The Bad, The Ugly and The Good

 If you've read my blog posts very much at all, you will sense that I love to capture the delightful, funny, sweet and wonderful. I feel that over the years this has helped me to see the magic and beauty that is in my life.  I had something happen this morning that reminded me that sometimes this has had to be a choice.  

It was early, early morning when I heard a cat yeowling.  "Great," I thought.  "Our cat that just had babies is in heat already!  We need to get her fixed." And then I drifted off back to sleep on the couch by my sleeping baby.

What seemed like moments later, there was a loud cat screech followed by what sounded like animals tumbling across our front porch.  There were subsequent screeches and tumblings that moved progressively away from the house and into the neighboring woods.   Both Quinn and I were up and alert and went out (courtesy of Hyrum's powerful flashlight) to see what we could see.  But all that we could see (...but all that we could see...thanks, "Bear Went Over the Mountain" refrain!) was nothing.  And we heard nothing.

As we walked back to the house, checking on various animals to see any possible impact, I remembered our first cat that we adopted.  Xavia.  Perhaps she's gone feral? I wondered, which spurred further thoughts.

What do you do with a feral cat? Maybe I could get the kids to go out an hunt and shoot her.

Perhaps she is the one that killed our rooster and taken away the missing chicken and not our dogs?

Anyway, life is not always as perfect as it seems, I guess :D.

We are down three chickens and one guinea fowl from a month ago.

My three year old has just recently started wetting the bed. We gave her back her binki (that we recently weaned her of') but she still awoke wet this morning.  Now I have two bed wetters.  Fun.

I purchased a bed-wetting kit a few months ago but decided I couldn't get up for a baby at night and for the beeping of a bedwetter.

The aforementioned baby is still not sleeping more than two to three hours at a time until after 4 or 5 am...and sometimes even less.

The garden on our slope is slowly eroding away but hopefully will stay there at least until harvest.  My spontaneously engineered plan apparently should have taken into account our heavy rainfall, lol.

Our dogs were caught "red-handed" riling up our chickens two days ago after being caught with our dead, wingless rooster two days before that.  We're not sure if something else killed the rooster and they were just playing with the carcass or if it was them.  Time for a trail cam?  Just another thing and another expense.  For now, they just take turns roaming free with our chickens, which our hound dog definitely doesn't like.  Kujo feels he should be everywhere with everyone and I get a little tired of the barking.  Trained?  As much as I'm going to do.  For now, at least they sometimes respond to bacon.

Quinn spent 12 hours over three days driving Kel and Réka to the airport three separate times to get them on their way back to Hungary. For various reasons--all including ineptness, lack of training and general culpability on the part of United Airlines--they weren't able to fly out the first two times and Quinn had to head back to pick them up from the airport after almost making it home after the 1 1/2 hour one way drive to the airport.  Incorrectly entered numbers on the boarding pass, falsely saying the COVID test had to be within 3 days and then actually having a 48 hour policy (which only happened because of the first incompetence), and finally not reissuing tickets for all of them the third time caused such grief and delays. And it was over poor Réka's birthday, no less! 

And now our air-conditioning is out.

And our house in Medina still hasn't sold.

But enough of grousing!  There are so many blessings!

We got to have Kel and Réka here with my little grandson for over two weeks thanks to that incompetence and we got to celebrate her birthday together and give the little tyke his first hair trim.

The other chickens are all healthy and hale, running excitedly up to greet me whenever I go out, the little dears.  Our guinea fowl are getting uglier and noisier right on schedule and Drew and Hyrum have taken them on as their responsibility without complaint.

Quinn is now here full-time with no more weekly trips to Medina!  He has also been able to use his expertise to help my parents move into the house next door to us, which has been so wonderful.

Lily and Hyrum had a few weeks off of Wendy's and just started back today. Because of their time there, they have priority in the scheduling, which is wonderful.

Hyrum, Piper, Havala, Maia and I are all performing in "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" which is being presented this weekend in Pomeroy OH with a little theater company named Wolfe Mountain Entertainment.  Maia is a wood nymphy and leopard, Havala the Unicorn, Piper the White Witch and Hyrum is Peter. (Yes, that means Piper and Hyrum get to battle each other and they love it.) Oh, and I'm Father Christmas. I'm the only adult in a children's play.  Tried to beg out of that one but he said he wanted to keep me in because they were running short on parts.  It has been great to be there with them and be involved in a play that I am not in charge of too :D.

The way I got Liesl to stop using the binki was to snuggle her to sleep at night.  Sooooo sweet. 

So while there are definitely things to look at to complain about, I find it doesn't do much good in the long run...and is a lot less fun to write about. My kids love reading this, too, and come away happier, I believe, also being led to see the good that outweighs the bad most of the time.  And only if we really choose to look at it that way.

Animals, Babies, Selling Houses and Miracles

 At the risk of being perhaps a little too personal, I am going to cut and paste my most recent journaling, which includes much about pets, children, houses and miracles.  Enjoy and please read without judgment ;D.

May 31, 2021

Yesterday we went to an open house for a young man in our ward who is heading out to a mission and then BYU afterward. The family is really nice. No one was wearing masks, which was so refreshing to see everyone's faces. At church we still are wearing masks, which I respect the need for. Next Sunday we will have our first second hour meetings together since before COVID. I am excited.

As a family, we are shutting off our wifi except for intentional use. We are trying to create an environment for healthy defaults for the kids. Last Saturday, after the Georgia family left, we spent the day playing games and relaxing and enjoying each other. It felt really good. The oldest kids only watched one episode at the end of the day. We laughed and played together. So bueno!

The Georgia family came to stop over for a visit on their way home from visiting other places. It was great! We got the house super clean and organized and that also meant finishing up my book case for scrapbooks in my room (made out of only five purchased boards and the rest scraps!). I filled them with scrapbooks and journals and it looks so amazing!!! I love coming into my room and seeing kids sitting in our padded rocking chair and looking through the scrapbooks with whimsical smiles on their faces. Family history in every aspect is so rewarding! Next step, hang up all the pictures I have in the house somewhere :D.

I am working on finding joy in the moment and not feeling driven by lists.

I have realized that it is still okay to have lists and projects and dreams, though.

I am also working on having “charity” be my default...the directive of everything I do. It is powerful! Today I am working on “thinking no evil.”

I am also excited to plan my trip for having ALL MY CHILDREN ON EARTH together :D!!! Less than a month!!

June 7, 2021

Wow! What a busy week. Today I am just going to capture a little bit.

This week we got guinea fowl keets. Because my phone and I are frequent strangers, I have not pictures but you can Google them: big, ugly and loud.

And they eat ticks by the pound.

So I ordered guinea fowl.

Apparently, they are flock creatures so you can't order them in quantities less than 15. Most places required 25 but yikes! We'll start with 15. Like I said, they are noisy.

And right now? They are absolutely adorable.

Just imagine picking up tiny beaks and legs combined with soft fluffy air with less mass than a cotton ball.

I reached in to the box they came in last Friday morning to get them out and put them in the lovely new home we had just completed for them moments before (no time like the present, eh?). I could feel tiny faint scratching limbs and then soft fluffy weightlessness. I gently closed my grasp to a ball and lifted. In it was a tiny baby. Crazy! And super cute.

Later that day, Maia and Piper chanced upon the coop when all the little fluff mites had made it out of their enclosure---apparently they are tiny enough to squeeze through the holes of chicken wire with not much fuss. The keets were all over the inside of the coop so they corralled them back inside. However, one was missing as evident by the next incident: two chickens were desperately trying to escape the chicken yard through an opening and upon investigations, Piper and Maia discovered a small pullet behind them, honking loudly and terrifying the much larger hens. Hilarious!

I have to share a miracle about this experience: I felt compelled to start the day early, at 6:30 am.  While not being early for me personally, I don't like to force the kids to get up to work with me then.  However, I kept feeling driven to insist upon it, so I told them I would get up at 6:30 but needed them all up by 7--Lily and Hava to help with breakfast and birthday set-up and Drew, Hyrum and Piper out helping me get the guinea fowl area ready.  I anticipated getting the guineas in the afternoon like I had the chicks so felt there was plenty of time later...but kept feeling like I needed to insist on early prep.

Well, the morning rolled around and I forced myself out of bed around 6:20 am, remembering I had told everyone else they had to be up soon.  I had experienced a rough night with Penelope but...here we go!  I grabbed my cell phone (with whom I am frequently a stranger) per inspiration insistence (recognized in hindsight) and after prepping the breakfast with waffle batter, headed out. I had felt driven to prep the tools and supplies we would need for the pullet enclosure the night before so most of it was ready to be taken out to the coop where we were building it. 

The phone rang a little after 7 am. "Ma'am, your keets are in."  Miracle number one--I actually had my phone with me and working when they called. Miracle number two--because we were up and everything was in place, we had just enough time to build the keet enclosure before they got there.  They require a 95 degree temp to keep them alive at first, which requires heating lamps and somewhere to experience those heating lamps.  

It was truly miraculous.

June 12, 2021

Another busy week has flown by.

Apparently, both of our dogs have Lyme's disease so they are going to start antibiotics after I capture a urine sample from my dog Kujo (??right??).

Penelope is pulling herself up on furniture right now, progressively figuratively following in the footsteps of her nephew, Akos. (Soon to be literally! They are visiting in two weeks!!) Unfortunately, her mobility led her to bruise her cheek on an end table by our bed and it is super sad to see the cut and bruise on her sweet pudgy cheeks. She is still as adorably sweet as ever, smiling and enjoying her life so much—interspersed with occasional frustration at not being changed, fed and adored as much as she may feel necessary, little darling. The last few days, she has been particularly insistent on being near me, content to play near me or in my lap while I work on something else or help another child.

I feel myself waxing eloquent after reading excerpts from a collection of Jane Austen biographies. Sigh. Perhaps I should scale it back a wee bit ;P.

Xai is excited to go to a Primary young boys activity. I am excited to use that as an opporunity to fulfill the last steps of a miracle...

I have felt for some time to make Drew's room a real room. It is one of those “pushings” from heaven that I have learned to recognize. I also recently reviewed President Nelson's talk about believing in and seeking for miracles. It all came together yesterday.

The next step in his room is to secure two more mattresses to make the room's bedding complete. We used to have viable bunk beds in there, but as Drew sleeps on the floor as his preferred space, I had him move the bunk beds to the other room for a visiting family to use. His room has become more and more an extension of the storage room, with box springs and bedding frames stacked about. Buying mattresses right now seems like an extra expense, not desirable on top of Quinn switching jobs from NY to Ohio and all the expenses we have had for upcoming vacations, building our chicken “palace”/coop at the height of lumber prices and finishing up our Medina home to get it on the market.

Feeling prompted to buy more mattresses I looked online and found nice mattresses on sale at a location over an hour away. However, I would be passing that way en route to taking Xai to his activity.

Now, for the money.

I didn't feel right asking Quinn. So I asked God. “Please let me know about or find any stash of money that may be about so that I can purchase the mattresses not using funds that we are currently delegating every other direction. I really don't want to stress Quinn out. Please help me if possible, but if not, no worries. I trust You.”

Enter miracle number one.

Hyrum came up to me after using our old laptop for some “random” reason and held out a roll of bills. “Here, Mom. I found this in the laptop and it is probably yours.” (No one else in our house loses $100 without noticing...the kids are always paying me back for random expenses on Amazon and I frequently stash the bills somewhere that I am “sure” to remember later!)

I felt driven a day later to organize my bookshelves downstairs. We had recently purchased two more on sale (only $35 each, yay!) and had emptied the storeroom of the extra book boxes...so it all matched up to happen soon. I started yesterday and upon clearing off a top shelf, I found the money from our plays that people had paid me that I thought I had already deposited. And—witness the miracle—it was just over the amount I needed for the two mattresses. Amazing.

As we say in our house, “God is good...” “...all the time...” “...and all the time...” “....God is good.” (From “God's Not Dead” the movie.) Truer words were never spoken.

Another miracle: this week I went to Medina with Lily, Hyrum, Xai, Eli, Liesl and Penelope.  We were there for less than two days and were able to get our house there pretty much ready for market--adding flowers and mulch to the flower beds, painting trim, mowing and trimming the lawn (thanks to superhero Hyrum) and still have the little ones be mostly happy (thanks to superhero Lily).  Quinn added the final shutters and grow boxes and I had fun filling them with fake flowers.  I felt guided and not frantic, with a prayer in my heart.  The only disappointment was that I wasn't able to get my kids back for their church youth activity this week--I hate making decisions that make them sad or suffer at all.  I need to learn how to better deal with that but until then, I will get a little grumpy and my heart will hurt a little whenever I need to make those decisions.

Maia hurt her foot this week...bruising it pretty severely.  She has been rocking it on crutches, though making her keep the foot elevated and iced has been a challenge.  We have "Family Camp" next week so hopefully she can keep it happy until then!

Eli has drifted from "sweet momma's boy" to "belligerent feisty man" in his transition from five to six years old. I am always amazed at how much Skousen's "So You Want To Raise A Boy" nails the stages of boys on the head!  He just needs a good wrestle, tickle-session, or battle of some sort every day.  Several times.  Enter Hyrum, Drew and Daddy....invaluable.

Liesl calls me and everyone else "stupid" at least a hundred times per day.  Quinn tried to help her transition to "stupendous" but she didn't buy that.

Speaking of Quinn, he is currently still in Medina longer than his usual three days a week. Even though I saw glimpses of him earlier this week, I miss him excruciatingly.  The house, however, is now officially on the market so he is trying to get it under contract asap with the hot and hopping market in Medina right now. My prayers and heart are with him...I miss that man.

Xai is still doing so well at trying to do what is right. I love conversations with him about making good choices. He really thinks clearly about things. Unforunately, that means when others don't think clearly or want to make negative decisions he is not very sympathetic. He, Drew and Piper are so much alike in this regard! And maybe a little me.

I think the dogs may turn out to not me chicken killers after all. We haven't lost one yet, miraculously, but will still keep them in our prayers and keep actively training and observing them. While I got “extra” chickens for the express purpose of “just in case,” I still don't want to lose any of my silly feathered darlings.

Havala and Piper had a great time staying home this week taking care of animals while we were in Medina. It is fun to see their friendship grow! Last night I was touched to listen to Havala play the accompaniment to a song called “Footsteps” while her sisters sang along. I am so grateful that I still have children in the home that I get to watch grow and unfold in their talents. Being a mom is so rewarding.

I am still amazed on occasion walking through our woods at the beauty we have here.  While there is thick humidity at times and more bugs than I am used to, I guess that is to be expected to have such green and to be in such  "camping" type place.  I love watching Penelope outside.  She is almost always looking up at the sky, watching the light filter through the branches in wonder.  So sweet. I love having little ones around me to help me remember to find wonder in the world around me.

Here's an excerpt from a Messenger conversation with Tova, after she shared some Jane Austen biographies and other documents:

I loved this one so much! What depth and perspective it gave into her writings and life. and from so many people's view. Loved it! Right now I am going downstairs to organize my bookshelves. I need a little time to myself...I think this is the only time I am going to get it, as I love my darlings during the day and want to spend it enjoying them . Love you! Thanks for the delicious opportunity to hear from you yesterday! My phone is struggling to recover from its encounter with baby slobber so I may not be able to communicate much in the near future, save for this medium, but I must confess that reading those biographies have inspired me to wax eloquent in my written communication with you, most darling Tova . LOVE YOU!!!

I felt a little overwhelmed with the projects I feel I need to do and still spending time enjoying my darlings. I prayed for help. Maybe getting up at 4:15 am after a moderately interrupted night's sleep with Penelope is the answer? I just needed some alone time.

I think I will go and organize my bookshelves some more and get Drew's room ready.

Life is truly about doing a great work. And that requires...work, ironically enough :D.

Maia's injury

Front yard in Medina

Penelope loves eating solids!

Eli turned 6 this month! What a great kid!  As part of last week's busy-ness, we had a fun birthday celebration for him, complete with a "treasure hunt" of Dollar Tree items along a curling ribbon path set up by Havala. I love that the kids pitch in their efforts to wrap and hide presents and decorate for birthdays!

We also watched "Raya and the Last Dragon" (enjoyed it), had a delicious waffle, sausage and Orange Julius breakfast by Lily, ate "chicken with a bone" and went swimming at a local pool after buying a summer pass, which we intend to use weekly! Super fun!  The kids love the water and little Penelope is like a tadpole.  I can't wait to see how my grandson does in it in a couple of weeks <3.

Best news ever!!! My parents are closing on a house and are moving next door this summer! I am super excited for the kids to have grandparents living near them after so many years of being at only extended traveling distance.  There has been a lot of ups and downs for them, but having them near will be the fulfillment of a dream I have had for years.  Super excited!

We also will be able to spend time with Quinn's parents this summer, between a reunion and hopefully a visit later.  Coolio!! My kids are super blessed with loving grandparents on both sides and this summer seems like it will be a great time for the kids to bond with them again <3!

Funnies, Play "Louis Pasteur" and Work

 Xai came up to Piper this morning and said, out of the blue, "Did you know that you can't grow apri-cados over here?? You have to grow them where there's always sunshine."

Later..."I wish we lived in Florida."

*****

Yesterday Liesl told me, “I missed my dream so I had to go to sleep again.” I love the little phrases and words she uses! I may have already recorded how she uses the word, “Beezer” for “zipper.” She also refers to plays as “the Act”: “are we going to the Act today, mommy?” or “I need to get my special dress on for the Act!” It was adorable to see how much she and Eli picked up on the choir and acting. After the cut-off of one of our songs, we heard someone still singing in the audience, perfectly on pitch and with all their might...it was Liesl. So cute!! She and Eli know the words to many lines and most of the songs for both groups and loved being a part of it. I think it might be also in part because they get to watch movies almost all the time when I am doing my groups, but it is apparent that they also like feeling a part of it.

By the way, the play “Louis Pasteur” was last week...a musical comedy/encyclopedic wealth of information, but also very fun! I put in a lot of staging, nuances, and changed a few words to make it more humorous and enjoyable. They did amazing! I have never had such a perfect performance and all I did backstage was open and close the curtains and turn lights on and off! The kids came on and off themselves, remembered lines and got into character really well! They slowed down, enunciated. The audience was vocal and outgoing in their feedback, which fed the actors and made them have so much fun! We did visualization exercises beforehand to help them calm down. Overall, just awesome!  Hyrum was Louis Pasteur and had a ton of lines.  Piper played many minor roles: young Louis Pasteur, Greta the bread girl, the two sheep that died.  Hava was the reverend.  Maia was Pasteur's daughter.  Xai was the sheep that lived. Right as we were finishing and getting off of the stage, Xai called out loudly from within his sheep costume, “And just so you know, I'm really a person!”  What a ham. 

That Saturday, we had a stake training planned and I just didn't see how I could get to it with having the play that night. True, all the scenery etc was on the stage already but still...wasn't it just too much. Besides, I had so many home projects that felt pressing. Well, I was super glad I went. I shared some deeply felt testimony and experiences. I was uplifted so much by the sharing by others. Lily came with me and I loved having a day with her! Piper watched Penelope (I paid her) and so it was just Lily and I. She also really enjoyed it and had a little break when I went to my leadership meeting, which was also fantastic. The visiting authority was so incredible...I could have listened to his words of spirituality and counsel all day. He was bold and sensitive at the same time, definitely following the Spirit and definitely heartfelt. I was blessed.

Lily, Hyrum and Maia went with Quinn to Medina this week so we are down a few people. It is amazing how few people eight people feels like when you are used to more! I told Piper and Hava to do their own thing and I would take care of the littles. We have also super cleaned the upstairs, main level and will be working on the downstairs today. Poor Hava. Piper and I love to clean!

I finished my book case for my bedroom!  I am super dooper excited.  Wood is crazy expensive so I used scraps from our other projects and five purchased pieces of shelving to make my 8 foot by 6 foot creation.  It will be for scrapbooks and family history stuff which I haven't had out for about 5 years now.  Soooooo excited!

Yesterday Piper and Havala took Xai, Eli and Liesl on an adventure...that apparently involved a lot of spiders. They also found a toad/frog that Eli loved and loved...until it died. And then he mourned. Poor dear.

Xai finally lost two of his four loose teeth that he has right now. Now the first one loose is still to go, but it is close too. He has that adorable “two missing front teeth” scenario, which I love so much! Last night, he prayed that he would be able to improve in how he spoke since he is having a hard time speaking with his front teeth out. I assured him that his speaking was just temporary and that I was completely enjoying it :D.

Piper came up to me yesterday, excitedly talking about how she was studying the scriptures. She is writing down all the various names of Christ. “Isn't it cool how each name refers so specifically to a role that He has in our lives? Ways that He is able to bless us?” Super cool! She is enjoying her new baby goat, Austin. Right now she is also caring for Gus, Maia's goat that she got to be a companion to Austin. We are still deciding if they are going to be meat goats come next spring. We think it might be fun to get new baby goats every spirng (they are super cute), use them to eat down the forage (we have an invasive wild rose that is taking over and goats love roses!) and then eat them the next year. We'll see. The girls are adjusting to that idea—Piper more readily than Maia, no surprise.

Drew has quit Wendy's for this month before he plans on going on his mission and is now full time working our property. He has enjoyed the first two days but it was pretty hard work. We'll see if the arrangement works for all of us :D. I have raised some pretty strong, independent children and so sometimes sharing the same roof as adults can get a little...tricky. It is nice to have someone work on things that I am not choosing to get to out of different time choices, so at least I am liking it for now :D.

COOP!

 It is so hard to believe that it is May already.

The kids are watching The Chosen, a TV series of Christ and his life. One phrase from last week keeps sticking out to me, “Christ chose you as you are right now. What more do you need to know?” I tell myself this phrase when I feel overwhelmed or inadequate.

Hava, Maia, Piper and Lily did an amazing job super cleaning the house yesterday. Lily and Quinn leveled the base for our chicken coop (quite a project!); Xai and I went grocery shopping and picked up cement; the entire gang helped lift the base of the coop from the barn (where we constructed it on a level surface the day before), loaded it up onto our trailer, lifted it off, attached a base strip and then carried it over to our site. What a day! 

 The girls went in to help make tacos for dinner, while Quinn, Hyrum and Eli helped attached the final two posts beneath it while I caged in an area for the quickly growing chickens to be happy in while they wait for their indestructible palace to be completed :D.