Lisa- This One's for You!!!

I have loved getting to know some wonderful bloggers... the internet is an amazing resource for those of us who are at home much of the time.

Well, Lisa asked in a comment for me to show photos of our farm, and house. I am glad to do so, but want to clarify some things before hand...

Our house used to be the milking parlor of a barn. The barn has pretty much fallen into disrepair, but we don't own it and there for are waiting for the owner to allow it to be torn down. It is really a menace.

Our house was added on to piece by piece, patchwork style. So to look at the outside, it looks kind of like a badly made patchwork quilt. BUT- we can afford it, and have plans to improve it, so we are thankful for it. Funny looking and all.

Just wanted to get that of my chest before I show the world what a funny looking house we live in. ;)

Here's the front, from the driveway.



Here's the left side:



And here's the right side:



From the front porch:

Our front yard...



To the Right:



To the Left:



Far right side:



Back Field:



We own 4 acres and a beautiful view. The house can use some work, and we are bursting out the seams with all these children growing larger, but we are thankful for God's blessings to us.

Now Lisa... I get to see photos of your house and farm, Right?!

A Finer Thing?

I had a post all written up in my mind... one that would actually fit a meme {I really hate that word}.

It's been a beautiful Friday morning already. The children sleeping in, coffee at the perfect temperature, the peace and quiet to read all the blogs I want without any interruptions.

Then I realized that it was 6, not 7. Without my glasses I thought the clock said 6:30, not 5:30.

Then I got on Facebook, and one of my friends had done the same. So I didn't feel so bad. ;)

At least I had a good half hour of delusion before reality hit.

Off for a busy day. Have a great one!! May you have a "Finer Thing" occur to you today...

Garden Club 6/ 12/ 09

We have been working so hard to get on top of the weeds this week. I have to admit that none of us complained when we had thunder storms Wednesday night, and rain all day Thursday. We were a bit relieved to have the excuse to sleep in instead of getting up early to weed! [Lisa of Best Life... note the photos of the children in the garden...]







My garden is looking great. I think I will have to replant some beans and corn, but it is not too late yet. I am trying to decide where to re-plant it. I think I will plant them around the current areas of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower, because I think those will be coming out by the time the beans and corn need the sunlight and space. Anyone agree or disagree? I'd like them in my close kitchen garden so it is easier to weed and keep track of. Much as I like to ignore the fact, I AM 25 weeks pregnant, and it will be VERY hot soon. In the not too far future the back gardens will start looking very far away.





We have gotten a lot of peas, which have been added into everything imaginable. They tasted great in our cole slaw. The boys even claim they tasted good on their peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I read that idea on a blog and convinced them to try it. No one else was willing... wonder why. ;) I'm just a bit too pregnant to experiment with my food that way.



The prettiest smelling parts of my garden.. the lavendar, the lemon balm, and the pineapple sage were all picked, and are now drying... so nice smelling.



So what's going on in your garden? Mr. Linky is still offline, so I suppose we are having to leave comments again. I am a little disappointed, as it seems that not all the comments are getting to me for moderation... if you do not see your link, please e-mail it to me at petersonclan at momys dot net . I'll figure out a way to get it up for you.

Mercy Medical Update June 11, 2009

I realized it's time for a big Mercy Update...



Some of you may remember this adorable photo of Mercy...




Or maybe this one:



Here is what she looks like today:





We got wonderful news on the tests from last month. The MRI had a component which looked at actual blood flow with in the hemangioma, and that showed it to be significantly reduced. So... just as we assumed... if it is reducing on the outside, it is reducing within the brain. That is the best news I could have hoped for.



The blood tests, where they test for the hormone which the prednisone replaced for so long, looked PERFECT also. They were amazed, but it seems there is no long term effects from the high doses of steroids for most of her life.



All looks good with our little Mercy. Continue to pray for her. We don't know what will happen when we pull her off the propranalol, but for now, I am enjoying the time of watching her hemangioma reduce, and seeing her act like a normal little girl... 2 year old temper tantrums and all.

A Funny Conversation...

The other night the girls were talking about our friend Lisa who had visited this past weekend. Anna said, "Was Ms. Lisa really a Marine before she had babies?"

Eric: "Yep. She sure was!"

Emma: "She was a REAL Mermaid?!"

~~~~~~~~~~

This happened a couple months ago while I was in Cincinnati at the homeschool convention... we went down to a cafeteria area for dinner. I saw a Japanese place, and went to order some Yaki Soba there...

Me: I'd like a #5 with Soba noodles, please.

The order taker.... "A Numero Cinco!"

That just struck me as really funny.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Glad We Have a Ferocious Watchdog...

I have never even heard of this happening, but chalk it up to another "This only happens to Me" sort of phenomena...

The other night as it was getting evening, I see a deer in the field closest to the house. This is not unusual, as we have lots of deer around here, at least until hunting season.

This deer was bent down, and it appeared she was licking something in the tall grass. I thought she had given birth, and was licking the baby right there. I was wondering how to keep the dogs away from the fawn, when I saw the animal stand up. IT WAS ONE OF OUR DOGS!!!

Yes, our dog was playing with a deer. The next night we watched them play tag in and out of the tree line.

Anyone ever hear of that?!

Bible Bee Games

We have been putting together some games for the children to aid in studying for the Bible Bee. Feel free to check them out!

My friend Pam had made the following for learning the Bible Knowledge questions:

http://elearning-games.umcrookston.edu/InterGames1/KnowMill.asp?GameID=biblebeegames_000

http://elearning-games.umcrookston.edu/InterGames1/KnowMill.asp?GameID=biblebeegames_001

She has other fun ideas on her blog... check it out. (You can also scroll down and check out her garden. I wish mine looks like that!!! Beautiful.)

Ahem. Back to the Bible Bee...

I spent much of this morning making a game for the children to practice matching the references of the verses with the first three words. It seems that once they know those three words they can get the whole verse, so we are working on that. I did all the Category 1 verses for those in our group who are memorizing Category 1 first, the I did all three categories of the verses we have learned so far. I'll be adding to those each week as we pass the next sets of verses.

So feel free to check them out. There are some great verses these children are learning. I have been convicted with several of them...

I also have finished the Card Backs for Category 1 (Old and New Testaments... all 100 verses) if anyone wants them. Feel free to ask either by e-mail (petersonclan at momys dot net) or in the comment section of this post!

Happy Studying!

You Can Pick Your Friends...

Everyone has heard the old saying about picking your friends, but not their noses... however- evidently around here we can pick our friend's CHILDREN'S noses. Guess you can do that in Kentucky.

We had our wonderful friend Lisa and Kids over for the night a couple days ago. It is such a blessing to get back together with old friends. People we have enjoyed friendships with throughout the years. We were all together in an OCF Bible Study as newlyweds... only 1 child between the 4+ couples. Now we have 21 children between us. A mighty army for the Lord (even though their Dads are Marines...). It was so nice to remember all we have come through together, and to have people who love us, even after years of separation.

So anyway- Lisa and children arrive for the night. We have a delightful dinner, and the children all enjoy chasing chickens in the twilight. We give baths, and get them going to bed, all laid out slumber party style. About 45 minutes into the relative peace and quiet of 14 children giggling and chatting in their sleeping bags, Lisa and I get interrupted by one of her daughters coming downstairs crying because her nose hurts.

Turns out she has a BEAD up her nose. Not a nice, round, nose fitting bead which could be blown out by plugging the other nostril and having her blow really hard. (I know how to do this sort of nostril blockage removal from the time Emma put a corn kernal up her nose...). This was a Y shaped bead with plenty of air space to keep us from being able to blow it out.

So out come the tweezers, and enter Dr. Eric. He does have a medical background since he flies an EMS helicopter you know. (That's a joke... he's just the pilot. But all sorts of people assume he can treat anything.)

It takes about 1/2 hour, but we finally extract the bead from the child's nose. Sigh. She didn't even get to blow it on Eric's foot. I was going to give her a bowl of ice cream if she did that. ;)

Do these things only happen to MY family?!?!

Bible Bee Study Schedule Week 4

We were on vacation last week, so we took a week off from learning new verses. A couple of my more motivated children used Thursday and Friday to solidify the ones they were weak on, but other than that and a little reviewing we took the week off.

So we are back at it full swing this week. We will continue doing 3 chapters a day in 1st Samuel, and 5 knowledge questions a day. We will memorize the following verses this week:

Category 1:

Matthew 11: 28-30 (M)
John 1:1-2 (T)
John 1: 14 (W)
John 3:16 (W)
John 3:19(TH)
John 3: 35 - 36 (F)

Category 2:

Psalm 95: 1-7a (M)
Psalm 100 (T)
Psalm 102: 25-28 (W)
Psalm 103: 1-5 (Th)
Psalm 103: 20-22 (F)

Category 3:

Psalm 33: 13-22 (M)
Psalm 34: 1-10 (T)
Psalm 36: 5-10 (W)
Psalm 49: 7-13 (Th)
Psalm 71: 14-24 (F)