First Blog in a Month

Sorry I’ve been gone so long. Here are a few updates and additional thoughts about my last two posts and a few other things that have been going on, etc.…

1. We did buy a new washer and a dryer and I love them! Can I say that again, “I love them!” They are super large capacity and fabulous! I can get so much more laundry done than I could before and so much faster. Did I say that I love them!

2. About Scouts – we’ve decided to let Aaron finish the year with Webelos, but we will be reevaluating whether or not to continue in Scouts once it is time to graduate to Boy Scouts.

3. Several months ago I tested Aaron and came to find out that he has an Auditory Processing Disorder. I’ll explain exactly what this is and how it affects him another time, for now let me say that finding this out has been such a relief. It has explained so much. Like why he covers his ears when he is in a crowd, and why he can’t stand the sound of pencil lead on paper, and why he struggles to read - one day reading well, the next unable to read any word with more than five letters, it also explains his immaturity.

A quick example: Mark and Aaron have been working on a Pinewood Derby race car that they will be racing today. At one point the car needed to be sanded. The sound was so unpleasant for Aaron that he had to leave the room.

3. We recently celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary (Feb. 19th) and every day I love my dear hardworking hubby more and more. (And he is hardworking – this week alone he has worked two jobs, taught two Bible lessons - if you count Sunday as the start of the week - and worked every single night for hours on three Pine Wood Derby cars. The week before he and Aaron camped in the backyard, in the rain and cold, I might add, and made a wonderful Dad and Scout cake for the Dad and Scout cake contest. It really was cute and they should have won. And he has put up with me being grouchy and failing yet again…)

4. As I already mentioned, Mark and the boys are making Pinewood Derby cars to race in a Pinewood Derby Scout race today.

5. I’m reading the Bible through chronologically. (So far, so good, and loving it!) I’m in Leviticus…and the blood on everything is about to do me in. Sacrifice this, sacrifice that, use this lamb, and that bull, and if you bring a bird…and put the blood here, but don’t drink the blood, and don’t eat that, but burn this, and the priest can eat this sacrifice, but not that sacrifice…Laws for burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, and sin offerings, etc. How thankful I am that we are no longer under the law. I have no idea how the Israelites kept it all straight. (I guess that was the priest’s job. No wonder they were so messed up by the time Jesus came…they had too many laws to keep track of. ;) I wonder what our excuse is.) I feel like I need to make a chart just to figure it out. There is one phrase that is repeated over and over in Leviticus that I love – “a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD”. Oh, that my family and I would be a pleasing aroma to the Lord!

6. As a result of my recent Bible reading (and I’m not sure how or why this has happened, but I’m glad that it has) I’ve been spending less and less time on my computer and not missing it at all. Praise God.

7. I realized just this morning that I’d lost track of my priorities as a wife and mother…or rather I’d allowed myself to feel guilty about having them, but that too is another post that would start with the word “Time”.

8. I’ve started using 10 minute increments for school and it has made a huge difference in the amount of work we get done and in my being able to work with all five kids. The key word here is “Discipline”.

9. Yes, I said five because I’ve realized that I have to “work” with Bess or she feels left out, plus I’ve also realized that children only learn so much on their own…and that some teaching has to be deliberate. It doesn’t have to be “school” but it does have to be intentional.

10. I’m thinking about reading through Created to Be His Help Meet again. If any of you would like to join me, let me know and I’ll start writing a little about it and allowing for comments and thoughts.

Guess, that’s about it…I need to feed Ben and start getting us all ready to go to the race…it starts at 9:00 a.m. Wish the boys well.