tim’s special evening time with the kids and it would be a little heavy handed for me to charge in and tell them all we’re going to pray MY WAY. That, and I’m usually enjoying some well deserved peaceful, quiet time while Tim reads to the children. One of those explanations sound like I am being sensitive and the other lazy. Hmmm.

david pushes Sarah

What an awesome big brother to push his sister on the swing (completely on his own initiative)!

Today I decided to seize the moment and explain the ACTS prayer model to the children so we could try it as a family (the younger two were upstairs playing at this point). Tim suggested going around and each person praying just one thing. We had a wonderful time of prayer. The kids all seemed to understand the concept of praising and adoring God (difficult to do as we tend to focus on what God gives us rather than who He is. I made sure everyone knew the confession time could be silent but both Tim and Rachel prayed out loud.

How kind of God to bless our sick Sunday with some special time reading His Word and praying with the children! He is so good to us.

In the afternoon I snuck in a workout at the Y with a friend. We ran all sorts of errands on the way home, ending at the produce store nearby. I LOVE going to this little produce store. It just makes me happy walking in and seeing all the fruits and veggies. My family think I am a bit addled in the brain this way but I can’t resist all the tables full of unusual and interesting produce. Plus, some of the prices are great. Healthy food and low costs – doesn’t that make everyone happy? Who needs chocolate? Don’t answer that!

It was so pretty when I got home that I suggested to the kids we go to the park. They were all VERY eager to get out of the house and get some fresh air. Daniel had some sibling trouble so he ended up staying home with Tim as punishment. The rest of us enjoyed the park although it was a bit crowded. I told David he had to stay with a brother or sister while I watched over Sarah. It was so fun catching glimpses of him chasing after Joshua and Rachel. He is NOT one who is going to be left behind.

wall climbing

This climb was a bit much for Joshua!

Tomorrow we do school and, hopefully, continue to recover. This evening at bedtime, I gave out cough medicine all around. Hopefully the children (and Tim) will get some relief and be able to sleep. I think I need a little cold medicine myself. Sniffle, sniffle.

Pass the tissues!

Kathy

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P365 – Day 76 (Old Pictures)

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I have a box full of pictures pulled from the drawers of my grandmother’s house. I originally took the pictures (mostly black and white shots almost 30 years old) to make a photo calendar for Nana. Every once in a while I would pull the box off my shelf and look through it. With five children and a busy life, the project was routinely pushed to the bottom of my list of priorities. When the guilt of the failed gift would snipe at me, I would console myself with the lovely relationship I had with Nana. I didn’t need to make her a calendar full of old pictures from my childhood, I wrote to her weekly and visited her every summer. My children grew up making annual trips to her home in Texas. In her last years, she had baskets of pictures of the great-grandchildren on shelves and counters. Of course, now I’m left with pictures of my cousins as small children and some wonderful photos of my parents as newlyweds.

dad, mom and granddaddy

Dad, Mom and Grandaddy on the Mesa in 1965.

Ever since my blog about the cousins I’ve been thinking about those pictures. My mother grew up in a big family but didn’t have any first cousins. Her mother was an only child and her father had one sibling, a younger brother who never married. How sad not to have any cousins.

uncle tom

This picture is a bit grey and fuzzy but I love that smile on Great Uncle Tom’s face.

Thankfully I didn’t have to face life as a poor, pathetic, cousin-less girl as my parents’ siblings were kind enough to have children and provide me with a passel of cousins. How do you classify a group of relatives? Is it a pack, a peck, a brood, or maybe a pride? I guess it depends on what type of animals they are. On my mother’s side, however, there was one tragic flaw; a serious lack of girls. I was the only granddaughter out of nine grandchildren. Talk about being outnumbered.

cousins

What an awesome family shot. Phil, in the front row, looks like he is having a GREAT time.

To make matters worse, I was not particularly tomboyish. I did my best to join in on the rough and tumble fun but every time we would visit I secretly searched for the dolls and dress up clothes. I knew they had to be hiding somewhere. It was bad enough not to have a sister, to not have any girl cousins on one whole side of the family was a true tragedy.

Fortunately, my mother’s older sister, who didn’t have any children herself, took special interest in me and made each of my annual visits memorable. We would have lunches out, talk about travel and books, and just enjoy each other. Almost every year she would give me some piece of beautiful jewelry. And then there was my mom’s twin sister, raising three very active boys, who loved me like a daughter. So, I guess saying I suffered is a bit of a stretch. Not to mention the fact that my grandparents could honestly say I was their favorite granddaughter, the one they loved best. :)

trying to keep up

Honestly, how’s a girl supposed to keep up with the boys in a dress that length?

I brought the box of pictures down to my computer two weeks ago. They’ve been sitting here patiently while I ignored them. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with them. What do you do with a pile of memories? I guess in our house you get them on to the computer and into a blog as soon as possible. Silly me, what was I thinking?

Today I came up with a brilliant idea. Joshua had already played some computer games, read a bit of his book and watched a movie. He was clearly idle and in need of a project. It was rainy and grey and the flu was casting a rather lethargic pall on the household. I thought, if Joshua had some time on his hands, he might be willing to work on my box of pictures. I asked him to try taking pictures of the pictures with the digital camera.

box of pictures

I set him up in the dining room where there is a good source of natural light. It took him a long time to get clear pictures of each photo (and some of the originals were blurry or faded so he was definitely working with raw materials) but in the end he had over 250 digital images for me. Deleting and sorting through brought the number closer to 175. I was thrilled to have copies of the old photos on the computer.

kathy as a young girl

Joshua and the boys say I look just like Rachel in this picture. Hmmm.

Tim wasn’t sure taking pictures of pictures would result in the clearest image. He thought we might have better results using the scanner. I need to try it out and see. I guess it depends on the quality of our scanner. I’m not sure I can convince Joshua to work with this big stack of pictures again.

How long before I pull out the next box of photos? Don’t tell Joshua how many hundreds of photos are tucked away on shelves here and there.

Kathy

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P365 – Day 75 (More Civil War)

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Once again Joshua proved to be an able teacher (I mean assistant) in my Civil War class. Really, I would feel guilty if he didn’t have so much fun preparing and planning the class. Really. Just because I spent the evening watching a movie and cutting out little vegetables for the kindergarteners instead of working all night on Civil War plans is no reason to doubt my sincerity. It was hard cutting out those veggies. All those edges in the lettuce leaves. Whew.

This week we studied the Battle of Gettysburg. Joshua drew an elaborate map of the terrain and mounted it to a large piece of plywood.

civil war map

It’s best not to look too closely at those toy soldiers since some of them are holding assault rifles and bazookas.

Joshua gave me a list of the 11 or 12 generals who played primary roles in the three day battle and I wrote them on 3×5 cards. It’s hard work being the assistant for such a slave driver (ooo, bad pun for a Civil War class, sorry, it was unintended). Joshua assigned the generals to the kids in our class and gave them toy soldiers (each plastic soldier represented one thousand Union or Confederate soldiers).

explaining the battle

Joshua is an excellent teacher. If he had any desire to be in charge, he could easily overthrow my position and run the class himself. Thankfully he is (mostly) content to lead from behind the wings. Today, as we went through the battle, Joshua explained details from the campaign. The casualties from Gettysburg were unbelievable – over 50,000 men dead. I’m not sure the students could really grasp such high numbers. I’m not sure that I can wrap my head around such a tragedy happening right here on American soil.

class picture

These aren’t a bunch of ‘dummies.’

Joshua found the Civil War for Dummies book at the library and used it to help bring the battle to life for us.

A few things we discussed today in class:

1) One of the generals, Gen. Sickles, was hit in the leg by a cannonball. The leg had to be amputated but was preserved by medical personnel. After his recovery, Sickles donated the bones and the cannonball to the Army Medical Museum in Washington – where it continues on display at that facility located at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. What a great guy! Actually he was a bit of a rogue and rascal but we can only cover so much each week.

2) General Stuart, considered to be General Lee’s eyes and ears, misinterpreted orders during the Gettysburg Campaign. He took a wrong turn and didn’t show up until the second day of battle, leaving Lee blinded in enemy territory. Oops.

3) Some say the battle was started because Confederates went into town looking for shoes. Hard to move barefoot troops at a brisk pace, all those thorns and rocks slow people down.

In my opinion, it is these kinds of details and quirky facts that make history come alive. Thank you, Joshua, for running the class. You were a great general, directing the armies. :)

At the close of class we read the Gettysburg Address. I was very moved by Abraham Lincoln’s speech. The idea of facing such incredible losses and then encouraging people to continue to fight to hold the country together is so powerful.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln

Kathy

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P365 – Day 74 (The Flu)

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I’m trying to think of something interesting or amusing to write about the flu that has invaded our home. Maybe funny isn’t really the right way to approach the flu, but I try to make these blogs readable and entertaining if possible. Hmmm. Thankfully we’re NOT facing the stomach flu or the blog would highly unreadable, rather gross with nary a picture in sight.

sick day

Bunch of sickkos watching movies!

Tim (probably hit the hardest) told me I had better be kind in what I write since I’m sure to be sick next. He said there isn’t anything funny about the flu (can you tell he’s still in the throes of it?). Oh, he and Joshua finally decided if your enemy got the flu it would be funny.

In weak, rather pathetic voices, they discussed the idea of an enemy being sick. Not their usual animated selves. Normally Joshua would be on the floor, laughing, as Tim went on and on describing the plight of a sick enemy. It’s sad to see Tim in such a weakened condition, unable even to make real jokes.

Then Joshua, in a moment to make any homeschooling mom happy said, “But remember what Proverbs says about laughing at your enemy.” I tried, frantically, to remember what Proverbs says about enemies. Finally I gave up and nonchalantly grabbed the keyboard to hit my favorite Bible website, www.biblegateway.com, to track down the actual verse. Hey, he’s 13, his memory is fresher than mine!

Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him. Proverbs 24:17-18

Oooo, I don’t think anyone here wants God to disapprove of us. Thanks for the reminder, Joshua. Excellent job of paying attention during our devotional time. Warms my heart!

At some point I looked around the house on Thursday, sick kids everywhere, and declared it a Sick Day. I know when to give in to the inevitable. Tim stayed home from work and moved from the couch to bed and back, at a slow, rather pathetic pace.

Daniel was on the floor when I got up in the morning. He said it was the worst night of his life (how quickly we forget those nights in the hospital, last year, recovering from an appendectomy) and that he hadn’t slept at all.

daniel sleeping

Catching a few winks on the couch.

David looked up from his bed, cheeks pink and feverish, and asked if he could stay in bed a little longer. Uh, okay. Not your usual 6 year old behavior. Sarah and Rachel were also sick.

rachel

Rachel grabbed a laptop and had her own personal movie time.

Only Joshua and I were free from the flu yuckies. We resigned ourselves to suffering along with the others in an afternoon movie break. Nothing like watching High School Musical to cheer you up – all those fun songs.

I did some reading with Sarah and David and then let them watch another movie. I don’t want to think about how many movies they watched during their sick days.

movie trio

Tim is sick himself so he’s HIGHLY sympathetic to the children’s woes and moans. He keeps telling me to take good care of them and bring them medicine and let them watch movies and play games. Nothing like feeling a bit ill yourself to increase your compassion.

I finally left the sick house and went to the Y for a workout. Sometimes a girl needs to know when to jump ship. Since everyone was ill (except for Joshua, who is old enough to fend for himself) there wasn’t a strong call for dinner. When I returned, it didn’t look like the children had budged from their movie viewing spots. I made myself a salad and handed out medicine according to age, size and symptom.

Tim says the flu is a good way to jump start a diet. I’m not sure that’s a diet I would particularly recommend, but he’s obviously trying to look on the bright side. Friends tell me the flu lasted 4 or 5 days in their house. Hmmm, when you have 7 people and the cases of flu are staggered out, overlapping here and there, how long does that mean we’ll be sick??

Kathy

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P365 – Day 73 (Sarah & the dolls)

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I came home this afternoon to find Sarah happily playing on the dining room floor. She had doll clothes spread everywhere and at least three dolls positioned in a circle near her.

sarah's dolls

My immediate reaction was to feel so proud of Rachel. Strange, I know, since it was Sarah on the floor playing. I do confuse the children (especially when I’m calling them – “David, Daniel, Schmedlap, whatsyername, get in here!”) but this wasn’t an example of motherly befuddlement. Rachel and Sarah stayed home sick with Tim while the other kids were out and about. I knew that if Sarah had all these dolls around, with Rachel nearby reading her book, it meant that Rachel had given her gracious permission. All but one of the dolls belonged to Rachel.

It is true that Rachel is a bit old to be playing with dolls and dress-up clothes but, sadly enough, she’s not too old to deal with selfishness and the desire to enforce her ‘rights’ of property ownership. I don’t think I’ve met a person who’s “grown out” of that little (or, perhaps not so insignificant) character flaw.

sarah

Rachel is a wonderful big sister to both David and Sarah. She reads to them, helps meet their needs during meals, and is cheerful and silly in play. Still, it is difficult to have a little sister who wants to play with ALL of your toys, almost ALL of the time.

So, if Rachel was reading in Big Blue and Sarah was nearby playing with Rachel’s dolls and her doll clothes, this was a beautiful moment of sisterly love. I was so proud to recognize some real maturity on Rachel’s part, to see her entrust her sister with some of her treasures.

Taking a little license with Proverbs 22:8:

A generous man [SISTER] will himself [HERSELF] be blessed, for he [SHE] shares his food [HER DOLLS] with the poor [LITTLE SISTER].

I’m proud of you, Rachel, for being kind and generous with Sarah today!

Kathy/Mom

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