Eight Whole Days?

Has it REALLY been 8 whole days since I posted last? NO WAY! WAY! And just when I thought I was doing better!

Well, I have a series of really good excuses! We have attended church on 5 of the last 8 days. Is that a good enough reason not to have the time to blog?

We enjoy traveling around as a family and attending gospel meetings in our area. (Lots of our friends equate these with "revivals.") Although we don't call them that, that is what they do for me. They revive my spirit! We caught two of them in different neighboring cities, and obviously with different speakers last week. One speaker taught on the dangers of human creeds, and the other one spoke on "grace." Both were just excellent lessons.

Last Sunday night, we enjoyed a little get-together after church with some friends. We went out to "Wade's Mansion" as the brethren affectionately refer to the place that our friends Wade and Leigh Ann recently bought. It is way out in the middle of nowhere, and it is quite an "estate!" I think they said they got 37 acres with the 3 story house. It is one of those places that has the brick walls at the entrance to the driveway. I could not see much of the outside because it was monsooning at the time with the remnants of Hurricane Rita. I am happy for them, because they have five kids now, too, and it is really wonderful when you can spread out in a house. I think the only thing that I would be afraid of is those places in the house where the banisters hang over the floor below. My kids would jump. No doubt in my mind. Action figures would be thrown over balconies to the floors below as test dummies to see how much abuse one figure could take.

That reminds me of the olden days when Micah was about 3. He went through this phase where he placed action figures in the funniest places. You would open the freezer to get something, and there would be Captain America submerged in a clear glass of water and frozen into a block of ice. The refrigerator, I soon learned, was the place where bad action figures went. If they did not perform as Micah wanted in his imaginary action figure fights, into the vegetable bin they went.

The harshest punishment, though, was reserved for the badest of the bad. Those poor guys got flushed. And I, a single mom at the time, had to learn to take up a toilet and re-set it with the seal and all, because it became too costly to call the plumber each time that 30 G.I. Joes got stuck in the plumbing. The first time Micah did it, and I called the plumber, as he found the offenders of the clog---and it occurred to me what Micah had done, I was just shocked. I put the little guys in the bathtub and began to wash them off, and the plumber just looked at me and said, "You aren't really gonna keep those, are you?" I replied, after some visions of a three-year-old putting the action figures in his mouth, "Ummmm, no, I suppose not."

Thankfully, it was a phase, and it finally passed. Micah still has his action figure collection, and sometimes, when he is really, really bored, he will still pull them out and play with them. That is the kid still left in him.

Anyway, tonight we had a different experience. One of my good friends up in the "'Boro" had called me yesterday to let me know that today, they were going to go ahead and induce her to give birth today. I just assumed she would be having it at the big hospital in our little region---the same place I birthed our last two babies, but upon calling them this afternoon to see if she had delivered, they did not have her listed as a patient. A few calls later, we had located her at a newer hospital closer to Nashville.

After Tim got home, we loaded up the family and the baby gift to go and see their family. Tim had talked to the nurses, and he assumed from what they said that she had already delivered. When we got there, I went in first to see if my friend, Wendy, was decent. She was all alone, and I did not see a baby. I asked how she was and she kind of pouted and said, "Not too good." I said, where is the baby, and she pointed to her belly under the cover. I then realized that little stinker was still hiding out in the womb! Here it was 8 o'clock at night, and she had been laboring since 7 a.m. Ben, her husband had finally gone to get supper, and so it was good I got there when I did.

I hated for Wendy to be alone, as she just lost her mother 6 weeks ago. Her mom's sister died last week, adding insult to injury. Her grandmother has buried two daughters in 6 weeks, and I knew this was weighing heavily on Wendy.

We talked a while, and we discussed the possibility that she could have to have a c-section for failure to progress. She started shaking, and her teeth were just chattering. Then, she said she was sick to her stomach. I had never had this happen to anyone that I was watching go through labor. Then, her blood pressure dropped dramatically. Thankfully, about that time, Ben came back, and the nurses came in. They flew into action and got her some meds to stabilize the blood pressure. They brought warm blankets. Shortly, things started to improve. Wendy relaxed and even dozed a little.

Her contractions had been 5 minutes apart when I got there. By now, they were going to 3 minutes apart. By this time, it was 9:15, and I had not had supper myself. Ben's sister, Lori, arrived, and she is a maternity nurse at that very hospital, but she was not on duty. Still, she looked at all the machines and computer read-out and told us what was going on. I decided it was a good time to slip out and get some supper and then come back.

When I returned about an hour later, Wendy said they had just checked her and she was at 7 cm. I went and sat down. I figured we would have another good hour. Then the nurse came in and checked her again, and she was all the way dilated and ready to push! I exited, because I did not figure the family needed me there gawking, and it was no time before Ben came down the hall to the waiting area to tell us that little Julie Brooke was born! She weighed 6lb. 14 oz.! She is a doll! When I got to go in, I took Sarah with me. The baby was looking all around and just taking it all in! We laughed and said that at 8 p.m. none of us had thought that Wendy could get her out before midnight! But she fooled us all and pulled it off.

Wendy affectionately had a picture of her mother on her chest as she labored and birthed little Julie. I know we all wish that her mother could have lived just 6 more weeks and have seen this baby. My heart just went out to that scared girl giving birth. I know that I had my mother with me 4 out of 5 times I gave birth. The only one she missed was Daniel, and she could not have seen his birth anyway, as they took me to surgery and did a c-section. (Well, I guess technically, she was not right beside me with Hannah's c-section, either, but she was there to see her get to the nursery.) One time most girls want their mother is when they are giving birth. They don't want the husband's mother, most of the time. They want their own mom. I guess if there was any sadness tonight, it was because Wendy's mom could not see this.

Yet, today is a new beginning for little Julie Brooke and for her mom and dad. I pray that they will have happier days ahead, and that this little girl will be a comfort to her mom and to her great-grandmother in their times of sadness.

So, that is my account of the last few days. Am I exonerated for not blogging? Hopefully, snow days are not that far ahead, and maybe I will get more done. It's getting cooler! Yeah! Sweater-weather approacheth..... Until next time.......

The New Revised 2005 Map of the States

Yes, I have been playing in Paint Shop again. And yes, I am bored out of my mind.

Blah, blah, blah!

Sorry I have been A.W.O.L. lately. I have been a little uninspired, a little under the weather.

I do a double-take every time I look at when I last updated my blog. I cannot believe how fast the time passes. I gauge the days by how often I have to go through my phone messages and re-save them, which the phone company has made me do every five days every since I subscribed to their computerized message-taking system. I have a couple of messages on there that I have saved every 5 days for about 2 years now. Well, there are actually more than a couple there. (And yes, I am aware that is very, very sad.)(Just because I have been raising kids for 19 years now and have roughly 16 more years to go does not mean I have lost all touch with reality.)

There's the one where Micah called me from school and was sick and needed me to come and get him. His little voice was so sad, so needy, so absolutely pitiful and yet so precious at the same time that I have to find some way to save that snippet of his little 4th grade voice. It is priceless, and I just cannot bear to hit that delete-message button---not until I have saved that message.

Then, there is the one where my Mom called and said my sister-in-law was on the way to have a baby. That has been a year now. I thought that might be a keeper for Little Lauren in this age of technology. Most people save newspaper clippings. I save voice mails. Go figure.

I saved a voice message from my brother Don in Germany, calling to talk at some point. I like to hear his voice every five days just to hear it. I know; that's so sad. I have been begging him to come back to the good ole U.S.A. for years now. Somehow, I don't think it is going to happen. Ma Bell keeps us connected.

I have another from my brother Dan, because catching him on the voice machine was about the only way I get to hear him too. Everyone is so busy these days. Dan is working 4 jobs, preaching full time and getting his Master's Degree. He is not a bad brother---he's just a little busy. I understand, but I miss him.

Every so often, there's a message from Mom or Dad. It is usually nothing special--just a call to check in or to deliver a little news. Sometimes I have a hard time hitting the delete button, because I think, "What if that is the last voice message I should ever get from him/her?" I would love to hear so many voices from my past that are long gone now and ring only in my memory. I wish there had been more ways back then to just save their voices so that I could hear them whenever I felt like it.

Yes, some day soon, I will tape these voices off some way or other onto tape and not have to push the buttons every 5 days to keep the old calls from being deleted. Maybe if "little" Dan starts working at Radio Shack, he can hook me up with some techno-something-or-other that will pull the call off the voicemail. I'll find a way.

I have not posted in a few days because time and space finally came together and I was able to get the dreaded endometrial ablation. If you don't know what that is, consider yourself lucky. All you need to know is it involves sharp knives, a blow torch, and my uterus. Enough said? Yeah. Ouch. Time will tell if it was all worth it.

We're really rolling now with home school. Probably about the time we get going really smoothly, the present hurricane in the gulf will be over Tennessee. Bet you didn't know hurricanes bothered Tennessee, unless of course you live in Tennessee. Yes, indeedy, they do affect us here. In fact, sometimes, they just come on up and stall over us for about 3 days, and everything floods, but somehow, CNN and Fox News don't know about Tennessee's existence yet, so we never get covered for anything.

Back when we had cable, I used to get so mad, because the Weather Channel just left Tennessee entirely out. They would cover the East and the Southeast up about as far as Atlanta, skip up to the Northeast and tell what was to become of them the next day, and then after the commercial break, it was on over to California for the Western report. They would skip over the entire middle of the map most of the time, unless of course, they had to give a tornado warning for parts of Kansas. Then, Kansas might get mentioned. But Tennessee? No, never. My kids used to sit with their little noses pressed against the screen waiting to see if a foot of snow was going to fall on Tennessee the next day. But it never happened. They never acknowledged the Volunteer State, and now, all the kids are sadly nearsighted to boot.

I have no idea what has become of my dear 90-year-old friend Alice in Miami. I sent her a letter from Ohio while we were up there, but she has not answered yet. Katrina had just brushed Miami, but the story around New Orleans grew into a drama so fast that little was said about the condition of Miami. If you are out there, Alice, I hope you and Kirb are o.k.---and check in soon!

So now Rita is coming this weekend. (The Hurricane, not our dear Great-Aunt.) Yee Ha. I just love driving 50 miles each way to church in the middle of a September monsoon. We may just take the yacht this Sunday. (That's our above-ground pool with the tool house floating in it, all of which will probably be drifting happily down the Duck River by Sunday.)

Like a Vapor.....

Our "travel trailer"


Well, I know that I have been making sparse appearances in Blogville lately and then vanishing for long periods of time. Life has been a little more hectic than the usual chaos that surrounds a family of 7, and that is saying a lot. I've just come to the realization that I cannot be everywhere at one time, so sometimes, "Grit Gravy" will be a few priorities down the list.

We just returned from about 9 days of being up North. While I am not generally a fan of the area above the Mason-Dixon line, I felt quite blessed not to be mixed up in the drama of the South over the same time period.(i.e. We actually overcame Murphy's Law for once and did not book our vacation in New Orleans!!!!) While we felt a few pangs from the gas "shortage" and experienced humongous gas prices while North, that was about the extent of our sufferings, other than just crying for the pain being experienced by our sister states in the South.

Since I do not have cable at home, I was quite pleased to be able to view the drama in New Orleans as it unfolded. I guess I am a news/weather junkie at heart, and I was happy to at least be "in-the-know" as opposed to being at home trying to adjust the rabbit ears to get a weak news report off a local channel. While the images were heart-breaking, I am glad that I got to witness this little bit of history, and it gave the kids and I a chance to talk about it together. We surely are counting our blessings while re-living a little bit of our experience with Hurricane Hugo.

I did not announce our vacation online, as I did not want to advertise that the house was going to be vacant until we decided to come back. Since the date was open-ended, I decided to just wait til I got back to tell you all we were gone!


Our suite in Akron....and oh, you should see the bathroom....

Before we left for Akron, for my husband's business end of the trip, I called to try and find where a family of 7 could get a suite in Akron. It was not easy, and it was looking like we were going to have to book two adjoining rooms, until one spectacular customer service person found me the best suite I have ever had! It was awesome! The master bedroom had 2 KING-sized beds, and the den had a pull-out sofa for some of the kiddies. The den also had its own t.v., a huge desk for Daniel to use his laptop on, and a kitchen area with refrigerator and microwave and sink. Both the den and the bedroom opened into the HUGE bathroom. When I get to design my own one day, it will be a lot like this one. The sink area was huge. Three people could stand there at a time, which came in handy when combing hair for church. This part also had a full-size jacuzzi, in which I could stretch out my entire 5'7" body. No scrunching up here! That was my favorite place---letting the jets of water melt away years of accumulated fatigue and stress. (Haven't had a real vacation since '98!) The guys had their own shower room complete with potty. So it was really like having 2 bathrooms in one. So while we waited for "Dad" to come "home," I had the bedroom t.v. and the kids had the den one, so all were happy. And the best part was that we paid for ONE room! If you are ever going to Akron, get with me, and I will give you the details!

Tim was there for a company audit, which his team passed, we think, so he was happy with that. We worshipped three times with the Brown Street church, which was a pure delight. I have not seen services run with such respect and honor for God in a long, long time. I grew up "old school" and I still have a really hard time these days worshipping in places that take more and more of a casual attitude toward worship to God. I mean, really, it is the Almighty we are talking about here, but anymore, people come to services with the attitude and dress of coming for a slumber party. While I am equally against stiff and unfeeling worship toward God, I hate it when people treat God as though He is unworthy of any special effort. While I cannot know the heart of every member of Brown Street, I was impressed by their worship services and Bible study, and the elders are super! They just got a new preacher, too, and he was there for his first Sunday. He was as bleary-eyed as we were, as we had all driven well into the night to get to Akron Saturday night.

Thursday morning, we left for New Jersey to visit Tim's family. What a treat the entire visit was. The cool breezes were outstanding. There was enough sun to warm you, while all the time, cool breezes blew through the windows or across your face! I loved it, after the heat we have experienced this summer down here. They treated us like royalty the entire time we were there. Ginny, Tim's mom, and her sister, our Aunt Rita, planned and made some of the most delicious dinners! On Friday night, Lisa, our sister-in-law, made a wonderful Mexican dish for the entire family--and that is saying a lot. Tim's brother Billy, his sister Mary and husband Anthony, brother Pat and wife Lisa and three girls, Kelsie, Maggie, and Emma, and our family of seven, and of course Tim's parents, Bill and Ginny and Aunt Rita were all there! So that was a lot of Mexican! We celebrated Mary's birthday while we had the whole family together!



Aunt Mary with all her nieces...Hannah, Maggie, Emma, Kelsie and Sarah

We enjoyed just relaxing and sitting out on the deck with the aforementioned cool breezes by. Bill and Ginny have bird feeders at strategic places through the back yard so that cute little birds are constantly showing up to feed, and it further relaxes one to watch the sweet little things come to feed. The cooler was stocked with cokes and the coffee pot always had a fresh pot brewed. Bill made us steaks and salmon and burgers on the grill. Ginny made a hot chicken salad that was killer! Aunt Rita took me to some of her favorite stores on a Saturday afternoon shopping extravaganza! How much better can it get?



Bill and Ginny's friends and family love to go to their house and stay a few days because they know that there will always be refreshing times waiting. The only thing we did not get to do that I would have loved was to play some cards. We stayed on the go all the time or were doing other things and just did not get to the cards. That was o.k., though, as maybe we will get to do that another visit, either here or there.


A view out through Bill and Ginny's tranquil back yard...

Sarah and Hannah had a blast playing with their NJ cousins! They got to go to the park together several times, and Kelsie, Maggie and Emma were not only good playmates but also were good protectors and watchers of their younger cousins. Aunt Lisa and Hannah bonded really well, and Hannah would cuddle into Aunt Lisa's shoulder whenever she got the chance.


Aunt Lisa helps the wee ones make chalk drawings on the pavement and blow bubbles

Everyone who knows Hannah knows that was unusual, as Hannah does not warm easily to everyone. Hannah did learn how to say "Rita" before she left and was using Aunt Rita's name liberally as we packed to leave.



Sadly, we started back for home Monday afternoon. We drove as far as Bedford, PA the first night, then stopped and stayed the night. We brought it on in the next evening. It was kind of hard to come back to my bathtub without the jets and to making my own coffee again! :) We commented that we wished we could have had longer in NJ, but we were afraid that if we had stayed much longer, Ginny and Rita would have worked themselves to death! Ginny washed and folded all our dirty clothes while I was out shopping and when we went to church. She is an amazing woman!

Ginny also presented us with a book she has done on the genealogy of her side of the family. We got the Nolan side last year. These books are several inches thick and just filled with countless hours of research and work she did to put these together. They are real treasures, and we appreciate them so much. Our daughters will have a good start on knowing their "roots."

Everyone could not get over how much the kids, especially the boys, had grown. On Sunday, we worshipped with the Wharton church that we had worshipped with for a time when we lived in NJ for a year. Many of the members there have died or drifted back into the world, but a staunch group of believers is still faithful there. After services Sunday night, they all took us out to dinner at a true NJ diner! We were able to catch up a little bit on the news with the brethren there and enjoy a good meal with them! We were also touched that Gemma, wife of the preacher who died last September 11th, gave us some of his books. We will put them to good use as we homeschool this year. Jon was an avid history buff, so he had more books than we could fit in the car, but we brought what we could. We will appreciate their gift for years to come. We had to share some tears with Gemma. Jon was surely a special man. He baptized Tim, and beyond that, he just was a wonderful human being. We have every hope, I told Gemma, that he is waiting on the rest of us in heaven. People like Jon are my inspirations to keep going when the old body fails and times are hard. Jon never gave up, and we will never forget him.

All-in-all, we had a nice little get-away. While it was not a full-blown vacation, it was the closest thing to it we have had in a while! Now it is back to reality in Gravyville, with homeschool getting into full swing, boys looking for jobs, etc. We have much to do this fall to ready for the winter, so we will be busy. Hopefully, I will be able to update more, when I can wrestle the computer away from all the kids.