Gotta love Fridays -- McDonalds Happy Meals and library movie night, no "hurry up and get to bed so you can get up early for school" night. I actually picked out movies the kids LIKED this time. They ate every bite of their food and were QUIETLY watching the movies. That's always a nice surprise.
Seth is SUCH a good little guy. He didn't sleep well last night, but still had to wake up pretty early to get Joel, Makenzie, and Luke to school (I drove them since Jason was in Bethel) and then go to his ENT appointment (his ears are all clear -- praise God!). Then we ran home just long enough for me to use the restroom and switch the laundry before going to the school for Luke's lunch and for work. Seth wouldn't take a nap, so we went to the library (I think I left my card there, though). So this was a pretty busy day, but now it's over -- time to read a little and go to sleep, looking forward to coffee for me and doughnuts for the kids in the morning :-)
I'm so sick of headaches!!!! That's complaining, but they HURT! And it's hard to think clearly and get everything done when my head hurts. I am thankful that they're not so bad that I'm bedridden or nauseated, though. It could always be worse, I guess.
Today was a kindergarten field trip to Arctic Oasis, an indoor play yard. It went very well. Everyone behaved nicely and had fun. I had to take Seth, so I didn't get to give Luke all my attention or help the teachers really at all. But there wasn't much that needed to be done since the kids could run around and play on almost everything. One of the activities was mini golf, and I thought (there's the key word, really) that it would be fun for Luke and me to play together -- by the rules for the most part. Well, that didn't work out so well. We played about seven holes without too much cheating, but then he just went on playing by kindergartener rules. After lunch, he decided he wanted to play mini golf again. "But this time, I think I won't organize it. So I don't want you to play, Mom." I had to laugh -- yes, I'm a play-by-the-rules kind of person when it comes to games. Luke didn't feel like dealing with that again. Riding a bus with a headache isn't the most pleasant experience, but we made it through and had a relatively enjoyable time.
Today, I'm thankful for my children. I'm thankful for them every day, but especially on days like today. Sometimes life is just a little too much to handle, and (being an emotional person) I generally end up crying -- today kneeling down between my van and someone else's truck in the parking lot of the library, but usually in less conspicuous places. Seth is only three, but he's a REAL charmer. The adorable little guy reached up from his stroller to give me a hug. No matter how overwhelming difficult parts of life can be, children are still children and need someone to take care of them. That's quite a stabilizer for a crybaby like me. They're a reminder that I can't live in the pool of pain, I have to take those library books back, do the laundry, get to the appointment on time (well, almost on time -- I had to stop by Radio Espresso and get an eggnog latte, a necessity today). They give love and hugs and kisses freely and look to me for almost every need and desire that they have. While that's quite a responsibility, I'm SO thankful for it! Some people might call it some kind of inappropriate defense mechanism, but I call it salvation from insanity.
Seth wouldn't let me take his picture -- not a picture of his face, anyway. Luke was a much more willing model. He looked so cute doing his "homework" at the table, chewing on that sucker! This child has amazed me this year. I always knew that Joel was smart and pretty well-behaved. I knew that Makenzie was very well-behaved, but I didn't know how smart she was until she started school. But Luke has been a real shocker! He's relatively well-behaved and VERY smart! I was prepared for average, which would have been absolutely fine with me. I was not prepared for a little genius. I guess it IS only kindergarten, and he mostly just has to color and walk in a straight line, but WHO KNEW that LUKE would be able to ace everything? I'm both impressed and thankful! My kids also impress me with their ability to play cards and board games. Today I played two different card games with Makenzie. She's really pretty good! All three of them are good for their ages. Of course, they're better at some games than they are at others; but it's quite enjoyable most of the time to play games with them :-)
I was planning on NOT reading through the Bible again right away, but I changed my mind. I read through the KJV, and now I've started on the NKJV. They're basically the same except the newer version has changed the archaic language (such as "thee," "thou," etc.) to more modern usage. That makes it a little less poetic, but easier to read and understand. There are quite a few words in the KJV that have changed meaning since the 1600's, I guess. My original plan was to read through it, then go through it again with the Strong's Concordance handy to look up any words that I thought might mean something different from what it seemed. If I get to live a long life, I'll get to that eventually, I'm sure. So now I'm trying to do a two-step Bible reading. I read a suggested passage and a "devotional" page from my NIV Women's Devotional Bible in the mornings and a chapter from the NKJV in the evening, highlighting the green and orange like before. I'm also writing down what I learn in a morning notebook and evening index cards. This is something I've tried before, but always failed. I'm "try, try, try-" ing again. It's always exciting to start a new project, but it's even more rewarding to actually stick with it to the end.
I always thought that I'd be able to appreciate Alaska forever. I'm afraid that Jason was right when he said that everyone complains about the weather sometime. It's only November, and we have super-frosty trees. If I remember correctly, that doesn't usually happen until about the end of January. So does this mean we're going to have an even colder, snowier winter than normal? That's a depressing thought. I'm not the best driver in normal conditions. Let's not even discuss my abilities (or lack thereof) on snowy/icy roads. Then there's the sun that seems to always be stationed right below the sun visor of the van so that it's right in my eyes, blinding me and starting a good headache (not good points adding to my already not-so-good driving). It really is best for me to just stay in the house until winter is over, but that's not possible. So I have to pray and trust that other people are better drivers than I am and that God will somehow protect me. Then there's the messiness that winter brings into my miniature entryway, causing me to freeze my poor little children because they MUST remove their shoes outside and THEN step into the house so that I don't have to get out the dustbuster and Clorox wipes every time we come into the house. And then there's also the extra time and toting of coats and shoes. But none of this is following Preacher's "complaining fast," is it? I can't change the weather, and I don't feel like moving, so I'll praise God for the beauty of winter, the safety that He provides, the warm house and good winter clothes that we have, and the hope that winter doesn't last forever.
Joel got to spend the afternoon with Dad at two different Carrs stores keeping him company, eating, drinking a mocha (which he didn't like but drank it all anyway -- that's our "tightwad" parenting coming through!), and reading. Luke wanted to go, too, of course, so that he could have hot chocolate. I told him we'd have hot chocolate with whipped cream just like at Carrs if he wouldn't throw a fit about not getting to be with Dad. He agreed, so I made hot chocolate with eggnog and whipped cream (yumm!) for Luke and Makenzie and coffee with eggnog for me. The only problem with mine was that I used instant coffee. I usually get coffee beans from Costco (the cheapest ones) to make lattes. When we were at Costco yesterday, though, I accidentally got regular instead of decaf. So this morning when I went to Carrs to get the whipped cream (and an eggnog latte, of course), I also got coffee (not enough time to go back to Costco until I'm not sure when). I thought I'd try instant coffee -- much easier than brewing. But it didn't taste good at ALL! I'm sure I didn't put the right amount in, so I'll have to keep trying on that.
Why no caffeine? I seem to be prone to migraines, and I got SICK of being sick all the time so I read a book about stopping headaches. It was written by a neurologist who wrote that everyone has a headache level. Many different things can stack up to reach or exceed that level (stress, weather, different foods, and caffeine). His advice was to eliminate any of those things that stack up that I possibly can. I can't really eliminate the stress (I love my kids -- I don't want to eliminate them :-) or the weather, but there was a huge list of foods that can trigger headaches (citrus, msg, nuts, nitrates/nitrites . . .). His first advice, though, was to cut out caffeine. This surprised me because the migraine pills are made up of caffeine, aspirin, and acetaminophen. So why would I want to cut out the caffeine? Because caffeine stops a headache by constricting the swollen blood vessels in the head. When it wears off, those blood vessels swell back up, sometimes causing a worse headache than before. This was probably why I was getting headaches so often and why they kept getting worse. I haven't had caffeine (at least, not much) for several months now. I have little headaches, but nothing so horrible that I can't function. Praise God (and the neurologist author) for that!
Here's my first attempt at making pie since taking that pie-making class a few weeks ago. It LOOKS perfect, I think. The boys didn't like the taste of the crust, though. So I'll have to use a different recipe for the crust. And I did cheat and use canned pie filling. But my mom sent me pie filling recipes, so I'll be working on that next time.
We got a LOT accomplished today! After my GREAT time of Bible reading this morning, I made a list of things that I wanted to get done today. The kids and I did every single thing on the list plus some more things. There weren't too many horrible fights today, either. This turned out to be a really good day.
It took me about three years, but I finally finished reading the entire Bible. I'm SO excited about this project! Someone challenged me to start at the beginning and read all the way to the end, looking for God. Who is He? How does He work? What does He love? What does He hate? What is He like? Everything that gave me any information about God, I highlighted with an orange pencil. When I got to the New Testament, I highlighted all of the "Christian directions" in green (as well as continuing with the orange). And what did I learn? I learned that being raised in church was a BLESSING! I knew who God was -- this reading didn't really reveal any new information, but it confirmed what I had learned all along. God is good, righteous, merciful, sovereign; He is light and love; and He is also the Judge. The main thing that I learned in this project was that books of the Bible that I had previously thought "not for me" (such as Leviticus), DO have a lot to say about God. The Old Testament, especially, surprised me with how much foundational information is written between the laws and history. Revelation was another book that surprised me. I always thought that it was just a book of symbolism that we could try to figure out and make guesses about the true meaning, but never really understand completely until it actually happened. WRONG! There is SO much in that book about God! It is a book of prophecy, but all of the "orange" words made me keep reading until I finished all 22 chapters in only two days (my brain usually can only handle a couple chapters at most from the Bible because of the wording and the deep content, plus -- I have to be honest -- it's not a novel, so I have a hard time concentrating). So now I am taking a break from straight reading and getting out some "devotional" books that I've had for awhile. I don't think I can even explain in words what reading God's Word in its entirety -- and especially what reading Revelation yesterday and this morning -- have done for my heart and mind. Jehovah is God, the only true God, the sovereign Judge, the loving Father. Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God and really is alive and interceding for ME and is THE example of righteousness. The Holy Spirit is leading me through this life with all its challenges and blessings. MY NAME is written in the Lamb's book of Life, and I WON'T be cast into the lake of fire. What a GREAT time to get to this -- right at Thanksgiving time. I am THANKFUL that God allowed human beings the privilege of knowing so very much about Him!
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