Fri 10 Jun 2005
Family Life
Archived Posts from this Category
Mon 20 Jun 2005
Friday the phone rang. Dh answered. It was our local newspaper. Did we have 10 children? No, only 9. Could they interview us for a Meet the Neighbors feature? I guess. So tonight at 6:30 we will be interviewed. This is what comes from talking to too many people at baseball games. I have been depressed about it all weekend. My dh has had a better attitude. Let’s use this as an opportunity to bring glory to God.
The real issue for me is people’s expectations. I feel like Mrs Gilbreth in Cheaper by the Dozen when she was going to be interviewed as an effiency expert and their home wasn’t efficient at all; they spent all day moving furniture and appliances. Truth be told we are much more like the Benjamin Bunny family, “cheerful and improvident.” I have always loved the Benjamin Bunny family. After all there were always lettuces to be found. But I am not sure cheerful and improvident is what the newspaper is looking for.
I am afraid they are hoping to find matching outfits and violins. The last time I did matching outfits was Easter morning right after my 7th child was born. They all wore yellow shirts to church. The lady behind us said, “Look at all the yellow duckies,” in a tone of voice so sickening that one look from my older boys and I knew we had reached the end of an era. There comes a time when a man has to take a stand. Even a 3 year old resents being called a yellow ducky.
Once a woman came up to me and said,” And you make all of their clothes, too. You are amazing.” I never so much as made a hanky. Or how about the garden thing. “You have a large family? You must have a huge garden!!” Do flowers count?
So I guess this is a prayer request. Please pray for us this evening and perhaps all day as we move furniture and look for matching shirts.
Mon 4 Jul 2005
Christopher is home and seems to be just fine. One funny story: As we were leaving for the emergency room on Saturday afternoon, I told Christopher to grab a book and I also grabbed a book. I picked something I had already read that would be light reading but not demand too much concentration…so did Christopher. As we sat down in the ER we each picked up our books to read. Without thinking I had picked up Dorothy Sayers’s Have His Carcase and Christopher had picked out Piet Prins’s The Grim Reaper. Not exactly encouraging ER titles.
Thu 14 Jul 2005
Tonight I wasn’t going to blog. I was going to sit on the porch swing and contemplate. I was going to do that in the dark.
I started out the front door. Looking down I saw something moving under my feet between the storm door and the house door. I turned on the light. It was a little baby bird. Nathaniel helped it fly away while I continued my trek to the swing with the light now on. Nathaniel turned toward me and said in a terrifying voice, “MAMA! MAMA! That is why the bird was behind the door.” He was pointing behind my head. There on the fern, where the birds nest, right above the swing, was a huge snake with several little bumps in his belly…those poor little birds.
We ran in the house to observe the deadly viper from the window. At first glance we decided he was at least 10 feet long and definitely poisonous. The boys each went for a weapon of choice and I went for my dh who was sleeping. The boys arrived at the door with shovels, rakes, knives and shotgun. The snake was probably named Quasimodo or Frankenstein (pronounced Frahnkensteen). My husband arrived in time to tell us the deadly viper wasn’t deadly…just a rat snake. I voted to let him live…the snake that is, because I hate mice and rat snakes love mice…if you know what I mean. But then again the viper had several baby birds in his belly so he had to die. Plus it would have been impossible to keep the hunters from the hunted. They live for such moments and they had watched Braveheart a couple of days ago.
One boy grabbed the snake with the rake while the other boy was supposed to chop off his head with the shovel. Chopping boy said, “I don’t like chopping off their heads. I want to shoot him.” My dh said he could shoot him after he chopped off his head. Chopping boy still didn’t like his job. So dh did the chopping. That man is soooo scriptural. He bruised that varmints head. Then the boys ran out and blasted the creature into hyperspace.
After that I carefully explained to Emily and Benjamin that they could sleep in peace. There would not be a big snake under their bed or on their ceiling or under their covers. They could walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night free from fear 
They refused to be comforted ??? Do you think it has a mate?
Mon 18 Jul 2005
Little boy kneels at the foot of the bed
droops on little hands, little gold head..
Wynken, Blynken and Nod one night sailed off in wooden shoe…
James, James, Morrison, Morrison, Weatherby, George Dupree….
The sun did not shine it was too wet to play…
Once upon a time their were four little rabbits Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and…
Christopher Robin has wheezles and sneezles they bundled him into his bed…
In the great green room…
Clam chowder for lunch!!!!
In all of France there was no mouse more beloved than Anatole…
It was very early Christmas morning, and in the stillness of the dawn, with the soft snow falling on the housetops, a little child was…
Little Black you are the best pony in the whole world….
Listen my children and you shall here of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…
I never really knew Father very well until we moved to the ranch…
Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents…
They tell us, Sir, that we are weak unable to cope with so formiable an adversary…
Marley was dead; dead as a doornail…
Where is he that wishes so? My cousin Westmorland?…. If we are marked to die we are enow….
“She thought to herself, ‘This is now.’
‘She was glad that the cosy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.’”
Happy 21st Birthday, Timothy !!
The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make his face shine upon you
And give you peace
And give you peace
And give you peace forever…….
Sat 6 Aug 2005
I guess you could say my blog is escapist for me. I mean if it really reflected what was being talked about in our home it would be full of Braves, Reds, Rafael Palmiero, Manny-Be-Manny, Andruw Jones, Fantasy stats, Tennis ball ( family-made game) results and country music. As you can imagine my life can get pretty boring sometimes. And sometimes I look at someone asking me if I heard what Andruw hit today and I say, “Yes, please don’t tell me again.”
I suppose arguing baseball stats every morning is great logic training and only natural in a houseful of testosterone. But no one can really blame me if I find solace in blogging even though I really think blogging is a inane pastime and if I didn’t do it myself I would consider it the height of silliness. Still it is not nearly as mind-numbing as listening to Manny Ramirez speak. Or for some real excitement Google the guy and read the quotes. Now that’s more fun than a barrel of blogs.
Wed 7 Sep 2005
I am in the midst of teaching my 8th child to read. Andrew is doing very well but he has the annoying habit of reading a word from a list and then saying,” Oh, I know what that means,” and then he uses it in a sentence. I say annoying because today we had a long list of words to go through and he agonized over a sentence for each word. I say annoying , because after teaching 8 children, phonics can get a little boring. The good news is that it can also provide a few laughs.
Andrew has a habit of saying, “I am a bear of little brain.” This is not an admission of ignorance on his part but something he just loves to say. Today when he had the word B-A-R-E, I thought for sure he would say something about being a B-E-A-R of little brain but instead he said, ” I know, Like, I can’t BARE that.” Oh, well.
But the funniest line today came while reading W-O-M-A-N. Andrew read the word and said, “Like, Wo Man you have big muscles.” I started laughing and said, ” No, Silly, it’s like, ‘I am a woman.’”
“Oh,” Andrew replied, ” I am a bear of little brain.”
Speaking of bears-of-little-brains, I was sad to see that Bob Denver had died. He had such a friendly face. I don’t think our children have ever seen Gilligan’s Island but they know about Gilligan because every once in a while, Tim or I will call one of them Gilligan. Usually after we have given a long explanation and they condense it down to the barest neccessity.
Fri 23 Sep 2005
Just to prove it isn’t all boys & baseball….
Since we only have 1 little girl, we sure are glad she is Emily!!
Fri 23 Sep 2005
Just to prove it isn’t all boys & baseball….
Since we only have 1 little girl, we sure are glad she is Emily!!
Thu 6 Oct 2005
I am in the midst of writing my post on Nathan Bedford Forrest, but I want to get a few facts straight before I publish it.
In the meantime I thought I would share a few odds and ends of things going right around here.
1. I have a new form of discipline for my older boys. It is working out wonderfully. I am not oppposed to using the “s” word on the boys but this is a much better punishment. It works especially well for the subtle forms of rebellion like talking back, reacting slowly etc. They actually began this on their own and I am not too sure they were happy I grabbed the idea. It is just this, “drop and do 20,” or 10 or whatever. If they argue the number increases. It establishes authority and works out aggression. I was telling the father of a little baby boy about this the other day and now he can hardly wait for his son to grow up. BTW, the number refers to push-ups but you could change the exercise accordingly.
2. My dh, Tim, as many of you know, works long hours. This was wrecking havoc on our evening devotions. Finally Tim asked the 3 older boys to rotate giving the devotions for a while. That way he doesn’t just wing it or skip it. James, Nathaniel and Christopher have done such a wonderful job of preparing and presenting, we wonder why we didn’t think of this sooner. The Holy Spirit has used their words to convict and encourage Tim and I in several key areas.