sorry

I will get back to the topics at hand (like anyone else but me cares) soon, but right now, my entire family is gone to IOWA and I am all alone....so I am cleaning, cleaning,cleaning. Did I mention, cleaning? HAHA...Stay with me folks. I will be back!

Day 5 continued

We get to the HILTON, check in, and then feel the need to bring everything into the two massive sized rooms. All our food, pillows, clothes, etc. I needed to sort it all out again by now, anyway, plus we needed munchie foods. And I like my own pillow, thank you very much. My kids are just like me. We get everyone situated into who will sleep where, and then start wandering around. We see alot of people who just look like they are with our group, but of course, I am too shy to break out into conversation. This hotel is huge, which is why I keep typing it in all caps. Way to foo foo for my tastes, and budget, but it was cool nontheless. They were two hundred dollar a night rooms, I might add. We got them for half price. We could have all fit into one, with room to spare, but they probably wouldn't have let us.

Get registered with the lady in charge, proceed to tell her about the whole "no more camping" thing, and ask to postdate the very large check...so we could make it back home without needing the local authorities to pay for it. She said fine. We mosied around again for awhile, then thankfully, it was time for dinner.

Pasta!!!!!! Yum...This fat chick loves her some pasta. Maybe I shouldn't eat pasta, and I would lose weight, but you know how that goes. Kids loved it, we loved it. Free soda and water and gatorade. Yummm...Then there was a music man who played guitar WAY TOO LOUD!!! I like music, but feel there is no place for music that hurts your ears. However, I digress.

Met a wonderful lady named Heather, who is the Ohio state rep, through which I may become the Oklahoma state rep...we shall see. Watched her kid and my kid dance like they were supposed to get married in a few years. They were so cute...he would walk up to her, and wiggle, and she would run. He would chase her, she would laugh. Too cute. She has actually passed the hurdle of having another child AFTER the disabled child...wonder how she did it? Her cutie was in a wheelchair, snoozing away. Don't know how with all that LOUD music going on.

Met the lady in charge again, and the Dr. spoke in front of the group. Watched a picture slide show that just wouldn't work at first, even though her dad is a computer guy, and my husband is a computer guy...they couldn't get it to run. She ran out in tears, she was so upset. But alas, it finally worked.

Got up to the rooms, and crashed. We had made it, but not without some serious exhaustion and stress. Have I mentioned, I hate traffic...and stuff falling off my van in traffic? Really, I didn't think I had.

Day 5 of the trip

This is the big one!! The day we will arrive at the HILTON!!! Too scary for me...Hills, and 4 lanes/5 lanes of traffic (on each side of the road!!)just about did me in. I drove because I am a control freak like that. In case you wondered. So, when we finally made it close to our destination, we just went...zoom, zoom, zoom. One interchange after the other. Not thinking, just driving. Well, that was a bad thing. 1695 miles we traveled thus far...fanny was fine. Our stuff was fine. Zooming up and down the freeway, on bad roads must have made things jar around just enough to make our ties loose. We are happily (NOT) driving down the road when suddenly people are honking and waving. We pull over, and discover that we have lost some of our load. In RUSH HOUR traffic. A kind gentleman pulls up behind us and says that some maintenance guys pulled it to the side and it should be fine. WHEW we think. Tony and Austin walk the half a mile journey, and discover that ha ha...no one pulled it anywhere. It was smushed beyond recognition. "IT" was our tent poles, our camp chairs, and a stroller. HA HA HA HA HA. Right?? Well, whatever. We retie what was left down, try to understand why this had to happen to us 5 MILES from our destination!!? Get there with no more incident, and proceed to empty the van into the Hilton!

Day three and four

Woke up FREEZING!!!!! At 5 am!!! What the?? It was so cold, no one wanted to get out of the sleeping bags, and even then, we were all shivering! Didn't realize this phenomenon happened. Got up and got dressed anyway. Left at 9 am. Better time than the days before. Woohoo!! We are becoming good at this. Driving to the painted desert, which is really cool! Petrified wood, and well, the painted looking mountains. Got in free because of our handicapped person card. That was a nice perk that we didn't know about until right before we left. Yeah, any national park that takes admission, we get in free. Got to Flagstaff, it was raining, so we decided on the first motel of the journey. Packed all 10 of us in one room. Like frugal Holly is gonna pay for 2 if Holly doesn't have too?! We fit fine actually. Two on one bed, two on the other, one in middle of bed, one on side of bed, one in crib, and three along the floor. Cooked on the propane stove in the hotel room, much to Tony's fear that we would be arrested or something. Man, that guy is a killjoy.

Day four...towards the Grand Canyon!! Again, free...woohoo. I love that perk. Raining off and on all day. Rode the tour buses, met some foreigners that thought Nathan was the end all be all...The kids all became jr. rangers, Left at about 4pm. Drove to Kingman Az and got motel #2. Didn't want to get wet or freeze again, you know? Why was it raining everywhere we went? Goodness....Nathan woke up with his first ever night terror. THAT was fun, let me tell ya!

Day two

Took off from Amarillo bright and early (yeah right....about 10:30 is more like it) and headed westward. Went to the Cadillac Ranch, and painted our names on the big caddy's in the ground. That was sort of fun...one had to walk a long distance to get to them, and then there is the whole paint fume things. Hopped back in. Still no problems except we discovered a dinosaur museum that looked awesome, but ha ha...closed on mondays. So, sad children had to keep on traveling. The night before, Tony's friend had splurged on Fazzolis spaghetti for us, and we took the left overs with us. We stopped at the New Mexico visitors center and had lunch. The whole place smelled italian. Yum...No messes and good kids helped the people not get upset at our large group eating at the tables. Left, and headed on. Nothing more really to report except Albuquerque traffic made me completely lose my composure No, really. I cried. It was stressful. You have to understand that the reason I feared this trip is because of the traffic and whole fear of dying in a car crash thing. We made it to a KOA and set up camp. Cooked our dinner on the camp stove (chili dogs) and the kids swam. Stayed up till about 10:30 and hit the hay. Went to sleep in the heat, sweating, but wait until you hear about the morning!!!

Day one from the trip

Okay, this will only be interesting to me, in posterity, but feel free to read anyway. LOL. A recap of the time we were gone in 5-4-3-2-1!

Left on Sunday the 14th of June. Had to come back a couple of times for a couple of things we forgot. Tee Hee! That ALWAYS happens, so we laughed about it. Finally got on the road about 10:00 I would say? Drove to our hometown, which was 3 hours away and decided to stop for lunch with Grandma. She met us at a park and the kids enjoyed seeing her. Stayed for about 30 minutes, and then got on the way again. I should preface all this with telling you that we packed for a trip with 10 people. Food for a couple of weeks were in a huge cooler, and everything else was packed around it. Then all the stuff on "aunt fanny" which only makes sense if you have seen the cartoon movie with Robin Williams. So, anyway, I say this to let you understand that when we stopped, it was an ordeal to get everything we needed out, and then back in. It got better the more we figured out some things, but in the beginning, we were floundering.

So, back on the road again, and having a good time. No movies, no games, just us and the anticipation of the trip. Almost made it to Amarillo, and decided to call an old friend of Tony's. She said that she wanted to feed us dinner, and that we could stay at her parents home. WoW! We get there, a freak storm rolls in, but leaves. Get to her parents house, and decide to repack the van. Waiting on dinner to come, we unloaded everything. We kinda rushed the packing in the first place, and it showed. Kept trying to rain again, just enough to be annoying. Finally, we were mostly repacked and wondering whether or not to put up the tent in their backyard. We decided against it, and boy and I glad. As we were getting settled in his shop floor, the floodgates opened, and all the water fell! It stormed all night long!!! It hardly ever rains there, according to her father, so that was strange.

But we slept, and that was all that mattered. Day one was done!

Stay tuned for Day 2.

Tidbits from our 16 day journey

the rainy Grand Canyon




The loaded down Aunt Fanny as we called it.Not long after this pic was taken, the thing snapped, and we promptly lost our stroller, chairs, and tent poles on the Califonia Freeway.In rush hour traffic.They were toast.





Rachel really, really wanting to swim.Or touch the water, rather.She goes nuts!!And Nathan in the bottom, getting wet from the waist down only.




Lil Miss Rachel posing for her shot at the microcephaly convention.Which was fun, and informative.More later...still processing, and unpacking.

hey!

we are back!!!! update coming! thanks for sticking around waiting on me!!!!!!!!

travel post

Ok everyone!!!! We are about to embark on the travel of the century. I am so nervous, yet kind of excited now. We are going to achieve so much on this trip. I will update with pics and info as I am able. We are taking a computer with us, but if I have anything to say about it, it won't get opened. I am all about the abstaining from electronics thing. My husband may have issues with that though. Please pray!!!!! Keep my family in your thoughts. For safe travel, for getting along, for my back to not go out sleeping in a tent (which i have NEVER done...) and to pray for answers about Rachel. Thank you all, and God bless!!!!!

Monday evening musings....

I have no idea how these bloggers (yes, you...Della) have time to write a post or 3 every day! I am scrounging some days just for something to write about. We really aren't doing much these days...just cleaning, and getting ready to pack. I really have such trepidation about this trip. I mean, driving in California??? What the heck am I thinking? It is bad, right? Like 6 lanes of traffic or some crazy thing like that? The convention is in Costa Mesa...right by the ocean. There is a lot of traffic by the ocean. Man!! I gotta move on to a different conversation. My heart is beating fast just thinking about it.

We walked 4 miles the other day. Went to the library, then to eat, and then back home. I was pooped! It felt nice, but definitely not something I am used to. Then we got home, loaded up in the van and went to watch a free outdoor band concert. My kids liked that. I didn't like the smells of everyone's bug spray, but then again...I don't like many smells. Anyone out there like me? Dislike smells, loud noises, certain textures, bitter tasting things, bright lights? I am on sensory overload at any given time, hence the California anguish.

Could still use a little more donations, if anyone were interested in helping out. Rest assured, I am doing this whole thing with the thrifty plan. I will not be throwing anyone's money around at all. I hate donating to things where I think they will misuse the funds, so I would be a hypocrit to do that myself. A hypocrit I am not. I am my own worst critic. If I tell my kids not to do something, most times it is something I wouldn't do either. It is such a bad example if I did. Now, I know that I am an adult, and there is some things adults do that kids can't, but that isn't what I mean...I do not drink, smoke, watch horror movies, listen to bad music, etc. :)

Well, Rachel is NOT wanting to go to bed tonight, so I need to go help. She is emerging with a little attitude this week. Which is a good thing, but then again, a not so good thing. I wonder how she will camp..........

wal mart and drunk folk

Just got back from a rousing trip to the Wal Mart. I hate shopping there. It's not that I hate Wal Mart in particular, it's just that it is so huge, and my feet hurt when I get done. And we always spend too much money. I am such a tightwad... This could be TMI, and if so, I apologize. I own one bra. That bra finally bit the dust. So I HAD to go get another one. Can't think about going to church tomorrow without it, can I? LOL. So, got that, a battery for a lantern, and a bunch of food. These kids eat way too much food.

In the line at the check out, there were these two drunk guys buying more beer. One of them was so disgusting that he spit on the floor!!! ICK! We mentioned to the cashier that she might should have not sold it to them, and she said it was hard to tell the difference between drunk and stupid. I see her point. I only pray that they made it to their destination without killing someone. Drunk driving is always bad.

In other, non related to Wal Mart news, we found out that we all fit in one tent! I am so excited. It gives us way more room in the van to only have to carry one tent. We have our full/queen? blowup bed, and 4 littles sleeping with us, and then in the other room, the 4 big kids. It's not even cramped. We won't have to pay for 2 tent spots everywhere we go now. Tightwad rejoices. LOL!

10 things I love and hate about a big family

Loves
1. Never a dull moment here. Always someone to make you laugh, or to play with. (The first pic is Nathan, being Nathan!)
2. Always some leftovers (from the little kids anyway...and sometimes, that is my dinner)
3. Always someone to hug you or kiss you for no reason
4. Seeing the older ones exhibit patience with a younger child (it does happen, occasionally)
5. Always having another go 'round with that baby smell....ahh! They should bottle that one up and sell it at the wal-mart. Always having another go 'round with the itty bitty tiny baby clothes.
6. The excitement when we do something as a surprise is always great! They are so expressive and put the joy in whatever it is we are doing. (the pic is Braydon learning that we were going to an amusement park! Woo hoo!
7. Whenever I need help, there is always someone willing to pitch in with me.
8. We have a basketball team, a soccer team, and almost a baseball team.
9. I love being able to say, yep, they are all mine....or, that isn't all of them, there are (blank) more at home, and seeing the shocked look on their faces
10. Seeing each and every personality blossom and grow...

Hates
1. Laundry.. 'nuff said
2. Cooking
3. Cleaning. I have never been a clean person by nature. I am always surrounded by piles, and boxes and books...It just got worse with each kiddo. I am working on that.
4. Remembering all their names. My memory is bad enough, but when you throw in a large family and a mom trying to get the attention of a misbehaving child, and she is flustered? You get Au-Ad-Conn-NATHAN!! Stop that. :)
5. The ever pressing need to always rearrange something...a room, the toys, the homeschool stuff....it works for awhile, and then it just doesn't anymore.
6. Not getting to use the bathroom sometimes, when I really need to go!!! There are two bathrooms, back to back and sometimes, they are both occupied! Can you believe that? LOL
7. Having to always share any little treat I get, or meal for that matter. They have such cute little faces, I can't say no...
8. Getting up early. I have NEVER been an early bird....So, while I have always gotten up early with the kids, I have never liked it. Not ever......
9. Not being able to run to the store for a quick shopping trip. Someone always wants to go, and you just can't be quick, even for a couple of meals worth, when you are feeding 10.
10. Paying a small fortune for fast food. That alone has almost broken the habit. So, maybe that should be in the things I love category?

Ultimately, I love my big family....I wouldn't change it for the world. Even with all the things I dislike, there is so much more that I cherish. God has blessed me and I fully appreciate those blessings. :)

can anyone help me with a dilemma?

I know...I know. I keep asking for stuff. First, donations to go on this trip, then camping tips. But now...I need help getting rid of things. How do any of you decide what to get rid of and what to keep? I am a sentimental junkie and with 8 kids, I always want things on hand for any of them. That leads to too much clutter. I want tips for organizing and purging. Motivation for purging. Something!!!

Works for me Wednesday WFMW....boredom

How do you keep children from getting bored? Well, I am not an expert, because I hear it quite frequently. However, there are some things we use to help keep them at bay. We take advantage of the summer library programs. They are usually 2 times a week. Reading is always good for boredom.

We go to the park at least once or twice. Lots of kids and fun equipment equals fun!

The kids just recently got a club penguin account. The base account is free, and for the free one, you can play some of the games and chat with other penguin kids around the world. There is safe chat, and regular chat. It is basically an online community for children, that is totally safe. I read an article the other day saying that club penguin was one of the very few online places that are very safe for kids, because there are moderators and strict filters. We just paid for a month for each kid and it costs just under 6.00 each account for the paid version. It unlocks more options if you pay, but the free one was fun too! They get a half an hour a day, sometimes twice if I deem it necessary. Oh, and parents can monitor the accounts too! You can also set time limits, and it will just turn off when the time is up.



They go outside and play watergun fights, do chalk drawings, play in the mud, climb the tree in the front yard, play on the swingsets in the back, and ride bikes or scooters. Play legos, legos, legos in the house. Is there any reason to keep any other toy??! I should just get rid of the rest. We read a ton....I have so many books that our house is a fire hazard. Board games are also good, but our boys tend to fight over them, which annoys me to no end.

Ultimately, any child will still get bored, so it is just a part of life. Just move on to the next thing. We really don't suffer for thinking of things to do in the summer, because we homeschool. We actually do some work over the summer, but really....except for the school part, they have the potential to be bored at any time of the year.

Trip advice needed....got any???

Well, let's see....what is going on this week? We found 3 sleeping bags and a couple of cookware type items for our camping adventure. Trying to figure out whether or not KOA's are worth the extra expense. I want to ensure that the kids have things to do when we stop for the day, but do not like the idea of paying the same type of price that we would pay for a motel. Is there good camping locations between oklahoma and california that do not cost a fortune?

Hubby had a really bad migraine today. It was a big one...He has them every now and again. I think the stress of this trip has him all tied in knots. There is just sooo much to do planning a huge trip with 8 children!!! Thank goodness it finally subsided.

Trying to sell an entertainment center, to raise more money. Still needing some of that, if anyone is wondering (smile). A big ole wind gust grabs the glass door and tears it off the hinges. CRASH!! Glass all over the driveway now. The person interested still wants it, but due to the broken glass and messed up wood, she only wants to pay 10.00 for it! Oh well....Better than hauling it off now, huh?

Still trying to figure out what we want to do while on this trip. Being that we are spending so much time and money anyway, we might as well do something fun, right? We are going to the ocean...free I think. We are camping at the Grand Canyon...only paying to enter the park and camp I think. Umm, staying at a couple of churches hopefully. There are church groups that are connected to ours, so maybe they will have somewhere to stay for us. That will be free. I am trying so hard to find frugal things to do. I think Disney is out, even though they got us good rates from the convention. Knotts Berry Farm is good rates, but the reviews are horrible. San Diego Zoo is too big and not really better than our zoo here, someone said. They told us Sea World, but not sure how much it is.

I need help here, people! Anyone with any ideas. Must be frugal...I am a cheapskate by nature, and being that this is funded with donations partly, I don't want to feel like I am wasting someone's money. But, I do want my children to have fun and remember this, because it may be another few years before we get to do it again.

recap of the weekend

Well, with no ad, we still did pretty good! Got rid of lots of things, still have some left over though. I kept the really good stuff, donated some other stuff, and threw away anything that just looked clunky or old. Made about 300.00 and for a 3rd sale, with no advertising, that is pretty respectable. Oh, also got another 100.00 from a guy who just drove up, came up to us, asked if we were the ones holding the sale for the little baby...when we said yes, he opened up his wallet, and pulled out a hundred dollar bill!!!!! Can you believe that??! I said thank you so much, and God bless you. Tony proceeded to choke on his lunch. It was surreal. My kids called him an angel. I think he was prompted by a real need to do this for us. Much like the time we helped the lady whose home burned down. We let her pick through alot of things we were saving for a garage sale, and gave her a 100.00 walmart card. She cried, and I really couldn't understand why, because it really didn't seem like a lot to me then...but now I understand. A hundred dollars when you need it so very bad is a lot of money! So, I hope he knows how much we appreciated that. He turned and walked away without so much as a goodbye. He really didn't want us to know who he was.

The church took up an offering for us this morning. We will find out about it soon enough. We are over halfway to the goal, with enough time to get the rest, I think. We are still praying!

We are going to spend this week cleaning the house, and next week packing. Hopefully we will get so much done in the week that it makes packing easy! When one is cluttered and messy, it makes packing very difficult because you can't find what you need! I could totally have another garage sale with more stuff...but I will refrain for a few months anyway. Give the people time to forget who I am, and where I live. Then it will feel all new again. LOL!

Well, gotta run! Bedtime calls. I am still waiting for you guys to delurk and tell me a bit about yourselves! Anyone have any blogs I could read? I am always on the look out for new blogs. smile!

are you sick of reading about my garage sales yet?

Got everything all set up again....No ad in the paper, so this is purely going to happen by signs and God's prompting. He can do that you know? Just make you drive somewhere, not realizing where you're going, until BAM....you're where you needed to go, but didn't know you needed to be there.

Gave some tables back, and got some new ones. That was nice. You need tables for a garage sale!!!

One of my friends from here decided she was going to put up some pickle jars at a couple of places, to garner donations of spare change and what not...We went to those two places to put up garage sale signs, and boy....there is a bunch of change in them! Praise the Lord. I have no idea how much, but every little bit helps. The lady coordinating it is taking care of bringing the money to us. This has been a challenge for me, because I am a control freak. Bad quality to have sometimes. I have had to give this over to her because it was her idea. Which is a great lesson for me! Don't get me wrong...I love it when God teaches me things. It's just been hard to not go dump the change out every couple of days and know exactly how much is there. It's not my place to know....I have to realize that.

Oh....how is this for a "cool" moment? The microcephaly website has the section about fundraising for people who want to go, but need help. Its called shining stars. I found a bear the other day at a thrift store that has a button to play a song. What song is it? Shining Stars by the Manhattans. HA! Isn't that cool? I am taking it along with us to show the coordinators of the conference. :)

another garage sale, and fears...

This is what I was afraid of when I would think about opening my blog. Seeing everyone read all my personal thoughts and daily blurbs, but not getting comments from anyone! I know...Joann, Michelle, Della, and Emily...you four are awesome! But everyone else??? Do you enjoy what I am writing about? Do I weird you out? Do you wish you would never have flipped over here? What gives? LOL!!

Just kidding....kinda!

Hey, so how about a third garage sale?? I am sort of tired of selling things to raise money. However, my house is slowly getting cleaner and more open! (Look on the bright side, Holly....) This trip will not come on it's own. Gas, food, camping fees, etc will NOT be cheap. Part of me wonders why I really want to do this? I mean, I know WHY I want to go, but what if it really isn't as informative and wonderful as I think it will? What if we went through all this fundraising stuff to get all this money, and it ends up feeling like a waste? Will it?? I hope not, but you have to understand. I have NEVER done anything like this before in my entire life. Traveled cross country with 8 children (1 3yr old and a disabled 2yr old), thinking about roughing it the whole way with tents and portable food, only to find my family lost in the sea of California....hoping that the doctor will tell me more than he did through the mail.

Will I find someone else like Rachel? Microcephaly is such a wide range of a disability, that I wonder if she will be like any of them. Will it matter? Am I just scared? I am such a homebody that this is SOOOO out of my element. I would almost like to just curl up in my chair in my familiar house and just say "forget about it". "Too much work." But, I can't........I would simply regret it and so would all of my kiddos. They are looking forward to this like you couldn't believe.

So, garage sale number 3 it is....and prayer that more money comes in....I know it will, but I am not a patient person. God is dealing with that via many avenues...Humbling experiences all around.

Church

So, I never mentioned what happened after we left the church. Several months went by and we did nothing on Sunday. We never really started doing devotionals with the kids, and we certainly didn't do what one could consider a church service at home. It was an awful feeling. We started thinking that we would just go back to the church we left, and just consider our little time away as just that, but it never felt right. Every Sunday after that decision, we still stayed home. All the while, the kids would mention "when are we ever going to go back to church?"

We decided to try a reformed church and so we went. It was very much different than the baptist church we were used to. We had gone to the baptist church for 8 years, so that was all I knew. This new church, well, they sang the Psalms with no music. They stood, sang, sat, read, stood, sang again. Rinse and repeat. It felt so awkward and wrong somehow. The people were great, very welcoming and all, but just foreign. They have a lunch every Sunday after service and we would go to it. Slowly, but surely we got to know some people. Got used to the singing with no music thing. Found out that they have no problems with musical instruments, but that the focus of worship music should be on the words, not the sound of the music. This one is still hard for my husband and myself, because my husband was a music major in college, and I am all about music.

Still we persisted. Got to know more people. All the while, the kids loved it!! They loved the kids, and the commaradarie. So, here we are. Still going, still feeling a little different. The people there are great, and very quick to help when needed. The thing is though....they are all very educated and driven, so I feel a little dumb around them. My children are not academic scholars....Some of these kids are 16 year old high school graduates! So, that part feels strange. Plus, it is small. About 100 people or so. We are seen when our children act out in service! We are missed when we don't go.

But, you know what? In our other church, it never felt like a small close knit community. Here, we still need to get to know some of the people, but I honestly feel more important to them then I did to the other church. Is that what happens in a small church? Is it because this church is full of homeschoolers/christian schoolers, so we fit in more? Is it me? I don't know, but I am glad to be back in a church where the focus is on God. Those Sunday's at home certainly did not have a focus on anything......

musings from the day

Argh! Can someone please clue me in to the reason God created mosquitoes? I know all things were created by Him for a reason, but I truly think He messed up with the mosquito. I am serious. I went outside just now to pick worms out of the ground for the guys to use while fishing, and I received no less than 8 bites. ITCHY!!!!!!!!!

I am doing the never ending laundry pile today. We sort of slacked off on it all while we were having the marathon all week long garage sale last week, but I need clothes and so does everyone else. Ho-hum...

Adam, my 11 year old just went across the street and landed a mowing job. He is so excited to be working. Everyone thinks he is too little to push a lawnmower, but he isn't. He is spunky, and smart. He just has to show everyone that he can do it, and then they will keep him. My little entrepreneur.