Where to begin

Its been two weeks since I blogged.  I had to look at my own blog to figure out where I left off!  It has been a CRAZY two weeks. I  won't give you all the details, but here is what we have been up to:

We moved 10 miles north to Norton Shores, we have an address and a phone number (YEAH - If you need it let me know, I sent out an email, but may not have gotten everyone), we have internet*, the appliances were delivered -eventually*, we purchased family room furniture and it was delivered*, we purchased a new bedroom set for Matt and I with a new mattress and that was delivered*, we had several sets of company - my aunt, my uncle and aunt, my uncle and aunt's friends, I purchased and organized a new family calendar*, my parents came to visit and help for 6 days, I partially balanced the checkbook, we have cable*, I had a flat tire*,  most of the light fixtures and some of the switches in the house were changed*, we purchased and hung up two clocks*, Matt hung up two of the picture frames*,  we have two working showers*, we put new knobs on all the cupboards*, we received a care package for the girls' birthdays (thanks K&T), we went to library story time*, Anika and Jessica had basketball*, Jessica and Maria tried out for kid parts in the high school spring musical - and got them*, Jessica sang in the praise team at church*, Brandon had tennis practice, Anika started flute lessons, we organized a toy room and the kids got their toys back after 6 months of being packed away, a few new shelves were hung in the closets*, and I had a sinus infection which still hasn't totally gone away which meant I had a headache most of the week.

* this refers to a story in and of itself, we'll see if I tell them all

We didn't have an internet connection for most of the week, and really we aren't supposed to now - notice the * - but it was a good thing.  With all of the craziness, I had some moments where I was pretty defeated -notice the flat tire *) and if I had blogged at those times a few of you would have either called 911 and had the psych buggy come and take me away or sent me copious amounts of alcohol - not to worry, its already been purchased.

But somewhere in it all, I sat back and took a reality check.  We are safe, we have a beautiful home, the kids adjust a bit more each day, we are healthy, Matt has a job he enjoys and is engaged in, and we can get up and keep going every day with the promise of something new.  Many times through this week I have thought of friends and their struggles, I have read others' blogs and wondered how they keep going and have such positive attitudes, I think of conversations with people who are no longer on this earth, and it helps me gain perspective.  I was telling my friend Paul years ago that sometimes I go to bed at night just so that today will end... I was in bed at 9 PM once this week! =)

I post these pictures of our kitchen in its current state.  Some of you are thinking 'what a mess' but if I had a picture of what it looked like last week at this point you would say 'they've come a long way'!

A few victories have also come around.  I found the bathroom box with my nail stuff and my contacts! I found the oregano and the spaghetti sauce and could make supper last night, the kids get a kick out of watching our new washing machine, my new washer and dryer are great and the new dishwasher rocks the world!  I don't have to rinse off ANYTHING and I even put in the dirty lasagna pan and it came out clean!  There were several times during the week where I needed something and started to look for it and found it immediately - yeah God and there are still a few random things missing.

Okay, I'll try a few of the asterisks now:
*Comcast and the internet are the first *; I have spent more than 2 hours on the phone with this company this week alone.  Last week I requested a high speed internet and phone connection.  I felt funny about it over the weekend so I called and changed it to a slower speed and no phone.  On Wednesday, the man comes to connect the internet and phone.  I told him about the new order, so he only connects internet. I find out on Thursday, that he connected the wrong kind of internet.  On Friday I canceled that, although I'm obviously still using it, so I'll probably be on the phone some more this week.  The new modem and necessary items are supposed to arrive by UPS this week.  What should I do with the modem that the man left here?  I guess that will be part of the continuing saga and the copious amounts of alcohol on my part.  Perhaps a glass of wine BEFORE I make that phone call and one during!
*Appliances - oh dear, here we go - at one point, two delivery trucks and a plumber were all clammering to get into my driveway that already had 3 vehicles in it.  Street parking became necessary for most of us, and I was gone getting emergency supplies from Menards!  Twenty minutes after the chaos left, I opened my new lovely fridge, and it didn't work.  Of course it had to be user error, so I hauled out the manual and started pressing buttons - still didn't work.  We purchased our appliances from the same place that the guy from our church works that got us our freezer, so I called them up.  After a bit of a wait, Bob, the guy from church, is on the phone telling me he'd be right out.  He comes out and sure enough, the fridge is dead.  It ran a whole twenty minutes and died. They brought me a new one the next day.  It was cold outside so the garage and the deck served as a great fridge and freezer in the mean time.  Oh, and in the process the warehouse lost our stove.  Yes, I said lost.  The store didn't know which truck it had been put on.  I received it three days ago.  But God had little angels in place for that, too.  The dentists asked us over for pizza Saturday night after moving, and our neighbor in the back yard brought over fried chicken and mashed potatoes for lunch on Sunday.  Neither of them knew we didn't have a stove.  On Monday, we cooked a frozen lasagna in the microwave and on Tuesday and Wednesday we had leftovers warmed up in the microwave!
*the delivery guys took away our 3 old toilets and all the old light fixtures, TOO funny.  They wanted them in their own homes and in the rental homes they had family members that owned!
*our new bedroom set had a leg to the bed that was split and broken, a new one has been ordered
*the family calendar got hung up with those 3M removable sticker hooks.... they didn't work and the calendar kept falling off the wall.  It is now hung up with sheet rock screws.
*cable - oh the joys of comcast.  I was looking forward to not having to deal with big companies like Qwest and their poor service, not so much for me.  Remember how I canceled the internet and phone policy, well it seems they never canceled it, so when I tried to add cable, they said my bill would now be $100 a month because I wasn't choosing a bundled package.  More time on the phone.  I also had gone to Best Buy to purchase a new TV antennae in hopes that I could get the local channels for FREE, like its intended.  After some research, I determined that basic cable was really our only option, so back to Best Buy went the antennae.  Finally, Comcast agreed to set up cable - which they could do over the phone, and off we went to the TV.  No cable.  Back on the phone to order a technician out to the house and then I went to bed again!  I have discovered that I solve things in my sleep.  I'm not kidding. I can't tell you how many mornings I have woken up and had the solution to something that wasn't working.  Not sure what God is telling me with that one.  Maybe that I should just stay in bed.... Anyway, I figured out that the cable box we were plugged into was dead which led me to the basement with a flashlight following the cable lines with a flashlight.  Yep, I was right, but I did discover the live cable and a whole bunch of wires I don't understand.  That will have to wait for another day and someone with a whole lot more brains than I have.  Do you know anyone that installs internet and tv cable that could explain the box and around 10 wires I have running all over my house that seemingly do nothing?  And now, we have the free local stations, for $20 a month.

I'm going to stop there for now.  I hope this puts a smile on your face.  Someday, I'm sure it will put a smile on mine!

Cleaning Fairies

It is an understatement to say I have been overwhelmed by the house.  Going there makes me tired.  All I see is work, projects and more work.  We are currently on the 3 - 5 year plan.  In that amount of time it will be a really great house.  We need that much time for stress levels and pocketbooks to recover, but also, there are just that many projects!

Part of the overwhelmed feeling was relieved today.  We had a cleaning day at the house.  I honestly can't even count how many people came over - partly because I wasn't even there the whole day!  I went in the morning and two ladies cleaned with me for a little over an hour.  Then several people came in the afternoon while I was home with the kids, and tonight, 5 more people came.  The best part is - you can touch our kitchen cupboards and your hand doesn't get slimy.  You can open the cupboards without any effort - they aren't stuck shut!  Its a glorious thing, let me tell you - and I didn't do any of it!

I was explaining to many of them that this house is its own sort of money pit.  We start what seems like a simple project and it turns into several projects.  So, our 'to do' list grows instead of shrinks.  But through it all there have been some pretty cool God moments.  Today someone said I should write a few down, so here goes:
-The handyman from our church has been working in our bathroom since we bought the house.  He took out the old, disgusting surround shower and is replacing it with tile.  After he took out the surround, he noticed the pipes needed to be moved, so he did that.  Then he noticed the studs behind the shower were warped, so he replaced them, then the drain didn't match up so he had to put in a tile base instead of a pan.  BUT, he has all this stuff at his house because a few years ago, a tile place that he frequented closed down and gave him what was left of his inventory.  We had to purchase our tile, but the base work and some of the other things, he still had!
-He also convinced us to buy high efficiency toilets. From what we understand, water is expensive here.  (whoever said the cost of living here would be much less out right LIED - I haven't found anything to be cheaper here- except Boston Cream Pie - gas costs more, insurance costs more, water costs more)  Anyway, Matt took out the old toilet and was putting in the new one when he heard something crack.  He lifted the toilet back up and realized he had crack the plastic base under the ring, so he went to buy a new one.  While he was looking to put that in, he realized the drain pipe had a crack in it also.  When we moved in, there was a major water stain on the ceiling, but the inspector couldn't figure out where it came from.  Now we know, and if Bobby hadn't told us to replace the toilets and if Matt hadn't cracked it, we would have had a huge mess in a few months with a very wet ceiling soaking into our living room!
-Today cleaning the cupboards, someone was scrubbing the lazy susan. It was disgusting.  She described it as a combination of molasses and oil.  After she got through the first level, she noticed it had a huge crack in it - to the point that whatever that substance was, had leaked through to the base and so badly cracked that the bottom shelf would maybe hold marshmallows, and not much else.  One of the ladies cleaning said she had a brand new one at home.  They had never installed theirs, and weren't going to now, so we can have it!
-The upstairs shower still doesn't have hot water.  This is troublesome to me, but there is a plumber coming to look at it tomorrow.  So maybe there will be a good story there yet, too.

Hope your MLK Jr day was a good one!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

It pretty much snowed from 4 PM on Thursday through this (Sunday) morning.  One of the TV stations said it was over 20".  I can't say that I think it is that much, but its at least a foot.  And we shoveled MANY times!  Why shovel and not blow?  Well, when you move, certain things get misplaced.  We made sure we had our shovels handy, and the snow blower, too.  We were not so careful with the gas tanks.  We did find them - of all places in the garage here, right where they were supposed to be, but the gas is not mixed with the oil yet, so shovel - shovel - shovel.  The first round of snow was wet and heavy.  It took me almost 2 hours to clear off everything - about 6 - 10 inches.  All the snow since then has been the light fluffy powder and we went out around every 1 -2 inches, but that only took 10 minutes tops!

Brandon had his final orthopaedic doctor appt on Monday.  He was given a clean bill of health and ready to attack the world again.  The x-ray showed more bone growth - actually too much.  There is a spot where his bone actually grew so much there is a small shard that is sticking out!  The doctor told us his body would absorb that and all would be well in a few months.  So, we never saw the crack, but the new bone, which shows up bright white on the x-ray, was very apparent.  I would have been more apprehensive about that extra piece of bone actually being absorbed except we went through all of this with Anika.  Her wrist was still crooked several months after her break, but by the 6 month period, you couldn't tell a thing.  I will never cease to be amazed at how God made us!

We are hoping to have a move in date of Saturday.  A few things have to happen before then, not the least of which is have at least one working shower.  The appliances and the living room furniture are being delivered on Friday.  Our bedroom furniture is getting delivered next Friday.  Some people from church are meeting me at the house tomorrow to help me clean.  I feel a little funny having people help us with every single step we take, but such is life - and hopefully we get lots done.  I got the kids' bedrooms clean on Saturday, so I have started a bit.  Matt is hoping to find some more people to help with the actual moving of boxes on Saturday.  I think everyone is going to be glad when we live there and stop asking for help.  We are tired of trying to keep two households operating.  On Saturday, I made three trips to Muskegon in three hours!

We went sledding today - along with 3/4 of West Michigan.  There were points where I feared for the kids' safety.  There were people coming from all directions, all the time!  We found out a few more places to sled and we were told that it isn't always this crazy.  Supposedly, the craziness had more to do with the first big snow, than the lack of sledding hills.  There is also a chance that there will be two outdoor rinks to go skating on.  We are hopeful!

Anika had her first basketball game on Saturday and she played really hard and quite well.  Jessica also had her equivalent of basketball, although they don't play games which she is rather disgusted about!  She was excited they gave her her own basketball to keep!

Anika had a class party on Friday night.  They all stayed after school and played games, then ate pizza, then they all went to the high school girls and boys basketball games.  Both teams won and Anika had fun just being herself with her classmates outside of class.  She seems very comfortable with who she is and where she fits in.  She recognizes that all the girls seem to have 1 or 2 best friends and that she isn't that person right now.  I am not as comfortable watching it.  I ache for her.  There was one point where three of the girls she was sitting by got up to go do something and left her sitting on the bench.  I was right behind her with one of the other girls' dad and I encouraged her to go with them.  She just looked at me and said, "Why, I'm fine."   I think of the main girls she called her friends in MN and how we could take either or both of them and it was just as natural as though they were a part of our family. I try not to get ahead of myself and wonder about what the years ahead hold.

We've found several second hand stores and of course made a few purchases.  I don't spend as much money on clothes when my girls aren't along!  Jessica and Maria were born to shop.  Fairly certain that is a gene that gets developed among sisters.  I have never enjoyed shopping, but I am going to have to learn with 3 girls!  And I did have fun furniture and appliance shopping this week but buying new is totally out of my comfort zone!  I still spend lots of time shopping on Craigslist!  I got a swing set last week!

Tomorrow is a day off of school.  Maria came home telling me all about why there was no school and who it honored.  I am very pleased with preschool here.  She has learned more things that never would dawn on me to tell her..... Monday's holiday for one, parts of a restaurant, parts of a grocery store. I always assume life will help them figure this all out!

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Anika!  My girl turned 11 today.  Its crazy how short a time that seems, but in reality, she is only under a roof with me for 7 more years.  Crazy.  She is an amazing girl.  She can play with the little ones and admire the big kids.  She likes to watch for awhile before she jumps into anything.  She wants to be an artist some day.  She 'gets' people. She watches what goes on around her and notices things about others.  She has huge empathy - genuinely hurts when those close to her hurt.  Happy Birthday sweet girl, we love you!

Her day was spent at basketball this morning, running around over noon, and at an ice sculpture contest this afternoon!  There was a work day at our house today and some things got accomplished.  I can't say we are any closer to moving in than we were this morning, but there are some things coming along.  There is a water heater and a washer and dryer now, which is always a good thing!  This week will be major cleaning for me.  A few more errands to figure out some things, but mostly cleaning! One room at a time! =)

Brandon had his first sleepover in MI last night.  It seemed to go well but from what I gather he was too nervous to truly sleep well.  Needless to say, he is asleep now!  

We had donuts for breakfast, creamed chicken on a bun for lunch (with cool ranch doritos), and creamed chicken over mashed potatoes for supper with Candy Cane Pie for dessert.  Can I tell you how much I love that none of my kids like cake?  We have pie, ice cream, brownies, apple crisp, whatever they choose - but never cake!  Anika chose the menu for the day and away we went. 

We drove to Holland this afternoon to watch the Collegiate ice carving competition.  We got to see a few people at work and all of the finished products before they started melting.  It was pretty cool.  I can't remember which ones are behind the kids.  I think the very back one is the giraffe, but we saw Wall E, a runner, several fish and several birds, a snake, a picasso sort of figure, and many other things. We watched the guys carving the runner the longest. After this photo, he attached a hand, and put a heart in the other hand.  He tried to attach a pony tail, but never succeeded. Quite cool what they can do with ice! =)

details details

I feel like the last few days some of the details of life have fallen into place.  But with every step forward there always seems to be a dangling strand that can't quite get solved.  So, I take the details forward, hoping the strands will follow with time.

For instance, we went and got our MI licenses, which means we can now do many more things like library cards and health insurance.  But the car insurance people asked where our MI registration was...... not sure.  They gave me a license plate and a title, but no registration.  Maybe it will magically show up in the mail with our licenses.  Or, we got a letter from our credit union telling us they also offer home and auto insurance at a discounted rate to members.  Guess who just got home and auto insurance set up with another company..... yeah, that would be me.  So, do I bother trying to see who is cheaper or leave well enough alone?  Time will tell how ambitious I am.  Perhaps I will wait until I am actually holding the policy in my hand before I try to change it.  There's a library story that fits into this category, too, but that's far too long and boring.

The mystery of why the music teacher never returned my emails all these months has been solved.  She didn't know she had an email address at the grade school - the email I was using.  She uses her email address from the high school. Anika came home with that yesterday and we are already setting up flute lessons.  There is a chance the lady across the road from our new house teaches piano lessons!

I took the kids to GEMS and Cadets at the church very near our house last night.  Jessica and Maria say its the best place ever.  Brandon and Anika like it as much as the other one.  I think I have created a monster.  My guess is for the rest of the year we will do both churches (they meet different Wed of the month) and reevaluate next year.  See what I mean by falling into place but leaving a strand?

Little things that have made us happy lately:
-I finally broke down and bought another box of q-tips.  I know big spender -  a whole $1.97 - but I just bought a box in MN and how fast do you really go through those things.  We will be well supplied once the MN ones get found while unpacking. I also bought Listerine - Matt did a happy dance.  When that bathroom box gets found something big is going to happen.  I'm still waiting for my contacts.
-The dentist friends of ours are letting us borrow their carpet cleaner (my job next week at the new house) and their electric pencil sharpener.  The little plastic twisty pencil sharpeners had worn out their welcome here, and our electric one is 'in a box somewhere.'  The kids can't wait for me to not be able to use that excuse anymore! And we received all this in their home while drinking a glass of wine while the kids were at church.  It was almost date like and the wine was wonderful.  (BTW if you've been to their house, which almost none of you have - the winter icy driveway could not be conquered by the van.  Good thing they have 4 wheel drive! The live at the top of the sand dune overlooking Lake MI)
-we are planning adventures for the weekend here.  It is Anika's birthday on Saturday.
-There is a work bee at our house on Saturday.  Jessica wondered last night if people were getting sick of helping us.  I told her I wondered the same thing.

Off to buy appliances today.

2012

God held off the snow until Jan 1 so all travel was done in safety!  THANK YOU! And what a snow it is.  The kids said they measured the front yard and it is around 6 inches - and its still coming.  With the wind we are having quite the storm.  I am tempted to run down by the lake and just experience what is happening there, but it is far too cozy and warm here.

We had contemplated going to work at the house today but I also think that is going to be put on hold until tomorrow.  The house is coming along.  Matt has spent hours there and so have other people from church.  One guy is redoing the master bathroom - what a job.  But it will be great when it is finished.  The water heater is getting delivered later this week so I'll at least be able to start cleaning it.  We are hoping to move in sometime in the next 2 - 3 weeks. It won't be totally ready, but it will be liveable.

Brandon has been out of his sling and living a normal life since school got out.  He has another appt next Monday. If there is no more change in the x-ray and if there is not point tenderness at the break, he will have a clean bill of health and no restrictions.  We went in a few weeks ago and they took 3 x-rays again.  They still cannot see a break, but they can see a place where they think new bone could be forming.  The break is probably on the inside of the radial bone, next to the ulna, so a picture just can't get to it.  He can straighten his arm, but he can't quite bend it as far as the right one.  He's making progress.

We spent Christmas Eve with part of Matt's family at Matt's parent in IL.  The kids had a great time with cousins, opening presents and making a gingerbread house.  I got to go for a 6 mile run!

We were the advent readers for Christmas day service.  Everyone did well, but people were most impressed with Jessica and Maria in their little Christmas dresses.  We went to our dentist friends from church for Christmas dinner.  It was amazing.  My girls don't generally love meat.  We were served prime rib, cooked to perfection and they all ate a huge slab.  So, if I took the time and money to do meat right, maybe they would eat it!  Probably not going to happen!  Christmas night was spent at Aunt Kathy's.  We went ice skating in the down town rink.  SOOOO much fun. The tree lights were beautiful.  Maria wore Jessica's coat and Jessica stayed back with dad and Mary and played games. I'm still looking for an outside rink around here and I have a couple of options. Yes Brandon ice skated, and no, from what I can tell, he did no further damage.  And Maria took off right where she stopped last year.  We had a great time.

Tuesday evening loud shouts of 'They're here' could be heard - probably miles away.  The Shields family came to visit and it was wonderful.  The kids had playmates, playdates, and sleepovers for two full days.  We showed them our life here, unloaded some of the stuff that didn't fit in the moving van, ate, and hung out playing games.  Mutual friends, the Meyers, live in Grand Rapids, and they came to visit, too.  Another exciting rendition of 'They're here', and lots of laughter and memories.It was hard to say goodbye and we had a few tough days after they left, but we are on the way up again.

New Year's we spent at the house and here celebrating Jessica's birthday.  How is she 7?  I took the kids to the beach and we walked partway out to the lighthouse. It was a beautiful calm and sunny day.  After clam chowder and brownies for supper (her choice) we went to a family from church to celebrate the new year a short time.  The highlight for the kids was the dog - Bella - and the parrot - Smokey.  None of us made it until midnight, but the new year came anyway!

Aunt Kathy came to visit on Sunday.  It was Matt's first day of preaching and he was being examined.  They say he passed.  Brandon secretly hoped he wouldn't so that we could move back to MN.  It was great to have her here again.  I need to start a book called - Adventures with Aunt Kathy. It can start with going in the ditch driving home from Grandpa and Grandma's when I was small, or wearing scrubs for years because I wanted to grow up to be a nurse just like her.  For now, lunch every so often does my heart good.

There and back again

Its been almost a week since my last post, and lots has happened here!

We had a wonderful trip to IA.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect - almost 60 in Dec! (I remember washing my car in the driveway the first weekend in Dec while I was at Dordt, the next weekend was a HUGE snowstorm - and that's the day my brother got married and my aunt and cousin got stranded....)  I realized the kids and I have put a lot of miles on that van traveling the country.  We have never had a breakdown, problem, car crash, etc.  There have been many close calls - literally crashes that happen before my eyes or large objects blow out of trucks, land in my lane and slide away before I hit them - but nothing has happened to us.  How many angels are on my wheels I wonder?  A great thing about traveling in the evening and going west is you get the longest sunset possible - it was great.  Of course the opposite was true coming home, but such is life.

It was wonderful to see family and friends again.  I had a family adopt me while I was at Dordt.  They still live in Sioux Center, and my kids don't know life without them, as their kids don't know life without me.  It is a relationship I hold very dear and it was great to talk with them again.   Much of my biological family also lives there and we spent lots of wonderful quality time with them.  Again, relationships we hold dear.  There wasn't much exchanging of presents but there was lots of laughter, pictures, game playing and memory making. I loved showing my kids that Christmas can be about fun with people you love, not just getting something.  Maybe they missed that point, but I didn't.   It was wonderful to feel normal, to know where things were, to feel like we were 'home'.  We even walked into the mall on Saturday and ran into a college roommate of mine, so cool.  The kids will tell you that it was too long of a trip, but they would also tell you that they would not stay home if they had the choice to do it again!

While driving home I wondered about the verse, "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."  What does a 12 year old girl, holding a baby in a basement stable, and newly married... ponder?  I can't even imagine.  Was it a cool mommy moment?  We all have some of those.  For instance, a few moments ago, all four kids were laughing, playing together and making up their own game.  It was a good ponder moment for me.  Notice I also said it was a few moments ago, life changes quickly - so do attitudes.  Anyway,  I can't imagine giving birth in a stable, or having complete strangers show up a few hours afterwards.  She had lots to ponder, I'm thinking.

We bought a house on Monday.  That actually was hard for me.  Just the permanence of it all and the fact that the loan isn't fulfilled until 2042.  That's crazy to think about.  Matt is already painting and we are making some redecorating plans.  We probably won't move in until mid January.

I was one of the driver's for Jessica's class field trip to a nursing home to sing Christmas Carols yesterday.  The night before we had gone caroling with our church in the neighborhood surrounding church.  I give both of those instances in how life is here for me.  Caroling was fun, the kids enjoyed it, we walked and talked and drank hot chocolate and gave strangers some joy in Christmas.  I took the kids to a musical light show afterwards.  The field trip was hard. I'm used to understanding how the school system works, seeing familiar faces, knowing what's going on.  Very similar things, very different emotions, both just getting used to life and the range of emotions that go along with it.

We have lots of plans if this weather continues.  A trip to Matt's parents for Christmas Eve, Christmas dinner with people from church, Christmas evening with my aunt, and friends coming to visit from MN next week.  Can I ask that we don't get any snow until Jan. 1?