Year in Review-June 2017

Photo credit: Steve Blakey
Lamb 2 (on right) began being an acolyte

Lamb 1 did a rowing camp for a week. The weather was rainy all week so they weren't able to go out on the water every day. But he loved the days that he was able to.  I am so glad they allowed middle schoolers to do this. He may be on the crew team in high school.

Photo Credit: Hyde Brothers Booksellers Facebook Page
We went to the 25th anniversary Midnight sale at Hyde Brothers. We ended up not being able to attend the Christmas midnight sale so I'm glad everyone in the family was able to pick something out this time.

Katie's book was released and I bought a copy of The Harvest Raise. If you haven't read the Anthems of Zion, you really need to!

Lamb 2 and 3 did a week long choir camp. The director was one of my sister's grade school teachers. The Lambs weren't thrilled about choir, but it accomplished my goal of giving them the basics.

On the last day of choir camp my parents and our family attended a small concert where they showed what they learned. It was amazing what they learned in one week. We found out they had attended camp all week with a distant cousin when my mom saw her cousin at the concert.

We went to visit my sister a few weeks after she moved to St. Louis. 

My brother-in-law was anxious to go to the City Museum with his nephews. There were a lot of slides and fun stuff to do. 

We all rode the Ferris wheel up on the roof at the City Museum.

The Lambs had fun at a city park.

Ram and Ewe with Pinocchio.

As a lifelong Lutheran, I had never been to the LCMS headquarters. We loved having a tour of the International Center. I got copies of this photo for our Christmas cards that I still haven't sent.

Aaron works at the International Center. He was in kindergarten my first year of teaching.

Lutherans with CFW Walther

Our tour guide had only given a few tours before our tour. Rev. Harrison was Senior pastor at the church where I began teaching. He is now the Synodical President. The tour guide was surprised when Rev. Harrison invited us into his office and spent about 20 minutes with us. We were very grateful for him to take time out of his busy schedule to visit with us. Ram was excited to see all his books!

I was the country mouse going to downtown St. Louis. I told Rev. Harrison that I did not sleep my first night in the city because of all the city noises. He joked that I should go to Stanley's and smoke a cigar and I would sleep well the second night in the city. I didn't smoke a cigar, but we had to stop by for a photo after that!

We all had to pound the gavel in the Board of Directors room. My brother-in-law had the most fun. I tried to think of important decisions that have been made in that room for the good of the LCMS.

It was interesting to see the KFUO station and they were generous enough to give us a bunch of swag which we shared with my dad as he often listens to KFUO.

 

 

Lamb 1 and 2 did two weeks of basketball camp. I wasn't fast enough to get a better photo of Lamb 2 getting his participation award.

We were very proud of Lamb 1 for winning Best Attitude award at basketball camp this year. They only gave a few boys out of the approximately 100 attending an award.

Lamb 2 was sick on his birthday so he never made a cake. He made a cake for his baptism anniversary.

Between pictures and singing Happy Birthday, more M&Ms and candles in variegated  colors were added.

A friend from ID came to an organist workshop at the Seminary so we spent an afternoon together .

Lamb 2 did a tennis camp. I thought it was a week long camp and planned to go early on the last day and take pictures of Lamb 2. When I went to pick him up on Thursday, he told me that was the last day of camp. Oops! At least I found out then instead of taking him on Friday! He really enjoyed tennis and I think he might have found a sport he can really enjoy for the rest of his life.

Photo Credit: Steve Blakey
Winston was the first son of our congregation to be baptized and ordained at our church in 125 years. Ram was a pastor giving a blessing at the ordination and Lamb 1 was an acolyte.

Lamb 1 and Winston on a different day than his ordination.

Winston's mom was a teacher at the school when I began teaching. We hadn't seen each other in many years.

Winston was in 4th grade when I began teaching. He was Lamb 2 and 3's Sunday School teacher last year.

I got a print of the cover of the new edition of He Remembers the Barren. I had it framed, but we aren't hanging up pictures in our rental house. I am looking forward to getting a permanent home and hanging it. The symbolism on this print is beautiful and meaningful.

The Lambs have enjoyed playing with my dad's old erector set. I'm not sure why Lamb 2 doesn't have a shirt on other than it was hot?

A better picture of the bulbs that I brought from ID and planted at my mom's when they were in full bloom.

Lamb 2 and I picked strawberries. Too much rain made it an awful year for Indiana strawberries. We spent a long time picking a few berries. I don't know if Lamb 2 will ever want to pick strawberries again. We ate a few fresh and I barely had enough to make one batch of jam. Hopefully next year will be better strawberries.

Ram and Ewe's new bedroom

These first two photos are our bed when the house was staged for house sale. It was my bed and my chair, but not my bedding. Ram's mom suggested that after 15 years of marriage and after seeing the house staging, it might be time for us to buy some new bedding of our choice. We gave away the chair before we moved and also our mattress, but we kept the bed. After we had the new mattress I thought Ram's mom had a good idea that we should go shopping for new bedding.

Last night we went shopping and this is what I ended up choosing at Tuesday Morning. My sister would be happy that it is purple. I didn't try to match the blue curtains at the rental house as they are temporary for us. Purple would not normally be my first choice, but I love what I chose. We do not plan to hang up most of our pictures nor do much decorating at this rental house as it is temporary for us. 

After Tuesday Morning we stopped at Target and couldn't resist getting "Ewe" and "Ram" lamps for our bedroom. We actually did need more lamps for both our bedroom and downstairs so it wasn't a total splurge. Old houses not only don't have enough closets, but they lack built in lighting.

Both lamps were on clearance, but for some reason the Ewe lamp cost more than the Ram lamp. I tried to talk them into giving me both at the lower price, but Target said the clearance price is determined by corporate and no way they can change that. This was the last Ewe lamp they had left so I still got it.

I do not enjoy interior decorating, but I am happy how our couple of purchases came together to be something new at our house that Ram and I both like. Of course the lighting was important so we can read in bed! 

I am Baptized into Christ

I turned the page in my calendar and my breath was taken away for a minute when I read the words DUE DATE on today's date. Because of Factor II, if everything would have gone well, DUE DATE means I should be nursing a two week old baby today. My mom should be celebrating her birthday tomorrow with a new grandbaby with a birthday very near her birthday. 

After the first couple of miscarriages I quit putting the words DUE DATE on the calendar. It was just too difficult. But my last few pregnancies have been different-calculating how long to do progesterone and heparin and when I would be induced if I got that far. Also when to get refills on those drugs. So all that was written on my calendar in my purse.

Last week I went to the eye doctor and I had to report I had two miscarriages since my last exam. My vision gets very messed up when I am pregnant, even if I am only pregnant a short time. It takes several months to go back to normal. This week I have to go to my thyroid doctor and report that I had a miscarriage since I saw her last time. My doctor doesn't have the best bedside manner and I am already nervous about this appointment.

Why 8 miscarriages? Why a miscarriage approximately every 6 months? Why didn't we have a happy ending and have a baby after several miscarriages? I've done all the doctors said to do, why didn't it work? Why does going to routine doctor appointments become so difficult? Why do I need to stock up on sympathy cards to mail to my grieving friends that also have had miscarriages?

I don't know if I will ever have the answers to those questions. I do know "that for those who love God all things work together for good" (Romans 8:28). I do know that I will only have the 'peace that passes all understanding' if I look to Christ for that peace. I do believe my heavenly Father has the best in mind for me and my family even if it doesn't look that way some times. I do believe that some day I will see my 8 miscarried babies in heaven.  I do know that I am baptized into Christ. That is very comforting to me.

"There is nothing worth comparing 

To this lifelong comfort sure! 

Open eyed my grave is staring 

Even there I'll sleep secure.

Though my flesh awaits its raising,

Still my soul continues praising:

I am baptized into Christ;

I'm a child of paradise!" (LSB 740:5)

I'm so spoiled...

I'm spoiled because most days Ram is home. If he's not home most of the day, with the exception of a few days a month, he is at least able to give me short breaks from the boys. He's usually here to hold Lamb 3 when he wakes up from his nap. He usually changes a few of Lamb 3's diapers. He usually gives the Lambs their vitamins. He usually reads to each of the Lambs at bedtime. He usually leads devotions at lunch time. He usually cooks supper and then I just warm up leftovers for lunch the next day. He makes all our bread in the breadmaker and yogurt in the yogurtmaker. He tries to make hummus or guacamole or black bean dip regularly.

When I heard he was going to be recovering for 6 weeks after surgery, I immediately thought of the things I just listed. What I didn't plan on or remember was that in addition to all that, I still had to do the tasks that I do around the house (mainly laundry, cleaning, bookkeeping the family bills, and thank you notes/other correspondence) AND be his nurse AND take care of the Lambs.

Yesterday was so busy that I can't even list everything I did. My dad was gone at the monthly pastor's meeting most of the day so he wasn't here to help. My dad needed directions to the places he was going yesterday. Ram needs pain medication every 4 hours, Tylenol every 6 hours, and another medicine every 8 hours. I set the alarm to give him medicine at night. I didn't plan on Ram needing different food than us so I made him some food for lunch and the boys and I something else so I could try to use up some veggies from our garden. I felt like I was nagging the boys all day to pick up-their bathroom, bedroom, and living room especially. Ram is moving very slow and he doesn't need to trip over toys when he is going to the bathroom. I walked to the post office with the boys and then sorted snail mail for us and the church. I wanted to make granola but we were out of honey. I called around to try to get honey with no luck. I regret not buying honey at Costco last week. I wanted to freeze tomatoes from our garden, but I never got that far. I made bread in the breadmaker and it turned out. I believe I only had made bread in the breadmaker once before. I made Ram coffee. I believe I only had made coffee once before too. I did a lot of dishes yesterday. I tried a new recipe for supper and everyone (even Ram) ate it. I began to organize the medical bills as I know it will be important to keep up with them as they arrive. We have already received many medical bills from his tests this summer. I wanted to get that organized before I added in the major medical bills from his surgery.
It was my turn to serve Ladies Aid last night and a member volunteered to do that for me, but I asked her to make sandwiches and I would do dessert. My dad went to Ladies Aid and took my dessert. I had made ice cream in our ice cream maker and homemade chocolate sauce earlier in the week. I was so glad I had done that before Ram got home and it got so busy. They made their own tin roof sundaes and they were a hit.
The Lambs have been well behaved, they just want someone to play with them. In between his two meetings yesterday, my dad helped the Lambs build a big train track in the living room. They enjoyed his attention. I read a few extra books at bedtime. They liked that and it sort of made up for our crazy day.
I know that things will improve as Ram recovers slowly. Yesterday was probably the worst because my dad wasn't here to help and I wasn't quite prepared for such a busy schedule. I will get used to being wife, mom, daughter and cook, maid, nurse, teacher, babysitter all at one time. I'm thankful that normally I'm spoiled. After 6 weeks Ram will go back to his tasks and I'll go back to mine and some tasks will be shared again.

Family Size

Recently some of the blogs that I read have been discussing the Duggar Family. Although their book is on my pile to read, this blog post is not about that.
This summer when Ram went to a retreat, there was one other mother there with one child. The Lambs were completely wild for the church service and it took this other mother plus me to try to keep a little control on them. It was just too different-not our church (and a chapel too), not Ram as the pastor, church at bedtime for the Lambs, church after traveling a long day before, etc. But it got me started thinking how different my life would be if I "only" had Lamb 1. I do my best to keep the Lambs all happy and quiet and busy coloring or something during church. We work with Lamb 1 a little during the week to prepare him for Sunday morning. Sometimes I sit with church members that help. But the majority of the time, no one is helping Lamb 1 find the correct page number in the hymnal and pay attention. If he's quiet (and he usually is), he gets no attention. How different my life would be if I could help Lamb 1 follow along in the service.
On Saturday, we went to Storybook Land in SD. For some reason, it caught my attention the family size of the people attending the same day as us. It seemed like the majority of them were mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and one child. There were a few other 2 or 4 children families. I did not notice any other 3 child families like us. The ones with 1 child, that child got all the attention. Our family, Ram tried to chase the 3 Lambs and I tried to take photos of them. Ram took all 3 Lambs on the carousel by himself while I took photos. Lamb 3 got a little too brave at the end of the ride and tried not holding on at all. Ram had to try to watch Lamb 2 and hold on to Lamb 3 then. Lamb 1 was completely on his own.
A friend of mine with 5 children says she likes having 5 because they were forced to grow up a little faster and learn how to do things on their own and also to help each other. We only have 3 so I'm not sure about 5. I think even with 3 I still help the Lambs more than they need to be helped. It's just easier to do some things for them in an assembly line than to wait forever for them to do it themselves.
Lamb 1 and 2 take turns going by themselves with Ram to the local cafe to get some alone time with him. The other one gets some alone time with me (usually with Lamb 3 playing in the background). I think we do a pretty good job of giving each child some alone time with us.
I'm sure that those of you with more than 3 children would agree that it's hard to imagine life when you "only" had 3 children. I know there are advantages and disadvantages to having 3 or more children, just as there are advantages or disadvantages to having 1 or 2 children. I'm thankful for each one of our three Lambs. And I remember how blessed we are to have 3 Lambs when I think of all my friends with fertility problems. Sometimes it's just nice to take some time to imagine how life would be different if we only had 1 or 2 Lambs. Hopefully that thinking will help me to come up with ideas to teach each of the Lambs to help themselves better.