Sam’s memory verse last week was in Joshua.

The LORD your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.

Sam(2) said, ” The Lord your God is giving you the rest of this lamb”.

Cute.

It’s come to my attention that there are just 5 of us left in the US and it’s outlying areas who don’t have Facebook profiles.   At first I thought my resistance was maybe God led.  Maybe it is.  Or maybe it’s just my tendency to rebel against anything popular.

I didn’t realize this about myself until today.  I mean, I guess I always knew, but I didn’t really know.

But now I’m getting it.  No, I’m not getting a Facebook (Little Star, calm down).  I’m getting me.  Understanding myself.

I’m a rebel.

It’s why I don’t text much.  Why it was easy to give up TV.  Why this lifestyle I lead hasn’t been all that difficult for me. 

It’s why I don’t mind wearing more skirts than pants.  It’s why I don’t mind the stares when people see me out with all 7 of my kids.  It’s why I’d love to live in a travel trailer.  It’s why I don’t mind trying obnoxious things like no-pooing, and it’s why I wouldn’t mind trying on some dreadlocks if they weren’t so permanent (and if my husband didn’t think they were terribly disgusting, which I guess they might be). 
The more odd something seems, the more I tend to lean towards it.  Or maybe it’s better to say that I lean away from the popular.

I really am a rebel. But in a good way, I think.

If something gets really popular really quick, you can bet I’m going to eye it with suspicion.  (except for Mama Squirrel’s black slouch boots – love those, want a pair, and I know everybody else does, too).

All I’m saying is that all your invites and all your bugging me (you know who you are and I’m totally flattered that you want to befriend me and read my wall and update me on every other minute of your goings ons) is not likely to sway me to join that social networking craze.

And if I ever do get Facebook it definitely won’t be because it is popular, because everybody else is doing it, because I want to make friends with people I don’t know, or bond in cliques like teenage girls.

And just for the record – I’ve been blogging for a very. long. time.  Way before blogs were popular.  So my blog doesn’t count.

On Monday night Sam threw up. He started around 11 and it went on for hours. In the morning he was fine. Ate everything. Was normal.

Until last night. Ryan heard him crying just as we were going to bed and went in to check on him.

“I was blowing up, Dad!”

Again with the washing sheets and layering a little bed of blankets and towels on the floor of my room and getting a bowl and a bunch of cloths to have ready.

Did I mention that I have a really terrible cold that I suspect could be bronchitis? But because I have a pilot in training as a husband, and it is necessary that he not be tired for his flights, it is up to me to be up with any sick babies. Coughing up a lung or not.

So, this morning after I got Jesse fed and ate a little breakfast, I downed some Theraflu and told Kait that I was going to take a nap.
I slept for 4 hours.

I woke up to this from Kait. “Mom, I’m the only one who hasn’t gotten sick.”  (however, since writing this post she has contracted the bomb and is blowing up, too.)

While Sam is appearing well now, the rest of the boys are all blowing up today.

The fun never ends around here.
But I’m so thankful for my daughter who let me sleep through it all, taking care of the sick children herself so I could get some rest.

Kait turned 15 last month. I had a post all formulated in my mind but it included a very funny video I haven’t had the chance to edit. So I’ll have to post that later. It’s not something I want any of you to miss.
We really had fun putting together her birthday treasure hunt.

I didn’t want to put off her birthday post any longer.  So, here it is. 

kaitlyn at 4 months – so, so long ago

Kait,
I feel unworthy to be blessed with a daughter like you.  Even before you were old enough to comprehend your purpose, you were changing my heart – and now everything about me is different.
You are a joy. 

Thank you.  Thank you for being you, so willing to help, ease a burden, and teach your brothers.  Your heart for God is evident every day. 

I’ve watched you grow from a little girl into a young lady.  Once upon a time I didn’t want you to grow up.  I was sad at the idea of you being an adult.  But, now that you’re grown, I realize that this time in my life, where I get to watch you become a woman, is just as precious as the time I watched you take your first steps.  And although I don’t laugh daily at silly things you say or do anymore (as I do with the littles), I am now finding myself in awe of who you have grown up to be.

Being your mom has been better than I could have ever imagined.
I love you.

Happy 15.

Yesterday, Sam (2) said stuff, as he usually does.

In the morning while I was getting him dressed (in sweatpants & t-shirt) he said, “I’m going to look amazing!”

Then, after after lunch, when I trimmed up his hair, he said, “Now I look good!”

And after I brushed his freshly washed hair before bed he exclaimed, “I look like a princess!”
To which Ryan replied, shaking his head,  ”I have not done a very good job with him”.

The rest of us were laughing our hind ends off.

Today he told me he was going to buy “the horse sh*t.”
Mind you – we don’t ever curse, we don’t watch tv, and we homeschool.  So, I had to assume he meant something else.  And after asking him to repeat himself a few times and show me what he was talking about I figured out that he meant he was going to buy “the whole set” – speaking of a LEGO set he saw in LEGO Joe’s magazine.

Sam says something everyday.  Ryan and I tend to forget what it was he said last so I’m going to start writing Sam’s revelations here.

I got this cold over the weekend.  I felt bad on Friday, but was better on Saturday.  Then, I was really feeling bad on Sunday.  And today I feel better.

But I lost my voice.

Ryan called me to tell me he’d landed last night and would be home soon.  I tried to ask him to pick something up for me but he couldn’t make out a word I was saying.  

(If you were planning on calling me, don’t.  Just text me.  Or email me.)

I’ve never lost my voice before.  Not even after yelling loud as a kid (or at a kid ;o).
It’s so weird to not be heard.  Kait was calling a question to me from the kitchen.  She couldn’t hear me answer and had forgotten that I have laryngitis. 
The same thing just now happened again with Joe.

Before now, I hadn’t realized how much we yell in this small house.  Not at each other.  But toeach other.  Now, my kids have to actually look at my face to see what I’m saying – but they forget that and just keep hollering, “Mom!”.

I’m glad that laryngitis is usually short lived.

Now, if I could only figure out a way to spread this non-contagious thing to the kids…