So much has happened since our return home. Larry and Daniel and kids, along with some extra help have leveled, formed, rebared and wired, poured 38 yards of cement, to make a warehouse floor over where our green houses used to be. (38X72) It looks great. Today they installed a little garden of square bamboo in the front two garden areas. With some stone walls and more grading...it will look like a professional business. This was all done among days of rain.
I have had several doctors appointments and two more to go this and next week. Rebecca has had different work hours this week, and swim hours as well. I have an appointment with the school tomorrow for Rebecca and Daniel. 4H also starts this week as well. Raquel and Robert are still learning to read.....really slow progress....but there is progress. Andrew has learned how to count to 12 with fewer mistakes.....and wants to do school but MoM isn't ready yet for that one....so we will wait! We have discovered that Andrew rarely has his mouth closed and can not pronounce or use R in words. Need to make and appointment with a ENT (ear,nose,throat) doc. for Robert tomorrow.
Dad wants to spend the weekend in LaHonda cleaning up houses and working on roofs. I am already tired and we haven't even begun to clean and work. The Pescadero house is empty again....At least we have a place to stay. Need to close for the night. Hope all who read this are either healthy or on their way back to being healthy. Will blog more later.

We are BACK

We are back...A nice long weekend spent learning about bamboo, bamboo shoots (to eat),buying several different species, a play at APU, visiting with Julie, several great meals, some shopping at Target, seeing really awesome gardens at Huntington Garden, and the first rain of the season. So much in a weekend and a few days. I think the kids favorite part was the breakfast of donuts they had each morning of the conference.....not so at home.
Entertainment was abounding with so many small children in tow. While sitting in a BB'Que restaurant the following announcement was made by Robert. I know what I want to be when I grow up - "a restaurant". Yes, but after some lengthy explanation he decided he wanted to be a cook. It took some convincing....after all just months ago he was going to be a "fire truck".
The other fun thing was introducing the small children to a live play...not TV. It had an intermission during which they decided the play was done and it was time to go home after the snacks. Since most could not even say intermission, I am not sure why I thought the would understand what was going on. At least when the cast of the play asked the audience if they had any questions my children did not raise their hand and ask "What was the play about?" Thank God for small blessings. The play was Skin of Your Teeth which is very confusing and philosophical.
Julie is having a great time at school. She is challenged in Bible, loves Computer Graphics, and I think is also really enjoying her Art Intro class. She had several papers to write and turn in and she liked taking Dad and Daniel to the Computer Lab to show them all she is learning. I think she even really liked the choc. mint bunt cake I brought her along with a few other snacks. We met lots of people who she knows and some she hangs out with.
Now we are trying to get back into a routine, but had to fight with the rain and stopped up drains, unload another container, and other fun things that winter brings our way. Thought you might like just an update on our recent vacation/business trip.

Another day has gone......

The weekend is over and for a fact so is Monday. Today we worked with the days of the week with Robert and Anna Raquel.....we will continue to work......yesterday was, today is, tomorrow will be???? They can't figure out where birthday and churchday went to when we listed the days of the week. The minds of young ones....they have their priorities straight.
Went to Target, Longs, and payless today. That little bit of shopping really wore me out. Got two boxes ready to send on Fri. to some kids.....they will have to wait and see who?? So much to do before we leave Wed. night for down South. I get to see Julie....YEAH YEAH. Rebecca is staying home to work, swim, and of course take care of the critters.
Have a meeting with the teacher Tues., awana's and dinner, doc. appointment Wed., bible study here and then we take off. So if I don't post between here and there.....you know a little of what is going on.

Weekends??

The weekend has arrived........I am not sure if it is much different from the week but it is suppose to be "special" something to look forward too. When you make meals, clean house, watch children, reg. daily duties.....they don't just stop because it is the "weekend." Now when you are in school and there are classes and homework and then the "WEEKEND" with none of the afore mentioned items, then, there might be cause for celebration. But, even the dreaded hw slowly filters into weekends when one gets into high school and college. So alas, it is just another day at the end of many other days.
This weekend is slightly different since it follows the all important b'day of the head of the household who, for some reason this year feels he deserves a very long multi-day b'day. Seems he feels that as he gets older he needs more time to celebrate.....to much in one day might cause his some mental or bodily harm. So tonight we have lasagne, garlic bread, corn, swiss chard, and lemon pie and apple pie. He went sailing and had a special breakfast on his "offical birthday". He took all the kids on the boat, overnight....you can ask him about the sailing dingy when you nest talk to him. Maybe not to good idea to tow it with lifejacket, oars,sail, center board. It is amazing what a good sudden wind can do to it!?!? Maybe we can buy him replacements for Christmas.
So I need to go and supervise the party plans...Hope all who read this have a great weekend...no matter what is in store. Same old, same old or something really special.

Getting Old

I have been noticing and make many despairing remarks recently about getting old. I think it is about time to offset some of those awful, true, and sometimes too revealing remarks with some of the benefits of getting old.

1. This is aimed at the college readers.....no more classes, test, and I know what my major is and it doesn't matter that I don't use it! School is of a much different mode when you become the teacher instead of the taught.
2. I can eat choc. or anything I want at anytime and since I pay for most of it I don't even have to share!
3. I can tell the same old story over and over and over again and get by with it cause the first thing to go is the memory. Well it might not be the first to go but it sure is getting shorter.
4. I don't have to do the date thing with strangers and wonder who I am going to spend the rest of my life with. OK almost half of my life is gone and I am with the same old man I married many years ago. There is great comfort in the known and history of being loved.
5. I can eat more choc. and drink diet soda even though they kind of contradict themselves.
6. I can use my age and oldness to not do things that others want me to try....bungy jumping, sailing, golf, moving to China......and the list goes on.
7. I can use the same excuse to try things I want to .....I am not getting any younger, you know.
8. Most of all, I have years of experience that God is in control and that he really does love me!
9. I have ten children, whom I am proud of, and that I cherish and I think or know that they love me.
10. If I can't see it because my eyes aren't the same as they use to be...then I can relax because it wasn't so important anyways.
11. As I look around at friends and family, I can see the roads they have chosen, follow in some of their footsteps, choose to stay away from others, and have some resemblance of being wise.
12. I have learned to laugh at my mistakes and other's mistakes - not at the person doing them.
13. Of course, I can eat more choc. and have another diet soda.
14. I have learned that good health does not make good people....some of the blessing in life is to need people and to be needed by people.
15. Never a day goes by that you can't make a new acquaintance, or change one into a new friend.
16. That a heart of gratitude, goes so much further than any other foul disposition I might be in.
17. That this list can go on and on and on and on and on and on..........as long as I am looking to see the good in life
18. That when this life is over that I will go on and on and on and on because He lives!
Now you won't believe how my heart has changed and my sights about being older not so threatening.....Challenge you.....Add to the list.

Another day of recuperation....lest it be said by anyone...recuperation and recovery is hard work. I know I should love the ability to just say "I can't do that!" but problem is I have been a Mom for way to long to be able to idly sit by and see stuff needing to be done and not jumping in and getting the task out of the way. Today there is teaching school, watching Andrew, preparing silly hats for Awana's, learning the verses, oh yes, Scott drops by with 25 fish (ling cod) to be cleaned and put up for winters use since fishing season is about over....
With all that done and children and husband gone for Tues. night at church (dinner and awanas) what shall I do with my time. Since I smell like the fish I have just vacuum packed for the freezer I think I will start with a warm nice shower with no interruptions! Oh can that be??
The weather here has turned to the cold damp days and so the "heater" is officially on. Even Dad is running around with a coat on. He is busy doing his favorite thing.....reorganizing and building...The last few bays are getting walls, drywall, electric outlets and upgrades, maybe even a bathroom installed....oh how happy he is. He is even looking into getting a warehouse type building over where you pull into our gate....where the old greenhouses were...to move Tony and Symphony into.....we shall see.
Need to close and get clean. Miss you kids a lot.....Hope you are all doing better..in classes, health, friends, and general socialization stuff.

Oct. 1st has come and gone. Fall is here and I am not real sure where summer went to...If anyone out there knows where any extra summer days went to, let me know. Although, I do enjoy the cooler mornings...foggy days (coastal),.....and who am I kiddin???? It's cold and wet here in the winter...it only rains in the winter.....kids are inside more....and the heating bill goes up. There are no color changes in CA unless you count the one summer = brown, winter = green. No great fall leaf colors and gentle changes of weather. But when the sun shines there could be no greater place than the beach.........
Rachel has been in the hospital for several days with a few doctors trying to find out what is causing the stomach pain and irritation.....so far they just have confirmed after a few nasty test, that she has a raw irritated stomach with some bowel inflammation and infection....no cause found yet. Her one question is "What can I do to keep it from hurting like it has??? Let's see what the doc. orders.....
I am now up and active most of the day. Still tired by night (who wouldn't be with 6 active kids at home) and still a little discomfort but am free of the need of pain killers. I am amazed at how touchy I am.....it is so easy to irritate me.....Found out from the doc. when I went this week that I gave them a scare during the operation....stopped breathing...glad they didn't tell me while I was in the hospital...might have scared me. Larry had gone home during part of the 3 1/2 hour surgery so they never told him either. What one does not know......when one is asleep.
Need to go and eat a yummy supper made by Daniel. Chicken and rice and swiss chard from the garden.......