Jumping Into the Fifth

Am I allowed to say that I'm ready for my April challenge to be done? I am.

This month has had some bonuses -- quiet and relaxing evenings, lots of board games and reading and quality time with Allen and our kiddos. I have really enjoyed Allen's cell phone-free evenings and weekends, and I've gotten used to not being in constant contact with the world through internet. Our Legos have been used every single day for hours and hours and hours. I have been frustrated with the conversational restrictions, though. I miss talking to my friends or texting when I have a quick question. I really, REALLY miss talking to Allen daily right after we drop off kids at school. I've missed having access to some of my Pinterest recipes, but I've made it okay. I'm not sure that I'm much closer to God this month, for all the discipline, though. Allen thought it might have been because media wasn't as much an idol to me as the food was. I'm not sure what it was, but I know media ate up a lot of my time and cut into family, so I know it was good to give it up. On a positive note, ALL my kids know much more scripture now that all we've listened to are Seeds CDs. SO do I, for that matter. And, I was worrying about a couple over-scheduled weekends in May, and Allen started singing "Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own."

Now I'm ready to welcome my next 7-project - reducing waste (the trash-kind). I am excited to be past the half way point as I'm beginning the fifth of seven month-long experiments. Here is what our family is doing in May:

1. Reduce our baggie use - Maddie volunteered the kids to wash daily baggies that we use in lunches or for leftovers. I found some ziplock-brand lidded and divided containers that we will also try to pack lunches into. They can go in the dishwasher, so that should help a bunch.

2. Recyle - we don't now. We will collect paper, cardboard, plastic, aluminum, and steel cans and figure out a time to take them to the recycle center. I may toss them over the fence if I can't work around their difficult drop-off hours.... I guess they'd figure out it is from us. Some of the paper and cardboard will be used in our garden.

3. Compost - it's warm enough for us to take out kitchen scraps to the garden again. We usually stop for winter because they don't decompose, but we're back to it now.

4. Garden - my keyhole garden kit is supposed to arrive any moment now, so it should be here in perfect time for May's project. Our timing is off a bit for spring planting, but there are still plenty of veggies we can plant for late summer and fall harvests. LOTS of our trash will be going into this garden -- a big layer of sticks from our current compost heap, lots of paper and cardboard, lots of our yard scraps and compost (though we'll likely need more at first), and a hole through the center for our kitchen scraps that can be composted. Here is a link to the kind of garden we are making: http://www.texascooppower.com/texas-stories/nature-outdoors/keyhole-gardening 

 

(If you are wondering why we are going with a kit... we priced several options for purchasing materials that we don't already have, and the kit was cheaper, even after delivery. Time wise, assembling the structure will go much faster with the kit. I'll post photos as we work on it.)

A Day to Do Over

Today turned out to be a stinker, so I thought I should write about it. Maybe when I quit being on the verge of tears I'll find something funny about it. On the list of worst days that I remember, I am considering putting it ahead of the day that the three toddlers cleaned out the fridge, emptied a huge carton of liquid laundry soap, then finished it off

Will woke up with a headache and a fever high enough I had to keep him home. That led to outbursts from him because he didn't want to have to make up his STAAR testing.

I'm feeling achy and exhausted. They told me to expect it from the third set of shots I got yesterday, but I often wonder if I'd feel as bad if they hadn't told me to expect it.

Will didn't eat breakfast at the normal time, so I put his plate and food in the fridge with the fork on the plate. When he was ready to eat, the fork was too cold, so he microwaved it. It sounded like aliens were ready to suck us up into their spaceship, and he jumped across the kitchen screaming. Nothing too bad, but we have a big burn and some little dents on the back of the inside of the microwave that I can't seem to clean off completely.

The school nurse called when I was on the way to get Ben, Maddie, and Jon from school. Maddie fell of the play set and landed on her face. There was a lot of blood (bloody nose and busted lip), but at least it doesn't seem we need another ER visit. She should match Jon by tomorrow -- both with purple faces (he crashed his nose into someone yesterday.) I'm not too worried about her teeth since the middle four were all loose before she went to school, and she still has all baby teeth. I'm sort of expecting the nurse to call me about Ben tomorrow (because that's how it seems to go with those three.)

When we got home, before I even put my purse down, Ben had tried undoing some Legos with his teeth, but caught the inside of his cheek between them. He was screaming and screeching as I struggled to undo them. (It's really bad that I had to use my teeth because my fingers couldn't pull them apart, and I didn't want to hurt him with other tools. I'm sure if you looked in the window at that moment, it looked like I was French kissing my six-year old while he screamed in my face. UGH!)

As I called Allen to ask him to calm ME down, the dog peed everywhere and I burst into tears before Allen could say "hello." I never expected to WANT Shadow to pee in one place if he had to do it inside, but having a thirty-foot chain of sprinkles twisting and turning through three rooms of my house is super-annoying.

Now, most of the drama is over, but Ben is refusing to put away his laundry that I already folded. Instead, I'm having to deal with him smacking Jon with the hanger and seeing how hard he has to pinch his brothers to get them mad.

I really wish my best friends lived next door so I could escape for a few minutes for a cup of tea. That's what my mom and our neighbor always did. If it was morning tea, it was a normal day. The rough days seemed to have afternoon tea (but now that I'm a mom, I have to wonder if their afternoon "tea" was actually something stronger.) Maybe that's how I want to remember it :) I guess it might be better for the kids that I can't just leave for a minute -- it seems it wouldn't take much longer for them to need an ambulance or fire truck.

Challenges with Media

This month's media fast has turned out to be difficult. Not the same type of difficult as with the food, but there are many gray areas and I'm having to make decision based on my original intentions: to give time to my family and God, rather than to media. This is also the first month that I feel like I've "cheated" a bit, but I don't feel too bad about those times.

I did not plan to use my cell phone, but I quickly learned that there are a few challenges with that when some of my friends only know that number. Also, there have been times they needed to reach me immediately while I was away from home. I had not planned on texting, but, again, there have been a few times that it was the most practical way to communicate that there was a box of books on my porch on a rainy day. I had not planned on using anything on my cell phone except the weather app, but I have used the address book, the GPS, the alarm clock, and the calendar multiple times since I do not have a working watch, a current map, or another list of phone numbers. Nonetheless, I am not constantly playing on my phone when I wait in lines, and I'm enjoying the extra time to read a book.

As for the catalogs and magazines, I'm mostly sticking to that, but the other day, I was helping Will paint a project and I couldn't remember whether I needed to use the acrylic gloss or gel to make the paint transparent. I quickly asked Allen if I could get online to check, but then remembered I had the art catalog handy. Before I realized it, I was flipping through a catalog looking for the gloss and gel descriptions. I found my answer, and Allen convinced me I wasn't shopping or dreaming about shopping, so I was okay. Will has reminded me weekly that I shouldn't be reading the grocery store flier that comes in the mail, but I only do that when I'm working on my grocery list and trying to purchase wisely.

TV and video games? I haven't missed them a bit. In fact, I keep telling Allen it feels like we are on vacation because evenings are really quite relaxing now (especially with warm April breezes coming through the windows.) Allen and I have read a lot, but we also play board games almost every evening. It has been a great way to wind down the day spending quality time together. The kids don't seem to be missing cartoons or video games too much. I can only think of two times I've been asked about playing Leapster. When I reminded them it was April, they ran off to play Legos or swing outside. Our dining room has turning into the Lego station for now, as the Legos are played with constantly -- before school, after school, after dinner.

The hardest part about not using my cell phone is that I miss my friends. It is hard for us to connect the few minutes a day I am home alone (especially since they are doing similar media fasts.) We used to coordinate dinner together via texting, but when four of us are only checking email twice a day, it takes all week to plan something. I miss talking to Ema -- we often spoke as I was driving around town.

Checking email twice a day has been the grayest area. Does it count as checking it twice if I look at the email list, leave the computer on and open, then walk by thirty minutes later and see another I need to reply to? One day soon after Maddie's head injury, her teacher emailed me four times in a morning about Maddie having a headache, then Maddie being okay, then back to a bad headache and going to the nurse. When I read the emails (all at once) I felt awful that I hadn't been communicating with her, and I left the email open all afternoon to keep track of what was going on with Maddie. In the meantime, I had made several calls to the doctor and learned that we should expect headaches and dizziness for a few months. Will's teachers communicate with me via email, too, and when I've had a question about his assignments, I email them, but I can't wait twelve hours to read their response when he needs to get his work done before dinnertime. SO... my email gray areas have been redefined a bit. I do sometimes check it more than twice a day.

Carry a Jerry

This morning, our family participated in the PCM Carry a Jerry races. We got to the park bright and early and watched Allen take off on the 5K run.

While he ran, the kids and I visited with the Ugandan kids who came for the choir tour. We were excited to learn that many of them live with Ssalli, but they are all in school with her. Maddie hid a bit when I introduced her to the kids (ages 10-13, I am guessing and remembering). One of the girls, Milly, asked me if Maddie was shy and I replied that she was a bit. Milly squatted to Maddie's level and they talked for a minute. After that, Maddie was on Milly's back until long after the first group of runner returned. Evelynne had Jon on her back for awhile, and I think my kids soon warmed up to the sweet children. Will was talking to 12-year old Amon for most of that time. The two boys were obviously having an interesting conversation -- soon they were laughing, and it was neat for me to watch from a bit of a distance. 

Allen finished his run in 6th place, and by the time he got back to us, the kids were scattered. Will was still with Amon, and Maddie was still on Milly's back as she wandered around meeting all the supporters. Jon and Ben were in a clearing to the side running toward each other and sword fighting with sticks or putting their foreheads together to see who could knock the other off balance.

Later, Will was telling me what he and Amon were talking about -- Ssalli, their homes and schools, the wild animals in Uganda. Will told me he had never met a person so happy, and that led to more conversations about how someone with so little stuff is so happy.

All the Ugandan children ran the next 5K which was a relay carrying the jerry -- a plastic 3-5 gallon jug of water that the Ugandans fill at the river and carry to their homes and schools to drink from. Not surprisingly, the Ugandans ran that race much faster than the Americans.

After that race, we listened to the choir sing a couple songs, then we began the family "race" (race that wasn't actually a race since it was more to let kids experience how hard it is to carry the water jugs.) Our Kaiser team of six had a great, fast start as Will hugged the 3 gallon can and ran. The little kids kept up, Allen already is used to running, but it wasn't long till I was behind struggling with shin splints. Allen ended up with the can next, and the kids raced ahead. The kids had a lot of energy for the first quarter mile, but they slowed down a bunch. Ben and Jon tried carrying the can together like the winning team from the last race, but they didn't last too long like that. Maddie couldn't carry it more than a few steps.

 Around the half way point, Ben was on my back because he was so tired. When I got tired of carrying him, I set him down and he raced to catch up with Maddie who was quite a bit ahead, but running with Jennifer's daughters. We later learned Ben went right past them. We lost our kid... for real this time, but I was calmed a bit by the fact that he had on the PCM shirt and I hoped the group would keep him where he was supposed to be. Later, we learned that as he got to the end of the race with a group, he turned and thought we were right there with him. Thankfully, my friend Kathryn saw him and went to get him and kept him until Allen found him. That was the most stressful part of the day for me, but I think I handled it okay. When we were home, I asked Ben if he had been scared. He said, "No. Just a little lonely."

After all the racing, we let the kids play in the park. Jon got to check out the Ugandan drums and even had a quick lesson from some of the boys. Will ended up playing soccer with some kids he knew from school and a couple Ugandan boys. They were using banana leaf balls, and it was clear that the Africans were much better at keeping the small ball at their feet, but Will enjoyed playing with them.

I enjoyed having an opportunity to introduce our kids to some of the children I will be visiting in June. I loved that all four had a chance to play and talk with the Ugandan children -- to realize that even though they look different and speak differently, they really have so much in common. I'm excited that the choir will be here for a few weeks and I hope we get to see them all some more. I get teary when I hear them sing -- their joy is infectious and I am so anxious to be among them in their home.

Easter Eggs

The Wednesday before Easter, I kept the little kids home from school. They were a little bit upset that they were missing the kindergarten Easter egg hunts, but their pouting didn't last long. In fact, it quickly turned to excited giggles as we discovered the chickadees were hatching. We took turns peeking in at the progress and learned that three eggs hatched Wednesday late afternoon, and the other three hatched Thursday afternoon. The eggs were too tiny to see the protrusions or cracks, so each time we found a new chick, we were really surprised! I always think it is fun to see the new lives hatching from the shells, but when it happens as spring is beginning and as Easter approaches, it seems even more special to me. Here is a collage of the wee ones' first week:

 

The fun continued! This past Tuesday, I noticed the bluebird eggs were showing the little bumps showing the birds inside were about to break out. A few hours later, I went to check on them and one was hatching. Since I can't really get pictures of the bluebirds with my regular camera, we had to depend on the video camera inside. The kids and I gathered around my computer and watched the first bluebird break free. Our view was obstructed by Sialia, but even the kids were giddy when mama bird moved to the side and they could see the new little peep. We all learned something new that night -- I knew the mama moved the egg shells because they were never left in the nests; what I didn't realize was that she just eats the shell. We watched Sialia pick up her chick and move it to the side of the nest so she could clean up. We also got to see another start hatching, then the next morning, we checked the camera at breakfast and watched Sialia clean up after the rest had emerged. The kids laughed and laughed at the big eyed heads attached to a tiny naked, but fuzzy body, especially when one stumbled about with a shell on its head like a misfitting helmet. Sialia picked the babes up with her beak and moved them around as she crunched away at the shells.

I'm thrilled that all the nest eggs have hatched in both nests. The kids remember both bird families in their dinner prayers each night, and we are all hoping they survive this stage of life.