Seeing PURPLE

We started school this week! Every year, I say we're going to start school in the middle of July simply because the kids are bored and have too much time on their hands. Well, it's never happened.

This year, I said we'd start school around the first of August. And, it wasn't because the kids were bored, but because I thought it would give us:
...activities to engage the children's minds while they're stuck indoors out of the heat;
...a few extra weeks of school under our belts so we (meaning, "I") don't feel quite so guilty when we have to take whole weeks off for Christmas preparations in December, and the flu in January, February, March, April...well, you get the picture;
...the ability to quit for the summer in April, when there's still a few weeks of nice weather before South Texas heats up and drives us indoors.

Well, once again, it didn't happen! And Granny, this time it really wasn't because I was slacking!!! :) We had a very full summer with the return of Psalty the Singing Songbook, and also the immense blessing of my parents moving here. Suddenly it was August and I found myself gasping for air as I realized that I hadn't even done my April homework - deciding on curriculum for the year; searching the Internet and local book sales for used materials before I have to buy it new; searching the Internet and local book stores for all the stuff I couldn't buy used; ordering everything, and then spending the next week and a half watching the tracking numbers online. All these things usually happen, as I mentioned, in April and May, so I can spend the latter part of my summer actually looking at those books and materials and preparing for the school year! I had no idea just how much time all that actually takes until I had to do it in this last three or four weeks. Next year, I'll be better prepared...

Anyway, we started school this week, in spite of the fact that I wasn't completely finished getting things ready. It went really well, too. I think it worked out better this way, kind of like the difference between reading an instruction manual and actual hands-on training. I think this next couple of weeks will be an adjustment period as we work out the kinks in our schedule and get to know the new curriculum. The boys plunged themselves into their work and really did a good job - even though they had made a lot of negative remarks about schoolwork beforehand.

Tim is doing a lot more work now that he can read. He loves writing and was actually asking for writing assignments. We've added spelling, grammar and composition to his list. Now, if only Collin had that kind of attitude!

We all had a good laugh this week as Collin noticed something unusual: his school books are almost all purple. His Biology book is purple. His grammar books are purple. And his math books are purple. So, we carried it a little further - when he asked me for a bookmark for his Biology book, I gave him a purple post-it note. He made an extra effort to find a purple eraser for his pencil. And, he likes to say, his favorite Jedi has a purple light-saber.

I really didn't plan it this way - every subject is from a different publisher, so it's an amazing coincidence that all his books are purple! I asked him today if purple is his new favorite color. He said, "No, blue is still my favorite color."

Maybe next year all his books will be blue!

I really haven't forgotten about this blog!!

It's just that I've been a little busy lately... where do I begin?

Amy, our oldest lamb, GRADUATED on June 14th! We had a wonderful time with our family and friends that day - pictures coming soon!

Since the Christmas play that our church did, Psalty the Singing Songbook has gotten married and had three kids! So, for the last several months, I have had the privilege of making costumes for all of them. I did, of course, have a LOT of help, but the job still took up most of my time since the last week of April. The performance was yesterday and every one of the kids did a FANTASTIC job. Stay tuned for another post on this, complete with pictures! I hope to get them posted sometime this year.

It's been nine months, and I'm still struggling with the aftermath of my gall bladder's rebellion and subsequent dishonorable discharge. The doctor calls it "Bile Acid Gastritis" and the bottom line is that I can't eat anything that has fat or oil of any kind, no spicy foods, and no caffeine. That pretty much eliminates everything from my diet except chicken breast, granola bars, and sugar snap peas. I've literally lost all the weight I have gained since getting married 23 years ago, so I'm not complaining about that part of it, but it would be nice to have a bite or two of steak without fear of reprisal. The doctor says it'll get better, but it can take a long time. Define "long", please?

Since the end of May, all of us except Gary and Collin have had some sort of virus that has knocked us out, one at a time. I just KNEW that Collin would be next, and I've prayed for the last two weeks that he wouldn't get it because of his big part in the Psalty performance. Anyhow, now that the play is over with (just yesterday!) and we thought we had a chance to recover and get our lives back in order, Collin came to me this afternoon and said those dreaded words: "Mom, I don't feel very good." He had a fever of 103, aches, chills, etc. I'm so glad he waited until after I took a nap this afternoon. Any suggestions on how to sanitize the whole house at once to kill off this thing once and for all? Stephanie suggested taking off the roof and just dumping in a few truckloads of bleach...sounds like a plan to me! How does one sanitize furniture and carpets, without ruining them? I also think we need to bleach all the chairs at church.

Amy had a minor car accident on July 7th - she wasn't hurt except for some minor stiffness and a sore neck, but that went away a few days later. I'll let her tell you more about it on her blog. The blessing of it all is that now God has provided us with a really nice van. It's a '98 Chevy Venture. Yeah, it's over 10 years old, but it's in excellent condition. It's definitely never spent a winter in northern Illinois (so there's no rust), and has only 66K miles on it. And, it has A/C vents in the back, so the kids are REALLY happy!

I finally, for the first time in my life, read all the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Mandy likes to have me lie down with her for a little while every night when she goes to bed. So, since I couldn't sit at the computer during my evening moments and update this blog, I decided to start reading books again. Now I'm close to finishing the second novel in the Mitford series, by Jan Karon. Only six more to go...

And, my parents' house has sold and they are moving here from Tulsa this coming weekend!! For the first time since I was 18, we'll be living in the same state! It will be such a blessing to have both sets of grandparents nearby. What a blessing that their house sold so quickly - God's hand is definitely at work here.

Here it is, late evening, and since I'm gonna have to set a timer to wake myself up every three hours to monitor Collin's temperature, I had better get some sleep. I'm looking forward to a normal life again, but I don't think it's going to happen this week. Honestly, though -- when I look at so many others close to me and compare my own struggles with some of theirs, I think I live a rather idyllic - no, blessed - life. We are truly blessed beyond measure.

Mandy doesn't like tomatoes!

When we have salads with our dinner, one of our favorite things to put on them is those little sweet grape tomatoes. Only thing is, Mandy thinks they're grapes.

We've told her over and over and over again they're NOT GRAPES!! They're TOMATOES! We've also reminded her that she HATES tomatoes. She just can't seem to remember all the tomatoes we've found on the counter with little teeth marks in them because she thought they looked like apples. And the grape tomatoes, lightly chewed, that we've found in the garbage can because they looked like grapes. It usually only takes one or two tastes and then she decides that batch isn't any good. But the very next time I get tomatoes, she tries them again.

The other day, we had salads with our dinner. And, true to her tradition, Mandy had to take a grape tomato. Before we could stop her, she had popped it into her mouth. And then the "fun" began.

Her face started the usual contortions, and she said, "I don't like it."

This, time, my compassion had come to an end with this issue. I decided to make her remember that she doesn't like tomatoes. "You will not spit it out. You will swallow it."

Talking with a full mouth, she said, "But I don't like it."

"I know. I told you that it's a tomato and you don't like tomatoes. You decided to grab one anyway and so you're going to eat it."

Face turns red. Mouth desperately wants to eliminate its contents without involving the throat in the unpleasantness of the situation. She looked at me again. "I don't like it."

"I know. Swallow it."

By now, I'm hoping that Mandy is thinking that maybe she really doesn't like tomatoes. ANY tomatoes. They're not going to get any better if she waits until the next batch comes.

She looked around the table at everyone else. No one volunteered any sympathy. Everyone else had lost interest in her predicament and was involved in other conversation. She was stuck with her mouthful of tomato.

"Swallow it."

I could tell that she was suffering, but like a good girl, she finally managed to choke it down. I praised her and gave her a drink of water. "Now," I said, "you're not going to help yourself to any more tomatoes, are you?"

"No."

"Do you know why?"

"Because I don't like tomatoes."

The really funny part came when Amy, who had been watching the whole episode, commented about what Mandy's face looked like with that tomato in her mouth. "She looked like she was meeting eat loaf."

We all got a huge laugh at Amy's little slip of the tongue. I don't think I'll ever look at meat loaf the same way again!

Music Practice

My kids are watching too much TV lately, I think. They're singing a song from one of their favorite movies:

"Git along home, Cindy, Cindy

Git along home, Cindy, Cindy

Git along home, Cindy, Cindy,

I'll marry you sometime."

Mandy started it. She doesn't know all the words to the verses, but she sure knows the chorus. And the boys joined right in so all three of them were singing just now. They sound good, too! I hate to make them stop to get busy with schoolwork. I'll log it in as music practice for today!

In case you're wondering, that song was from Rio Bravo, with John Wayne, Walter Brennan, Dean Martin, and Ricky Nelson. I'd rather it be that than some of the garbage on TV these days!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!