*Cheese* Or Cheesy?

In an attempt to blog more frequently, I give you 4 of the 78 takes from
our church directory photo shoot.

Scripture

I'm not very good at memorizing scripture. So, what exactly does that say about me, since I know my scotcheroo recipe by heart? Anyways, when I was a kid my parents had a record? or maybe it was a tape, that was bible verses set to music. I still remember some of them. In order to remember the verse though, I have to sing the little song in my head. Lo and behold, the lyrics are scripture and the scripture is still there.

I've searched and searched for something similar for my kids. The only albums I've been able to find are super cheesy and I can't stand to listen to them in the van for more than three minutes with out wanting to gouge my eyes out. Until now. I came across The Rizers. That's short for "memorizers". I downloaded the album on iTunes yesterday and played it over and over in my kitchen all day long.
I was blown away. How could I have forgotten the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God? I take it so lightly sometimes. I do my bible study homework or read out of the Word in the morning and then I'm off to the rest of my day. If I'm going to be honest, a mom only has so much time to sit and ponder. There isn't much meditation time without somebody little needing something or breaking something or peeing on something. My time in the Word tends to be rushed. Yesterday those songs played over and over in my kitchen and as I sang along (sometimes a little too loudly for a middle aged mom), the Holy Spirit did something. He taught me. Things started to pop out of those lyrics in new ways.

For example, I've been really wrestling through some stuff in my life lately, turning things over and over in my mind. I'm always trying to figure it out, what should I do? How should I be? What's my response? What if! What if! And I get myself all worked up and pretty soon I'm a mess. And as I listened to Philippians 4:6-7 all day long, something struck me. That verse is a pillar verse. It's quoted all over the place and I've probably heard it a couple hundred times. It's familiar. It's lost it's punch. And then the Spirit whispered to me "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." How did I miss that all this time? I'm all in a tizzy and freaking out, but Heth...be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication I should make my requests known to who? To God. And how? With thanksgiving. And He will give me His peace. And His peace will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. My heart and mind could sure use some guarding. And I wanted to fall to my knees in worship and thank God that He would give me this encouragement through His word.

And that wasn't the only verse that spoke to me in a new way. There were more. As I listened to a sermon out of Hebrews 12 this morning, Matt Chandler said something that spoke to me, especially in light of what I just experienced yesterday. Sometimes you can't find joy in your circumstances, but when we can't have joy, God gives us peace.

That peace is where I want to live.

First Day

Even though the first day of school was two weeks ago, I'm still going to post first day of school pics.

We have a new Kindergartner.

And also a 10th, 8th, 6th, 3rd, and 1st grader.

And a very sad 3 year old who really wishes he could go to school.

But it didn't take long and he was content with his new status of King Of The House While Everyone Is Away. And his other new status of Official Everly Pesterer. He's very good at both.

Grateful Despite Myself

In the chaos of basement stuff being moved to the garage, I came across a binder with old CD's. Ones we hadn't listened to in quite awhile. I popped in my good old Nichole Nordeman: Woven and Spun disc and drank in her profound lyrics.

I'm dealing with disappointment. Things that seemed perfect from the beginning but ended up being not so perfect. More of a nightmare. This house is one of them. It seemed like we had waited and waited and waited for a house with more space. Then it came. We prayed through the entire process that if this wasn't the right house, God would close the door. That He would shut us down. And He had done that very, very clearly on other properties that we had pursued. But this time everything fell into place, seamlessly.

And then the basement flooded. Twice. And our finished basement became unfinished. And our savings account dwindled. And we moved everything back out to the garage that we had just cleared boxes from. And the boys moved up stairs into their sisters rooms. And we were living in a three bedroom house again.

This isn't the only area of my life that I feel disappointment in. There are others, some of them big, some of them small. Things that promised to be an answer to prayer. Things that appeared to be perfect but turned into a source of heartache. One that seems small in the grand scheme of things is my running. The marathon. Six weeks into my training plan, and I'm out. My knee is giving me fits and I'm not going to be able to run it. I max out at 8 miles and that's no where near 26.2. Disappointment. So disappointed.

Why do I put so much stake in my circumstances? Pull the right strings and I'm happy. Drop them and I start whining and complaining and wallowing in self pity. Which brings me to Nichole. As I relistened to this song, I felt two things at once. A punch to the gut, the realization of how spoiled and pathetic and ungrateful I really can be. At the same time a tender comfort, a peace that settled on me that my God knows what's best for me. I don't.

Gratitude by Nichole Nordeman

Send some rain, would You send some rain?
'Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again
And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade
Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid
But maybe not, not today
Maybe You'll provide in other ways
And if that's the case . . .

We'll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You
How to bless the very sun that warms our face
If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread
Bless our bodies, keep our children fed
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight
Wrap us up and warm us through
Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs
Let us slumber safe from danger's view this time
Or maybe not, not today
Maybe You'll provide in other ways
And if that's the case . . .

We'll give thanks to You
With gratitude
A lesson learned to hunger after You
That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead

And if we never taste that bread

Oh, the differences that often are between
What we want and what we really need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace
Move our hearts to hear a single beat
Between alibis and enemies tonight
Or maybe not, not today
Peace might be another world away
And if that's the case . . .

We'll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to trust in You
That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
In abundance or in need
And if You never grant us peace

But Jesus, would You please . . .

Irony

I wrote the previous post Tuesday evening around supper time. That night a big black scary storm moved in and... you guessed it. More water in the basement. Two inches of rain in an hour. This time wasn't as bad as the first time but it could have been if we wouldn't have been home. We kept our window well drains clear, but that meant all that water was going to the sump pump. It couldn't keep up. We dropped a second pump down there and pumped that water up a hose and out the front door. Even with two pumps, we were only keeping even with the water coming in. Crazy stuff. Eventually we gained ground. Now our basement is full of fans and dehumidifiers borrowed from all of our friends. Thank you friends.

Again, good points:

1. We were home.
   
2. Nothing has been done to the interior since the first flood, we hadn't replaced the carpet pad or the dry wall yet.

We have someone coming to survey our yard right away in the morning so that we can get to work regrading as soon as possible.

I hope this is the last post I write about this topic.

The end. For reals.

Flood

Did I really promise a post 12 days ago and just now deliver? What a slacker.

We have internet. Kind of. Using our phones as modems, we have a semi-useful free version of dial-up. Whether or not it's legal is debatable but the lady at the cell phone store gave us the go-ahead and we are taking it. No uploading, minimal downloading, and a teensy bit of streaming, but it's better than nothin'.

Our basement flooded. That was fun.

Just two months after we moved in, we had torrential rains. Six and a half inches in one night. If you could see our back yard, you would say "Heth! What did you expect?". It literally looks like stadium seating wrapping around our house. A tiered backyard, directing all water right at the house. I told Nate "The wise man built his house upon the rock and the foolish family bought the house at the bottom of the hill." But we love this house, we really do.

The whole story:

Our sump pump runs almost all the time, especially with all the rain we have had this year. We had super duper rains on the night of July 22nd. We woke up shortly after 4am to see our alarm clocks flashing. We had lost power at some point earlier. In a panic, afraid that our sump pump had quit working, we rushed downstairs. Nate's first step down to the carpet at the bottom was an audible "squish". An inch of water. We went into the utility room and strangely, the area around the sump pump was the only dry spot in the whole basement. As we squished around, unplugging things and trying to find the source of the water, we quickly discovered where it was coming from. The window wells. Two of the egress windows were filling with water during the downpours and water was pouring into the basement through any crack the water could find. The water was at our eye level and we were staring into the beady eyes of multiple frogs, swimming in their new pool. We stood there stunned. Neither of us had the first idea of what needed to be done.

Long story short, we dropped a sump pump down into the two to three feet of water in one of the window wells and pumped the water out. Then in the lightning and torrential rain, we dug around in the 5 inches of river rock at the bottom of the window wells looking for the drains. It took forever to find them, but we finally did. Once they were cleared, they kicked in, did their job, and kept up just fine. Nate and my Dad also dug a strategic trench in the yard in the middle of the lightning to direct the water away from the house.

We called in Servicemaster and they were able to save our carpet, we only lost the pad. We had to pull out some dry wall and a little bit of wet insulation. And then we got to pay out the wazoo for use of their industrial sized fans for five days. Eighteen of them, plus two commercial grade dehumidifiers. Fun times. Just what I wanted to spend my money on. Everything is dry and now we are looking at regrading our back yard, buying a back up battery operated sump pump, and refinishing our already finished basement.

Honestly though, when I get grumpy about it sometimes (often) I remind myself of how much worse it COULD have been. It could have been sewage, not clean rain water. It could have happened three days later when Nate was away for a week. We could have lost a whole bunch of new furniture, but we didn't have anything down there yet other than beds, a couple dressers, and rubbermaid totes. All we lost were a few books.

I don't sleep well when it rains at night, I'm not gonna lie. I feel anxiety creeping up and Nate and I both are quick to jump out of bed and grab a flashlight to check on the sump and the window wells. Once we get both of those issuses resolved, I think we will sleep better at night.

Sometime when I have access to a better internet connection, I'll upload some photos and a little video. If you are facebook friends with me, both are posted there.

The end.

Traveling

I'm hacking some internet from my parent's house. They don't mind. Sometime I'll have to tell the whole internet story, or lack-of-internet story.

Anyways, I'm sick of talking about it.

So we went on vacation, camping in Western South Dakota recently. It was super duper fun. One of my favorite camping tips (well just packing in general) is to put whole outfits for each of the little kids in gallon sized ziplock bags. So, for example, Gemma can go to the suitcase and pull out a bag with her name on it and inside ishe finds a shirt, shorts, and underwear. No digging through everyone else's stuff trying to find something that's hers. I do that for all the kids under ten or so.

So I thought I would take that concept to the area of snacks. We went up to visit my new nephew a few hours away. Instead of passing around snacks for the whole entire trip, I thought it might work for each person to have their own bag with a little of everything in it. Twizzlers and grapes, snack mix and drinks. Etc. So I labeled them all with each of their names and Nate and I placed bets on who's bag would be empty before we left town.



We nailed it.

Only one kid had food left in their bag by the time arrived at our destination. Noelle.

Next time it's back to free for all.

Still...

It's been over a month with no internet at home and no end in sight. I will be back, I promise.

Count Us, One More Time

Census 2010.

Remember this? And then this? That was just the warm up round. Pre-census if you will.

A second booklet came in the mail this spring and I filled it out, same as I did last fall. They couldn't possibly call again could they? They wouldn't, would they?

Fast forward to this evening. I'm in panicked rush, trying to get Rice Krispie treats made for the VBS program that the kids need to be at in twenty minutes. I was mid text and my cell phone did that super fun and friendly thing it does when someone calls while I'm texting. It automatically answers the call whether I want it to or not. Guess who was on the other line?

The Government.

They just had a few questions about my census form.

Of course they did.

So I answered them, again. I stood over by the door that leads to the deck, because that's where the best recpetion is, second only to being out on the deck. But it was downpouring.

"Did Nathan J. Laundrypile live anywhere other than your residence on the months of March and April, 2010?" No.
"Did Nathan J. Laundrypile serve in the military and live away from your residence during the months of March and April, 2010?" No
"Did Nathan J. Laundrypile have temporary residence somewhere else part of the time during the months of March and April, 2010?" No
"Did Nathan J. Laundrypile travel for work and stay away from your residence for an extended period of time during the months of March and April, 2010?" No
"Would you eat them here or there, would you eat them any where? Would you eat them with a fox, would you eat them in a box?" No No No.

I said the word "no" not less then seventy five times, I swear. Then they moved on to the kids. The kids' whose names they can't pronounce. Which is fine, we named them weird names, I know that. I just felt bad for the poor lady. And I think in her job description, it specified that she had to read every single question in it's entireity for every single one of the kids. But we finished and I think she was satisfied with my answers.

And then I remembered the marshmallows and butter, melting on the stove.

I'm convinced that Caesar Augustus had the better idea, making everyone return to their home town to register. Much simpler. "See my family? Here we all are. We really exist, I'm not making all these kids up."


I've decided to change my bumper sticker from:

"Big families. Stumping the government, one file at a time."
"The U.S. government. Burning whole batches of Rice Krispie, treats one phone call at a time."

Disconnected

So obviously, we don't have much internet access. Thus my absence from the internet. We are in negotiations with Qwest, on a quest for high speed and not dial up. Fun times. So for now I'm hacking access from my parents and trying to get the urgent online things taken care of in my limited time.

Limited access has proved to make me much for productive at home. I can't look up every little question I have on Google every time I think of it. "Does IKEA sell cute recycling bins?", "What size curtains would I want for this window?", "How close to the septic system can I plant trees?".

So please endure with me through this waiting. I'll be back at it soon. Until then, I'll keep attacking the unpacking. I leave you with these photos.

Reflection

A few weeks ago my running buddy and I were out for one of our early morning run. We meet before the sun rises and try to get in our miles before the day begins. This particular morning we were doing a route that takes us on a loop around the river. It's familiar, routine, and not that exciting. We were discussing a whole lot of nothing, just catching up on the daily stuff in each others lives. Lots of gabbing while putting one foot in front of the other. About half way across the bridge she interrupted me mid-sentence. "Sorry Heth, but LOOK!" I looked up and over my shoulder and there across the river the sun was rising. The sky was splashed extravagantly with pink and orange and it was all reflected across the mirror of the water. It was completely breathtaking. I had been eyes-to-the-pavement, caught up in a lame story and almost missed a stunning display.

That is exactly how I feel about this move. After weeks of packing, we finally loaded up the truck on Monday. Since then we've been cleaning the house and getting ready to close on the new house. I've been head down, eyes to the pavement, one foot in front of the other trying to get it all done. I think I need to stop, look up, and soak in the reality of what is really happening. This whole thing has been an extravagant display of God's doing. From all of the thousands of memories we have in that little green house to the ease in which the showing/sale/packing has gone, it's all been without a hitch. All the pieces have fallen into place and it's been obvious that it was His plan, His timing, and His blessing. It's breathtaking.

And I'm left just standing here with my jaw hanging open in awe of what He has done. To think I almost missed it because I didn't look up.

Moving

We are on the home stretch, packing packing packing.

I've got no blog posts.

The pile of packed boxes is getting bigger than the pile of empty boxes.

And yes, I let my baby girl eat cheerios off of the floor. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Go Green

I overheard from the next room "Hurry! She's gonna be MAD!"

And this is what I found:

I wasn't mad, because I'm not the one with the Hulk Eyes.

"Don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry...."

Mother's Day

Last week one of my kids had a "secret assignment" they were working on at school. The week before Mother's Day? What could it be? He needed a few photos of just him and mom. I was stumped. As I dug through my hard drive, I had all sorts of photos of the kid and a lot less of me, but almost none together. And that inspired my one request for Mother's Day. I didn't care if I got dinner out, or flowers or anything else. All I wanted was a photo with me and my crew and individual shots with each of them one on one. Nate humored me.

But I also got pancakes. Heavenly.

Intentional Living. In List Form

I'm trying more and more to live in the moment. Not always looking to "the next big thing" but loving right where I am. Here are some thoughts from today.

• Everly sits in the middle of the room. She can't quite crawl, if you consider forward motion to be crawling. Scooting backwards until she is wedged into a corner or under the couch doesn't count. I'm enjoying the babble that is almost "mamamama" and the fact that she mostly stays where I put her. I'm enjoying how her face lights up when I enter the room. Her smile is almost too much for her little face.
• I'm enjoying the last few weeks of having Gemma home during the day without the big kids. Next fall it's backpacks and new pencils and off to kindergarten.
  
• I'm savoring these last couple of weeks in this little house. Breathing deeply of all the flowers I have tended to over ten years here. Making a few more memories in these walls before we are off to a new adventure just a few miles away.
• I'm loving the sunshine this afternoon. Cloudy days make the sunny ones so much sweeter.
• I'm trying to talk myself into enjoying the fact that Toby is still in diapers. The end result of potty training is glorious, the interim, not so great. So I'm enjoying the calm before the storm.
• Early morning temperatures have been absolutely perfect for running. 50 degrees means shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt. In a few weeks it will be tank tops and ponytails drenched in sweat, even at 5:30 am.

Packing

I did a little packing for the move. First things first.

Huntress

She perches on the balls of her Converse clad feet, poised, ready, with steak knife in hand. By her side is an overflowing icecream bucket, remains spilling over the edges. Wilted leaves tell of silenced screams, now unable to warn the next victim. Her well trained eyes scan the area immediately surrounding her, watching for the next target to compromise it's position by waving it's bright yellow head.

Her name is Heth.

She's a little bit crazed when she's hunting dandelions.

Shouldn't you be packing, Heth? You are moving in a few short weeks.

There are more noble tasks, more urgent tasks that demand her attention. Tasks like a weed free lawn. And although this yard will soon belong to someone else, she must maintain it's integrity. She must guard it's green blades. Soon it will rain and she will be forced back inside to the other, less important jobs. Things like feeding her family and tending to her children.

But for today, if just for today, she takes on population of the evil Taraxacum Officinale, one root at a time.

It's her duty.

Googling

Things I have Googled in the last few days:

1. Beef Stroganoff because it's what was for dinner. And YUM!
2. Matthew Henry's Bible commentary I love me some commentary
3. (insert specific cell phone number here) I was texting back and forth with someone and I didn't know who it was. Still don't. But it was a lovely conversation.
   
4. Wii Cleaning Kit Fastest way to kill a Wii? Give it to us. I'd say 80% of our games result in the message "Disc could not be read". If dust can affect Wii performance, than I'd say we have a definite problem. Hopefully a problem that a Wii Cleaning kit can fix? Please?
5. Dulce De Leche recipe Why didn't I bookmark that dang recipe. Found it though. And it is yummy.
6. Taco John's Nutritional information How bad would it really be to finish off a six pack and a pound? I found the answer. Bad. It would be bad. Potato Oles are pretty much the equivalent to little pats of butter.
7. Broken Canon 50mm lens Yep. I dropped it again. But I also fixed it again. It's the lens that would not die. I love that thing.
   
8. Running after donating blood Nate and I both donated on Tuesday afternoon. I didn't run Wednesday even though I felt fine, just to play it safe. This morning I headed out for a few miles, ran about one mile, and then I died. Much walking ensued. I am totally worthless today. Tired to the core of my being. Turns out that's pretty normal so I don't feel like a TOTAL loser.

This is officially the most lame blog post ever.

The end.

Souvenirs

This year our school district finally gave us a real, true, Spring Break. A whole entire week off. None of this three day weekend business like we've had the last....forever. We had big plans for the big kids. Tyler, Caedmon, and Jack were flying out with Nate's mom to visit their cousins on the east coast. Noelle and Cam were joining Aunt Mariah and heading up to visit Aunt Holly in the Twin Cities. That left Nate and I with just the three littlest ones. It was a really different week, like stepping back in time ten years to when Tyler, Noelle, and Camryn were little. Very surreal.

They all had a great time, and by the end of the week, we were all reunited again. Everyone came home will stories and gifts and unique memories of Spring Break 2010. The boys, however, returned with a gift for me from Andrea. Remember when she gave me this? Well, this time she sent this heavenly creation:


Clearly she knows that my love language consists of peanut butter combined with chocolate. That only thing that could have made it better would have been if she would have brought it herself and we could have eaten it together.

Miss you Ann!

Genius

I recently came across these marvelous inventions at my local Wal-Mart. I literally gasped at the genius behind this design. Immediately, all my four-holed toothbrush holder problems were solved. No more trying to cram them all in. No more toothbrushes laying all over the bathroom counter.

And then Caedmon took it up a notch.

And Toby had to try it too.