Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Yes, I know.....

I am officially a blogging slacker!  Or is it a slacking blogger?  There are many things that I could have blogged about, and many things that I even thought about blogging, but the process of actually sitting down, typing, proofreading, finding and editing pictures just hasn't happened. 


Lots has happened around here since my last post.  I will briefly summarize a few things worth mentioning, however some may be repeats of recent Facebook "status updates," so bear with me.
  • Easter....We celebrated Easter as usual with local family and our normal church service.  I decided to keep Charlie in the service with us than leaving him in the nursery in order to allow all the ladies to attend the church service as well.  Let's just say that keeping a one year old quiet for an hour is a challenge....especially when he is missing his morning nap.  We were, however, blessed to be able to celebrate Christ's Resurrection as a complete family, as opposed to previous years when Ezra has been out of town.  

  • April 27, 2011....A date many of us will remember for years to come.  A series of powerful tornadoes ripped through Alabama and other southern states, leaving death and destruction in its path.  Several of these storms passed through north Alabama while Eli, Maggie and Matthew were visiting their great-grandmother in the hospital, resulting in several trips out to the hallway while weathering the storm.  I am so thankful that while they were in Decatur, Ezra was in Huntsville, and I was at home with Charlie, the Lord kept us safe and brought us all home together by the late afternoon.  Again, we were truly blessed that there was no direct hit in our area, although areas just a few miles away had significant damage.  We did, however, lose power for four days (along with the rest of north Alabama) due to a problem that TVA encountered during the storm.  It was strange having beautiful weather outside for three days, yet no power.  We made the best of it, though, having family cookouts, making good use of our new gas stove, playing outside most of the day, and the kids went camping one night.  I was also thankful that my husband decided about three years ago that we needed a generator out here on the farm for situations just like this or ice storms, etc (as rare as they may be).  We were able to keep our refrigerator and large freezer cold while rotating the generator between our house and my in-laws house, saving 2 whole steers worth of beef as well as keeping milk cold for Charlie.  I thank God that we were protected during these dangerous storms, and prayers go out to those who lost everything they owned, as well as loved ones.
  • Saying good-bye to Granny Cricket....Ezra's grandmother was put in intensive-care about a week before Easter and was later transitioned to Hospice Care.  She spent her last days in a private hospital room surrounded by her daughters and extended family, before passing away May 2nd.  I was blessed to have known Granny Cricket for the nine years that I knew her and to give her four of her great-grandchildren whom she so dearly loved and loved to spoil with treats.  She was a wonderful lady who lived independently with a sound mind up until this last hospitalization and raised a wonderful family that I am proud to be a part of.  Granny's death was the first close experience with death that my children have any memory of and it created many good conversations and life lessons about our spiritual journey with Christ to share with them during a difficult time.

  • Baseball, baseball, baseball....The past 3 months have been a brand new experience for us!  This is Eli's first year to play on a baseball team and he absolutely loves it!  It is all he talks about!  He was chosen to play his desired position of shortstop and has played well all season.  His team had many victories, including most recently, winning their Division title for the 7/8 year old league.  Although the regular season is over, we are not finished.....tournaments begin soon.  

  • Ultrasound....The long-awaited, half-way marker of the pregnancy, arrived this week.  I had my 20 week ultrasound and confirmed that we will be the proud parents of our 4th little BOY!  While the general consensus was that Maggie needed a little sister to help even things out, we are all just delighted to welcome this little one into our family.  He does not yet have a name, as I was waiting until we knew for sure that we would need another boy name before starting that conversation. 
Welcome to family, little man!       

By the way, the picture above represents my first scanned and subsequently uploaded document, completed without any technical assistance!
  • We've finished Kindergarten and 2nd grade!  Another successful (I hope!) year of school behind us.  Maggie is reading simple words and stories and doing simple addition.  Eli is reading very fluently, including road signs, advertisements, packing materials, etc.  It is amazing to watch his world open up before his eyes as he can read and interact with it.  He was also introduced to addition and subtraction with borrowing/carrying and basic multiplication and division.  His spelling has improved, although it is still his greatest academic struggle, and he has just recently discovered the world of email, but it is easier for him to dictate messages for me to type right now, as his typing skills are lacking....something to work on in 3rd grade.  :)  I already have next year's curriculum, including K4 for Matthew, and I am overwhelmed with the thought of having 3 in school with a toddler moving around and adding our newest addition in September!  Lord, be my Strength!
Well, that should have us caught up for now!  I have a few recipes that I want to share soon, but that requires that I actually cook them and take pictures (because I know y'all just want to see pictures!)....maybe one day.

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations on your boy!!! That's awesome! I have a friend who just had their 4th girl and they have one boy. Crazy how that works out, huh? It's great to hear you all are doing well and getting ready for next year. I'll be praying for you! I don't think I have your email address, but I need to get it. Let me know if you don't have mine.

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