So Sweet

During our sabbath yesterday, we watched our favorite Matthew movie with the children. Here's a snippet of what Caleb said during the movie...

Scene: Jesus is calling Simon Peter and his brother to follow him.

Caleb: "Mom! Those guys are following Jesus! (Very excitedly), We should follow him as well!"

A bit later...

Scene: Jesus is telling his followers to not show off praying, and to go into their rooms, shut the door and pray.

Caleb: "Mom! I am going obey Jesus and go to go my room, shut my door and pray to God."

Out of the mouths of babes...

A Wonderful Read

My friend Mrs. Parunak has done it again. She has taken the subject of homeschooling and teaching our children of the world without subjecting them to public school and articulated so well the wisdom of this decision here. I highly recommend going over and reading her excellent article...take the time to also read the comments as there is a wonderful discussion going on in that section as well!

Congratulations Ireland!

I would like to announce that Ireland's entry to "My Favorite Thing about Homeschooling" won a prize in Mary Pride's "Practical Homeschooling" magazine (Jan/Feb '09 issue).

We are so proud of you...Congratulations sweetie!

"My Favorite Thing about Homeschooling"

My favorite thing about homeschooling is reading. I am very fond of mystery books such as the “Bobbsey Twins” or “Mandie”. I also like to read series books, right now I am in the middle of the “Elsie Dimsmore” series. There are 28 books in the series and I am on book 12, so I still have some ways to go. I also like “Old Yeller”, “Plain Girl”, and “Heidi”. I could list all the books on my bookshelf but that would take three pages.

In addition to reading I enjoy math. Currently I am learning division and my favorite activity in math is adding.

On top of that I like grammar and typing. I do my grammar on a website called Free Rice. Free rice is a website that with every word you get right, they give 20 grains of rice to hungry people. You can visit their site at www.freerice.com. Plus I have completed my typing lessons twice.

Furthermore I enjoy scrapbooking and have finished two books.

Lastly, my favorite thing about homeschooling is spending time with my siblings and mom, time to color and play my piano. I also have time for extra reading which I do a lot of . Moreover I LOVE having our family worship time every morning.

I hope to homeschool all my children.

I Know It All, Right?

I remember when I was a young child, then teenager and young adult, I thought I knew it all. I didn't need those adults advice, I didn't need to listen to my mother's wisdom, she didn't know what I was going through right? I mean, she's OLD and I'm sure she's never experienced whatever I was going through at that moment! :)

I may not have actually said those words exactly out loud or had those thought in my head, but my actions showed that was what I believed.

Looking back, I see how clueless I was to real life. To the consequences of my decisions, whether good or bad. I see that my mom truly did know what she was talking about and there is regret for not paying heed to her wisdom. I see how much I did not know, and how even now I need guidance, advice, and most of all wisdom.

But I believe even as adults and believers who realize the mistakes of not listening to wisdom as a young person, we can behave the same childish way with our Father in Heaven. The "I know everything" attitude that keeps us from kneeling down before Him and seeking His wisdom, His will, His guidance.

Like children, we may not actually say with our mouths "I know it all", but our actions will show what is in our hearts. Do we ask for His will with all of our decisions, or only the ones we think He can handle or are "holy" enough for Him? Or do we act, then hope and pray that was his will, or even worse not even give him a second thought to our decision? Do we only seek him during the crisis points of our life?

Instead why not try to daily come before Him and ask what He would have us do that day during our usual routine. To open our eyes to His divine appointments. To guide us in every decision that will come before us throughout the day whether big or small.

I think the more we practice the submission of our will by seeking God's will for our daily life, moment by moment; the better we will become at hearing Him and seeing Him work in our lives. He will be close to us as we draw near to Him and not be the far away God who is too busy to bother with something as trivial as my daily life as so many people believe.

So let us not make this mistake twice. Remember how as a child you really did not know what was going on and how you would have benefited from listening to wisdom, and apply this to now being a child before our Holy God. Let's seek Him, ask Him, listen to Him, then act.

I believe this is His good and perfect will for us; just as it is the desire of parents for their beloved children to listen and learn from them.

Jesus please give me eyes to see and ears to hear!

Our Garden

Our garden is ready to go...just waiting for the seeds that should arrive any day now! I ordered them here, so I am really looking forward to what will come.

Mark did an amazing job building these beds and fence to keep the dog out. We are using the square foot garden method with a few modifications. At first we were going to do just one bed, but after Mark rented a tiller, he decided he might as well put it to good use and made two more. I am very excited!

Our neighbor even gave us a bag of manure to add to our compost pile. We really have great neighbors! So so nice...even in the city! :)


I'm really praying and hoping that the seeds do not arrive too late. I've contacted the company now four times now that its been five weeks since we ordered them. Apparently they are moving offices from Alaska to one of the Carolina's and are behind on their orders. Not too happy about this outcome as they are not returning my calls or emails. Argh!

God's Attentiveness & Caleb Update

During this trial of watching our usually energetic, rambunctious little boy have to be still all day long, God has been so attentive to our needs. Even needs that I did not really realize that I needed!

Caleb in the hospital with the little balloon hands the paramedics made for him in the ambulance ride. He really loved these!

When we arrived home from the hospital, we found some gifts that people from Marks work dropped off at our house. A tray with places to hold hand toys for Caleb, plus lots of coloring books, stickers, stamps, and many more fun things to play with while he cannot move the bottom half of his body.

And the gifts have kept coming! We have been withholding most of what we've received so far so we can slowly give them to him as he gets bored with one thing, he can have a new thing to play with. Play dough, a yo-yo ball, crayons, those magic markers that write only on the special paper...the list goes on and on!

I never even thought of finding things like this for him at the time when we got home. It has been such a huge blessing!Him and Ireland working on his favorite Veggie Tale puzzle, we've did this puzzle at least 30 times in one hour...He LOVES it!

Then there were our moms who brought us groceries (Friday was my grocery day, but that was the day we were in the hospital), and friends who have brought dinners. I never had thought that I could use this help until I was asked and it arrived.

This has really blessed me in that even though I technically could cook dinner, it takes such a burden off my shoulders that I had not even realized was there! Now I can focus more on little man and the children's needs, rather on meal planning, cooking and preparing then cleaning.

So we are all getting into the groove of a short term new way of life. I have still been able to keep up with most of the important chores (laundry, dishes, picking up after ourselves), but have been giving myself grace on those chores like dusting and bathrooms.Our church sent these balloons and a vase full of hershey's kisses...that made his day!

Since I have Caleb in a stroller most of the time, I am able to keep him with me as I work. Even he is able to help me in some chores, like stirring the laundry detergent I made today, or folding towels in his stroller on his tray.

I have conceded to let him watch one movie a day during the little one's nap times, which both him and Ireland are enjoying a lot.

A friend of Marks from work gave us a cart to pull behind a bicycle that Mark has taken him on a ride with. I was a bit nervous as he was not able to be buckled in, but they still went and had a great time.

Caleb has been so generous and kind to share all of his new things with his sisters and is so sweet and polite to express his needs to me. Not demanding or bossy at all, which makes it even more of a pleasure to help him. He has had a few small melt downs over some silly reasons, but I attribute that to his frustration at his predicament, not being able to go where he wants or move.

Thankfully he is not in any pain at all, unless I jam his foot on his bad leg into a door as I wheel him about (sorry Caleb!). No pain even without medication! That is such a blessing!

I am keeping a list of all the ways that God has answered prayers or blessed us so that I will stay focused on those areas, rather than the ways I can be overwhelmed or stressed. It is so easy to forget the good and focus on the negative...lists make remembering much easier!

Oh yes...since my visit to the chiropractor on Saturday, my back is feeling MUCH better! Though I can still feel the part where it is messed up, I am able to lift Caleb as long as I am very careful without any pain. That has been a huge answer to prayer!

For the most part, life is slowly getting back to "normal". I am able to go to the store once Mark gets home, Ireland is able to go to piano lessons due to a friend taking her for us, and we still may be able to go to a few park days if they are close enough to walk to. We will just miss going to church or other places while we cannot fit in the van together. Again, so thankful this is short-term!

So thank you to all who have prayed for us, for all that have blessed us with gifts and food. We really appreciate everything everyone has done!

An idea that Ireland had for people to brighten up his day was to send him a card in the mail. He really loves getting mail and will carry his card around for days! So if you would like to do this and you do not know our address, please email me privately and if I know you, I'll give it to you! Great idea Ireland! He'll be in this condition for another 5 or more weeks, so you have time.

Caleb's Fall and Prayer Requests

Thursday afternoon was another beautiful day, high 80's and we were going to enjoy the afternoon at the park after Ireland's piano lesson. Mark met us there and it began as usual with the children running up and down the hill to the playground.

We saw Caleb running down the hill with his ball and sandals on. He tripped and began to cry and I knew that something was wrong immediately. I began to pray please Jesus, let nothing be broken. Mark walked down to him and pick him up to stand up, but Caleb could not put any pressure on his right leg. He would not stop crying so Mark took him home.

I followed pretty quickly with the rest of the children and found little Caleb laying on his bed with his right leg bent out not moving, all the while crying. We decided to wait just a little bit to watch it, maybe it was a sprain or something not too serious? We put ice on his leg and he was happy with that (though still did not quit whimpering).

After about 30 minutes of me at the foot of the bed holding his leg, and Ireland at the head with her head on his shoulder (which if any of us moved, he would begin to yell), I put my hand up his short leg and could tell it the thigh area was extremely swollen and not normal at all.

We decided for Mark to take him to the local er while I waited for granny to come watch the girls. I was able to follow him up there with Noble about 45 minutes later, to which I arrived and found out my precious little boy's femur was broken in half.

He was on some good pain meds by the time I arrived so he was calm and watching television. Let me just say that the ABC family channel is not very family friendly at all! I can't believe how many times I had to shield his eyes!

Anyways, since this hospital does not work on children with injuries this bad, they transferred us to Children's hospital downtown...to which we had to wait a couple more hours for their ambulance to arrive and transport us.

Once the ambulance crew arrived, they pumped little Caleb up with more morphine as they had to straighten out his leg into a splint for the ride to the new er. That part was pretty sad and scary for little boy. He was pretty scared anytime anyone new came over. Very painful to watch for Mark and I as well.

We got to the downtown er at about 8:30 p.m. and stayed there till about 2 a.m. while Caleb slept on and off. We were visited by many doctors and we were told many different things, one that we would be there for a few days since they would be operating on Caleb's leg. That was something we were truly hoping would not have to happen!

They finally got us to a room at 2 a.m. and we began to settle down. Then the nurse arrived and gave us the rules, one of which was that visiting hours were between 9am - 9pm, and that children under 18 could not spend the night. I looked at her, then noticed her looking at Noble in my arms. I couldn't believe that she was suggesting he could not stay! We explained that he was attached to me and that I could not drive back home (there was no way I was going to make the 40 minute drive home on the crazy highway with drunks everywhere at 3 in the morning, or even leave my son with his broke leg! I couldn't even leave the room without him crying for me!).

She then asked if my husband could leave with the baby to which Mark replied with a strong NO, "I am not lactating"! Finally she received "permission" that Noble could stay with us which of course I was thankful for, but in our eyes neither of us were going anywhere.

Mark went home to pick up some things and returned in one piece thank you Jesus (he saw about 10 different drunks on the road or people pulled over...almost got side swiped by someone running a red light if he hadn't been paying attention...then saw that same person on the access road with her drivers door open and her hanging out passed out with vomit everywhere!).

Caleb Noble and I bedded down and he slept till about 6:30, while I took little cat naps making sure Noble didn't fall off the little couch out of my arms and assured Caleb every time he woke up crying and scared. He would then fall back asleep quickly to which I was so thankful!

The nurses took us up to the ortho floor around 7 that morning and put Caleb to sleep while they set his leg for good and put on a spica cast (or full body cast). He was scared but we were by his side the whole time until he was asleep...I was so thankful for him being asleep during this procedure, but it was still dis-settling watching your child go from screaming to completely out of it. I did not enjoy any of this at all as you can imagine!

Thankfully the doctor said that Caleb was right on the weight and age limit of being able to use this cast rather than surgery to let his femur heal itself after being set. He just has to wear it for about 6 weeks, and keep it supported at all times. We have a wagon in the house that he lays in so that I can pull him around. But we do have to move him every 2 hours to prevent any bed sores from occuring.

I am thankful he is potty trained as diapering would be a challenge! It would be possible, but it would definitely be very very hard! I took the little urinal home so that I do not have to pick him up to put him on the potty every time he has to urinate. Though bowel movements we will have to pick him up, but thankfully it is not too difficult for him to sit on the potty. He is just not in an upright position as he is laying back a little and we are supporting him.

The time it took to put the cast on was about 45 minutes, but it took a whole 9 hours for Caleb to finally wake up and be ready to eat and drink. He would wake up a little and we would try to give him water, then he would throw it up immediately those for 9 hours. He completely refused food and they would not allow us to leave until he had kept some food down.

Finally around 4 p.m. our little boy came back to life! He actually began to eat the chips we offered him and would ask for more, he stayed awake more and laughed and talked. That was so absolutely wonderful to see him like this!

We were discharged around 5 pm after we were given a special harness to put Caleb in to strap him into the back seat of the van. We then realized that we will not be able to fit our family in our van for the next 6 weeks as he has to lay in the back seat. Nor can I physically put in or take him out of the van as I am not strong enough with my bad back. I am so thankful for my strong husband! So I guess we will be home bound mostly unless Mark drives his truck wherever we all go together?

The next 6 weeks at this moment are overwhelming me a bit. About 90% of me is feeling weak, but strong in the Lord if that makes any sense. I am feeling like he is going to work through this to make us all a stronger family, to help us to rely on him more, to help us love one another better and serve each other better as well. He will show us how he alone can provide for us, how he will provide for us to pay off this debt that we have taken on without insurance, how we can trust him for ALL of our needs and desires.

The other 10% is anxious and a bit fearful of the future. All the "what if's" are assailing my brain and I am doing my best to keep them at bay and hand them to my Lord Jesus. I do not even want to give voice here to what all the thoughts are so I do not give them any power over me. But I do want to be honest and not pretend like I am not fearful at all!

So prayers would be appreciated! For Caleb's bone to heal correctly and in good time. That he would not get impatient with the process or be embarrassed about his looks now (he's already mentioned not wanting anyone to see him). For the rest of the children to not get jealous over any extra attention Caleb is receiving, but to still feel loved and be able to give of themselves selflessly.

For Mark and I to handle the added stress correctly, to work as a team well and not let any frustrations we feel be taken out on each other or the children, but to be able to hand them over to our Lord and trust him well.

For my back to not give out when I have to move Caleb while dad is not here. I saw a chiropractor today and that helped a bit; he told me I needed to quit holding Noble as my back is not good at all...that's not going to happen though! I'll just do my best to be careful and trust God with the rest.

Most of all that none of us (especially me) fall into self pity or blame. I have found myself feeling sorry for myself a couple times already, but I do not want to stay there at all. I also noticed directly after the incident how I began to search out who I could blame for his fall! Isn't that crazy? I guess that shows the wickedness of my heart and how I need more refining!

I'm also aware that this is so short term; and that there are many families who have it so much worse than we do, whether by losing a child to death, or by a far greater injury that is life long, etc. This definitely gives me more empathy for those families and makes me even more greatful for the short term trial.

Life will definitely look a bit different around here for the next few weeks as we settle into new routines. Thankfully I have a husband who is compassionate and kind and does not want me to overdo it during the day while caring for Caleb and the children and wants to help with the chores when he gets home. Isn't that amazing!?

Hopefully we will be able to keep up with most everything so he does not have to do much but hang out with his sweet son after work, but its nice to know there is no un-needed pressure! He is such a good man! A good looking one to top it off :)

So that's where we are for now, I am going to take advantage of daddy being home today and try to get as much done as possible. I'll update when I have the chance! Thank you everyone for your prayers and concern, it means so much to us!