Busy month!

 Buchanan Reunion 2021

We had an amazing reunion with the Buchanans here at our place. It was miraculous that my parents moved in next door just in time to host people there as well. The kids and adults drifted back and forth between our two properties when they wanted to. We played games inside, games outside:

-Minute to Win It—noisy and crazy and Aaron and his team of young girls won, lol!

-Field games inspired by my friend Miss Penny

-Emptied out Opa and Oma's garage of all the burnable stuff and had a giant bonfire taller than my 6 foot 6 inch (?I think?) nephew

-Went to a place to play Combat Archery and outdoor Lasar Tag in a little “course” they had set up...so fun!

-Great music and conversations

-Late night fun (when I wasn't a stickler on being quiet so those who were asleep could sleep :D)

-Swimming at a lake and at the local pool

-Adult/1^st and 2^nd generation dinner at the Purple Chopstix (super yummy, fun place!)

-just basically went with the moment, with a few memorable things scheduled in :D.

It was surprising to us all how relaxed we felt at the end, feeling that someone must have been doing all the work to make it happen but somehow we were all getting a lot more rest than usual! (Probably because the kiddos were always busy playing together really well :D.) Sarah made t-shirts for everyone who wanted them—here and not here—and that was a fun unifying aspect as well.

Kittens

We were delighted to have kittens join our family farm during June. Sadly, the last day of the reunion, one was up under a car and was accidentally run over. The Monday after that, one fell off our elevated front porch and didn't survive the trauma. Two days later the last three just disappeared. We had no idea where they had gone! The younger kids and I went climbing at a local rock area behind Wendy's while Hyrum and Lily worked there. We came down from climbing to find the three little darlings playing under the car Hyrum and Lily had used to drive to work!! Miracle!

We brought them home with much rejoicing!

The next morning we woke up and they were gone. And we haven't seen them since.

There has been a lot of heart ache in our family due to this chain of events. We have five little graves...four with nothing in them since something dug up on of the other ones. Fortunately, a friend of ours has two kittens from a litter that she is giving away and we have learned our lesson. These kittens will be staying in an area in our basement until they are old enough to fend for themselves.

Poor little dears!

Visitors!

We have been blessed to have the Shetkas arrive shortly after the Buchanans left! They are super chill and fun to have around and they plan on staying for a month! We have already been climbing, swimming, gaming, playing, chatting, laughing, eating, cooking, biking and pretty much just enjoying being together. They are in the midst of a wandering lifestyle, visiting many beautiful places around the country as they work online and show their kids some great places. We are grateful that they have made us one of their stops :D.

They have even survived the great millipede infestation of 2021. At first they were cute. Then they were a nuisance. Then they got creepy! One night, we went out and there were hundreds of them outside of our back porch door!

Thanks to some research and some diatemaceous earth we have balance restored but yikes! That sure wasn't a pleasant thing to have to go through for a few days.

Fowls

We are down to 34 chickens but haven't lost one in over a week, so we are hopefully getting more stable. We think that it is our dogs, every time we lose a chicken, the dogs have been off the chain unexpectedly.

Our guinea fowl have been successfully transitioned out to the main coop with the hens and are settling down together. Every once in a while they will venture out to the big scary outside world and boy do we hear it! But the little darlings will soon join their chicken compatriots in debugging the immedate vicinity around our house. Yay for natural pest control!

And, we've gotten a few eggs from the deal :D.

General

-Hyrum has given his two weeks notice at Wendy's. He has a full Fall and has saved up a bunch already. He also just finished up his online driving course at last so we can schedule him for his road driving course so he can get his license. However all the “local” places are booked through January so it might be awhile. He's having fun trying to squish in time with friends.

-Lily is still working there and possibly going to start working for Quinn, who is insanely busy trying to transition and get in a new groove here as a independent appraiser with so much work. She is doing more with her dog, Love, who is almost full grown and not as big as we thought she would be so her parenting is probably a little different than we were told. She is saving up for a huge road trip or trip to Europe and is talking about serving a mission.

-Drew has started writing stories again which I see as a huge sign of improved mental health. His wound that he got from parkour (that required three deep stitches and five superficial ones) is finally starting to heal as is his ankle which we are still not sure if it was broken or not. (He dropped a huge dead log on it while helping clear some old debris with the other kids.)

-Tova and Ben are enjoying Texas together...well, they are enjoying being together anyway! Tova just finished up a semester and is loving her break before fall classes start. Ben is almost up for his one year contract renewal and is looking at options. Tova is writing a play “Remarkable” that I hope to put on next spring.

-Piper is running more and more and is running more and more of the animal portion of our farm :D. She loves her goat, helps a lot with Kujo and training and is our “first one out” every morning to water and let the chickens out of their coop. She loves games, reading and is still an amazing helper. She spent some of yesterday climbing trees.

-Havala is still very musical. She doesn't like bugs so doesn't spend a lot of time outside but is super cute working with the younger kids. She is excited about our choirs and plays this fall, as well as seeing her friends.

The little ones miss their Buchanan cousins but are really enjoying having Olivia and Owen around. It is fun hearing them play around all day! We have played a lot of games but I think we will start settling into more of a school routine the next few days. We are also enjoying swimming—the boys especially are making a lot of progress! Elijah actually passed the swim test and went off the diving board a few times, scaring those watching a bit when he swam the wrong way and when he tried to get the water out of his eyes in a deep section. Crazy six year old kid! Love him so much! He's been pretty feisty lately so not sure what to do about that but endure to the end (or enjoy to the end as Quinn puts it!). Liesl is still pretty obsessed with Penelope. Penelope is loving the “hold my hands and walk me”stage. She also is cautious about edges (so grateful) and crazy about stairs (not so happy). Just the other day, she was found at the top of our second landing outside our patio up a huge flight of wooden stairs. She was just sitting at the top, calling out at the top of her lungs happily. Yikes! Fortunately we have kept the downstair's door closed pretty consistently, with only one scare that I can remember...finding her sitting at the top reaching out for the sparkle lights I have on the wall there. We had fun on a bike ride yesterday and enjoyed sitting in the cool of the library afterward, soaking up books. I am grateful that these particular children are a part of my journey here.

We survived a pretty brutal stomach bug that was apparently going around both our family and the local community. Yikes!  I've not been that sick in so long.  Fortunately we recovered in time to get our COVID vaccine yesterday.  Drew and I had an "engaging" discussion about it on the way in. I've conceded that the pros outweigh the cons for me personally, but I detest the shaming, alarmist, coercive rhetoric that many people use on both sides of the "whether to get vaccinated or not" issue.  No place for it, in my mind, and Drew was touting a comparison that was a little extreme for me.  I must confess it almost made me walk out and not get it but I'm trying to reign in my emotional responses a little more lately :D.

I have finished adapting our Les Mis (non-musical) script that I rented from script licensing agency, 30 pages of awesomenesss. I am enjoying reading about Acton School and the Socratic method of teaching to prep for my classes in the fall. It's going to be an awesome year!

Oozing Love as a Sleep Cure?

 Yup. There the "siren" went again.

After writing and posting something on my Lazarus blog this morning about Penelope's recent sleep miracle, my Penelope started wailing. 5:23 am. She did give me from 10:30-3:00...ish. But I fell asleep while snuggling between Elijah and Liesl in Lily's bed during Quinn's nighttime reading so I got a nap from 9 to 10:30 :D. Sleep. It's over-rated.

Liesl and Eli are doing better at sleeping at night and not having accidents. I kind of had what I think is an epiphany about their sleep habits that might be worth recording.

A few weeks ago...or maybe a month...I was lying awake in-between times Penelope woke me up during the night. As I lay there, I heard her do a sad little sob. It wasn't the typical “I need!” outburst. It felt like a deep emotional sorrow uncharacteristic of one so little. It puzzled me and I started pondering on what would make a tiny soul, “so fresh from God” as Dickens put it, mourn with such gravity.

I felt like the Spirit whispered an impression to me of the many sleepless nights when I was basically going crazy with her. While she was never in any physical danger—or really any kind of danger—I was extemely off balance sometimes and even as I held her in my arms oh so gently, my soul raged. My friend told me once that if you sleep deprive animals that they become similar to rabid animals and I felt it during some of those months. Fortunately I had the humanity to recognize it and be moderate in how I handled my children for the most part, but they could tell that my sanity within was kind of wacky. As could I.

During one of those times, I remember holding Penelope on top of my tummy. It was about 2 am and she was happily awake, gabbing and chatting in her baby language.

And I was done. I remember her looking at me and smiling. Me glaring back at her with so much negative emotion and her cocking her head and looking puzzled at me. And smiling again.

I didn't think much of it until that night when I heard her sob.

What if all those extreme negative emotions leaked out and she felt them? How could she not! But what if she internalized them at a “conditioned” level?

It make me reflect on those years before...I've never been a very internally calm parent at night. I'm much more a morning person. I'm actually much more a “sleep through the night” kind of person, come to think of it, lol. However, my last few children, I've noticed, are particularly sensitive. In fact, it seems that they are either coming more and more sensitive or I am just noticing it more or more...but that is neither here nor there. :D

So what if Penelope has “night time” associated with all those negative vibes that I was experiencing? What if that was part of her struggle to feel peace while she slept? And what if that is also why Elijah and Liesl struggle to a degree sleeping alone?

My dear sister Jackie (technically “in-law” but in my heart “sister”) once quoted Gordon B. Hinckley as saying that every parent does things to their children that their children should get therapy for later. God knows that there are no perfect parents on this earth and somehow it is still part of His perfect plan to send children down to them. So, having internalized this truth, I am a little over beating myself up over it. I need to repent, change and try to fix what I can and know that God—who loves these little ones more than I can comprehend—has sent His Son to atone and compensate for and heal all those wrongs. I can't change the past and beating myself up for it changes nothing for the better and just limits my ability to change and do what I can do.

So with this truth in mind, I thought, “I wonder if I exude love and all those warm, fuzzy feeling emotions to Penelope when she wakes up, if that will help? And maybe doing the same with my other two little ones when they go to sleep at night will help heal them as well?”

One of the million beautiful things about God is that sometimes He lets us be a part of the healing process :D. Over the past month I have seen her night time outbursts lessen and felt her drift off to sleep peacefully as I ooze as much love and adoration into my emotions as I can as I snuggle with her. Super cool.

Chickens in trees??

 Tonight I had a different kind of experience....climbing trees with a phone flashlight in one hand, one-handing trees into my arms and then climbing back down.  

We had accidentally miscommunicated about opening the door to the coop and most of our chickens were huddled around it when I went to "close it" at 10:30 pm.  Some were perched on fences and three were,...yup.  Up in trees.

I felt kind of parkour-awesome like my sons.

I also undercooked a throw-together peach pie.

I also spent 40 minutes trying to put to sleep a teething baby who had only had a few short naps earlier today.  Super cute.  Super over tired.  I was super sad because between the chickens and the baby, I missed being able to play an epic game with my dad, mom and brother Mark who is in town visiting.  Sigh.  

A couple cute experiences of the day:

-Liesl sang "I am a Child of God" while sitting at the piano.  She would sing sweetly and occasionally press a key on the piano as her "accompaniment."

-the three littles heard that I was going to try and take a nap.  When I gave them permission to move all the stuffed animals into the triple bunk room to play quietly in there, they were overcome with gratitude and kept telling me how much they love me.  So sweet!

-Hava took Liesl on a "date" downstairs.  They "played" a game called Rumis (Liesl-style) and had a couple spoonfuls of ice cream.  Liesl was on cloud nine.  Hava has been taking the little kids on dates like this all week and it has been fun to see hers and their faces light up.

-Speaking of dates, Maia took Drew on a date tonight to a movie and dinner while Hyrum was in town learning parkour techniques from a friend.  Now Hyrum can do a back-hand spring on the ground and front flip, side flip and back flip on the tramp.

Last night it was Quinn's and my anniversary and we enjoyed some precious unstructured times sampling local cuisine and window shopping in a few stores when the movie selection provided only kid show, suspenseful thriller or horror or R-rated movies.  Nice.  I am grateful he is my husband. 

Tomorrow our family reunion begins for my side of the family.  Over the next week people will be coming and going and it will be fun :D.

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.

TACO BELL!!! The Perfect Potty Place

 On a road trip....

Xai: "is that ANOTHER Taco Bell???"

Me: "Why? Do you like Taco Bell?"

Xai: "Because I need to pump some gas out!"

Puzzled, I ask what he meant.

Xai: "I've got to go potty!"

The fact that he has never been to Taco Bell makes the connection even more random.

Guests and Trips Summer 2021

 We are enjoying having Kel and his family here for two weeks!

We also got a HUGE surprise when we found out my parents closed on their two houses (moving out and moving into) by July 4th and are already here.  Wow!  That was fast.  We are busy with them, company and enjoying time off of our usual schedule.

We also just came back from a family reunion with Quinn's side of the family in South Dakota.  We visiting many of the local landmarks, enjoyed time together with cousins, aunts and uncles and are so happy to not be traveling in the car anymore. Living out of a van with 15 people is a little crazy!

We came back to healthy animals and haven't stopped running until today with helping my parents move in while taking care of urgent things around the property.  Kel's poor family has been requisitioned to help with projects between eating and sleeping and we are finally getting to playing some games.  Whew!

Penelope is pulling herself up on things.

Liesl is always making up songs and singing them.  As Xai puts it, "she sings her feelings."  He and Eli like to "play their feelings on the piano." I am personally enjoying their very snuggly phases, especially at night when we cuddle to sleep. (Often I fall asleep with them...probably because Penelope is still not sleeping well.)

Maia enjoyed a brief visit from cousin Malia, who--with her dad--drove the moving van for my parents across the country.

Havala is still in and out of books and had fun shopping with Reka and I for a new dress for the two of them today.

Piper had a great time traveling, sitting in all the most uncomfortable seats.  She is super happy to be home.

Hyrum loves using our riding lawn mower to mow the lawns and got up at 7 am this morning to get it done so he could go to his friend's house.

Lily is trucking along with college in between all the vacations and is doing a great job taking care of both dogs full time.

Drew decided to slice open his leg while parkouring a couple weeks ago and is still recovering.  Of course, the fact that he is still climbing, swimming and jumping might have something to do with it. And the fact that it is two layers of stitching deep.

Tova and Ben were cute to travel with at the reunion. Ben seems to have survived the shock of 24/7 with our family (Xai in particular).  Being the youngest of his own family definitely did not prepare him for life with our family!

Quinn is finally full-time here and getting a bunch of appraisals from Ohio now.  Yay!  Hopefully, now our house in Medina will sell soon so everything will be settled here.  

Dogs and animals are all alive but one guinea fowl chick and one chicken.  Pretty good, I'd say!  We also have five new adorable kittens.  Hopefully pictures will follow soon!

Disappointment

 Piper: Tonight, while I was listening to Dad, Eli came over to me and said "Could you help me please?"  And commenced to pull me to the couch. Immediately, Eli dubbed himself "master." 

"Draw a tent. Not there, there. Write fire." 

He then asked me for ideas for his "camp list." After the following suggestions, swimming, roasting marshmallows, and eating, he insisted, 

"Tell me stuff to do, not stuff to eat."  

"Okay, swimming, tackling, and roasting marshmallows."

"Piper, I am disappointment at you. I am not mad. I am disappointment."

Spelling Confusion

 Maia remembered that she needed to get another bra when we were in town.  So, in the car, she called out, "So, Mom!  When am I going to get a B-R-A?"

Eli jumped in. "And that spells chocolate."

Xai quickly corrected him, saying, "No it doesn't!  Mom, what does B-R-A spell?"

Mommy said, "Bra."

Xai replied, "You're going to eat a bra?"

Ummmm...nope!

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.