Catch up

So for the past week I have been out of commission. We started out on Sunday with a family picnic in Ellijay and apple picking at BJ Reece Apple house. We had a great time. Grammy (my mom) and Grandma and Grandpa (Aaron's parents) came with us... it was nice to not be out-numbered by children. We did subs for lunch, picked apples, then let each kid pick a "special treat" from the Apple house. Our main camera died after just a few pictures, but thankfully we were able to use daddy's phone as a backup.

Monday I felt sick, Tuesday was no better. After seeing my OBGYN he sent me to the ER for a chest xray where they found pneumonia. So after days in bed, a round of antibiotics, and Loli getting sick as well, then weekend came an brought lots of excitement. Matthias had fall festival at school on Saturday, the older kids went to Kennesaw Mtn with daddy, and Saturday night we cooked hot dogs on the fire pit and had fun with smores. Then we all seven piled into a tent and went to sleep. Daddy and I were pretty impressed with how well the children behaved and how quickly they went to sleep. If I must be honest, Loli and myself went into the house a few hours later. Also, Saturday morning started roughly with Matthias splitting his lip open after he fell from a bar stool and the bar stool landed on his face. I was surprised we didn't have to make a second ER trip this week... it was busted open like it had been fillet sliced... really gross.

Our oven broke Thursday night, so I have been doing my baking from my second home (the Holli House) definitely thankful for the hospitality. Tonight I was suppose to be making an apple pie and a pumpkin pie for my dear friends' going away party (which I am still in denial about). Unfortunately, putting your filling together and taking it with you to finish at someone else's house so you can bake it lends itself to forgetting ingredients... at least for me. I completely forgot the flour in the pumpkin pie. So after almost two hours of cooking it still wasn't solid. The one thing I've learned is you can fix most baking mistakes with marshmallows or cool whip, depending on the temperature of your dessert. So I took two, not completely soled but cooked, pumpkin pies, dumped them in a casserole dish, mix it all up and melted marshmallows on top... voila! pumpkin pie casserole ;-)

So thankful for this week, despite the craziness. The song that has been stuck in my head is "Oh no, You never let go through the calm AND through the storm. Oh no, You never let go, every high AND every low. Oh no, You never let go, no you never let go of me!" I think it's been very fitting this week through every high and every low, I am ALWAYS in the loving hands of my Abba Father!

Here are some pictures of the haircuts, although I don't think Aaron got the camera out in time to take one of Carson. Carson wants to grow his hair out which is huge for him because he hates change as well and has wanted the same haircut his whole life until now. Matthias' hair is staying the same, but Chandler wanted a mohawk... I gave him a fohawk (fake mohawk) instead.

A change of plans

This is the pie I was taking to dinner tonight... before it got canceled. I think this mught just be the most beautiful pumpkin pie I have ever made. If you know me at all then you MUST know how much I do not like my plans to be changed. There are many reasons I can use to justify why I don't like for my plans to be changed, but when it comes down to it there is one main reason... CONTROL. I HATE feeling like I don't have control over my day, my circumstance, etc. So after getting a little upset about my night being changed I had to call my dear friend and ask for forgiveness. Of course, as all good friends do, she forgave me. So instead of dinner at a friends house with the Coombs Clan we stayed at home, did some much needed rearranging and organizing (which feels like it is never ending), had dinner, and did boys' haircuts and showers for all!

The boy who cried wolf... or should I say "CORN ON THE COB!"

Okay, so I've tried this blog thing before, when it was just me and the two pumpkin heads... I failed miserably to post anything. Maybe it was the whole working thing. Now that there are SEVEN of us... well, almost EIGHT, there just seems to be so much to write about. Who knows if anyone will ever actually read this, but I think for me it will be an outlet. Maybe more so a place where I can chronicle the events of our days and be amazed by God's kindness to me and our family.

At this point you (if there are any yous out there) are probably wondering what in the world the title of this post has to do with anything. Well last night at our house was eventful. There was triumph with children and terribly funny moments. I'll start the day off in mid afternoon. I made 3 batches of whole grain pumpkin muffins, which are almost completely gone, and with water bottles packed up, headed to get the older kids from Cartersville. Today was a bit different, because instead of making my rounds of picking up Chandler at one school, Carson and Dylan at another, and Matthias at a third school, I would be doing all of this with the extra bonus of taking all five children with me to a doctor's appointment for Chandler. Long story short, we made it through the appointment with minimal damage done to the office, the car, the children, or my sanity. Then we get home... in a matter of minutes Matthias hits Chandler just because he "felt like it", Dylan jumps on Carson which hurts his nose, so in anger Carson begins punching his sister. At this juncture I had no mental brainpower to deal with this (also since I do not discipline the older kids outside of time outs, discipline for physical violence towards siblings had to wait for daddy). So for the next thirty minutes they all sat in separate parts of the house waiting on daddy to finally get through rush hour (more like hourS) traffic. The plans of having a wonderful pot roast dinner and quiet family time diminished.

Finally daddy arrives home and after his long day begins to sort out the happenings of the afternoon. The first was easy, and Matthias was disciplined accordingly. The second and third were not so easy. Stories began changing. This is where the rubber meets the road in parenting. Weeding through what is actually important and what we actually need to discuss and which things deserve consequences. After multiple times of deliberation between Aaron and I, we came to the conclusion. Carson was honest with his sin and was disciplined accordingly. Dylan on the other hand was honest about what she did, but her story was changing about what Carson did (which he had already admitted to). After more conversation and through tears she finally tells me, "I don't like for people to be mad at me. I don't want Carson to be angry because he got into trouble". So after having her tell him that, and him crying and telling her he wouldn't be mad and that he would always love her, Aaron and I sat in the girl's room with tears in our eyes feeling like there had been a victory. We were patient and diligent, by the grace of God. Their hearts were broken and honest, by the grace of God. We knew, this wasn't OUR victory, but God's victory.

Then there was the boy who cried wolf... the "Coombs version". Daddy thought he would tell the story of the boy who cried wolf at dinner, which was a HORRIBLY inaccurate version of the story. Daddy was getting corrected at ever turn of the story, then as the kids began to listen more intently and daddy builds up to the boy crying wolf, out of nowhere Matthias yells "CORN ON THE COB!". Now we were not eating corn on the cob for dinner, we hadn't discussed it, really, there was no reason for such an outburst... but that's Matthias. We all begin dying laughing. The rest of our night was fun and crazy like usual, but I was keenly aware of God's hand in everything and very thankful for this crazy life.