A Gracefull Place

Today’s "Thankful Thursday" post is being interrupted to bring you the breaking news–

 

 

YOUNGEST T-P-ers IN the COUNTY!!!!!

I was headed back into my room when I saw Noah (4-almost-5-years-old) outside my window.  I heard him laughing and saw tissues on the ground.  I open the window and say,

"WHAT are you doing?!"

He immediately has a sober look on his face, in the sea of tissues AND toilet paper, and says,

"I-yayah is throwing down Kleenexes.  I’m not doing it."

Me: "WHERE is he throwing them down FROM?!" 

I’m already beginning to figure it out, but he answers,

"From up there in the bafroom." 

"Up there" is the upstairs bathroom!  

I tear through the house running upstairs, visions of my 3 year old son falling out of the window (we’re kind of partial to head injuries around here, if you remember), yelling,

"GIIIIRRRLLLLSSSS!!!!  WHERE IS ISAIAH!!!!!"

(That is for dramatic effect so they can all be as terrified as me!!!)

I get to the bathroom, and there the tiniest T-P-er in the county stands, aware that he is in trouble.  I notice the bathroom window screen is off.  I holler down to Noah,

"WHERE is the screen?"

Noah answers,

"I don’t know.  He didn’t throw that down."   

(I’m beginning to have a hard time not cracking a smile—now that I know the T-P-er is not falling out the upstairs window!)

"Clean it up NOW!"  I holler.

I come down to the sunroom to report to my older daughters who have wondered what in the world is going on, and then I lose it.

No, not crying, hysterical laughter!

"Quick, quick!  Get the camera!  Take a picture!!!"    

As my dear friend, Heather, said, they did this just so I could post about it on my blog!

And I guess I AM thankful–that my son did NOT fall out of the window, and that they only emptied the upstairs trash, one box of Kleenex and 1 roll of toilet paper!!!!

Of course you want to see pictures, right?!

 

 

The small window upstairs is the one Isaiah

was throwing them down from!

 

 

 

Even little T-P-ers have to clean up

after themselves!!!

 

 

And now, life is back to normal…..well, for a little while! 

 

 

 

P.S.  Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for a NICE surprise—no T-P-ers! 

            After a while you may be wondering why it is so quiet on here.  It’s because…

 

  … Mommy is currently in Atlanta, Georgia—on her way to Safety Harbor, Florida for the annual T-Tapp reteat!!!!!

   We girls have been partying—I mean behaving   since she left .  Actually, we’ve been good girls so far .   We’ve cleaned up two of the messiest rooms in the house, and actually dusted them!  And when I say clean, that means clean-under-the-couches-and-in-the-corners kind of clean : D  One of the younger girls asked "Is someone coming over, or are we just cleaning to be cleaning?"  : D  We older girls laughed because it is kind of a joke that we never dust unless someone is coming over (and usually not even then!)

 

  Daddy said if we get all our work done the first part of the nine days that she’s gone, we can "party" (or maybe I should say do fun stuff) the last part : D  I’m not sure yet what fun stuff we’re going to do, but I’m sure we’ll find some somewhere!

 

  Anyways, now you have the reason for her quiet blog : )  I have a very strong feeling that it isn’t near as quiet in that van!  She’s riding with two other friends, and from what I hear, when put together, they must be a riot : D

  

(updating for Mommy : )

Did we do it?

 

 

 

Head over to Seven Sisters and find out! 

 

 

 

Have a nice weekend!

If you have read my daughters’ blog (Seven Sisters), you might know that we have this crazy idea of sewing 8 jumpers and 4 shirts (for the boys!) before Friday, when we plan to go to the Creation Museum! 

 

 

 

I had bought different colors of gingham at least 2 children ago  to make matching jumpers.  Well, we’ve added a few children and all the children have gotten much taller, so I needed to try to find some matching gingham in the smaller check in similar colors (as we are wearing contrasting colors in bands, ties and bias around the neck and arms!).  I spent an hour between Wal-Mart (a bust) and our local sewing center (more expensive, but wider and it was very close in color!).   So all we got done last night was washing the fabric!

 

 

 

Today we had a major cutting out session, a hashing out session (as some dear daughters didn’t want the bias tape, others did, then some wanted it smaller, some didn’t…..ai yi yi yi yi!!!), an "I’m getting tired of making all these decisions and figuring out" session, and a few daughters have gotten their jumpers well on their way!

 

 

 

I’m just glad we have 7 sewing machines (although one is at a friend’s house!) and 6 willing seamstresses!

 

 

Now if I could just get the dog to quit messing on the floor…..

 

 

 

If you want, you can go to Seven Sisters and vote–do you think we can "git ‘er done"?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although not a seamstress on this project, Bekah is a good ripper-outer–even if it was her sister that made the mistake! 

 

 

 

 

"Mumps!" said the doctor.

"Measles!" said the nurse.

"Nothing!" said the lady with the alligator purse.

 

Do you remember that rhyme?!  We’ve joked about it a lot around here!

 

A few weeks ago, Anna was getting Isaiah ready for bed.  He hadn’t been feeling the best, snooky nose and low-grade fever off and on.  She brought him to me and says, "Mommy, Isaiah has these spots on his tummy!"

 

I groan inwardly–"Oh, NO!  Bring him here……hmmm…."  Yes, there are several spots on his tummy!   Oh, please, Lord—NOT THE MEASLES!!!!

 

My mom had said a few months ago, "Chicken pox, whooping cough…what’s next, measles?!"  I told her to bite her tongue!!!!

 

I told Anna we’d just have to check on him in the morning.  I just couldn’t think about going through yet another childhood illness in less than 7 months’ time!

 

Next morning, we checked….and….

 

 

Only one spot!!!!  YIPPEE!

 

So, we have a new rhyme for our family:

 

Whooping cough in winter,

Chicken pox in fall,

What is in the spring?

Why nothing at all!

 

Blessings on your day!

 

 

Yesterday, February 11, 2009, was an exciting day at the R household in Tinytown, IN!!!!

 

Richardson and Rosie, a young couple, decided to frolic about outside.   Richardson went into the barn to explore, up the steps, and across a narrow bridge.   He was showing off his agility and wit to his beloved!  But, alas, not content with that, he decided to show how he could be a mountain goat in the Alps.

 

Some children were playing  in the barn and saw him go up the stairs and were afraid, due to his boastful character, that he might do something foolish.

 

Bekah ran into the house and said, "Richardson is up on the loft!  What if he jumps off?!"

 

Cassia replied, "Well, if he dies, he dies!"

 

Bekah ran back out to find he HAD jumped, and ran back in to tell the outcome!  "He did jump, and he has a bloody nose!"

 

Several girls ran out to make sure he was okay, and after determining there were no serious injuries, he was admonished at how STUPID that was!

 

Rosie seemed relieved, and when asked, Richardson replied, "Na-aa-aa-aah!"  We think that means, "I’d do it again!"

 

Trisch said, "If it’s not the two legged kids falling out of the barn loft getting head injuries, it’s the 4 legged variety!!!"

 

She also said she is thinking of renaming this blog, "Looking for a Dull Moment", hoping that life could settle down!!!

 

And people wonder what we do for entertainment, since we don’t have a TV!!!  

 

 

So where have I been?!   I have had a lot I wanted to post, but either was too tired or doing research on here instead!  (Or dealing with the big bubble wands my dear, sweet boys emptied in their sister’s room all over the carpet and some dolls!  or the lotion they decided to slather on one sister’s Bitty Baby!!!)

 

All but 4 of us  have been coughing over the past few weeks.  I took one daughter to the doctor, she had bronchitis.  This week I took another, and her lungs are clear!  But her coughing is horrible!  (I hope taking a child to the doctor on Mondays does not become my new tradition!!!  )

 

There are seven of the children getting into coughing fits at various times, and sometimes, they synchronize!   You should hear them at the supper table–as soon as my husband says, "Amen", a chorus of coughing begins!!!  (I guess they were all trying to hold it in during the blessing!)

 

So we now jokingly call these, "coughy breaks"!   Or maybe that should be "coughee breaks"?! 

 

Hopefully I can get back on track blogging soon!   (Both writing and reading!)

 

Blessings!  (And I certainly hope you are blessed with good health!)

If anyone wonders where I’ve been….we were without power from about 8:30 a.m. Friday until 3 a.m. yesterday!    The ice storm that went through Friday has caused some major outages!   Some friends who  live about 1 1/2 hours away are being told it could be Christmas Eve before they have power!   And, like us, they make a lot of their gifts!      Today we’ve had lots of "bleeps"–where the electricity goes off and on (and off and on a few more times!  Complete with all the beeps of microwave, carbon monoxide detector and cordless phones!) or off for about 10 minutes (about the time Dallas gets ready to go turn on the generator!)

 

We had generator power Friday and into Saturday, but that doesn’t work well with electronics!  And 6 of our 7 machines are electronic!    So–no sew!        We did LOTS of cutting out, though!

 

And right now, I’m carrying my little flashlight in my pocket!!!

 

Outside is musical—-tinkling ice falling from the trees!   There are several big branches down, and one of the clothesline poles is flat.  

 

And it is COLD!  When Isaiah came downstairs after his nap, he said, "Nigh-night!   Cold!   Brrrr!"    (With the motions to go with it!  Too cute!)

 

Here are some pictures of life outside!

 

 

 

If you look behind the swingset, you can see the branch that is down (and where the clothesline pole used to be!!!)

 

 

 

You can see even more pictures at my daughters’ blog Seven Sisters.

 

We are staying inside, drinking hot chocolate and staying WARM!    And…well, getting lots of stuff cut out!  Throughout the house are girls busy sewing, and when the electric goes out, they get all ready to sew as fast as they can when the electric comes back on!    (And when it goes off, you can hear groans and yells of aggravation throughout the house!   )

 

I think we may start a new tradition—celebrating Epiphany for all the gifts we don’t get done in time for Christmas!!!  

 

Hope you are warm and safe on this cold, icy night!  

 

Blessings!

I can’t believe I’ve not written in two months–and then again, I can!  I had a friend tell me I better change the name of my blog!   Too many "not dull moments" around here! 

 

 

Shortly after my last entry, I finally succumbed to the respiratory stuff that was floating around.  Thankfully none of us had it really bad, but just enough to make us feel miserable and like doing nothing!   And it was the very day I was going to make my elderberry syrup, too!  

 

 

When we finally were all getting better, we were planning to go to a friend’s house on a certain Thursday.  In God’s providence, we changed it to Friday.   On March 13, it had warmed up nicely and the little girls were playing outside.   Bekah runs in the house and says, "The barn’s on fire!"   Running outside, I saw it certainly WAS on fire!  I ran back in and….you know those horrible dreams where you can’t dial 911?!   I was living one of them!!!!   Took three tries to calm myself  enough to hit the right numbers! 

 

 

The girls were already getting the goats out.   We have 40 rabbits all in cages and deeper in the barn.  We just couldn’t risk children to get them out.   Thankfully we live close to town, and the fire department was here in no time.  My husband says another 5 minutes or so and it would have went through the roof, meaning we would have lost the battle and the barn.  And our barn is close to the house! 

 

And we were almost out of town for the day.   God’s Providence!

 

 

And we can’t see that part of the barn well from the kitchen window…but little girls were playing outside.  God’s Providence!

 

 

And my neighbor was going by taking her children to play practice, but got out to help us get the goats into the side lot.   God’s Providence!

 

 

The inside looks worse.  It went up, burning a good portion of the higher loft (that we didn’t use much, thankfully!), and started going towards the back of the barn, too, where the camper is stored!  And the tractor was in there.  And the lawnmower!  And all the bikes.  Oh.  And the bunnies! 

 

 

We lost most of our hay, but thankfully, only one goat eventually died (a week later, probably from pneumonia because we had to move them to a draftier part of the barn).    It could have been much, much worse!  No structural damage, and the insurance is paying enough to get the repairs done–hopefully next week, dh will start on that with his helper.

 

 

I’d post pictures here, but I need to figure out how to upload them smaller!  I’m using up too much space!  (I’m soooo not computer savvy!  )

 

 

Thankfully, all the other things that have taken my time lately have not been that dramatic!!!  Just the usual "trying to get our life back to normal" things.  Whatever normal is!!!

 

We bought this place primarily because of the barn.   It is a neat old barn with a gambrel roof and has the world’s famous barn swing in there!  Well, it’s famous in these parts, anyways!     So many memories…my girls built their "town" that became quite the "curriculum" for a few years!  (They had a monetary system–acorns, a museum, grocery store, water works, restaurants, visitor’s center and many other businesses!   They also had a weekly "newspaper"!)   The same daughter who ran to tell me it was on fire fell from the loft almost 4 years ago, getting her a Samaritan helicopter ride to a hospital 1 1/2 hours away.  (No lasting effects from the head injury, praise God!)    It would have been sad to lose it for the memories as well as the aesthetic value it adds to our home.   We’d never be able to replace it exactly, but my husband said we’d build the biggest one we could if it came to that!   Otherwise we would just become another farmhouse in a cornfield.   Thank the Lord He spared it!

 

And to think if it had happened at night…our home and very lives could have been in jeopardy!

 

 

God’s Providence!

 

 

What started it?  Baby goats knocking their heat lamp around, caught the OSB on fire (dh had put it up to help block the wind), then the hay.   If we’d had hay up in that loft….

 

 

Needless to say, we’ll be doing something a bit different for the winter babies next year!!!

 

 

Life never ceases to afford all kinds of learning opportunities!

 

 

Did I tell you that we will be having "Richardson Fire Safety Awareness" week soon?! 

 

 

Thankful for His protection!

 

 

Trisch