Spring on the Farm

Bunnies...
and piglets...
and a little jersey bull calf. Oh My!

Arabella Joy has arrived!

Her birth announcement website is at: http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/arabellajoy/
and a photo album can be found here. (You don't have to be a Facebook Member to enjoy the album.)

Ups and Downs

So my Dad was doing great in rehab. He walked 10 feet, he can wheel himself around the therapy room in his wheel chair. He could put his shoe on by himself. And he was talking up a storm.

Tuesday morning, they transferred him back to the hospital to insert the PEG tube in his stomach to get the tube out of his nose that was bothering him so much. He went through the surgery without a problem, but then they took him back to the rehab hospital. Apparently, his digestive process was still slow from the anesthesia, and they gave him a full feeding soon after he arrived, through the PEG tube. He was feeling great, went outside to enjoy the warm, sunny day and a visit with the family - when he got sick to his stomach, and started throwing up.

They got him back to his room, where it continued, and apparently he aspirated. By that night, he had spiked a temp of 102.7, his blood pressure dropped, and he became unresponsive.

They took him straight back to Emergency. We thought that was it. Did God allow him to survive a stroke and overcome so much trauma only to die from something this trivial? Why? He was doing so well! And it all could have been avoided if someone had been paying attention.

So here we are on Friday. He's still in the hospital (not rehab) with aspiration pneumonia in both lungs. His temp has been up and down, his blood pressure has been up and down. His heart rate is irregular. His lungs are very moist and the audible wheezing can be heard all over.

Until last night... we summoned the prayer warriors again and took him before the throne of God. The Holy Spirit was with us, interceding on his behalf (Romans 8:26). The evening report from his nurse was "He is doing SO much better! His vitals are good - his lungs sound much clearer!" Praise the Lord!

This morning's report was similar. The only thing they are worried about now is that his heartbeat is still irregular and they're not sure why. They thought low potassium, but it's fine. He's sleeping a lot, which is good, to let his body heal.

We're still not clear of the woods, but we are starting to see a light at the edge of them again...

Life Gets in the Way!

I fully intended to post more information about my Once a Month Cooking, but you know what they say ... Stuff Happens!

And boy has it ever!

My cousin has taken to calling me Job. Remember him? The guy in the Bible that had a "Series of Unfortunate Events"?

I will be blogging more about what God has taught me through my recent trials, but I just wanted to apologize for not getting the OAMC posts up and give you a summary of what my life has been like lately...

On Friday, Aug. 28th (which was only 3 weeks ago, but it has been the longest 3 weeks of my life!) my sister called to tell me that our other sister's husband had passed away at the age of 47! I jumped in the car and made the 4 hour trip to her house to spend the night with her, along with my other sister, my Mom and my niece.

Saturday, Aug. 29th - I came back home to get clothes and things prepared for the funeral home. I needed to find suitable clothes/socks/shoes for 7 kids to wear, plus hubby and me (maternity, of course!) I also volunteered to handle the funeral luncheon and went shopping to buy food for 50+ people.

Sunday, Aug. 30th - Prepared some food which could be made ahead of time and thanked God that I had meals in the freezer for my family! Monday I would be going to my parents' house to start cooking, and then to the hall where the luncheon would be to set up tables, etc. My oldest daughter is going with me, but the other 6 will stay home with DH until Monday evening.

Monday, Aug. 31st - While having my morning coffee before running out the door, my sister called to say that my Dad appeared to be having a stroke and they had called an ambulance. They were right. They rushed him to a local hospital where they said his condition was too critical for them to handle, and they put him on a helicopter and Life Flighted him to Cleveland Clinic. My daughter and I jumped in the car (yes, the one that has broken down twice already) and headed for Cleveland.

Three miles from the exit for Cleveland Clinic, we hear a loud bang, and something seems to be dragging. I pull off to the left on a 5 lane highway with cars zipping past, get my 6 month pregnant, bulging belly out of the car, and on to my hands and knees to look under it. Nothing is hanging down, but the tire is not vertical - it's diagonal - the top is leaning in and the bottom is leaning out...

I hadn't even had time to pray to ask for help when God sent an "angel" in the form of a big guy named Fred to help us. He worked for ODOT and his job was to keep the lanes clear. He opened the trunk (full of groceries!) and checked the strut and informed me that the center bolt was missing. He asked where I was headed. I told him Cleveland Clinic and told him about my Dad. He said, "I think we can make it. I'll follow you!" And he did - right to the parking garage.

DH called AAA and the car was towed and fixed while I sat in intensive care with my Dad.

Tuesday, Sept. 1 - My brother in law's funeral was scheduled for 10 am. My mom and my other sister, my daughter and I sat by my Dad's bedside while other family members went to the funeral. We wanted so much to be there and for our sister to be with us, but it just wasn't possible. My sister buried her husband and got in the car and came straight to Cleveland. So sad...

Wed. Sept. 2 - Fri. Sept. 4 - We continued taking turns sitting with Daddy and staying with Mother. There were ups and downs and things were still touch and go. We knew we could still lose him at any time.

Friday, Sept. 4th - Cleveland Clinic informed us that they were transferring Daddy to a local rehab hospital about 15 minutes from his home. While we were waiting for the rehab hospital to call to say that he had arrived, I got a phone call from my husband to let me know that his aunt had been taken to Emergency. She died minutes later...

We went to the Rehab Hospital to check on my Dad. He looked so much worse than he had before...

Saturday, Sept. 5th - Headed home to prepare for the next funeral. I drove my Mom's car since there was no way I was going to get back into the car I had now broken down in 3X! Half way through the 2 hour drive home, I stopped at a red light, heard squealing, smelled rubber and smoke poured out from under the hood. I got into a parking lot and called DH. An hour later he arrived to find that it wasn't the belt as I had suspected, but the casing on the AC compressor. I followed him home in the van while he drove the car.

As I walked up the steps onto the porch at home, my phone rang. They were taking my Dad back to Emergency! Aghh!! Everything checked out and they took him back to the Rehab Hospital that night. It was in those hours of waiting that God grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me gently and got me to focus on him. He gave me a hug in the form of a devotional by Max Lucado that popped into my email box called "I'm sinking fast". I will blog about this later...

Sunday, Sept. 6th, I went to church and cried through the sermon. My pastor and friends annointed me and prayed for me. I felt peace.

Monday - present: I stayed home to get the kids caught up with the school we had missed in the midst of our crisis'. There were enough family members at home to cover hospital visits and staying with my Mom. DH insisted that I had had enough stress already and so he took his Mom to her sister's funeral and I stayed home with the kids and handled barn chores in his absence.

My Dad is doing well. In fact, I got to talk to him on the phone last night! My sister called from the hospital and put the phone to his ear and he listened and responded. He spoke sentences yesterday for the first time since his stroke.

I am heading back out to Ohio tomorrow to take my shift for a couple days. I plan to do my shopping and cooking the end of this week, so I'll try to get back to my Once a month cooking blogging soon.

Is life still stressful? Yes. Could things change at any minute? Yes. But I have learned that we need to focus on the Lord - just as Peter did when he was walking on the water and the storms raged around him. When he started sinking, he needed to refocus. This is just one of the lessons I've learned lately. More next time...

Once a Month Cooking!

It's been many years since I heard a Focus on the Family broadcast about Once a Month Cooking. Mary Beth Lagerborg and Mimi Wilson were on the program talking about their new book and their cooking plan that would allow you to spend two days a month cooking enough meals to put in the freezer to last the month. It sounded like a pretty ambitious plan, but I thought I would give it a try.

As a homeschooling Stay at Home Mom of young children, it made sense to have dinner ready each day without having to drag out the food processor and tons of pots and pans to get dinner on the table. Not to mention cleaning it all up after the meal!

I bought the book, and set to work. It fit my personality to a T. I am a planner - a list maker - an organizer. I made my menu, and then my shopping list and a "to do" list, then I set to work.
First, I went grocery shopping and bought everything on my list. The next day, I got up early and got to work. I spent the day cooking, and I'm not going to kid you. It was a loooooong day! But also, very satisfying. The next day, I finished up the meals I had not gotten done the day before, and I actually DID have enough meals in the freezer to last for two weeks! (I started small and worked up to a month.)

That was back when we had two children and 4 servings worked for us. Now that #8 is on the way, I've adjusted all my recipes to serve 12. Yes, it takes two shoppers and two shopping carts now, but actually, it doesn't take any longer to make 12 servings than it does 4, so it still only takes two days!

What are the benefits?

1) It's much cheaper! Usually (though you still need to do the math) it's cheaper to buy larger packages or buy in bulk. When you are doing all the cooking at once, nothing is wasted and you can use the big bulk package in two days before it spoils. In the months when I am too busy to do OAMC, I can't believe how much more $$ we spend on groceries! When you are running to the market every day or two to buy ingredients for the next couple of meals, it gets VERY expensive (whether you are shopping for one or 10!)

2) It's a time saver! Since I am homeschooling five of my seven children, trying to work part time, busy with church activities and taking kids to youth group and Awana and Girl Scouts, etc. through the week, it just makes sense to find as many time savers as I can. Now, I simply look at the calendar on the fridge, see what's for dinner today, take it out of the freezer to thaw and go about my day. At dinner time, I simply follow the directions on the bag or dish for heating it up, and throw together a couple things to go with it.

3) It reduces cleaning time! Two days a month, I get out my food processor. I chop a whole bag of onions at one time, then I chop my green peppers, slice my celery and mushrooms, etc. Then I wash it out and put it away. As I finish a recipe, I wash out my pot and use it again for the next recipe. When I'm done for the month, everything is cleaned up and put away until the next month. During the month, my cleanup consists of whatever pot or dish I use to heat up the meal. That's it! No dragging everything out everyday and leaving a sink full of dishes to be washed after the meal! Yay!

4) It makes Mama happy and reduces stress! And when Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! ;) It takes me about 10 minutes a day to get a meal on the table (not counting heating time). Otherwise, it can take me over an hour to get a meal ready. This leaves more time to rest, relax and hang out with the kids and hubby! I'm not asking Mike "Any ideas for dinner?", then making a mad dash for the store to buy ingredients. Instead, I am enjoying my time and doing the things I want to do.

I'm sure there are many more reasons, but these are enough for me. I HATE when I don't get it done. The months when it doesn't happen are so much more stressful and expensive than when we do!

Anyway, we've come a long way in our OAMC journey. I now teach classes at women's retreats about saving money at the grocery store and Once a month cooking.

I just finished my meals for the month and I mentioned it on Facebook. A couple of my friends are interested in what I do, so I told them I would blog about it. In the next few posts, I'll cover the process, my menu and some recipes. In the meantime, I highly recommend the book, Once a Month Cooking. Mimi and Mary Beth have a new version out and it's available everywhere. It covers the plan and gives several recipes that freeze well.

I hope this was helpful to someone. Stay tuned...

Back to School and Potty Training...

All the kids have been successfully enrolled in their Cyber classes for the Fall and we're just waiting for the boxes of books and supplies to come pouring in... It's like Christmas in August when that happens! You'd never think kids would be so excited over a Math Text Book, but it happens here!
I'll take some pictures for proof and post them here.

Abby has decided (with some patient prodding) that she is a "big dirl" and ready to be done with diapers. The arrangement is that she gets 1 gummy bear for #1, and 2 gummy bears for #2. lol
She's doing very well. Now maybe we'll get a break from diapers, at least until December! :)

Now we just have to work on the modesty issue. She's so happy about being a big girl that she feels the need to share the news with everyone she sees. She pulls her dress up and says, "See my unnerware?" :) SOME day, we'll get them all raised! (Maybe!)

Name Poll, Barf Bugs and the stuff of life

First off, thanks to all of you who voted in the Baby Name Poll. We have decided to combine two of the middle names on the list to come up with the name for our baby. :) And we'll tell you what that name is when she is born! LOL (Sorry)

THE EVIL BARF BUG!

Life has been interesting here lately. One Wednesday morning a few weeks ago, I was doing laundry, and suddenly felt very sick to my stomach. I was sick (and it wasn't morning sickness!) All that day I was weak and dizzy and felt miserable.

That night, our oldest son was up all night throwing up and - well, experiencing other gastrointestinal ailments. The next day he had a high fever and was in bed all day.

A couple days later, our youngest daughter started throwing up. She couldn't even keep down a sip of water or ice chips. Then the fever came and the diarrhea lasted two weeks!

My friend Kelli, and two of her sons arrived by plane from Texas a couple days later. We felt so bad that they were breathing our air, but we couldn't avoid the inevitable!

Then, there was a lull. No one else got sick. We decided to risk taking our friends to Niagara Falls on Friday. We pulled in the parking lot, got out of the van and Son #2 threw up in the parking lot! He had a fever, and I was so thankful they sell Children's Tylenol in the gift shop (it was an arm and a leg, but it was there!)

We got through the day and had fun (except for the diaper blow outs from the lingering bug... I only had to buy new clothes once! ;)

We hadn't eaten dinner, so decided to stop in Hamburg, NY on the way home to eat at Applebee's. No sooner had we been seated, that Kelli's baby was sick - all over her! (If you've never been pregnant and been thrown up on, you have no idea how horrible this is!) She was so nauseated from the smell that she was nearly sick herself. Mike left and took her and her baby and our youngest who was asleep at this point, to go find a Walmart to buy new clothes, while I stayed with 7 kids at Applebee's. Did you know that not ALL Walmarts are open 24 hours? Not even the 2 they were able to find! (It was a long ride home!)

Her little one was sick all night and over the next several days while various of our other kids started getting various symptoms of this bug (which we had by then determined was a Rotavirus or some such - not a typical 24 hour bug!)

We are now into the 3rd week of this and there are still lingering symptoms... UGH!

Kelli went home and it's going through her family as well. What a mess!

BACK TO SCHOOL - ALREADY?

In the meantime, we've been busy getting ready for our new school year. The kids are whining, "Where'd the Summer go? It CAN'T be time to start school already!", but there is an air of excitement as I bring home school supplies and they put them on the shelves in the school closet. We've decided to take a break from K12 this year and we're doing a year of Calvert to see how it goes.

I will be teaching 1st, 4th, 8th and 10th grade this year and as of December, I will have a newborn and 2 preschoolers to take care of as well! K12 is so time intensive that we just felt we needed to do something different this year. We'll reassess at the end of the year and see where we'll go in the future.

Yesterday, I bought each of the kids their own milk crate (in their own color) to keep their school books and supplies in. They fit nicely under the church pew at the dining room table, so they can have easy access to them as needed.

Our two oldest will be doing Virtual Classroom and will be at their own desks, but I'll be spending more time with the 1st and 4th graders at the dining room table.

Sorry this post is so long, but it's been awhile since I posted anything.

In other news, we are facing the hottest weekend we've had so far this Summer (it's 84 already today) and very muggy. We're in the midst of hay bailing - you have to make hay when the sun shines.

Stay tuned for the next chapter in "the stuff of life"... :)