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I had an ultrasound done today. My Doctor ordered it since my fourth child, Jonathan, was a big baby at birth. When Jonathan was born he weighed 11 lb. 4 oz. I asked my Doctor if there was any way we could know the size of Elijah. She asked me again how big my last one was and when I told her 11 lb. she decided to order me an ultrasound just to see.

This is the picture with some of the measurements the ultrasound machine took. The technician told me that it wasn’t 100% accurate on getting the exact weight. This picture is the best we were able to get. You can see his nose squished up against the placenta. The other pictures we got, we can barely make out his face at all. The technician also assured me that he was very much a boy. I’m glad because it would be incredibly confusing for our children if there had been a mistake and we had a girl instead.

Now according to this ultrasound, my due date would be March 13. But I’m still considering it March 10. Of course all of my babies have been late so I wouldn’t be too surprised if he was born a few days late. It also set his estimated weight at 7 lb. 4 oz. I kind of think he may be a touch heavier than that. I’m guessing he’ll weigh around 9 lb. at birth. He doesn’t feel quite as big to me as Jonathan did.

I felt good about the measurements they took. I have my twinges of nervousness about the approaching due date. But then I’m excited that I will finally get to see my baby and not just feel him kicking. Only a week or so left to go!

Your probably wondering how we managed to make a 24 hour virus last that long. Well, when you have 5 people that catch it, it adds up. We started with Ruth and Hannah getting sick Sunday night. They were sick all Monday. Hannah has deemed “spit-up” as her least favorite word and if anyone says it. She grumbles. I went ahead and took them with me to my doctor’s appointment hoping that they were getting over it. Hannah wound up spitting-up in a bucket she brought with her in the car.

Then Tuesday, they were feeling a bit better but Jonathan got sick sometime Tuesday night.
So I had more sheets to wash on Wednesday.

Then Wednesday night Joshua “spit-up” in the bathroom sink. Then that night he spit-up in his bed which meant more sheets for me to wash. Also on Wednesday night Jonathan “spit-up” in his car seat. Then once we arrived home, he spit-up on my lap and on the floor at my feet. I’m not sure if he was more disturbed at spitting up on me, or just the fact that he “spit-up”.

The kids were starting to feel some better on Thursday, but then sadly it was my turn. Thankfully I never did spit-up but I had another problem which lasted through Wed. night and all day Thursday. My stomach was in such sad shape that I couldn’t eat much of anything. We all knew once we got to feeling better we’d be starved. The kids were perkier on Thursday, but I had to sleep the whole day, with brief bathroom breaks and breaks to solve problems for the kids. They got to watch a lot of veggietales. I was too tired to make them do much else.

Today, I woke up and told Scott, “I’m hungry!!” I was so happy to be feeling better. I’m still tired but I hadn’t had the stomach troubles I had yesterday. The kids all greeted me with the same excitement this morning. “Mom, I feel much better!” Then came all the requests for all the foods they thought they could eat for breakfast. I decided to go easy and fixed them Cinnamon Toast.

Wednesday night, I called my Mom to thank her for all the times she cleaned up after me and my brother, and sister. If you haven’t called and thanked your mom lately you should.

We’re on the mend now. I just hope it ends here and that Scott doesn’t have to go through it.

It sure has been a long week.

Yesterday evening, Ruth had gum stuck in her long blond hair. I finally got a chance to test the remedy I had heard from a few people that using peanut butter will get the gum out of hair real easy. It took quite a bit of peanut butter. Well, maybe not as much as you would use on a sandwich, but enough to make a greasy mess in her hair. But it worked! She gets to keep her beautiful long blond hair.

She was near tears when she told me that she had gum stuck in her hair. She must have thought I was going to have to cut it out. Which would have probably been my normal answer. I just had her wash the peanut butter out of her hair afterward with shampoo. She came out happy that her hair was still in tact. Of course Hannah made a lot of wierd faces about me putting globs of peanut butter in Ruth’s hair. I usually get onto her and Jonathan for making a mess like that. I just had to explain that this was for a good cause, “Ruth gets to keep her hair.”

We’ve been so busy, I’ve missed a lot of posting. We had our Keepers of the Faith meeting last Friday. My parents came for a visit. My Dad spoke to the Contenders for the Faith which is the boys class. He was very impressed with the boys. They are all homeschooled children and very attentive and polite. Most people imagine a room full of 15 boys between the ages of 5 and 14 as chaos, but these boys are very well behaved and well mannered. They really enjoyed my Dad’s presentation on hiking. They asked a lot of very good questions. They sat in the class for about an hour and a half before we broke for refreshments. Even remaining quiet for the prayer my Dad gave at the end. Then they played kick ball for the remaining half hour after refreshments.

Saturday, we had a Mom/ Son night with the Contenders for the Faith group. We had 5 pairs of Mothers and Sons meet at a restaurant and then another mother with two of her children came for the Live Concert we attended at the Liberty Opry. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Country Kidz Show. The singers were all young people under the age of 16. They had some amazing voices for being so young. They performed to the live music of the Liberty Opry band. Joshua enjoyed it so much that when some of the others were planning to leave after the first hour when they had a break, he wanted to stay. So I bought him a bag of popcorn, a sprite, and some M&M’s and then we went back in and watched the rest of the concert. The Concert ended at 10 p.m. As we went home, I stopped at Jack-in-the-box and bought Joshua and myself a milk shake.

That was a night he’ll never forget. Which was what I wanted for him. He got to order anything off the adult menu he wanted. It was a Mexican Food restaurant and he got excited over them having Cheese enchiladas. It didn’t take him any time to make his selection.

Monday, I had a Doctor’s appointment and our baby has turned head down. Jonathan was funny Monday night at home. In the evenings after one of the children gives their devotional, I sometimes let them see the baby kicking. Jonathan went right up to my tummy and yells, “WAKE UP, BABY!” Then he just cackled at himself. I just hope Jonathan doesn’t wake the baby that way once he’s born.

Tuesday, was our homeschool park day. It was very cold out that afternoon but we braved the weather. My daughters braved the weather more than I did. We arrived at the park and they informed me that they both forgot their coats. I had announced that they needed to remember them before we ran out to the car. But they forgot them anyway.

I loaned an extra light weight jacke I brought to Ruth and Hannah told me her Keeper’s of the Faith teacher was going to bring hers. I asked Hannah what she would do if the teacher had something happen and couldn’t make it. She could have worn one of her other coats. But thankfully her teacher came with her children and Hannah’s coat.

We had fun despite the cold. The kids all passed out valentines and one of the mothers brought cupcakes for the kids to ice and decorate.

Then we came back home where we took a short break and then left for the kids’ Karate Class.
Saturday there were belt tests. Hannah and Scott both tested. Hannah earned a yellow stripe for her belt. Her Karate teacher put her stripe on her belt at Tuesday’s class. Scott will get his yellow belt next week. My digital camera had run out of batteries, so I couldn’t get digital pictures of her getting her stripe but I did have a disposable camera and need to get the pictures developed sometime.

Today the kids and I plan to go visit my parents. Scott had a business trip this week and is at a Technology Convention. I sure miss him. I had nightmares Monday night, which was the first night he was gone. But then last night I tried putting some happy sounding music on and my dreams were much nicer. Okay, I was dreaming of Cinderella. LOL So you know the music had to be real calming. Cinderella dreams are much better than nightmares any day. I was almost afraid to go to sleep last night until I turned the music on repeat.

Hopefully a change of scenery at my parents will help the time pass a little quicker. I’m looking forward to Friday. We will be heading home and Scott will be heading home as well.

Then Saturday we’ll be getting prepared for the “Love Your Neighbor” Banquet we’ve planned at the Church. I hope we have a few new visitors come. But it should be good even if they don’t. It’s the effort that counts. I made up invitations for our church members to give to family and friends. In the note I mention that this is our way of showing our appreciation for our neighbors in the community.

Well, I better get things ready for us to head for my parents. I just wanted to throw out a quick post before we leave. I need to get some more batteries for my camera so that I’ll have some good pictures for my next post.

Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. (31) And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

It’s funny the phrases I don’t even know I’ve coined until I hear my kids using them. When I was a child people would call out in a sing-song voice, “Sta-cie?” and I would respond in the same tone, “What-ee?”

I realized that I have never stopped that even in my adulthood. Now it’s “Mom-my?” and I unthinkingly respond, “What-ee?”

You’re probably thinking, “Huh, big deal.”

But it’s only truly funny when you hear, “Josh-ua?” and he responds “What-ee?”

Even Jonathan if you call his name out responds, “What-ee?” It’s really funny.

Scott shook his as he heard this and said, “It’s not a real word!”

I just smiled and said, “Well, I guess it is now.”

March is right around the corner. I have about 8 more weeks before our baby is due to arrive. I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday. I found out that I had passed my 3 hour glucose screening, so I have nothing to worry about there. Although I did worry a little the week or two I waited to find that out. My blood pressure is good, and the baby’s heart beat is good.

I just found out yesterday that my brother and his wife are expecting their 5th child. I told my kids about it and they are all excited. Their response was, “Now Elijah, can have a best friend too!” 🙂 They have each paired themselves up with one of their cousins as “best friends”. Joshua is the oldest of our set of cousins, but he matched up with Caleb, since Ruth and Lilia are the same age. So Ruth and Lilia are “best” friends, Joshua and Caleb are “best” friends, Hannah considers herself “best” friends with Micah, and Jonathan (even though he doesn’t remember Andrew at all since he was just a baby when they left for France) was automatically paired with Andrew as “best” friends. Now we are having Elijah and I think the kids are the happiest to have a new “best” friend for Elijah, even though Elijah and the other baby aren’t even born yet.

The truth of the matter is that my kids are their own best friends. They have other friends but they don’t consider the fact that they are actually best friends with each other. When I mentioned that fact to them before they looked at me like I was crazy. “Mom! We can’t be best friends, we live in the same house!”

I can only smile to that. So I allow them to think that even though they rarely see their cousins except occasionally over Skype, that they are best friends with their cousins. They are so looking forward to when my brother and his family all come back to the U.S. for a visit. I picture them all being shy at first, but then warming up and playing like they used to do. I’m positive even Andrew and Jonathan will enjoy being “best” friends.

The above picture was taken sometime around May of 2007. Jonathan was born that November so he is the only cousin that is not in the picture. I plan to get another picture come April or May when my brother and his family visits. We’ll finally have the “best friend” cousins together again to get another family picture. I want to get one with Elijah in it. They’ll have to come back again sometime after their baby is born to get one with him/her in it. Either that or we’ll have to plan a trip to France for that picture.

There is so much to look forward to this year. Last year was full of precious memories and now I am able to look forward to so many blessings ahead in 2010. God is so good!!!

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for [he is] good; for his mercy [endureth] for ever. “
(1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1,29; 136:1)

I haven’t written down yet my goals for 2010. Some of the things I had planned in 2009 came out just like I had in mind and some things turned out completely different. Tomorrow my Dad and I will be picking Scott up from the airport. I also want to sit down and write out my plans for 2010. I like that I blogged about this past year, since sometimes it’s hard to remember what all took place within a year. So much happens that it seems like it had to be several years in one sometimes.

I was about to write a month-by-month review of what all took place this past year, but I realized that just one month would take up to much space so I’ll just write a few memorable highlights from this year.

At the beginning of the year, the older three children were able to take a few riding lessons from a friend of ours at church. That was a dream come true for Ruth.

Hannah celebrated her 4th Birthday in March. She has grown a lot this year, from wanting to be Bibleman, to wanting to be a football player, and even a rough tough cow girl.

Joshua turned 11 in June, he’s grown a lot in this year as well. His biggest lesson I think he learned this past year was to be patient with Hannah. Their personalities were always clashing. I helped them resolve their problem by having them work together on things. They still have their squabbles but at least Joshua has learned to be patient with his sister.

Also in June we took a trip to Michigan and visited with Scott’s family there. We had a great time and got to visit with a lot of his family there. The kids had a wonderful time over there. They got to go camping, fish, ride on a 4 wheeler, walk the dogs, ride on a motorcycle, and even got to eat birthday cake they had for Joshua’s Birthday there.

Ruth turned 9 in July. She has grown as well in this year. The main trait she has worked on and is growing in, is not being too critical of others. She is a very smart and detailed young lady, but when things don’t go her way, she can be very critical. I can tell she has been working on not being as vocal with her criticisms. She is a wonderful big sister and we all call her the second Mommy. Whenever I can’t hold Jonathan, she’s the one he’ll go to for hugs and cuddles.

Jonathan turned 2 this year in November. When I look over previous pictures of him I think he has probably been the one to grow the most this past year. He is becoming so independent and vocal. I tell people, “We spend two years trying to get them to walk and talk and the rest of their life trying to get them to sit down and be quiet.” He is definitely becoming his own person. He still has his moments copying Hannah but now he is throwing in his own ideas.

It was about the middle of July that we realized we were expecting our fifth child. We found out in October, that we are expecting a boy and we are naming him Elijah Scott.

I found out that two of my cousins are also expecting babies. I’m due in March, one of my cousins is due in April, and the other in May.

Scott took Joshua and Ruth hiking this year. I stayed home with Jonathan and Hannah. We set up an indoor tent, made from chairs and blankets. I even let them eat inside their tent.

I started coordinating the Contenders of the Faith class in a homeschool group in which we are a part. It’s a Christian alternative to Boy Scouts. The Keepers of the Faith meet at the same time which is the Christian alternative to girl scouts.

Scott became a bus driver at the local school, and was offered a job in the tech department as well. We were blessed with a good price on a van, and we were able to get Scott a ticket for a trip to Paraguay to visit a Missionary there. Even though that meant having him away from us during Christmas, I was glad that he went and feel like it was good for him. I’m hoping it encouraged him as well as the Missionaries he visited.

Well, that was my brief overview for 2009. If you want a more detailed view of it you can always look over my past posts. I tried to post somewhat regularly although I tend to fall behind occasionally.

Well, it is now 2010 and I’m looking forward to seeing Scott in about 5 hours. I guess I should try to get a little sleep before then. I’m so excited to see him. My next post will be about my goals for 2010. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Okay, I left my computer open beside my Dad. I had to change Jonathan’s diaper. So here is what resulted.

“Blogging, yes, yes, Its so good to be blogging!!!!! I am blogging while changing a diaper!!!! I bet there are a lot of you who could not do that!!!! Did I mention that I am blindfolded also. You see mother’s from Texas can do most anything. The picture is of me and my children talking to Scott on Skype. We watched “Calamity Jane” starring “Dorris Day” now my youngest daughter wants to be a cow girl. She watched “Facing the Giants and wanted to be a football player. We are going to watch “Yours Mine and Ours” next in hopes we will have more than a dozen grandchildren, who will play football for the Dallas Cow Girls. “

Hmm… I think I won’t leave my blogger signed in while changing a diaper anymore.
Although some of what he said was true. No, I didn’t change the diaper blindfolded (I’m not that good.) And for that matter I wasn’t blogging while changing a diaper. I was about to.

Hmm… The Calamity Jane part was true. Hannah was inspired. You already heard about the football thing with Hannah from another post so that wasn’t anything new.

Let’s see, I’m not sure if my Dad was talking about me having a dozen grandchildren or him having a dozen grandchildren. But with 5 kids it won’t be hard for me to have a dozen grandkids one day. So who knows I may have some football players in there. Oh, he said that was my grandchildren he was talking about.

And we were talking to Scott in that picture.

Okay, well, now you’ve heard it all. Not much more to write about, except that you won’t have to worry about this duo-authorship anymore. At least as long as I can keep my password secret from my Dad. 🙂 Hope everyone has a Happy New Year! You too, Dad!

Only two more days and then on Friday we’ll be picking Scott up from the airport. I sure do miss him. We got to skype with him a couple of times. That was nice getting to see him online. I also check my facebook to see if he or Bro. Barker post anything about what they are doing.

This is a picture of our kids sitting on my parents couch this past week. They’ve been having fun. They’re missing Daddy too though.

Sunday we enjoyed the services at my Dad’s church. It has been a long time since we’ve been able to go to his church on a Sunday. I enjoyed his Sunday School and his sermon during the Morning Worship. Sunday Night their church had business meeting.

There was one funny thing that happened Sunday Night. Before the evening worship service, I gave each of the kids some change to put in the offering plate. They were pretty excited about it. Well, the usher didn’t see that my children had money to give and they walked right past them. When we looked behind us and saw that they were taking the offering a few pews behind us, the kids were a little panicky.

They are normally very quiet and proper during services but I knew they would be sad to not get to put their offering in the plate. I decided to “unleash” them. I told them, “Okay, go catch up with the usher and give him your money.” There weren’t as many people present in the evening as in the morning or I would have never done it. But everyone in the audience found it funny. They all know how still my kids normally are.

My Dad did ask me what happened all of a sudden he’s up on the stage and all he sees is his four grandchildren running wildly up the isle. But once it was explained he understood completely.

Monday a couple at my Dad’s church invited us all out to eat at McDonald’s. We let the kids play in the play place. They had fun, except for Hannah who was only brave enough to go to about the first level of the play area. She just wouldn’t go beyond the steps. She decided she would go in it when she’s older.

How does a girl that is brave enough to talk to anyone in a room be scared to go inside a play place. Well, that’s my Hannah. I asked her how she could be afraid of that when she says she isn’t afraid of anything. She said, “Well, I’m afraid of some things.”

Today, we were suppose to have Lady’s Bible Study here at my parents house, but Dad was feeling sick last night and was running a fever most of the day today. I hope he starts feeling better tomorrow.

Tomorrow evening will be midweek service. I don’t know what we will do Thursday, but Friday morning is the day we pick up Scott. That’s not too far away. Please pray for him that he has an easy trip and makes it safely home to us.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a blessed New Year.