First week of school

Whew, it is Sunday evening, and we can now say we made it through the first full week of school. If there are any mommas of babies reading this, and people have told you that you will sleep when they get older, I hate to burst your bubble...That is not always true!  Sometimes you are up all night talking with a teenager, or crying with your spouse, or praying over the lives and relationships of people you love. 

On Tuesday, I had a terrible day emotionally/mentally.  I won't go into details of why, but I was pretty much feeling worthless and (as Anne Shirley would say) "in the depths of despair."  I just stayed stuck in it most of the day, even though I tried to pray and seek the Lord through it....It was really more like "wallowing" in it.  Yuck!

Wednesday, I tried to better my attitude, and Jesus did help me, but I was still pretty touchy. 

I did wear my favorite capris of the summer, and listened to some good music, scripture, and podcasts.  All of those things helped too.

That evening, we had a mandatory meeting at school.  All students had to have a parent present to sign a form so each student could receive their school-issued Chromebook. We are pretty excited that the school has made it possible for every student to have his/her own computer, and they will be using more technology to help the students learn and teachers and students to communicate.

We were all a bit disgusted though, when seemingly the entire community rushed towards the Chromebooks like ravenous animals toward food before the speaker had even finished.  It was pretty rude and appalling.

We hung back, and the kids each got their Chromebooks and we were home in less than an hour, including the drives there and back, listening to the 2 speakers, and waiting in 3 different distribution lines. The kids all got logged in at home and set their background photos--very important.

I set up a charging station on a little 3-shelf cart in the guest room, because they are required to bring them to school with a full charge each day.  Another thing to remember to put in the backpack each morning...

Sylvia came to me after getting ready for bed, needing to talk.  I'm pretty sure I said all the wrong things, and then Jeremy and I were awake most of the night talking and crying and praying, as well as closing windows and making sure a storm didn't rain inside the house.

Thursday evening, I took Annah to marching band practice, and picked her up very frustrated that seemingly everyone in the band didn't care to be there.  Jeremy took Sylvia on a daddy-daughter dinner date to Biaggi's, and they had a good time.  Caeden showed me around his Chromebook, and told me how his teacher last year would let him listen to the Star Wars: The Force Awakens soundtrack on YouTube while he worked on assignments in class.

I made mittens this week!  I also made a matching scarf and hat to go with them.
I hope to sell them as a set.

I'm loving this purple color!

Speaking of loving colors, Caeden is having fun with his colored hair glues and his mohawk!  On Friday, he decided to try the bright pink.  As I globbed it in his hair, I said, "My father would have a conniption fit if he knew I was sending my son to school with a fluorescent pink mohawk!"  Please, Dad, don't disown your grandson (or daughter)! It's still the same heart in there, regardless of the haircut or color!  

Annah came home from school on Friday upset about a friendship and wanting to talk.  I'm thankful I can be home when the kids get home from school and need to process interactions and relationships and emotions from the day.  I don't always know what to say, but I'm glad I can offer hugs and pray over them.  I think parenting teens is definitely more difficult mentally and emotionally than the physically exhausting years of parenting little ones.  (Another reason to be thankful we had babies when we were pretty young!)

The girls both have quite a bit of homework this weekend, and somehow Caeden has made it through the first week of school with very little homework and very little struggle.  

 I started Saturday morning lessons up again yesterday.  Jeremy spent the morning chatting with Annah, then met some friends for golf.  I played piano for a small wedding at church in the afternoon.  Sylvia and I watched Anne of Green Gables, and she enjoyed it much more than the book.  

This morning, we had a family meeting [sermon] at church.  

It was beautiful to see our church family gathered around the altars.  We really do have to depend on Jesus in this life.  

We didn't realize there was no youth band rehearsal today, so the 5 of us got to have lunch together at Steak'n'Shake.  Jeremy even splurged for shakes for all of us.  The kids were shocked how big they were!  

Sylvia and Caeden went with us to Annah's violin lesson, and Caeden sat in the pavilion to read one of his new Star Wars books he got from the Bookmobile yesterday.  Sylvia picked a book from the Little Free Library.

When we got home in the evening, we settled on watching Ramona and Beezus, which turned out to be a pretty cute and sweet family movie.  I'm thankful for all the times we have together as a family--whether they are emotionally draining, full of elation, or just relaxing and hanging out together.  It's all good stuff when we can get the right perspective.

"But you are to cling to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day." - Joshua 23:8

Website, Weather, Wishes

Well, the site should be shaping up quite a bit now!   I'm having fun playing with FrontPage Editor.  You should notice some changes in the site soon, if you haven't already.  Please excuse the in-the-meantime/in-between sloppiness!  Our counter site is temporarily down, so we're surely missing some hits getting counted, but hopefully it'll be back up soon.  We're having patience with them for now. ;)
     
We had snow over the past couple weeks, and even lost power for 12 hours last Saturday night.  That was fun.  But, now it is in the 50°-60° range.  I guess "they" do always say that if you don't like mid-western weather, just wait around for couple hours and it will change!  
     
Best wishes to both of Annah's Grandma's.  We hope you're feeling better soon!!
     
Congratulations to Pastor Todd and Kim and big brother Adam on the arrival of their beautiful new baby, Jillian Grace, born February 28!

corrections

Thank you to those of you who pointed out the fact that many pictures were not showing up on the site. When we got the new computer we started using an updated version of Netscape Composer. It inserts images differently into the HTML code than the one we'd been using, and ... anyway, we think the problem is corrected now. Please let us know if you have difficulty viewing any images now. Thank you!

quite a chain of events

Last week was a bit of a challenge to our nerves. When we turned on our computer Sunday night, it crashed. We couldn't salvage anything, and after trying too long, we could no longer even turn it on. So, we replaced it on Monday. 

 Tuesday, a big plastic sink in our basement broke as water from our washer was draining into and the drain became blocked. There was water all over that room of the basement. 

 Wednesday, we were all outside getting ready to go to town to buy a new sink, when Snickers decided to meet the neighbor across the street who was mowing her lawn. Just as he was running across the road and Jeremy was running after him, a huge delivery truck sped through and hit the dog. He yelped and ran around behind the neighbor's house. When Jeremy got there, they were both freaked out, and Snickers was limping and bleeding underneath. Jeremy took him to the emergency vet clinic in Normal. He is a very lucky dog.--no broken bones or internal injuries. He just had a bruised back leg and scraped underside. 

 Annah is trying to say more things now. She can say, "sock," which actually sounds more like, "sah," but it's cute anyway. She tries to say, "shoe," but only mommy and daddy would be able to identify that. She has SIX teeth now, and eats lots of big people foods. 

Grandma Lopshire got her a Halloween costume, so she is getting ready for her birthday!

Feet

What's new? We have been busy and are still computerless at home. It's still being worked on, but it sounds like it might not be salvageable. 

 Annah has made a new discovery this week--her feet! What fun! 

 Last week she had her first little cold, but handled the sniffles, stuffiness and sneezes well. She's learned to turn herself around in her super-saucer too. 

 Mommy made an amazing discovery today too...If you sing a note while Annah's "talking", she will match the pitch with her voice! Sounds like we may have a little diva in the making! 

 Grandma Vonda is coming to visit and watch Annah for a couple days next week. Then we are planning to visit family in Indiana for a few days. We haven't been home since Christmas, and everyone is anxious to see how Annah has grown!

Scrambled Computer Brains

So sorry it's been such a long time since we've updated the site! Our computer at home has been out of commission, and may be completely kaput! It's quite a big mess, but we'll spare you the details. Hopefully we'll get it figured out soon, but we may be without a computer for a long, long time. 

 Annah is doing very well. She visited the doctor on January 30 for her 3-month check-up and weighed 13 pounds, 7 ounces and was 23 1/2 inches tall. Dr. Heinmiller said she is very strong for her age. That must be because she's been working out with Daddy every morning at the gym. (Just kidding.) Annah has also started rolling from back to tummy and also from tummy to back. The first tummy to back roll was even caught on video tape! 

 We put together the Super Saucer she got for Christmas, and she's played in it a few times. She is a very happy, smiley, talkative girl! 

 We are looking forward to a trip home to Indiana in a few weeks!

Happy New Year!

WOW! 2000 sure was a year we will never forget!! We somehow managed to cover almost all of the major life events! We knew it would be a special year, but we couldn't have guessed just how special. 

 We are so grateful for the wonderful family and friends we've been blessed with. You all just keep giving and giving to us, and we feel like we haven't been able to give anything back! You have given so much to us this year and throughout our lives. We can't say thank you enough. 

 Our "biggest" (little?) blessing of 2000 would have to be our Annah Christine. Each day brings so many wonderful moments with her, and she has brought us such deep love and happiness that it's almost hard to believe! 

 Annah went to the pediatrician on Tuesday (1-2-01) for her 2 month check-up. She now weighs 12 pounds, 7 ounces, and is 23 inches tall! She is growing so fast! It would be nice if we could slow the growing down a little bit, but at the same time we are anxious to see her developing and learning. She had her first set of vaccines on Tuesday too, and handled the shots like a real "trooper!" She only fussed for about a minute, and I even cried before Annah did! 

 Annah started to roll from her back to her side on December 30th. (She'd probably roll all the way to her tummy, except that she doesn't like to be on her tummy very much!) She's also starting to discover her hands. She bats at the toys on her musical baby gym, and can turn the music on all by herself now! We're so proud of her! 

 Grandma Vonda is visiting this week, as I returned to work on Wednesday. Although I enjoy my job, it is very difficult to be away from Annah. Next week will be even more difficult when Grandma leaves and Annah goes to the new babysitter's house. 

 We received a scanner for Christmas, and are in the process of installing the hardware and software for it. Look for lots more pictures to be added in the somewhat near future!