The Gifts Continue Today

This morning, I took Jack to the eye doctor for his third visit.  We continue patching his left eye (the good one) in order to strengthen and force his bad eye with amblyopia to improve.  I went this morning thinking there may not be any more improvement.   Wasn't I shocked to find after his appointment that Jack's eye has improved to right between 20/30 and 20/40??!!  I could not be more thrilled with this.  The doctor said long-term, he can drive a car with his right eye if he had to!!   I left the doctor's elated and we decided to patch another 8 weeks to see if we can get improvement to 20/20 with glasses.  We are again reminded of God's purposes ... and again, if we moved only for this reason, then it was enough to go through to have this for Jack.  The doctor also reminded me that when he first saw Jack, he was seeing 20/125 --- when we left Lakeland, he was 20/80.  So we will have to monitor Jack very closely to be sure he does not go backwards when he doesn't have to patch anymore until he is 10 years old.  He went backwards after we left Lakeland and stopped the patching.  My other question was to him was if Jack is not wearing the patch, can he "shut down" that eye ..... the only answer he could give me was he isn't sure and if he was to go backwards between now and his 10th bday, then it is possible.  I am still a little confused by the whole thing.  It is so complicated.  

The second gift today was from Spencer.  Spencer was laying on his bunk (the bottom) reading for school.  He said he remembered that Jack had left his bed light on so he climbed up to turn it off.  Well, Spencer found the light laying on Jack's bed sheet and it was "steaming" as he called it and said, "Jack's bed is toast!"  Basically, the light was burning his sheet from the heat and was starting to smoke.  I think if Spencer had not been in there, and the thought to check the light had not happened, Jack's bed would have caught fire in less than three to five more minutes.  Needless to say, Spencer is our hero today and he said, "Am I a guardian angel??"  I said, "You aren't a guardian angel but I am so glad that the Holy Spirit spoke to you about that light and that you listened!!!"  He smiled.  And again today, I had a good cry!  God is so faithful!  

Remembering ....

    

This is my grandfather, Denver "Dink" Wilfong.  He is my mom's father.  He passed away almost two weeks ago after a long battle with age.  He has rallied back many times in the last five years so we are all thankful for the extended time with him.  We are also thankful for his full life, his passion, sense of humor and that he made peace with our Saviour, Jesus Christ, many years ago.  

I have been trying to remember any memories I have with him.  We always lived out of state from him so time with him was few and rare when I was growing up.  But I do have the memory of many Christmas Eve's at his home with all the family and as many people you could stuff into his house.  He always gave us $2 bills, every year.  Seriously, why did they stop making them since everything in life seems like $1.99 now?  They would definitely come in handy these days.  

The last time I saw him was when I took this picture.  He let me snap my camera without him looking and then after a few minutes, he just looked over at me with this big, cheesy smile!!  He always did have a sense of humor and you could do nothing but laugh at his stories.  He even let me fix his small chainsaw for him.  It had thrown the chain ... the whole time I was listening to him instruct me, I was thinking to myself, "Why am I fixing this?  You surely don't need to be thinking about even using this!"   Either way, he stayed as active as he could playing cards and walking his yard.  

He will surely be missed.  But I am thankful that one day, we will see each other again on the other side ... for eternity.   

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin, not in part, but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul.

It is well with my soul ..

It is well, it is well with my soul.   - Philip P. Bliss

The Walrus Webkin

Erica got a walrus webkin from Spencer and Jack for her birthday.  What is really funny about it is watching Jack trying to keep this a secret.  He wasn't very successful.  

Last week, we were upstairs having school.  All three of them were quietly working at their desks. Jack had already let it "slip" or be known that they got Erica's gift at HALLMARK, which is the only reason they enter this store.  Erica said to Jack, "Great, Jack.  Now I know you got me a webkin."  He replies to this, "But you don't know which one."  

During school, Jack brings up this subject again and Erica tells him, "Jack, be quiet.  I do not want to know what you got me so just drop it!!"  And he is telling her he isn't going to tell her and he just wanted to remind her.  And suddenly, it is very quiet in the room and Jack says quietly for her and all of us to hear, "I sure hope you don't get the walrus before me!"   Erica says quietly back, "Thanks Jack ......"   

I shot him a look and he mouths quietly, "What?  I didn't tell her ...."  LOL .... what do you do ... but breath, pick your battles and move on........  

The Final Part of Erica's Bday

This was the last of Erica's special day.  After her flowers were delivered, we spent the afternoon at the mall shopping.  She wanted to get some clothes with her money.  So we shopped and then headed home to make her special request for her birthday dinner.  We had a nice relaxing dinner and cake and watched the movie, Ratatouille.  We were EXHAUSTED after a full day but it was a very special day/weekend with her.  And now ... we are officially living with a teenager.  And Scott is still trying to wrap his arms around this thought.  "Where did the last thirteen years go?"...... sigh ... 

Special Delivery!!!

Erica's Great Aunt Peggy ordered her 13 yellow roses for her 13th birthday!!  After presents, finishing the cake and lunch, the flowers arrived.  It was fun sending Erica to the door!!  She had the biggest shock and smile on her face!   They were some of the biggest and most beautiful roses I have ever seen!!  We have all enjoyed them this weekend and they smell wonderful!!!   The next time flowers come, it better be for me and not for her from some boy/man!!!  At least for another 15 years!!!!  LOL!!!

The FINISHED Product!!

It was the finished product that made the project well worth the time and Erica's smile.  She deserved to be so proud of her hard work.  She diligently worked until her cake was finished!  It ended up being a group effort with many hands.  Even Spencer was involved in the action as he kneaded and turned fondant to make more colors for her!!  And well, rolling out fondant was a quite a challenge but after a few mistakes, we figured out quickly how to do it correctly!!   And can I say we had enough cake to feed 30 people?  Seriously ... We ate HALF of the top cake!!  LOL!!  Mom (Memaw) and I sliced the rest of the cake and wrapped individual slices in saran wrap and put them in gallon size freezer bags.  Yes, people, we have THREE gallon size bags of sliced cake in the freezer.  So if you come up in the next three months, we will have cake for dessert!!!!  

Erica's 13th Birthday

We let Erica decide when she wanted to open her presents.  Can you guess when that happened?  YEP!  Right after she got up and BEFORE breakfast!!  LOL!!  There was no way we could hold her off the whole day.  It would be more torturous for us!  She received lots of wonderful gifts.  We bought the first lime green ipod for her and she received a flat iron that she wanted and loves, a book, a walrus webkin and lots of money!  She also received her first musical card and well, the home video of that is pretty funny!!  

I also gave her an album with all the letters and words of encouragement she received from family and friends.  She LOVED it and spent some time in the afternoon reading each letter.  I think this will be something she will cherish for life!!!  Thank you to all who took the time to send your thoughts, prayers and encouragement!!  

Erica's Special Cake

Erica has spent the last six months watching all these cake decorating shows on Food Network.  Well, now that she has all this "experience" in watching these people create these massive amazing cakes, she decided she wanted to make her own birthday cake and she really, really wanted to make fondant.  If there is something you must know about me, I actually hate to bake.  When Scott and I first got married, he did all the baking.  To me, it is too tedious to pull all those ingredients out and the measuring of it all makes me crazy.  I would much rather pull out a recipe and glance at the ingredients and throw it together guessing at the measurements or create my own meal.  Not to mention, science was not my strongest subject and honestly, baking is like a science.   Now, almost 20 years later and three kids that like muffins, cookies and homemade waffles, I have gotten better about baking but it still isn't my favorite and I think it is messy.  

Well, let's just say four boxes of cake mix, a dozen eggs and four pounds of powdered sugar later, Erica (with little supervision on my part) worked on her 13th birthday "masterpiece" and I am still trying to get powdered sugar cleaned out of my clothes .......

Here's What's Cooking with Erica

Erica celebrated her birthday last week.  She enjoyed her cooking camp so much that we scheduled a cooking class/party with Chef Elise at her home!!!  It was so much fun and it was so easy for me.  I didn't do a thing except pick up flowers and candles, a first for me.  We left Saturday evening and I was feeling like I had forgotten something for sure!  But these are some pictures of the celebration and her friends from ice skating and theater.  They are such a great group of girls and we had a wonderful, fun time!!!  And there was so much food!  It was a Mexican theme .. we had fondue, fruit salsa and cinnamon chips, chicken enchiladas, quesadillas, blueberry buckle cake with peach slices and cinnamon ice cream!  It was AWESOME and we also got all the recipes as well.  I think we will have Mexican food one night this week!   Needless to say, she had a great time celebrating, eating and got lots of nice gifts!!!  On to next weekend for her real birthday!!

The Desperate Squirrel

Sometimes hunger takes people to new levels.  Well, this was one hungry squirrel who actually  stretched as far as he could to pull the food toward him and still stay on the tree!  We decided this squirrel needs a name .... anybody got a name for him?!!!  The birds were not happy about this.  They waited patiently for him to leave so they could resume their eating.  It was a good thing he left some for them!

Playing in the Mud On Purpose

Imagine their surprise when we purposefully played in the mud this week!  We have been studying Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.  We learned all sorts of interesting things last week and one was they had to make their own bricks out of mud and straw.  So I found an old shoebox and the shovel and we dug up the backyard.  Well, it is more clay than mud here but they got the idea.  Jack and I really got into it while Spencer held the hose adding water for us.  Then he went and found a stick and used that to stir because he was NOT about to stick his hands in that mud!  And then Spencer carefully held the hose for us to rinse off our hands.  We are waiting for the mud brick to dry so we can peel off the cardboard and see our finished product.  Fortunately, it is supposed to be 100 degrees here Monday.  Yes, that is 100, not a typo.  I'm thinking by Tuesday, our brick will be completely dry!  How many bricks should I have them make????!!!!!   Or I should say, "How many holes are we allowed in our yard?!!"  

WHITE ... BE GONE!!!

I moved all our homeschool stuff upstairs to the playroom.  It just made more sense to utilize this room instead of having stuff everywhere downstairs in different places.  So I spent several days getting it all organized and on bookshelves.  It turned out really well.  And then I decided I can't take all the white walls.  It was going to drive me crazy.  So Scott emailed the rental company and they said we could paint.  So WE did ...neutral, of course, BUT it is so much better and we accented one wall with a khaki green color.  Now, I can function.  There was one wall that Scott had to stretch on the ladder to reach so I had to hold him.  Erica had to take that picture because she thought it was hysterical.  Scott really appreciated this one!!!  

You Know You're Tired When ....

We spent the evening at Jordan Lake with friends again.  We had such a good time grilling out and the kids swam.  We got home and you know your 12 year old is tired when she will crawl into her Dad's lap to watch a movie and falls right to sleep!!!!  This hasn't happened in a very LONG TIME!  

The "Not SO" Excited Lawn Girl/Guy

And then you have these two ...... Spencer and I decided we would finish the lawn last week since they didn't get it done the previous evening.  I thought to myself, "Well, you can point and watch so why not?!?"  However, while I was out there, I decided the other two could help.  Now mind you, Erica woke up and decided, "I think today will be a dress-up day."  So as you can see from her picture and her fancy flowered headband, she is pretty dressed up.  

When I called them down from the air-conditioned playroom and told them the task at hand, they both grumbled and said the usual, "UGGGHHHH!  We don't want to!  That isn't fair!"  But I told them they had to pick up two wheelbarrows full.  Not even two minutes into the task, they found spiders;  harmless daddy-long leg cousins I might add.  Now, they are done.  Erica starts with fake tears and fake crying and Jack is trying his hardest to muster a tear or two when he really wants to just play with them and follow them.  I read them the riot act and told what every good mom would tell them;  "They are harmless spiders and suck it up!  YOU ARE NOT going back inside before this is done."  And I walked away to watch Spencer and finish blowing off the driveway.  

I turn around a minute later and they are both gone.  GONE.  After I dropped the blower and began the march toward the house rehearsing the consequences I would list out in my calmest "I'm so mad" speech, they both came out of the garage.  Erica resorted to wearing Scott's HUGE tennis shoes instead of flip flops and his leather gloves.  Jack found his winter gloves and stuck with flip flops.  There was no reason to have hot hands and hot feet!  So these two clowns walked the whole front yard pulling the wheelbarrow and picking up limbs and sticks for over 20 minutes.  I had to get the picture.  If you blow it up, you can see her eyes are rolled back in her head and Jack looks equally joyful as they are finishing up!!  And all the while, I am doing my job, watching Spencer, and listening to him say repeatedly, "Mom, isn't this great?  I'm sweating.  Isn't this great?  This is good exercise.  I'm sweating and Dad is going to be so happy when he comes home.  Won't he be surprised?  Isn't this great?"  If this kid's love language isn't words of affirmation, I really don't know what it is!!!!   I think Erica and Jack are secretly praying for snow and their love language is NOT acts of service!!!  

The Lawn "Guy"

Spencer has decided he is old enough and big enough to learn to mow the yard.  And his next question was, "How much will I get paid for it?"  Now that is a kid after his Dad's heart!  He calls this an entrepreneur spirit -- manipulation -- whatever .... anyway, as you can see, Scott is doing what he does best.  Pointing and supervising!!!  LOL!!!  Spencer loves it and he loves making the extra money to save for special things he wants.  I love that he is willing to work for it.  He is going to be a great worker/business owner/leader some day!!  

A Little Bird's Nest

We have this bird house on a pole in the front yard.  It is really, REALLY old.  I haven't moved it or thrown it out because I had been watching birds go in and out frequently.  After my last experience of "moving" bird's nests - (story #563 couple years back!!), I decided that I probably should leave the old house alone.  

This week, Scott and the kids bought a bird feeder and seed which we strategically placed somewhere away from the house to avoid missiles and such.  While they were out front, they realized the roof on the old bird house lifts so they peeked in.  And guess what they found?  Yep, little baby birds.  We had to stand on chairs to see inside and this is my hand at taking a picture without actually looking through the lens!!!!    And they are already out flying about.  We think they are Carolina Wrens but we aren't positive.  

The Camp Letter

So, Spencer returned from camp.  I took this picture before he left and I thought it was post-worthy!  I thought he looked a lot older in it.  He is changing so much it is ridiculous!  But the letter?  Well, it made me cry and want to get in the car immediately and go pick him up.  I had to put it on here so we won't forget it and he will always have a copy of it!!!  And the heart with our family drawn in the middle?  Sniff ....sniff .... sigh.  I thought maybe we could use this as blackmail when he is a driving teenager and never wants to be at home with us!  LOL!!!  I am so glad he is home.  He said that his favorite part of camp was swimming in the lake with all the inflatables and he enjoyed the hobo-burgers they had over a campfire!   

"Almost" First Day of School

Today, we sort of started our first day of school.  I decided to only tackle a few subjects and not overload them the first week.  I figure if I can get into a routine with Bible, Math and History only, this lets me get familiar with the material and following it.  Then next week, I will hit them with their ultimate favorites.  Those would be English, Spelling, Vocabulary and Reading!!  But I'm just glad to break it up into two weeks and not overwhelm myself at the same time.  And I still have Erica who is starting more of a video program this year.  She will do Bible, Math and World Studies through BJP video series that is actually on a hard drive.  They teach 15-30 minutes and then they give the corresponding assignments for it.  In a couple weeks, she will start a writing class with only five other students which I am very excited about the size of that.  She will also start Science and Latin outside with a group of kids as well.  I am hoping this year goes a little more smoothly.  With our trip and moving, it was a little hectic and a huge adjustment for everyone.  

I did receive another huge blessing this week/end.  My laptop crashed shortly after moving and I had been using Scott's computer.  He then ordered me a Mac which I love.  However, Erica had been using Scott's OLD laptop which has a broken piece on the screen and she can't carry it around or the back cracks more.   I spoke with my friend, Rob, and he said, "SHIP IT!  I WILL FIX IT if you let my family come in October!"  Are you kidding?  I'll even make the man his favorite meal for fixing it!!  Needless to say, he is shipping my laptop back to me today and Erica will have a semi-new system to work off for several years (we pray!) this week!  She is pretty excited too, considering I tried to load her hard drive this morning on her laptop and it couldn't find it!  It was just a blessing today and I needed one!    

I am sitting here writing this and I can see into Jack and Spencer's bedroom.  We bunked their beds back recently and I am watching Jack stick his legs into his pillow case and talk to himself.  Sometimes you just have to wonder what is going through his mind.  I wonder if he realizes he won't fit into it.  Okay, now he is trying to stick his whole body into the pillow case ... seriously!  Oh what I wouldn't give to fit into a pillowcase and curl up right now.  Sometimes life feels that way ..... no need to hide in a closet or in a box.  Next time, just try your pillowcase with your pillow in it to rest on.  If I would only remember to meet God in the pillowcase and allow myself to rest completely on Him......why do we always resort to fixing things ourselves?  I am still trying to figure this one out .........