Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord Unto Me!

It's hard to believe we've been in Texas a whole year, now. Just after dark one year ago tonight, our little caravan arrived at our new home. We moved just the mattresses into the house that night. Then we went to a New Year's Eve party at the home of one of Gary's friends.

God provided a few able-bodied friends to help us unload the truck the next day, January 1st, 2007. That was a huge blessing, too, because the whole time we were traveling down here we were wondering what to do about that! My key verse through the whole ordeal was Isaiah 40:11 - "...He gently leads those that have young." He did truly lead us gently and brought us safely here. We began 2007 by moving into our new home - how's that for timing?

God has provided in so many ways this year. Gary and I both grew up in Illinois, so our roots there were quite deep. But, when it was time for us to actually go, God "worked in us to will and to act according to His good purpose" and so neither of us had any reservations about leaving. We're both amazed at how joyful we were to come here, even though it was painful to say goodbye to so many beloved friends there.

From our old home in Illinois:


To our new home in Texas!



He has provided us with a nice new house to live in, with plenty of room. Well, okay, we might wish for one more bedroom, but we certainly aren't complaining! God provided for the house in Illinois to sell quickly so that we could purchase this one. It was really nice that we could rent it for a while, a "try-before-you-buy" kind of deal.

I have enjoyed getting to know our new surroundings. (Google Maps has been a huge help to that end!) The traffic patterns around here are quite different than Illinois, so that took some getting used to. I'd never seen a "turnaround" before we came here!

He also has provided us with a church home that doubles as a homeschool support group! We have been very much blessed this year, and we know without any doubt that it was His will to move us here. We're looking forward to what He has in store for us in 2008!

Happy New Year to you all! Or, as Amy says, the Texas State Word is "ya'll"!

"Tis the Season to be Sneezin'

Well, now that Christmas is over with, I have my annual virus. I haven't had a cold since the end of last January. This is the first time in years that I've gone that long between colds! That's another part of northern Illinois winters that I haven't missed much.

I'm so glad it waited until AFTER Christmas to make its appearance. My head feels like a brick and this afternoon my voice shut down, so the kids know they'd better not not make me have to yell at them. When my voice sounds like this, and I have to yell, they know they're in big trouble. I'm glad I called Mom and Dad yesterday - today they wouldn't be able to hear me!

I'm also glad that it showed up during Christmas break when I'm not trying to muddle through school with the kids - we don't get much of anything accomplished when I'm sick.

So, that's the bright side of it, I guess. The not-so-bright side is the fact that I had to cancel our trip to Tulsa because of it. Dad's blood count is too low to enable him to fight off infection much, and the last thing he needs is for me to show up there and give him this! So they're going to come here next month to visit us instead! I think that'll work a lot better, and we're all looking forward to it.

What's an HTML-illiterate blogger to do?

I've been wondering - you know when you post a picture on your blog, you can click on the picture and see it in a larger size? Well, I've been noticing that sometimes it works that way and sometimes it doesn't. I post the pictures all the same way using the photo feature in the edit window, but sometimes it doesn't include the html code that it should. Is anyone else experiencing this? Do you do anything differently?

I tried comparing the html code for photos that worked and those that don't, and I noticed some significant differences. However, I don't know enough about html to rewrite the code to make it work. I experimented a little with it but all I did was mess things up.

I haven't been able to find any help on Blogspot, so if any of you has suggestions I'd appreciate it! Please leave a comment or email me!

A Christmas Caper

I glanced at the Christmas tree the other day, and I noticed that it was looking rather bare. The only thought that crossed my mind was that maybe we need to make some new ornaments for next year. We used to do that every year, but for the past few years we've been somewhat negligent in that particular area.

It never occurred to me that the reason for the apparent shortage of tree decorations could possibly be due to theft. I hadn't really paid that much attention.

That is, until yesterday, when I was helping Mandy clean up her room. I suggested that she might want to put some of her toys into the drawers under her bed. We opened the first drawer (the same one that had so effectively concealed our pork loin a while back).

There, mingled with NUMEROUS toys and prizes, were no less than ten of our ornaments from the tree. I looked at Mandy with my best Well-Now-You've-Been-Caught look. She just stood there, grinned, and gave me her best I'm-A-Good-Girl-I-Am look. I could have sworn I saw her hand go up to the top of her head to adjust her halo.

Tim helped me put the evidence back on the tree, high up where little fingers can't reach -- at least until they get a chair first.

We had a really nice Christmas Day. The kids actually let us sleep until around eight o'clock this morning! We even had breakfast before opening the gifts, and they were all very patient. Even Mandy seemed to understand that she'd be in a better mood AFTER breakfast. Yesterday, she couldn't quite comprehend the fact that "Christmas Day is TOMORROW!" She took a bit of a nap in the early afternoon, and then when she woke up she came to me and said, "Now can we open the presents? Please, Mom, please?" That's what I heard every ten minutes or so for the rest of the afternoon until we went to Opa and Oma's house for supper. They made a wonderful German dinner and then we opened their gifts. So, Mandy's yearning was appeased for the time being.

Today Opa and Oma came for a big turkey dinner and for the first time in I don't know how many years, we set the table with my mother's china. The kids also wanted to use my grandmother's lead crystal goblets (given to my grandma for her wedding in 1933), but those have been permanently retired to the china cabinet. So we used the blue-stem wine glasses from Arby's - not expensive ones, but they make a pretty addition to the table! The boys especially like being allowed to use them once in a while. Seems to give them the impression that I trust them... :) I think they feel a bit more grown up at times like this. I even bought some sparkling grape juice to make it extra special for them.

We're going to Tulsa on Thursday, and hopefully we'll have good weather for traveling. Guess I'd better get started with the packing! We'll be staying with my Mom and Dad, and my brother and his family are there, too. It'll definitely be a houseful!

'Tis the night before Christmas

It's Christmas Eve. For the first time in years, I actually have all the gift wrapping done - usually I don't get this job done until late in the day or evening on the night before Christmas. I finally have a chance to sit down and relax a bit. Usually by the time I quit for the night, I can't think about anything except my pillow. Maybe I'll actually get one post done this month!

It's been an incredibly busy month, most of it spent focusing on Psalty the Singing Song Book! Several months ago, when we heard that our church was going to do "Psalty's Christmas Calamity" for a Christmas musical production, I volunteered to help with costumes (WHAT was I thinking!?). I wasn't feeling well at the time and I was rather reluctant to be the one in total charge of the costume department because I didn't know what was wrong with me yet. That was before we found out that my gall bladder was causing the problems.

I learned some important lessons in the process of making the one and only costume that was required for this production:

1. Make sure you know beforehand what you're volunteering to do - though I'd heard of Psalty years ago, I hadn't ever actually seen Psalty or the costume before and I had no idea what I was in for. Amy and I both love to sew, and we thought we could help with that. Turns out the only costume needed was the big blue "songbook". Someone up there has a sense of humor.

2. Don't be afraid to deviate from the instructions when needed. I discovered rather late in the game that the instructions for making the costume included some...shall we say, completely USELESS steps that were a total waste of time. A LOT of time.

3. Elmer's glue is completely useless when you're trying to glue foam rubber pieces together. Use a hot glue gun, and make sure you have a LOT of extra glue sticks. Like about 200.

4. Have a teenager with a driver's license on call at a moment's notice so she can run to Hobby Lobby for more glue.

5. Don't try to use spray glue in the dark. It's bad enough in the daylight. (Maybe I should explain - we used spray glue to attach the blue fabric to the foam rubber for the book cover, and we did this outside on the patio. I've had experience with spray glue before and I didn't want to spray that stuff in the house. Unfortunately, it got dark before we were done and so we had a little trouble...)

6. Have above mentioned teenager take over meals for the duration of the costume production - at least during the last phases when the deadline is looming near on the horizon.

7. Write down notes on changes and improvements to the costume production; that way, the next person who does this will hopefully not have as much difficulty.

8. Pray that the costume will last long enough that the next person won't have to do this!

9. Instruct previously mentioned teenager to bring sandwiches and ice water at appropriate times. Hands shaking due to hunger make for sloppy work, especially when working with a hot glue gun.

10. Don't forget to give God ALL THE CREDIT for everything. Not only did He help me with getting this massive project done just in the nick of time, He even provided the blue knit fabric, at no charge, more than TWO years ago! That fabric was given to me by my mom two years ago and I'd forgotten all about it. Just when I was agonizing over where in the world was I ever going to find a pair of pants and long sleeved shirt, in a lightweight knit (NOT fleece - much too hot) in the same shade of blue that I did the book cover in...the Lord reminded me of a big bundle of fabric in my fabric box that just might do it. I know it had to have been He who put that into my head, because I honestly don't remember ever seeing that fabric before. Sure enough, when I looked in the box, there it was, all five and a half yards of it. I got it out and held it up to the book fabric, and nearly burst into tears at God's goodness. It was a perfect match. And there was enough of it to produce the entire costume and accommodate my mistakes.

God provided me with the physical ability to do this. It took me a long time to recover from my gall bladder surgery, but since starting on this project, I haven't had any more pain or stomach problems. I still have to be careful what I eat, but it seems my digestive system isn't nearly as oversensitive as it was for months. Our Great Physician healed me just in time.

God also provided me with the skills and tools to do this - all I needed were supplies but I already had all the tools I needed.

I'd never have had enough time to get all the Christmas shopping done if I'd had to do it the conventional way, so I'm also praising Him for providing online shopping with free shipping options! That saved us not only a lot of time, but a good deal of money, too. I was able to order the majority of the kids' gifts online at prices that were approximately 40% less than the retail stores were asking, and with free shipping...THANK YOU, LORD!

So, now I can focus on our family and the holidays. We're so thankful for our church family and the friendships we have with them. This has been the best year we've had in...well, years!

Conversation with a four-year-old

I have to write this one down now before I forget about it! For once, Mandy slept all night in her OWN bed! This is a rather rare occurance. Last year, for the entire two and a half months that Gary was here in Texas and I was still in Illinois with the kids, Mandy slept all night, every night, in MY bed. Since we've been here in this house, she has been switching back and forth between her bed and ours. Actually, I don't allow her in our bed very often because there isn't room. She's perfectly comfortable sleeping on a blanket on the floor. So, it was a pleasant surprise to wake up this morning to find her still sound asleep in her own bed.

"Time for little girls to wake up!" I said as I rubbed her back.

She stretched and yawned, and in a sleepy voice said, "Can I play with my play dough now?"

I said, "Well, maybe after you've had your breakfast you can."

"But I don't want breakfast; I just want to play with my play dough."

"You slept really good last night, didn't you?" I said. "You slept all night in your own bed!"

"Yeah. I used to sleep in your room when I was a little kid," she said.

"When you were a little kid? Are you a big kid, now?"

"Yes. I'm getting old, Mom."

"YOU'RE getting old? So, what does that make me?" I laughed.

With a sly grin on her face, she said, "Getting KISSED!" And she threw her arms around me and gave me a big kiss.

I think it's going to be a nice day!

My firstborn son

This is my 12-year-old son, Collin. He is a jolly lad who loves to make everyone laugh. He can talk like Donald Duck and everyone who hears it can't help laughing! I think it's pretty certain that he'll win the vote for class clown (and anything other titles we choose to tack on!). Of course, he'll win the vote because he's the only one in his class!!! Isn't homeschooling wonderful?!?

He is Mandy's best pal. He is always so good with her, even when she's being a pest, and believe me, she can really be a pest! I'll never forget the look on Collin's face the first time he held her after she was born. He was 8 years old at the time. He gazed into her tiny face, and with a deep sigh he said, "I hope I can be a daddy someday."

"What do you want first, a boy or a girl?" I asked.

He replied, "I don't care, as long as it's a baby!"

Collin will definitely make a fine husband and father one day. But for now, he's busy learning how to be a helpful young man who is always willing to lend a hand. God has given him a servant's heart and he has been a real blessing to me, especially since having my surgery. I don't have to worry about trying to lift anything relatively heavy as long as I have him around. He accompanied me to Lowe's yesterday to exchange our propane tank for the grill. Those things are heavy when they're full and I couldn't have managed it on my own. I'd promised the boys that they could go to their friends' house down the block after we got back. Unfortunately, after we paid for the propane, which took about 20 minutes, we had to sit around and wait for another 20 minutes for someone to come out of the store and get out a new tank for us. He was so patient! I know he was getting a little antsy to go, but he didn't complain once.

He also loves nature and anything having to do with it. He and Tim were very excited to find that our new home here in Texas has LIZARDS! We didn't have those in Illinois. We have a couple of them living in our garage, and at least one chameleon that lives on the fence near the gate. Collin and I stood at the window in the laundry room one day and we watched it chase a spider (and miss), and then it changed colors! How amazing!

Once while I was out somewhere, I found a large brown garden snail. We didn't have those in Illinois, either, so I brought it home to show to the boys. We did an Internet search to identify it and find out what it eats, and Collin decided to keep it for a pet. He got some sod from the back yard and made a little habitat for it in a small Rubbermaid container, and fed it scraps of veggies. It lived happily in that little container for several months, feeding on the carrots and other tidbits that Collin stuffed through the holes in the plastic that we'd attached to the top.

Now, not too long afterward we began finding ants in the house. They invaded our house from the back door, where they must have had a home deep underneath the threshold. I vacuumed up all the ants that I could get to and then sprayed a whole lot of chemicals into the holes from where they seemed to be emerging. (And yes, I immediately threw the vacuum cleaner bag into the garbage bin outside!)

That didn't completely eliminate the problem, however. After a while, I didn't see any more ants on the kitchen floor, but now I was finding them in the schoolroom! I couldn't figure out where in the world all these ants were coming from and why they were on the schoolroom table. There wasn't any food in there like there always is on the kitchen floor. I eliminated the dozen or so ants on the table in the morning before school, only to discover a dozen more in the evening! Finally, enough ants were out one day so that I managed to trace their movement. The line of ants stretched all the way across the table, onto the wall, and then up to the top of the bookshelves, and there was the rest of the colony! Those little creatures had taken up residence in the box where Collin kept his snail! I couldn't believe it - how in the world did they manage to find that snail's habitat? They had to have come in from the back door and made their way across the entire width of the house to the front room where we have our schoolroom. Considering their size, that must have been like Columbus discovering the new world and then everyone in Europe coming to live here afterward!

So, my dear son had to give up his snail. He was a little sad, but took it really well, though. He didn't want to just kill it, but since garden snails are pests I didn't want it in our yard. So he took it to the park and released it there. Meanwhile, I dumped the "habitat" out in the grass and discovered HUNDREDS of tiny ants scurrying about trying to figure out what had happened to their world. They had made a nice colony in the sod.

Since then, praise the Lord, I have found no more ants in the house!

Finally getting better...slowly!

I guess I'd better be writing something else, as I have to imagine you're probably getting tired of reading about our pork loin! This past week and a half I have felt rather lazy, but I have a good excuse. After having gall bladder surgery, I've been kind of tired. Actually, I think the phrase "really wiped out" is probably more accurate.

I am slowly getting my strength back, but I have good days and bad days. It felt good to be able to do something other than sit in my recliner - I did some housework on Saturday. I got some cleaning done that was long overdue.

I have to watch what I eat VERY carefully for now, and if I eat something my system can't handle, I pay for it for the next three or four days. I've lost another 3-4 pounds because I haven't had much appetite, though it's slowly starting to come back, too. On Sunday afternoon, I actually ate a full meal for the first time in a long time. I tried to be really careful, but I must have eaten something that my system didn't like, because Monday wasn't all that great. Not horrible, but not great, either.

I'll be really happy when I get past this recovery stage - I admit I'm getting rather impatient. I'd like to go back to the way things were before it all started. Maybe I'll get there eventually, but in the meantime I just have to sit back and praise my Father for all that He's done in our lives. It's so easy to praise him when I'm feeling good, but when I'm feeling rotten all I seem to do is gripe and pray that He'll make me feel better. How spoiled I am. I am certainly not suffering like others I know.

God reminded me of that Sunday morning before church - and the hymns seemed to say the same thing - that I need to praise Him in ALL circumstances, whether or not I am feeling well. He gently reminded me that He is working on healing my body, and maybe working on a few other things in my heart, too!

The Case of the Missing Pork Loin

Yesterday, I went shopping for groceries. I hate shopping - it's hard work and I can never get absolutely all of it done in one day unless I can get out of the house right after breakfast. And, lately, it's not easy for me to get out of the house at all. I took all four of the kids with me this time, because I still tire easily. They were so helpful! I let the older ones push the cart, and I just walked around and pointed out what to put in it. Mostly! I still got REALLY tired out!

Anyhow, we got home with a vanload of groceries, including a pork loin from Sam's Club. I try to get most of our meat from there because I can get the larger quantities at a slightly lower price and package it up in individual meal sizes for the freezer. I had let the kids put the groceries away because I needed to rest when we got home. By the time that was done, it was time to start supper. Thankfully, we were just having leftovers so it wasn't long before supper was ready.

About an hour later, we were finishing up our dinner when it occurred to me that I didn't know where the meat was. I was concerned that it had been put into the freezer before I'd had a chance to cut it up and package it in smaller quantities. When I questioned the kids about it, the ground beef was in the fridge, but the pork loin wasn't. I was struck to discover that no one seemed to know where the pork loin was!

We all jumped up from the table and started searching. It wasn't in the freezer. It wasn't in the van. Amy remembered putting it in the cooler when we unloaded the cart into the van, and Tim hauled that cooler into the house. So, it had to be in the house somewhere! Tim was the last one to have it, but he'd pretended it was a baseball bat and swung it around a bit; after that, he couldn't remember what he'd done with it. Collin remembered yelling at Tim about playing with his food or some such thing, but couldn't recall anything after that.

So, logically, the only one left to question was Mandy. Now, this child is notorious for swiping things and hiding them in unusual places. She's more like her big sister than Amy wants to admit! Once, when Amy was about Mandy's age, I found a shriveled up slice of mozzarella cheese in the bathroom drawer where I kept my hairbrushes. That was before we had any other children, so there was only one culprit for that. Amy liked to stash snacks in strange places for later consumption, and, like a squirrel hiding acorns, she sometimes forgot about them. But, sometimes she didn't! She came into my room one day with chocolate all around her little mouth and a sweet, satisfied look in her eyes. Upon further investigation, I found a little pile of Oreo cookies behind the couch under the curtains where she would hide to eat them.

When I questioned Mandy about the pork loin, I had to ask her in simple terms that a four-year-old understands. Things like, "Mandy, did you see the long meat?" (hands out wide for visual effect)

"You mean the BIG meat?" (Little hands stretched out wide)

"Yes, the big one."

Blank stares...more questioning..."Mandy, where is the big meat? Did you take it?"

Suddenly, the light came on and a mischievous look swept over her sweet little face. She grabbed my hand and tip-toed me through the house, all the way from the kitchen to the stairs, and pointed up. "Come on!" she whispered.

We crept up the stairs, as if the pork loin was alive and we didn't want to wake it up. She led me to her bed, giggled, and pointed to the drawer underneath. By this time I was getting a bit exasperated, but hopeful.

"Open the drawer, please, Mandy."

She struggled to open the drawer (there was obviously something heavy inside) and there, resting peacefully, was our pork loin! THANKFULLY the packaging was still intact so there wasn't any need to sanitize the drawer. It was also still very cold so I have no doubt that it wasn't spoiled by this time.

Now, I'd really like to know just how that little girl managed to carry nine and a half pounds of meat up the stairs to her room, especially without any damage to the packaging. I almost wish I'd seen her do it. Maybe she saw her big brother with it slung over his shoulder and decided it couldn't be too hard. I'd also like to know what exactly she planned to do with all that meat. That was certainly the strangest snack stash our family has come up with so far.

Whatever the motive, I'm really thankful that God alerted us to the fact that she'd swiped it, and He did so BEFORE we had to leave for Bible study. In addition to the loss of almost $18 worth of meat, I shudder to think what that would have smelled like in a day or two! A dead mouse smells bad enough...but nine and a half pounds of dead pig??? Yuck!

A Woman of God

Today marks the second week since my gall bladder was officially evicted. Since then, my 17-year-old daughter, Amy, has pretty much taken over the kitchen.

I'm so very pleased with her hard work. It's been a huge relief to me that she has taken care of the cooking so I can recover. She has planned out the meals, done the shopping, and prepared dinner for the family nearly every night since my surgery. Yes, there are still things to be learned, but she's way ahead of where many young ladies are at 17!

She and I are long overdue for a girls' day out, and as soon as I'm up to it we're going to do it.

Amy is well on her way to becoming a faithful woman of God. Thank you, Lord, for giving me this sweet young lady!

Folding laundry isn't easy around here!

Whenever we have bedsheets to be folded, I usually ask the boys to help. The other day, Mandy wanted to "help" as well. This "help" typically involves entertaining the boys with an opportunity to play with her!

The dry air added an extra dimension of fun for all three of them - Mandy's hair went wild!

Another reason we're homeschooling

The State of California has now banned "Mom and Dad" from the public schools - yet another reason why I'm glad we're homeschooling. It's becoming more and more evident that government schools are, indeed, dangerous places for our children in more ways than one.

How much farther will this country fall before our patient Father says, "enough"? Arnold, God will hold you accountable for this!

"How dry I am....."

This weather is SOOO NICE!!!! I love this weather - low 70's, and DRY! I know not everyone likes it this dry, but I do. Yeah, it's kind of hard on the nasal passages and throat, but I don't mind that so much. A little saline solution and a glass of ice water work wonders.

When we lived in Illinois, we NEVER had weather with humidity in the 20's like this! If it got down to 40%, (which was rare) I was really happy. My allergies seem to behave themselves a whole lot better when there isn't so much moisture. Mold and mildew have a hard time causing problems for me in these conditions!

When the weather is this nice, I usually don't have to kick the kids out of the house; they go out on their own accord. The other day the boys were playing baseball in our back yard. Right up until the ball hit the back door, that is! That's when I sent them to the park that's just up the road from our house.

Today, I felt strong enough to walk to the park with them so Mandy could come along (without having to make Amy go!) They had a great time chasing each other all over the plastic playground equipment, which adds an additional dimension of fun in dry weather like this - STATIC! I should have brought my camera along. Mandy's long hair was soon standing straight up!

All three of them had great fun trying to shock each other. They were laughing so much that I had a hard time not laughing too hard with them. It still hurts to laugh too much.

It also made for a good (if rather brief) science lesson on static electricity. I tried to explain the reasons why they were getting shocked without making it into an all-out science class. They weren't too interested in making it into a school day so I didn't press it too much! Why ruin a perfectly good day off with a science lesson?

Well, I have my own opinions on that one, but I'll let it go this time!

It hurts to laugh!

Now I know where they got the old cliche, "they had me in stitches." Our family does a lot of joking around and laughing, and I can't because it HURTS!!! Gary cracked a joke yesterday that had us both laughing, and it hurt so bad I started crying. I had to have him help me back to bed so my upper abdomen would stop screaming at me. I felt worse at that moment than I did when I first woke up in the recovery room after the surgery.

They started it again at the dinner table tonight, and I had to get up and leave before I started crying. It's downright unfair, too! I don't want to make the kids feel bad that they did something to hurt Mommy, but I also don't want to squelch their fun.

I know it's said that laughter is the best medicine, but in my case, I think I'll have to settle for the pills. At least for a few more days!

My tummy hurts!

How do you explain surgery to a four-year-old? That is, without instilling in her an unnecessary fear of the doctor and hospitals?

I had my gall bladder removed on Friday. It's now Monday evening, and my tummy still hurts. I'm at least up and around, now, and I was able to take a shower yesterday (Sunday afternoon). For the first 24 hours after getting home, I literally couldn't move without intense pain, and that was WITH the pain medication. If I went too long without the meds, I couldn't move at all.

I've tried to stay in bed all weekend and avoid moving around as much as possible. I am so blessed to have my husband to help me with everything I need, and he and my 17-year-old daughter, Amy, have kept the household running. Amy has prepared meals for us and is doing a great job.

I'm also blessed to have so many loving friends and relatives praying for me - thank you to all of you! I know everything went well because of your prayers. Mom, I know you told me not to try to do school this week, but I do have to keep Tim up with his reading...and I made Collin keep up with his science lessons...but that's ALL! :) I'm not doing anything else - I PROMISE!

My little one, Mandy, keeps wanting to see my tummy and wants to get me new band-aids for it. She's so tender and compassionate when she sees someone who isn't feeling well. I don't know what I'd do without my sweet girl! It's hard to explain to her about why I'm in so much pain, but I think she's content to be allowed to help out whenever she can. Yesterday she "helped" me get up and walk to the bathroom, just like she saw her daddy doing.

She keeps checking on me every now and then and asking if my tummy still hurts. I'll get better really soon with this kind of care!

Sometimes our Fold is more like a zoo...

We have some other members of our family who have not yet been introduced. They're a rather exclusive group of individuals who, until recently, seemed to live a very active life. They used to go everywhere we went. One, in particular, went with Collin to every piano lesson for a year. When one of them was lost, we grieved. When a new member arrived, we rejoiced. They were included in nearly every aspect of our lives.

These family members were very instrumental in helping us teach our children about how we should treat one another, and even the social graces. Lessons in setting the table and etiquette were included.

Thankfully, they don't run up much of a bill at the restaurants.

Yes, they're what we call, "The Monkey Club." These were my boys' absolutely favorite toys for several years. They have always had lots of other "boy stuff" to play with, but these monkeys were their all-time favorites.

Just after we moved to Texas, they found a box of my old Barbie clothes and furniture. Most of the clothes were made by my grandmother when I was about 8 years old. You can tell that some of the fabrics and fashions look rather dated - I think there's still a pair of bell-bottom pants in that box. Anyway, the boys found these clothes and the doll furniture, and went to work. It kept them occupied for literally hours!

They have done lots of little scenes like this over the years. Once, they made instruments out of legos and set up a little band, complete with drum set. They never went anywhere without at least one of the small monkeys in their pockets. When one of them got lost at the airport, it was a horribly sad day. It was several weeks before I found another one at the local thrift store.

The boys are good about letting their little sister in on the fun, too, as long as she doesn't destroy their hard work, that is. And that's not easy for a toddler to avoid sometimes. After all, she has her own ideas about how to set things up. She's a "keeper-at-home-in-training" and has to learn these things.

Since I'm no longer too crazy about Barbie (she just can't seem to keep her clothes on), I think the Monkey Club will do nicely.

Cicada Wars

Collin and Tim LOVE cicadas. Every fall, they go searching for the empty shells that were shed by the the noisy things. In Illinois, they found hundreds of them and kept them in an old lunch box.

One day, I found Collin (then about 10 years old) out in our driveway with all his army men, cowboys and Indians lined up in ranks. They were all on the same side, marching to defend Planet Earth against rows and rows of hollow cicadas. I wish I had taken a picture of that scene.

I remember collecting them when I was a kid, too. I think I must have taken every cicada shell in that tree - I remember my Dad on the ground with a big jar, and I climbed higher and higher, dropping the shells to my Daddy. Maybe that's why it didn't surprise me too much to find an old lunch box packed with cicada shells when we moved last December. They couldn't come with us to Texas, though - they didn't pass inspection. Many of them were missing some legs, and more than a few were crushed. I didn't think they could take the rigors of being deployed, so they were given an honorable discharge...and surreptitiously disposed of, along with their lunch box.

The boys were delighted to find cicada shells here in Texas, too, and they're a little bigger than the ones in Illinois. I was surprised they didn't go to war this year. I guess there weren't enough cicadas to be considered a threat to Planet Earth. Good thing, too - I don't think all of the human troops were transferred to Texas, either.

Signs of Life

One of our favorite songs is "Signs of Life" by Steven Curtis Chapman. The lyrics of the third verse talk about the "signs of life" left all over the house and yard by the artist's children.

Our house and yard are definitely filled with signs of life - as I got ready for bed tonight, I emptied my pockets. Their contents weren't mine.

I have a small box (okay, it's an empty baby wipes tub) that I use for holding "pocket prizes" each night. One night a while back, my prizes included two cars, three legos and a bean. Signs of life.

Tonight's prizes were acorns - three little souvenirs that Mandy brought back from the Gonzales field trip a couple of weeks ago.

We were having lunch that day in the courtyard of the jail and courthouse in historic Gonzales. It was awfully hard for Mandy to sit still and finish her lunch because there were millions of acorns with her name on them just waiting to be picked up. The little pocket on her shirt got rather stretched out. It just wasn't big enough - every time she bent over to pick up another acorn, two or three would fall out of her pocket (much to everyone's amusement). She began to get rather frustrated, and then kind Mr. Warren came to her rescue with a ziploc bag!

WHAT a prize she had then! We came home with a whole quart of acorns that day. I told her before we got home that the entire bag would not be allowed in the house, or there would have been acorns all over the place! I let her take five acorns inside with her, and the rest had to go to the back yard. When we got home, her big brother helped her count out five acorns, and she obediently took her bag of treasure out the back door and placed it against the brick wall of the house.

Now, two weeks later, she had to say "goodbye" to the bag of acorns. Thankfully, she wasn't too upset about it, though I did it while she wasn't looking. They were badly moldy from being in that bag too long, and I didn't want her playing with them and ingesting that stuff. So, the precious acorns are gone. But before I banished them to the landfill, I buried a couple of handfuls in the mulch out back. And, I put three of them in my pocket in hopes of one day planting them in containers for future transplanting.

Maybe I should write Mandy's name on them.

A long time ago, I did this...

Here are the Christmas card illustrations I mentioned in my first post. I wanted to just post them so that you can click on each thumbnail and see a larger image, but I haven't figured that out yet. So, they're in slideshow format and you can see larger images on the Picasa album where they're stored.

Tickle Me Mandy

Our youngest child is Mandy, a precocious four-year-old who LOVES to be tickled! A few months back, she came up to me out of the blue and said, "I want you to call Grandpa and tell him to come to my house and tickle my tummy."

So, I did!

Unfortunately, Grandpa couldn't come right away (they live in Tulsa, about 12 hours' drive from here), so I was asked to take care of Mandy's request in Grandpa's place until further notice.

I've never seen a child who actually ASKS to be tickled - I think her daily tickling must be like vitamins to her. She just can't get through the whole day without a good dose of it. She'll come up to me and show me her bare tummy, and won't leave me alone until I give her my full attention! I keep tickling until she can't breathe, and then I ask, "Had enough?"

With a mischievous grin, she answers, "No!"

More tickling...face turns blue..."Had enough?"

"No!"

...and so it goes on. Finally I just have to say, "Okay, that's enough for now." I don't want her to overdose, because when Grandpa comes for his next visit, tickling Mandy will be first on his list of things to do!

The In-Laws are moving in!

We've always been blessed to live only an hour away from Gary's parents, and the kids have enjoyed seeing their Opa and Oma once a month or so. So, that made it really hard when we moved last winter. Now, that's about to change - Gary's folks have bought a nice little house only half a mile from us! It will be really nice to have them close enough that we can get together more often than we did when we lived in Illinois! And, they'll be able to get passes to the pool that we can see from our house, but can't use - I hope they're allowed to bring guests swimming, too. They're hoping to be able to move in before Christmas, so now we just have to pray that all goes well with their packing and preparations and that their current home sells quickly. I think it will - two and a half acres of wooded land with river frontage won't be on the market for long!

Once we get them moved and settled, our next project will be to get MY parents down here, too! They live in Tulsa and are caring for my grandmother who has Alzheimer's disease, so it might not be so easy for them right now. But we can pray about that, too! It will be really wonderful to have our whole family together at last.

Our family is blessed to have such good relationships between both sets of parents and us. I know that's very rare - we are so richly blessed.

Welcome to the Fold!

I've been reading several of my friends' blogs, and they're all such a blessing that I think I'll join in! So, here's my very first "blog".

I chose "The Fehrenbach Fold" for the title because that's what our home is - the sheepfold for the lambs whom God has so graciously chosen to entrust to us. Our greatest prayer is that He'll continue to enable us to bring them up according to His perfect will, and prepare them for lives of unwavering service in His Kingdom.

Back in my pre-parenthood days, I did some freelance greeting card illustration. The picture at the top of the main page is an illustration I did in 1994. It's titled, "The Shepherd" and it was one of four in a series of Christmas card illustrations. That was the last time I've actually done any serious artwork, as I've been a little busy with other things... :)

I'll try and figure out how to post the entire series -- I'm just figuring out how to use this website so it might not be today. My husband really likes to get his socks and underwear out of the dresser drawer rather than the laundry basket, so I think I'd better get some folding done!