Saturday, September 28, 2013

Three More Weeks!

   The countdown is almost over!  And I'm glad for it!  :)  This newest, yet-to-be-born addition to the family seems to be as ready as I am for him to see the world.  His kicks are becoming quite fierce!  My sugar has leveled out, an answer to prayer, so I've felt MUCH better the past few weeks, other than being VERY tired!  I've tried to keep myself busy with chores to overcome the tiredness and make the time go by a little faster.  My latest project was detailing (cleaning with a little tiny brush the interior of) the van.  The people who had it before us smoked in it and there was residue on all the plastic parts and the clothe lining.  I haven't gotten to the seats and carpets yet, but they need some attention as well.  Its taken me a couple days of cleaning and I haven't even completely finished all the plastic in the van.  I didn't realize the chore I was biting into when I started this, but it needs done anyway.  It sure makes a difference.
   Christian's been doing very well with keeping his bed dry at night.  He's stayed dry for the past 5 nights, but then wet the bed this morning.  I honestly believe it was simply because cumbersome mama couldn't fly up the stairs fast enough to help him climb out of his bed.  :)  He'd been frantically hollering that he had to go, but I guess we missed it this time.  We'd made the rule early on that he had to stay in his bed until permission was given for him to get up.  Mostly this rule was for nap time.  Well, he's learned it well, and it's sort of backfired on us a little.  :)  Because now he'll sit or stand on his bed waiting patiently for one of us to come up the stairs to tell him he can get up and go to the bathroom.  Yes, we've told him time and time again that he's more than welcome to get up and go by himself and that he doesn't need permission for that, but he insists.  :)  So unless he gets a verbal "Yes, you may" every single time from Andy or I, he stays on his bed, no matter what.  I love the obedience, but... WHEW, he's wearing me out these days!!!  :)  By the time we make it to the bathroom, I'm completely out of breath!  :)  There's been a time or two I've wondered if washing another load of laundry was easier than making another mad dash up those stairs!  I always choose the mad dash in the end though.  Someday this will pay off.  It seems to be working already.  Or....maybe its the prizes waiting for him on the top of the refrigerator after a dry night??? 
 
   I'm scheduled to go into surgery on the 21st of October, if I don't go before.  Please pray that Wesley's birth will go smoothly and that he'll be a healthy baby.
















Are you comfortable, Audra???

Saturday, September 21, 2013

HELP! Bed Wetting Tips Needed!

   Does anybody out there with young children have any tips for curing bed wetting???  I realize my son is only three, but I don't see any sense in waiting until he's 5 or 6 to start encouraging him to stop wetting the bed at night.  He learned how to stay dry during the day within a week, and is doing very well at it.  But I'm still doing loads of blankets and sheets every single morning, and really don't care for the idea of continuing that routine for another three or four years if I can help it.  Occasionally, he'll wake up and holler for me to help him go in the middle of the night, but for the most part, he sleeps right through it and I find him, and everything around him wet the next morning. Some nights we change the sheets twice before morning!  I bought a bunch of cheap little toys and wrapped them in bright wrapping paper leftover from last years' Christmas, and put them in a box.  Every time he keeps his bed dry, he gets to pick out one toy.  I bought two nicer toys and wrapped them as well.  They are the "big prize" if he can stay dry for a whole week!  He's managed to earn a toy or two, but he still has a lot of wet nights.  Again, I realize I may be rushing things, but if anyone out there has any tips or ideas or success stories that worked for them, even on your older children, I'm up for anything!  If it works on Christian, WONDERFUL, and if it doesn't, we'll just deal with it til he overcome the bed wetting problem on his own. 


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

My Birthday Date with Andy.

    We went to Nashville for my birthday!  Well, Nashville, Indiana.  Its been about five years since we've had a real date, so we really enjoyed ourselves.  With no babysitter readily available, the kids have always gone with us.  Not so this time, thanks to my wonderful mom!!!  :)  My birthday is not for another week, but actually, I haven't celebrated on the 23rd since Rebekah died.  Too many memories connected to that day.  I don't mind.  The older you get, one day is as good as another, right?  :)  Birthdays seem to come and go before you can blink! 
    Nashville, Indiana is an old town with all kinds of country stores and gift shops to brows through.  We ate a leisurely lunch at the Artist's Inn, an old fashioned Bed and Breakfast.  They had the best sandwiches I've ever had!  Then we spent the next couple hours browsing through the little shops.  My favorite was a glass shop.  The owner had spent 43 years working with glass so he's had a LOT of practice!  His little shop with full of tiny, intricate glass Christmas ornaments, and figurines of every size, shape and design.  His work was immaculate!  He made everything right there in the shop.  I love watching glass makers work!  Its so fascinating! 
   We also hit the candy stores...for dessert, of course.  :)  Andy and I picked out all our favorite chocolates and taffy, and sampled every flavor of fudge in the display cases!  One candy store was voted for having the best chocolates in the country.  I had to agree.  They were outstanding!  We left with little bags full of them to sample on the long drive home.  I felt like a kid again!
   Andy found an old bookstore that he'd gone to as a boy.   They sold old books from great preachers like Finny, Spurgeon, Moody and many more for very cheap.  He had a time in there!  :) While he browsed the books I went next door to the Jerky store.  They had all kinds in there!  Ever try kangaroo jerky???  It was expensive!!!!!   I decided to pass on that, and the buffalo and boar jerky as well, and settle for an old standard...sweet and spicy beef!  :)
   We had a great time and I had a wonderful birthday!
Ok, consider yourself VERY lucky to see this picture!  What woman in her right mind takes a picture of herself when she's bumping 9 months pregnant??   This was taken during a moment of weakness....I wasn't thinking.  :)  I at least cropped most of me out of it.  :)




At lunch on the front porch of the Inn





The Artist's Inn

Andy has always said that one of these days he's going to stop and read one of those road side signs...you know, the black metal ones that tell about the history that happened at that particular spot.  On our way home yesterday, I was startled when he suddenly slammed on the breaks, made a U-turn and drove back the way we'd come.  I watched him park on the side of the road and march across to the other side to read one of the those black metal signs.  See it posted beside the corn field?  :)  I had to laugh!  It told about how some general had made a deal with the Indians about some property rights, and this particular spot was the boundary line.  :)  Andy's curiosity was satisfied....at least til we go zooming past another black metal sign on the side of the road!


  

Monday, September 16, 2013

Missions Conference

   This past weekend, Friday through Sunday, was our missions conference at our church here in Liberty, Indiana.  Bro. Ron Ralph was our guest preacher, and the Cleghorn family was our visiting missionary.  We only had one missionary come through this year for the conference.  Andy wanted to "start over" with our faith promise to try to get people "back on board" and encourage them to stay faithful with it throughout the year.  The Cleghorns are a wonderful family on their way to the island of Borneo, Indonesian.  7 of their 11 children still travel with them, and to hear them sing as a family is out of this world!  They are REAL good!  We love them dearly and our church is going to take them on for support. 
   We had a lot of participation from our people here at church this last weekend.  There was a wonderful spirit in the services, and the folks are getting excited again about missions.  They haven't really done a faith promise in about three years, so this is sort of a new thing for many of them, and a fresh start for the rest.  Sunday night we took up a faith promise of $30,278! 
   Bro. Ron did an outstanding job preaching.  It was so good hearing him preach in person again instead of on CD.  Andy asked for testimonies after the service Sunday night and hands went up everywhere.  Some folks said that they have learned more Bible in the past year sitting under Andy's preaching than they have in all the years they been going to this church.  Another man, one of the church leaders, said that they've had many pastors come and go, but they've learned so much under Andy, and have come to love their pastor and that "they need to hang onto this one".  :)  Another man said, "If Andy leaves, I'm going with him!"  Not that we plan to leave.  :)  It was such a blessing to see their love for their new pastor, and hear their support for him.  We too have come to greatly love these people and truly feel a part of this church.  There is such a sweet spirit here and the church is quickly becoming a "family".  This is no doubt the Lord's doing!  We are excited about what this next year of missions holds for our church.  God used Cleghorns and Bro. Ron to open the people's eyes to the "bigger picture" of what missions is all about. 
   I have enjoyed talking to Christian about what a real missionary is.  He came up to me Saturday morning and said, "When I get big, I think I want to be a missionary and go far away and tell people about Jesus."  Later, as he held one of the Cleghorn's prayer cards, Christian told me, "I need to pray for them every day!"  My mother's heart melted, and yet, thrilled that perhaps God was touching my young son's heart about doing something very special for Him.  I know that God has a special plan for each one of my children.  We have given them all back to the Lord even before birth and are waiting to see how God will use these little tools in His service.  When Christian said that to me the other morning, I immediately thought about how the meanings of our children's names, though so different from each other, somehow turned out to mean the same thing.  We didn't plan it to happen that way.  They all have something to do with "the fields".  Like Mary, I can't help but 'ponder these things in my heart'.  Is there a reason for that or did it just happen by some strange coincidence?  Makes you wonder....   I plan to make preachers and missionaries my children's heroes.  This is perhaps the first step in what very well might be a life of service to the Lord.  Like Hannah with Samuel, it all starts at home. I pray that God will give each one of my children a desire to serve. 

   Baby Wise:  I've dropped!  Yippee!  And the contractions are getting stronger.  (Another cheer!)  I've still got 5 weeks to go, but highly doubt I'll make it that long.  The doctor has me scheduled for surgery on the 21st. of October IF I do go that long.  He doesn't want me going past that date.  Nor does he want me to labor long at all.  I'm to get to the hospital as fast as possible to limit as much of the hard contractions as possible.  They don't want to risk a uterine rupture.  I think I'll pack my bag today.  Hey, I can hope, can't I??  :)  I'm SOOOO ready!   I've fought my sugar again this weekend as well.  It has its ups and downs, I guess.  Probably just the busyness of the conference has affected it some.  I need to get back to my normal routine and concentrate on my diet again. 


Goodie baskets for the preacher and missionary.  We put "good stuff" in our baskets...like crackers, candy bars, cookies, juices, yummy stuff like that.  :)  Fruit baskets are nice, but many times, there's so much of the fruit that goes to waste.  I always like to add a little bit of fruit to the baskets, but really, we normally load it up with goodies that we know the recipient normally wouldn't buy for themselves.  Makes it extra special.  :)   The guys in the family NEVER complain either.  :) 

Singing around the piano.  (Andy's playing the piano)

Bro. and Mrs. Cleghorn practicing before the service. 

Cleghorn family singing.

Bro. Cleghorn preached Sunday School.


Molly, Hannah, Faith, Joy, and Sharon Cleghorn.  These girls are SUCH a blessing!

Bro. Ron preaching.


Audra likes to find hiding places to "read" her books in.  I found her quietly sitting back there this morning.  :)
  

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

A Picnic in the Park

   After going grocery shopping yesterday, I took the kids to the park.  I happened to find it on accident about a week ago and determined to "check it out".   Its hard to find a park with the old fashioned toys in it, like Merry-go-arounds, old metal slides, see-saws, and rides on big old rusty springs.  Those were the fun toys!  I spotted them from the road as we drove past and determined that we'd make this park a favorite!  It wasn't hard, either.  :)  Most parks and playgrounds have modern play places and jungle gyms, which are fine, but I miss the old stuff.  I spent first, and a little bit of second grade at a tiny country school in Ohio.  I remember during recess, the high school boys would come and spin us little kids on the old metal merry-go-around.  By the way, no one ever got hurt...  I get so irritated at times the way people try to "protect" our kids from so much as a stubbed toe!  A few scratches and bruises never hurt me!  Everything is made out of plastic these days, and have so many warnings, rules, and safety features that the poor child can't even enjoy it anymore.  Anyway, I was happy to see an old fashioned park like the ones I used to play in.  And my kids had the biggest time!  And would you believe it!  Christian won't go near those big plastic slides on modern play places.  But he made a bee line for the big metal slide in the picture below, even though it towered over my head!  He climbed to the top with no hesitation and came whizzing down as if it were three feet high!  I was stunned!  I admit, I was standing under the slide, a little nervous, ready to catch him if he tumbled off!  Christian is normally my cautious one, but he threw caution to the wind for the first time in his little life!  He LOVED that big metal slide.  He still wouldn't go down the plastic ones at the park.  :)  We'd stopped at Taco Bell and got some bean burritos.  I know, not much of a picnic, but it was fun in a pinch.  :)  Someday, we're going to pack up our basket with REAL picnic food and head to the lake for the day.  I told Andy that would make a wonderful birthday date.  :) 

   Missions Conference is this weekend!   A later post on that...
My sewing project for our missions conference this weekend.  Andy needed something to cover the frames that he built to hold the flags.  I had to make four of these for the church auditorium. 
Andy with Audra on Sunday morning