Florida Trip Part 2: Planes, Trams & Automobiles

Simply trying to GET to Florida proved to me more daunting a task than even my imagination was able to anticipate!  Melina's fever was in high gear and one of my counted on "helping hands" was rendered useless!

Once arrived at the airport, a huge trolly was loaded much as one would see in a cartoon where the height could rival a small apartment building!  Duane's skills in this department are rather impressive although the mothering instincts in me shook its head as I imagined those around us in line to check-in being buried by the sudden tumbling of this teetering mount everest of luggage!  Had I not been so caught up with getting all seven passports and e-tickets ready, (and telling Melina & Loreena to keep the kids away from our luggage tower) I would have likely snapped a picture!

Instead, we stuffed all winter jackets and boots into a huge bag and watched Pepere (my dad) walk back to the suburban to keep them there until our friend would pick us up the following week... the only thing missing was the red suit and a jolly Ho-Ho-Ho and one would think he was carrying a huge magical bag filled with goodies!

The over-thinking part of me questioned if leaving our warm jackets behind was wise but I could not imagine how we could lug all this luggage AND jackets & boots, to boot!

The check-in line was more than manageable and before we knew it, we were standing before our "ticket guy" who did his best to piece together six people plus an infant, three different last names, connection boarding passes, etc...  Finally came printing the boarding passes and receipts which ended up jamming their printer.  I apologized profusely as I was convinced it was the size of our travelling crew that caused the problem!  The toddlers were good during this long process and even Sivana had smiles in her car seat / stroller duo.  Fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, forty-five minutes... the little ones are now trying to climb our mount everest of luggage and that honing device I mentioned about the "Ethan suitcase" quickly put an end to that.

How much longer is this going to take???  It is now 12:30 and the kids' low blood blood sugar is beginning to kick in.  This is the phase where we refer to our children as hypo-glycemic demon babies!  I cave and turn on Dora on my iPod only to have our guy finish fixing the printer & give us our twelve boarding passes (for connection flights, as well), receipts, and baggage claim tickets.  Off we go with our caravan towards customs where all electronic devices need to be turned off...

Have you ever turned off a kids' show not even three minutes into it?  Have you ever made this dangerous attempt when your children have not eaten lunch yet and are fast approaching missing their nap time, too?  Beware the resulting wrath and impending doom!

Cue the meltdown and Ethan's blood curdling screams... sigh.

The one advantage to this is the impressive collective effort from the customs staff to corral us through very quickly!  The stern elderly man in uniform with the serious countenance who was stamping our passports finally cracked a small smile at Duane and my attempt to keep the chaos at a minimum... he looked at me, leaned in and said "my wife raised our six children... I found it far easier to be in combat than to be at home!  Good luck with your travels!"

Gulp!

Okay, passed customs without issues and now to security... Dear God almighty, do not let them confiscate any of Ethan's food!

We had to bid adieu to our handy luggage trolly and its impressive balancing act and put our carry-on suitcase boot camp training to the test.  Apparently we needed to work on sharp corners...

After the few tumblings of Ethan's suitcase and resulting angry screams (from Ethan, not from me!), we were once again taken through a "special" line where we all scrambled to remove shoes, watches, hair clips, belts, sweaters, took out electronics (which I kept in my designated carry on suitcase) and finally... placed the Ethan suitcase on the scanning table....

I'm sure that my breaking into a sweat was a red flag for these officers... and that conviction was not helping my breaking into a sweat!!  Then it was walking through the metal detector.  Me first, then it was trying to convince Ethan to walk through this daunting device towards a mom whose look on her face was not reassuring... nor the sweat dripping off her forehead!  "Come on, Ethan, walk right through the middle!  Come to mommy!"  (Nervous laugh).

Did I already mention he was in a "fine mood" at this point?  (Twitch, twitch)

Finally, after much coaxing, he ran through that thing like he half expected it to blow up.  One kid down, several more to go.  Anika was pretty good... then Duane and the baby, Loreena and finally Melina, who looked so sick at this point, I was sure they were about to turn us away for fear of H1N1 or something.  No alarms... yet.  I look over to the staff scanning our luggage and they are stuck on my suitcase with the cameras, baby monitors, GPS device, batteries, video camera, etc... where is Ethan's luggage??  Still has to be scanned!  Gulp!

I have GOT to quit sweating like this!  Duane as always is calm, cool and collected... darn it, why can't I be more like him?!  Act normal, Rita.. just act normal... crap, my normal can come across as kinda scary... okay, DON'T act normal, Rita... DON'T act normal... ARGH, I'm making this worse!

The electronics finally go through... phew.  Here comes Ethan's suitcase...

"Um, ma'am, can you please open this suitcase and remove all the liquids."

"Oh, sure!!"  Why is my voice shaky and why did it just go up two octaves??  Snap out of it, Rita!  Everything will be just fine!!!

"I have apple sauce here... oh and frozen soups here... I was hoping that because they were frozen, I could keep them in containers greater than the recommended 125 mls... (nervous laugh)... I have letters... oh, the epipen... crap, I'm not making sense am I.... (nervous laugh... oh Dear Lord, I am going to get arrested!)... here's his apple juice but I was hoping that because it's unopened, this would be okay... but I also packed smaller ones in case this was an issue... is this an issue?  (Nervous laugh)  This is his meal supplement powder... did I mention his allergies?  Look, this is his "special bracelet"... (shut up, Rita, shut up)... Is powder an issue?  The rest should be dried goods.... are we good?"

Holy smokes, is it just me or is it flippin' 200 degrees in here???  I had better not be getting whatever Mina has!

Would you believe his suitcase went through without a hitch?  Nearly gave myself an ulcer... for nothing!  And there was my darling husband looking at me with that "See, I TOLD you.  When will you just relax?"

Took a deep breath and headed towards our gate.  Oh dear, escalators... how on earth do we tackle that with all this luggage, two young kids dragging their suitcases, a stroller and an infant??  Considering I wanted to get far away from security as quickly as possible, Duane and Ethan took the elevator and the stroller while I picked up Anika and two suitcases up the escalator!  Almost at the gate... almost there!

It was horribly crowded with no sitting room and I had to find a way to nurse Sivana, feed the little ones and grab a bite to eat, too.

Is it too late to turn around and go home??

Sent Melina and Loreena to buy us sandwiches and drinks... I nursed Sivana while Duane took out Ethan's soup and started feeding him a few bites.  The kids came back and I nearly choked as they said these small sandwiches all cost us nearly fifty dollars!!  Whatever!  "Okay, big girls, chow down your sandwiches, help Anika eat hers..."  "Oh, you didn't mention buying one for Anika."  ARGH!!  "Okay, feed her half of mine."

Five minutes later, the announcer says they are now boarding the elderly and those with small children.  CRAP!  Half a nursing for Sivana, no lunch for me, Ethan had only a few mouthfuls... toss everything in a bag and let's GO, GO, GO people!

Our plane was so small that we had to gate check our carry-on suitcases... yes, even the Ethan-Suitcase... After hyperventialating only momentarily, I eyeballed the people who were now responsible for my son's food for the week... just in case.  Attempting to move down the aisle carrying an infant and carry on bags was down right comical at this point and we could barely fit our carry on bags at our feet!  Oh this is going to be a fun hour and a half!  Duane and Ethan in two seats, Loreena and Melina in the two seats in front, and Anika and I (with Sivana on my lap) across the aisle from Duane & Ethan.  Anika pulls out the safety pamphlet to look at and says in a cheery voice, "look, mom, this plane has fire on it... and this one is in the water!... I love blue."

Great.  If I wasn't paranoid about the plane crashing to begin with, this was NOT helping!

The Stewardess comes by and says "Ma'am, are you familiar with the safe way of holding your infant during lift off and landing?"

"Aside from just holding her on my lap?"

"Yes Ma'am, you need to cradle her across your chest to best brace her neck and spine."

Gulp.  "Oh, thank you... I did not know that."

Why is everything 200 degrees around here???  Crap, did I remember deodorant??  Will that matter if the plane crashes??  ARGH!!

"Isn't this fun, mom?"

"Yes, Anika, this is quite the adventure, isn't it?"  I think I am about to faint.  I look over to Duane for that reassuring calmness I can always count on and instead see a look of "I didn't mean to... I'm sorry!"

"What's wrong??"

"I THOUGHT I put the lid on his soup back on properly..."

"Oh please tell me you are joking... please?"

Before the plane had even taken off, we lost Ethan's first meal for the day.  Not only did we lose the soup, everything in his carry-on cooler was now buried in soup.  "And I can't find his spoon."  Thankfully I anticipated these things in my over-thinking process and had a few extra meals (and utensils) which I thought were cleverly placed in side pouches of the portable cooler but apparently were not there.  At least there were tons of napkins.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are preparing for take-off, please take your seats and remain seated until further notice."

Sniff, sniff... I think Sivana pooped.  Oh good grief.

"Mommy, I am really, really, really hungry... and if I don't eat, I am going to die."

"Anika, your body would have to go without food for about seven days before it would die... you're good.  I'll feed you some of mommy's sandwich when we are up, up, up in the sky, okay?"

"But moooooom!  I'm hungry NOW!"  Cue crying Sivana... look over to see Duane trying to dig around in the soup-filled bag to find Ethan's needed utensils... what have I done?  Why did we think this was a good idea?  We have seven hours of travelling still to go!

Finally the plane takes off and we are up in the air... still alive... no one left behind.  I shove my sandwich into Anika's mouth as I try to nurse Sivana behind my handy-dandy hooter-hider.  This proves unsuccessful as I bang her head on the metal arm rest after she pushed off the other one with her feet.  Cue screaming baby... again. Ah screw trying to conceal everything!  I need to see my baby and nearby metal objects!  Goodbye humility and hopefully no one turns around in their seat or they will get to know way more about me than they bargained for!  And at this point, I really don't care!

Mental numbness was beginning to kick in as the stewardess rolls her little trolly down the aisle handing out a) pretzels, a nemesis of mine; b) cookies, and c) PEANUTS.  Please, God, keep Ethan safe from any flying peanuts!

Before we know it, we have landed in Minneapolis and it is time to truly put my organizational skills and training to the test.  Well, we collected all gate-checked luggage, loaded them with the carry-on bags, everyone grabbed their designated bag, Sivana was loaded in her infant car seat which snapped into her stroller (so smart) and off we went!  We had little time to get from one end of this massive airport to the other and it would require several elevators, trams and escalator-type moving floors.

Oh goodie.

First the glass elevator... We barely fit in it and Ethan was hesitant stepping over the crack between the floor and the door.  Once we were finally crammed in, we pushed the button for the lower level... and waited.  And waited.  "Mina, push it again."  The door shuts.  Oh phew.  We don't move.

"Maybe we weigh too much?  Mina push the button harder!"

The door reopens... not helpful.  Finally it shuts and goes down to the lower level, does NOT open the door and then takes us back to the floor we had just come from!  What the heck???  Is this thing broken? We see a stewardess and I yell out "Do you know how to work this elevator??"

Great, mother of five who cannot work an elevator... do I even want to know what her thoughts are right now?

Finally, Melina points out... "Ah you guys... we ARE on the 1st floor!  We needed to push the button for the basement!"

"Ah never mind... (nervous laugh)... we figured it out."  All thought of homeschooling going out the window right now given this mother cannot even figure out what floor we are on!

Off the elevator and off to the moving floors.  Ethan again is hesitant in stepping onto it, I nearly fall backwards with the stroller failing to anticipate the physics of how quickly one can lose their balance stepping onto a moving floor, and Anika has dropped her suitcase in a pouting attempt to protest any further lugging around.  By the time we reached the third "moving floor," we had it down to an art!

Next was the tram.  This could potentially be pretty cool for the kids!  Finally!  We step onto this thing and I notice a few poles.  The tram begins to move and I finally understand WHY the poles are there!  After I do a crazy dance trying to keep from falling over, I lock Sivana's stroller wheels in place and commend the other kids for having half a brain to figure out holding on would be a good idea.  Even Ethan had been holding on... sigh.

We walk past wonderful smells of food, realize we still have not eaten, but arrive at our gate just in time to begin boarding... a much larger plane!  Three seats on each side!   Duane, Loreena & Ethan in one row, Anika & I (Sivana once again on my lap) in front with a mystery person scheduled to sit at the window and Melina stranded at a window seat with strangers a couple of rows down.  Hmmm, maybe whoever sits at our window seat will be willing to trade with Mina!

After we held up the plane trying to place our suitcases & bags in compartments above our heads (and those of our neighbours), we took our seats.  Anika is once again fascinated by the safety pamphlet and its lovely colours of red and yellow where the plane is on fire.  "Mommy, I really want to sit with Loreena!!"  Duane and I make a child swap and Ethan is now sitting beside me.  A woman approaches where we are sitting and looks at the window seat... aha!  Before she sticks her luggage above us (assuming there is any room) I say "Ma'am, would you be at all willing to trade window seats with my teenage daughter just two rows over?"

She looks at me, Sivana and then Ethan (if that's not encouragement for someone to change seats, I don't know WHAT is) and looks at me rather annoyed.   She sighs heavily and says "well, my husband is sitting right in front of me... so no."

Seriously?  Wow.  Okay... remember to love unconditionally, Rita.  God breathed His precious breath of life into her and that makes her on this planet with a purpose.  She is your sister in Christ.

Then she sits next to Ethan, looks at him with slight annoyance and says "Won't this be fun."  At which point, Ethan glares at her suspiciously, puts his head down on my arm and the woman adds "... or NOT."

Wow, you are a peach, Lady!  Suddenly all concerns of Sivana crying or of Ethan squirming and kicking those sitting next to him went out the window.

Before we know it, we are in the sky once more.  Ethan is now crying to sit beside Loreena and Anika is  nearly fit to be tied.  Finally, Loreena and I trade spots and I am now sitting beside Anika & Duane.  Anika starts wailing that she wants to sit beside Loreena and for the sake of other people's ears on the plane (minus lovely anti-seat-trading-lady now sitting in front of me), we plunked Anika next to Loreena, gave her an electronic device to play on, plunked our now upset Ethan between Duane and I and started playing an episode of Dora the Explorer on the iPod.  All was finally peaceful.

With the plane being as large as it is, a beverage & snack trolly was coming towards us from the front and one was coming towards us from the back.  Out of nowhere, Ethan suddenly panics, stands up on Duane's lap and yells "My BUM is hurting!  My BUM is hurting!!  Daddy it hurts!"

What on earth?  This has never happened before!  As Duane looks at me not knowing what the problem is, his eyes go big as Ethan unleashes the biggest poop imaginable!  Thankfully, his poops are not usually that stinky... usually... but before we know it, a blast of indescribable stench fills my nostrils causing me to throw my head back to get away!  Now what?  The trollies are closing in, we have no way of escaping and I DARE NOT try to change his diaper on the seat here and unleash the full extend of that stench!

And then an unchristian moment... oh I hope Anti-Seat Lady is regretting her decision right now.

Sivana has now pooped (again) and thankfully I can whip a new diaper on her while lying on my lap in record time!  But as the stewardess comes closer to our seats, she also throws her head back and that fake smile turns into a sour mouth as she waves her hands in front of her nose... yes, it was that bad.

I cannot help but burst out laughing (it's either that or cry at this point) and say "I know!  We're so sorry!  We're just waiting for the trollies to get out of the way so that we can change his diaper."

Before you know it, a few shouts later and they have wheeled that second trolly out of the way to make room for Duane to walk down most of the plane carrying Ethan and the chemical warfare that is his diaper!  No one on that plane went without knowing the wrath of stench contained therein!

So we have covered the planes and the trams... how do automobiles fit into this?

When we FINALLY arrived in Florida, it was 8:30 p.m. local time with all of us having only eaten parts of sandwiches.  We made our way to baggage claim (which took an additional twenty to thirty minutes) as we would not be able to pick up our rental vehicle without the kids' car seats.  We stationed our crew in a corner, Duane parked himself near the mile-long moving track while I tried to feed Ethan his chicken nuggets, fries and veggies.  Melina was nearly passed out on the floor but our ever optimistic Loreena was running around with Anika.

An hour came and went as we watched helplessly while everyone found their luggage and kept on with their day.  We were the last ones there before Duane finally asked someone "where on earth is our luggage?"

Folks, we had been standing at the wrong baggage claim.

Okay, now things are really starting to NOT be funny anymore.  Really.  By the time we walk to the other baggage claim area, it is empty of people.  Thankfully Duane spotted our luggage and car seats.  We changed diapers and had potty breaks while Duane re-created our teetering tower of luggage on a $4 trolly.  Now to find our rental vehicle...

At this point, I was not much fun and that unconditional love for strangers had been spent on Lady-Lovely on the previous plane ride and it looked like we had another mile-long area to cover a plethora of rental companies.  So when this man approached us to "help" us, I was ready to just keep right on walking!  But I did yell back "just looking for our rental van!"

"Which rental company?"

"Payless."

"Oh, they are not located at the airport."

I stop dead in my tracks... "What?"

"You'll have to go to the lower level and catch a shuttle bus outside."

Are you flippin' kidding me?  When I booked this rental, I had requested ON SITE for airport vehicle rental services!!  How are we supposed to lug all of this stuff onto a shuttle bus??  We start walking to the nearest elevator... "not in service".... move the army to the next elevator... "not in service"... okay, C'MON!  Finally we find an elevator that works, walk out the doors to discover it is near record-breaking cold for Florida!  Yep, about four degrees celcius and my kids are only in T-shirts and sweaters... great.  Not only that, but we realize that the shuttle bus we needed was pulling out of its station!  I wave frantically while trying to push the stroller only to watch the bus drive away...

It is now 10:30 pm and I am ready to bite someone's head off.  We waited about thirty minutes before another one showed up.  The kids were exhausted, I was fuming, we were all starving and I did NOT have a map from the rental company to our villa because I had printed a map from the airport instead!

We got to the rental company and I stood guard around the mountain of luggage on the curb in a freezing frenzy while the teenagers and the little ones went inside to watch the movie playing in the waiting area and to keep warm.  I handed Duane the necessary paperwork and was looking forward to calling it a day before too much longer!

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes... nearly forty-five minutes later, Duane finally comes out with a set of keys!  "What on EARTH took so long??  I think I just lost a toe to frostbite!"

"Forget about it, let's just get to the house."

After installing car seats, loading up the van with luggage and trying to figure out our GPS device (as this was our first time using it), we were FINALLY on our way to our home away from home.  "Duane, we need to eat something!  I know it's nearly midnight, but I am starving."  We order from McDonalds (you KNOW we are hungry when we are willing to eat McDonalds!) and continue on our way.  We reach what they call a "Toll Bridge" or something like that and discover we need to pay $0.75.  Duane hands the guy a canadian looney and the guy says "I cannot accept this."

Duane (whose patience is now running out as well... did not think this was possible) says "buddy, it's worth more than your U.S. coins right now!"

"Sorry sir, I cannot accept this."

For crying out loud!  Hopefully this kid can break a $50 bill because we did not bring any loose U.S. change!  Bless Loreena's heart, she happened to have a $1 bill!

Please, can we just get "home"?

And so we finally did!  It was freezing cold as we could not figure out how to set the thermostat (this was definitely the vacation of "feeling dumb") and poor Anika was shaking like a leaf.  This would later turn into high fevers, but that will be covered in Part 3.

So there you have it, folks... the journey towards our "vacation" which rendered us numb, starving, grumpy and freezing cold... and with an impending vow that we would never do something this stupid again!  Let's hope the rest of the week makes all of this "worth it"!

Florida Trip Part 1: The Preparation

Well, as you already read in the post "Blah Blah Blah", it has been quite the endeavour preparing for a family with three under the age of four and two teenage girls (we brought my niece, Loreena, along as extra helping hands and companionship for Melina).

As you know, I have a highly active imagination and a tendency to imagine worst case scenarios to the point of asking myself "is this normal?"  Oh the plethora of haunting images in my mind of the plane crashing, losing one of the kids, anaphylactic reactions to peanuts served on the plane or from large fish splashing Ethan at Sea World, being stopped at the border, losing Ethan's food, getting sick before leaving or during the vacation, and any possible threats of keeping us from making the most of the small fortune we were spending to "get away".

And the irony that what we would enjoy "getting away" from was following us regardless!!  (Cue screaming child and someone pooping their pants...)

The one advantage of thinking the worst (really, there is a bright side to it) is the preparation one can do ahead of time to face such incidents with as much ease as possible.  So with that in mind, I printed every imaginable map to places we would see, hours or operation, emails consenting their permission to bring Ethan's food into the parks, packing lists, itinerary, meal plan, recipes, grocery list and of course all the legalities such as letters of permission from my sister to bring her daughter across the border, letter of permission from my ex for Melina to cross the border, copies of custody agreements, letters from the allergy specialist stating the severity of Ethan's allergies and the need for us to bring all of his own food, photocopies of blood work, list of specialists and contact info, etc...

I dubbed this "THE folder" which ended up requiring tabs!  The only thing missing was an index page and glossary!

I also registered Ethan with MedicAlert, ordered his "special bracelet", uploaded some Dora videos to the iPod and downloaded a few free kids' apps.

Next was "how can we enjoy this as cheaply as possible?"  Well, checking a piece of luggage with Delta costs $25 a piece!  Thankfully, huge 70% off sales at luggage stores beckoned me so I spent less than that on small carry-on suitcases and matching bags in various colours that would make identifying & allocating them (and lugging them around) much easier!  In the end, it would mean checking one massive suitcase (which contained the potentially questionable liquids) and two car seats and the rest would be lugged around by each and every one of us... yes, including my two year old son!

Ethan laid claim to the purple suitcase & bag, Anika dibbed the black ones.  Melina was ecstatic about the lime green ones, which left me with the turquoise and Duane with the navy blue ones.  This meant Duane would be responsible for "THE suitcase" also known as "the ETHAN suitcase" which contained his homemade foods, soups, broths, meds, lotions, epipens, supplements, etc... This piece of luggage was given the royal treatment and my internal honing device was kicked into high gear to sense when it was possibly in danger!  Woe to the one that would touch that suitcase without my permission!

Then came training camp... Ethan and Anika walked around the mall pulling their suitcases in preparation for connection flights in major airports.  You can imagine the smiles and giggles from those around us who delighted in the cuteness factor!

Then came time to pack.  Duane was leaving at five for his night shift so Melina's help with the little ones was critical.  Unfortunately, she came back from school with chills and high fevers and spent the first five hours home from school sleeping and buried in blankets... great.  Despite this setback, packing everyone was finished in several hours and in the end, all the suitcases were neatly lined up and ready for Duane to load as soon as he returned from working his night shift the next morning.

Next was organizing rides to and from the airport to avoid park & fly fees.  The plan was to have my dad drive all of us to the airport (Ethan, Anika & Loreena squished in the back; Melina, Sivana and I in the middle and Duane and my dad in the front).  Throw in all our luggage and a stroller, cue a little trapeze music and you would think we were on our way to a circus... as the main attraction!  Amazingly, we all fit in our suburban!!  But if you ask me, we would have been far more comfortable in a small bus!

Given that our flight back was scheduled to land at 11:35 p.m. the following week, we asked our young friend who would be caring for our home to pick us up to avoid such a late night for my dad.  Everything seemed organized and ready to go.

Planned home departure was 10:30 a.m. to arrive at the airport for 11:30 a.m. which would give us two hours prior to our scheduled flight.  Surely this would be more than enough time?

Off to the airport!

Mistake number one which I will delve into further in part 2.  So here were were... about to embark upon an adventure... surely I had thought of everything (mistake number two) and all would go as smoothly as it possibly could with a brood this size thanks to my overactive imagination & obsession with assuming the worst (a trait I am convinced is birthed along with your children!).  The promise of possibility was right there (both good and bad)!  Suffice it to say that by the time all of this planning and organizing was done, this phase of the preparation was now dibbed, Preparation H!!!

Hopefully sooner than later!

I am eagerly anticipating the opportunity to sit down and write about our Florida trip "adventure".  This morning, it's load Izzy, Sivana, Ethan & Anika in the van before 8:00 a.m. to drop off Anika at a friend's house then bring Izzy to school and meet my mom at Ethan's Allergy Specialist appointment for 9:00 a.m. so she can watch Sivana while we spend the next two hours figuring out where Ethan is at with his allergies.

Hopefully we'll be home for lunch, then it's nap time for the kids while I do supper prep, try to catch up on some emails & other messages, maybe clean up a few toys, fold some laundry, then it's nurse Sivana, pack up the kids and drive to pick up Izzy from school.

Tomorrow is no better... It's load all four kids up again, pick up Anika's little friend (whom she will be playing with this morning) & drop off Ethan to be babysat, drop Anika & her friend off at preschool, drive downtown to Pediatric Neurology for Izzy's appointment where my mother will have to meet me (yet again) to help me push both Sivana in her stroller & Izzy in hers.

Thank the good Lord for loving parents who are willing to get dragged out to countless grandkids' stuff!

Thursday I will need my dad's help to drive Melina to her voice lesson way on the other side of town while I load up all the kids & pick up Izzy from school.

Thank God her spine clinic was cancelled for Friday because I am not sure how I am going to get anything done this week.

Speaking of which, I'd best get the little ones fed, Sivana nursed, everyone dressed & loaded into the van before time escapes me anymore than it already has!

Just know that I am eagerly anticipating the opportunity to connect with you all about this trip!

Anyways, much love to you all out there and hopefully you have more grace in your hearts in dealing with those who challenge you the most than I do these days.  And may you be treated with grace, too, as none of us are without our "special" aspects but we are all created in His image and that means we are all deserving of love and grace, mercy and forgiveness!  God bless!

2B or not 2B

Holy smokadoodles, folks... we were supposed to land back home yesterday at 11:30 p.m. but we only walked through the doors tonight at 7:00 p.m.

I am beginning to think that family vacations are merely NOT 2B for us!!

I cannot believe how many things can go wrong (and that's coming from someone who tends to think the worst of things under the guise of protecting my children AND who has an overactive imagination!!).  I will attempt to cover the full gamut of possibility over the next few days as I share with you the near-unbelievable journey (or nightmare) we experienced trying to get back home!

I love you all, I thank God almighty that we are home safe and sound and hopefully I can share all the details with you over the next couple of days!

God bless and here's hoping this finds you in the comfort of your own homes and nowhere near any airports!!!

Blah blah blah

You may very well find the point of this entry to be just that... blah.  I am sitting here at 12:46 a.m. (will let you know what time it is when I stop typing) after a few days of trying to organize the nitty gritty details of flying down to Florida for a week....

because we thought it could be restful...

Well, thanks to the plethora of required planning & preparing, I am NOW ready for a vacation!  First it was conjuring up a list of all things needed for Ethan.  He cannot eat on planes or in restaurants but there are strict rules about crossing the border with food and stricter yet when boarding a plane!  So emails and phone calls to the Airport Security Authority, checking out websites and we are STILL left with the possibility they won't let his food come on the plane!

Then it was get letters from Ethan's allergy specialist stating the severity of Ethan's allergies and the need to bring his own food and epipens onboard.

Then we need to find out if Sivana's stroller and carseat can come onboard or if these need to be checked in... and could we have a carry on with all the ingredients needed to cook for Ethan that week kept with that stroller on the plane??

Not sure...

So it's call the stores near the home we are renting (because I have to cook all of Ethan's food) to find out if it would be the end of the world if they lost the luggage with all his food!

Passport pictures which require ordering birth certificates... oh the joys!  Letters of permission from the ex to bring Melina across the border, copies of divorce final orders & custody agreements, etc...

And then it's calling the theme parks we are hoping to attend to see what their policies are on bringing our own food in for Ethan.  Some require their supervisor's letter of consent which has to be brought with us, restrictions on the size of soft-sided cooler that can be brought in, etc...

Sea World... is this a smart place to bring a child with severe fish allergies??  Emails back and forth on their history of anaphylaxis issues... none to-date... phew!

Argh!!  Then it's menu planning to make sure his three staple meals are made between all the action.  And on and on and on!

It was decided that we would go on a week that Isabel is with her father which also resulted in some harsh judgement and comments from the peanut gallery over there... which then led to phone calls to a doctor who has worked with special needs in psychology for thirty years!!  This wonderful woman stressed the importance of spending quality time with the other children who otherwise live around the needs of a severely handicapped sibling... and especially given the fact that Duane spends 14-16 hours per week driving Isabel to and from school!!  That's a lot of time away from the little ones!  This doctor was phenomenal in stressing the importance of looking at the family's needs as a WHOLE.

Suffice it to say, it was a wonderful relief to be so strongly supported in this decision.  She eased the accusation of not giving Isabel the same level of consideration (a comment from the ex I found rather hurtful), especially given the fact that she has been given MORE consideration than the other kids with the addition to our home for a custom-built space to meet her needs, wheelchair ramp, modified van, etc...  Her needs are individual and "fairness" does not mean "equal" in this instance!  And I would be disappointed if any of my children ever complained of lack of fairness given Isabel's higher needs.  Argh...

And the logistics just don't work at this stage in our lives.  Duane would have to sit with her in a separate area of the plane while I sat with an infant and two toddlers somewhere else!  I don't think so!  How would we do anything while carrying an infant, pushing Izzy, keeping two small kids safe and making sure a teenager doesn't go wandering off??  And do I dare imagine what our attempts at swimming would look like??

So it was decided that the best way to honour Isabel on this trip would be to find a home to rent that is "wheelchair accessible" and to scope out attractions & their disability policies and accommodations while we are down there so that a family trip several years down the road will be far easier to plan!

It is now 1:08 a.m. and I am so pooped and wondering if this was a good idea.  I would apologize for the "rant" but I really am feeling a little deflated these days and I have to admit, it feels good to get it out.  Here's hoping that this finds you all doing well out there and making the most of the goodness of being "home".  And I pray that "home" is a real nice place for you!

There is much, much, more to tell and hopefully time will permit some time to write while we are gone.  That would be a wonderful gift for me!

Much love, my dears.  I normally type those words with such fervour but tonight my fingers slide across the keyboard much the way my kids drag their feet when we've been walking too long at the grocery store!  Just know that in my heart, there is a great fire (no, not heartburn!)... but it's just not reaching my fingertips at the moment!  God and peace be with you all!

Our family Sabbath song

So here is our family gathering just after sundown to sing our "Sabbath song."  This is a song I made up for each of us to have the opportunity to share what we are most grateful for that week (or day).  This week, Sivana was grateful for good milk, Ethan was thankful for movies, Anika was thankful for castles, Isabel was thankful for pictures, Melina was thankful for 2nd semesters, I was thankful for family and friends and Papa Bear was thankful for finally being at home after a week of constant driving around and feeling a part from his family.

The words are as simple as can be!  Some of you have joined us on Sabbath and have added your own "thankful for..." comments for us to sing to.

Hope you enjoy being a part of our "singing" that happened last night (which also happened to be my birthday).  

Much love to all of you out there and may you find yourself singing this tune with your own little things to be grateful for!

Confessions, birthdays, magical tears and some upchuck

You might be asking yourself, "how can all of these things come together?"  Well, it begins with two confessions I need to make:

1)  I am finally updating my blog because I am avoiding doing the dishes right now, and
2)  I have not updated our family picture on this blog (pretty sad given we've added a child in the meantime!) because I am embarrassed about my weight gain.

Phew.  There... I feel much better confessing these things!  Oh by no means do I feel better about DOING these things but I am relieved to not hide behind them anymore.  Seriously, every time I log into my blog, I smile looking at our family picture, then I do a sad sigh longingly as I look at the fact that I was FINALLY just fitting back into my size 9/10 clothing (had finally lost the double chin), then I chuckle realizing that I would unknowingly become pregnant within a month of taking that picture, and then I nearly shed a tear at the fact that our dear Sivana needs to be included in our family picture!

Yes, these are the joys of being a woman and running through a full gamut of emotions within a nano-second!

Sigh.

Hmmm, I am realizing I sigh an awful lot in my posts!

Next we have a birthday adventure.  Anika turned four on the 18th and we headed out for supper at Boston Pizza followed by the whole brood heading off to watch Tangled at the "big, big movie" as my little ones call it.  Thankfully we invited Grandma Jacquie to join us at the movie because as it turns out, we definitely needed an extra set of hands!

Our tickets came with complimentary popcorn and drinks which we kept at the opposite end from where Ethan was sitting.  Thankfully he could have the iced tea.  It is rather amazing to watch a two-year-old boy consume his weight in iced tea within thirty minutes!!  He sat happily on Melina's lap watching and slurping away at his drink.  Anika sat next to me dazzled by the big screen movie and the story unfolding before her eyes.  Sivana nursed happily in my arms and even sat watching the movie, too, until she got fussy and needed to be taken out by Grandma Jacquie for a quick stroll in the lobby before falling asleep and returning to the dark room where the rest of us sat mesmerized.

I thought to myself "hey, this is actually working out" only to have that thought interrupted by Melina whispering traumatically "EW MOM, GET HIM OFF!!"  Apparently iced tea goes right through two year old boys who consume their weight in fluid!... and down Melina's lap onto the nice comfy theatre chairs!  And apparently fifteen year old girls do NOT appreciate the lack of "coolness" factor being at the movies with their toddler siblings AND looking like they just peed their own pants, too.  In all honesty, she probably would have been happier if it was her OWN urine rather than her little brother's!

In the dark I began digging around in the plethora of diaper bags we have to bring with us everywhere we go (change of clothes for each of the kids, epipens, diapers for Ethan, diapers for Sivana, wipes, drinks, Ethan-kosher-snacks, etc...).  Would you believe that in this particular diaper bag, I was out of Ethan's diapers???  Off Duane goes to get Ethan a diaper (thankfully my mother had returned with Sivana at this point) and Melina was off to the bathroom to use one of those hand-dryers to eliminate the impression that she just peed herself.  Anika was happily oblivious to all that was unfolding before her and thankfully no one in the theatre was yelling at us (yet).

Finally, Ethan is changed, Sivana is sleeping, Melina seems less upset and we are all enjoying the movie as it builds up to a highly intensive part.  You can feel the whole theatre holding its breath in anticipation of the next moment only to have the big screen suddenly go pitch black as the theatre lights come back on.

Everyone was stunned and looking around like "is this a joke?"  Anika (who is NOT a fan of any movies being interrupted) turned around to look at where the movie had been projected and yelled in her sweet voice "Um, excuse me?  Can you turn it up a little bit, please?"

Needless to say, the whole place burst out laughing and thankfully the movie came back on, the lights went out and without further a do, we were all pulled back into the story.  Another minute in, (and still intense) the main character sheds a tear and it lands on the face of someone dying in her arms... very intense moment and you could cut through the silence with a knife... the tear fell onto the character's face and something magical began to happen... but before anyone could really "soak it in", Ethan yelled "She just made that guy all wet!"

Once again, despite the moment, chuckles filled the room.  (I am really lucky no once chucked popcorn at us).

It was late when we finally got back home and the kids were swiftly tucked into bed as we tried to wind down from the day.  At 11:00 pm, after everyone had gone to bed, Duane and I chose to relax in a hot shower... I know, I know... too many details for some of you (sorry mom and dad) but you have to understand that Duane and I almost NEVER take time to just relax together.  For whatever reason (maybe because we felt like heroes tackling all that we just had that night) we chose to just savour some much needed relaxation.  Afterall, everyone was in bed.  Well, someone begins banging on the door!  It's Melina!  Apparently it is not much fun for a fifteen year old to "interrupt" her mom and step-dad taking a shower... and apparently it's no fun for mom and step-dad, either!!

"WHAT?!!"

"Anika just threw up in her bed!"

You have got to be kidding me!  Up we go to tackle that one... Ethan is crying because he has been woken up, Anika decided to place her sopping wet pajamas on the carpeted floor instead of the bathroom floor.  Melina starts her bath and I (lucky me) grab the bedding and clothing wonderfully covered in Anika's vomit.  I am trying not to laugh as I hear Melina dry heaving from the smell as she tries to say "Mom, I can't handle the stench!"

Down I go to the big ol' shower (which seemed so relaxing a place only moments ago) to hose down the bedding and clothes before putting them in the washer.  I look at the HUGE amount of upchuck and once again cannot believe that my children do NOT chew their food!  There was a completely whole pumpkin seed!!  How do you swallow an entire pumpkin seed?  And why is she vomiting stuff she had at lunch??

The cat is still living in the bathroom and it is trying to climb onto the comforter as I am trying to hose it down.  I nearly start losing my supper when the cat starts lapping up the big chunks I am trying to hose down the drain!  I am yelling at the cat and now stepping into all this lovely mess running off the bedding!

Finally, finally, finally... the bedding is cleaned enough to be put in the washing machine.  I proceed to clean the shower.  By the time Duane and I crawled into bed, it was past midnight and Sivana was starting to fuss for her night feeding...

Understand now why a relaxing shower is a RARITY in our home??  Why "quality time" together just does not happen??

And that, my friends, is how confessions, birthdays, magical tears and some upchuck can all come together in one blog post!  Only in the life of a mother... only, only, only.

On that note, I bid you all adieu as it is clearly too late for me to do the dishes (evil laugh) and perhaps some magical cleaning elves will take care of them while I sleep!  But more realistically, I will get up in the morning, walk into the kitchen, groan at my own laziness hitting me in the face saying "wash me!  wash me!" as I say "looks like it's going to be another coffee morning".

Here's hoping you are all doing great out there and preferably tackling your own responsibilities with more self-discipline than I am!  And if any of you are out there wishing there was someone whose dishes you could clean, come on over!  Or at the very least, send some of that energy my way!!  God bless you all out there, stay warm on this cold winter's night, and enjoy a relaxing shower on my behalf... please!

And hopefully I will mustre up some courage and enough self-love and respect to post an updated family picture so as to honour our darling little Sivana.  Lovingly, respectfully and gratefully yours... amen!

Linda's Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets

My darling sister, Linda, has been taking her health and wellness into her own hands for the last few months which has meant being gluten-free and dairy-free.  She knew that one of Ethan's favourite "treats" was the Ian's Chicken Balls that we would buy for him which ended up costing part of his education fund... okay, okay, more like $1 per chicken ball!!  My sister (who is the queen of living frugally) went on a mission to find a way to make these ourselves.  Not only did she find something that far surpasses the taste of Ian's chicken balls, she also made it a priority that the recipe be quick and easy... bless your heart, dear sista... and thank you for your diligence in finding recipes for our dear Ethan!!

So without further a due, I share with you Linda's amazing recipe.  We like it more than any other chicken nuggets you can buy from the store!  And we are now cutting down our grocery bill considerably!

Linda's Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets

1 cup gluten-free corn flakes 
1 cup Kettle Plain Krinkle-cut chips (ingredients: potatoes, oil, salt)
1 tsp gluten-free baking powder
1 Tbsp oil (we use sunflower)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder or granules
dash of pepper
3/4 lbs ground chicken

In a blender or food processor, mix corn flakes & chips until it becomes crumb mixture (not too coarse).  This should leave you with approximately 2/3 cup crumb mixture.

Pour 1/3 of crumb mixture onto a plate, add baking powder and mix well.

Mix remaining 2/3 crumb mixture with salt, onion powder & pepper.  Blend well.  Add ground chicken and oil and mix (either by cutting motion or with hands) until everything is well blended.

Shape into either balls or patties (we prefer the patties) using approximately 1 heaping Tbsp of chicken mixture at a time.  Coat them in the crumb mixture and place on a lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes, turning over once after fifteen minutes.

Enjoy!!!

Because life is never dull over here...

Good grief, where do I start?  I am starting to think that if my life was not so chaotic, I would not be terribly interesting... but I would be perfectly okay with less interesting these days!!

First of all, we lost our PC just prior to the holiday season thanks to a lovely virus my husband received via facebook.  Argh.  So all of our personal books, our farm books, our pictures, my writings, our home videos... gone.  Just like that. 

You are likely asking yourselves the classic question that has been sprinkling this life lesson... "didn't you back things up?"  Nope.  Because just like taking a shower, spending time doing administrative stuff such as backing up hardrives, etc... would always get put on the backburner.  The rare occasion that a spare moment would come up, the questions were usually "hmmm, do i take a shower, do I try to make a 'backup' meal, do I try to catchup on the books, etc... "  As you can imagine, backing up the computers was seldom the winner of the many, many options.

And now I hit my head against the wall (while still smelling not-of-flowers) for delaying taking care of that.

So one blow... fine.  We can learn to live with that.  Thankfully we have our handy (and wonderful) iMac to fall back on.  Or should I say "had"?

Yesterday was no walk in the park.  We had an emergency doctor's appointment for Anika as we were suspicious of another bladder infection, could not get any of her pee in a cup for further testing because I stupidly forgot to tell her to "hold it in" while we were at the bank just prior to the appointment!  So we go for lunch, give her water, cut Ethan's meal I had to make before we could even leave the house to drive Izzy to school, nurse Sivana... then back to the doctor's office to try to collect more urine from Anika.  (Seriously, if I get my hand peed one more time, I am going to chuck that blasted specimen sample bottle at someone's head!  Okay, okay I won't but suffice it to say I am truly tired of trying to catch urine from a stream that is going in every which direction!)  Anyways, still did not collect enough urine.  Have to come back tomorrow as doctor has left for the day.  All of this BEFORE 1:00 pm.  I won't bother telling you about the rest of the day except for this phone conversation with Duane at about 4:30 pm as I am leaving the bank with Melina off to pick up Isabel before heading back home.  "Hey Hon... where is the programs CD that the Mac came with?"

Moment of silence as a sinking feeling begins to squeeze around my chest... "Why?"

"Because I've got tech support on hold while I look for it.  Where is it?"

Squeezing feeling getting stronger... "but WHY?"

"Because the Mac isn't working or even booting anymore."

Please, dear God, not another blow today.  Maybe tomorrow or next week but please no more crap today... please?

Nope.  God has far too much faith in me and I will certainly be speaking with Him about this at those pearly gates someday.  And hopefully He'll still let me in!

Anyways, I finally get home after a full day of running around only to chow food down and send Duane off to the other end of the city with our Mac hoping beyond all hope we did not just lose everything on there, too. 

Oh, what is that?  Did I learn from my PC incident and back up our Mac? 

Nope.  Not yet! 

I know, I know... you would think I would have learned!!  If it's of any consolation, I HAD ordered a 1 TB external hardrive for exactly that purpose... I just haven't received it yet. 

I really, really think God is laughing at me up there. 

So how am I able to update this blog, you might wonder?  Oh that is a fun aspect to this story, too.  We have an ancient laptop (and by ancient, I mean there are tiny people working inside of it driving Flinstone cars to make it work).  I managed to hook it up; however, I am currently watching the mouse cursor moving across the screen randomly as I type this, and it will likely take me about five minutes to get it to finally click on "publish post".  In fact, it will be my luck that I will finish typing this, try to coordinate clicking on "publish post" as the cursor goes zooming by only to accidentally hit "delete". 

So if you are reading this, I was successful in my physics skills.  But suffice it to say, I cannot check emails (at least not without spending twenty minutes just trying to log in).  The security settings on this thing are so ridiculous, I cannot open a single web browser window without five different alarms going off... DO YOU KNOW THIS WEBSITE?  DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?  ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO SEE ITS CONTENT?  WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SITE!  Seriously?  You don't recommend my own blog?  Sheesh!  And I thought cookies were supposed to be delicious naughty treats!  I have never disliked anything so much given that these supposed cookies are the source of my web problems!  Not only that, but I am positive I have gained five pounds just LOOKING at the word "cookie" so many times!  So for those of you who email me directly, I am afraid I will not be able to respond until we can get our Mac back.  Its hardrive is apparently toast and not even a tablespoon of butter can make that any more appealing... sigh.

I am trying to chalk this up to a lesson in detachment but when your brain is barely able to manage the chaos going on around you, it is such a blessing to jot down thoughts, calendar events, personal notes and to-do items in a central location (such as a computer) to then allow your brain to forget those things to make room for the attempts at managing the chaos around you.  I think that was a serious run-on sentence... (this is where I apologize to my highschool English teacher who likely cringes when he reads some of these hasty posts... thanks for loving me anyways, Mr. Kroeker!!).

Let us hope this finds you all doing well (and clearly with working computers if you can read this... hooray for you) and may this be your reminder to BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP!  Doing so is even more important than personal hygiene, apparently!  So before you brush your teeth tonight, do yourself a favour and backup whatever is most precious to you on your computer!

Sigh.

Hope this finds you all doing well... and now to see if I can win at this game of "try to click on the 'publish post' button."  Wish me luck!!

Adventures of a New Year's Eve

Another year come and gone...  I am beginning to think I am on some sort of ride called "Life" that just goes faster and faster and faster!  And I am noticing as I age that my stomach is becoming weaker and weaker and weaker.  (I made the mistake of trying to swing with the kids this past summer and nearly lost my lunch from the motion... gone are the days of spinning endlessly on a tire swing.  Hey, I have not even seen a tire swing in ages!).

Once again, my mind is offering you your own ride down "anywhere and everywhere" lane.

In all seriousness, New Years is often a time to look back over the past year at lessons learned, memories cherished and the occasional "holy moly... did all of that happen in just ONE year?"  (Said my husband once when he realized he went from being a single thirty-one year old man who worked non-stop to having a family with three kids in less than a year and gone are the days when he felt productive!).


And who said God doesn't have a sense of humour?

We are not too big on holidays over here (Duane made it known from the getgo that he would likely never buy me cards, flowers, valentines gifts, etc... but that he would try to live each day of his life cherishing me... I thought that was a more than okay deal), so last night was in some way exciting as it marked the turn of another year in the Gregorian Calendar but in another way... just another day.  One that included Duane heading off to a night shift at the firehall.

Hmmmm, well if the love of my life is not with us for supper and it is just me, the littlest three and Melina, then maybe it would be fun to order some Chinese food...

After a few phone calls, it dawned on me that EVERYONE had that same idea.  Given that I was NOT willing to wait until nine or ten at night to feed my family AND Sabbath would have long begun by then, we opted for another option.  Hmm, maybe Chicken Chef nearby?  Nope... memory served me well in reminding me that the two times we had Chicken Chef this past year led to chest pains and feelings of self-loathing!  No problem, we'll just whip up some noodles and falafels... there's an easy fix!

And New Year's Eve is off to a great start!

The evening progressed and I asked Melina to run to the basement fridge to grab a new jug of milk.  (I usually make her do this as all basements are creepy and cold and dark and ours is no exception... I know, I'm such a nice mom!).  Hee hee hee!  Melina is also freaked out about the basement, particularly given that you have to walk up to each lightbulb individually (in the dark) to turn them on!  Do you have any idea what an active imagination can conjure up in those split seconds??  Well, Melina and I do.  So the agreement is whoever goes to the basement has to sing really loud.  (Is this the part that I remind you that I am ironically a mother of five children?).  Anyways, Melina is down there and she starts yelling "MOM!!  MOM!!"  Now keep in mind that Duane is gone, it is dark, the basement creeps me out, it is dark, and now my daughter is freaking out about something... and now I must run down to save her from whatever four eyed beast she has undoubtedly uncovered!

I race down to the basement (surprisingly more courageous than I thought I would be) only to see her big eyes as she says "there's a cat down here!"

Great, I think to myself... maybe it can catch the mouse that has taken up residence, here, too!  What is this?  Noah's ark's residence??  So I listen... and listen... and hear nothing.

"Melina, are you sure it's not just your well-inherited over active imagination?"

"No, Mom!  I'm telling you... I heard a kitten meowing!"

"Are you sure it's not because you wanted someone down here with you... cuz that's what I would do."

She rolled her eyes at me.  A common occurrence since reaching her teenage years!

We opened the door from the basement that leads up an old set of concrete stairs to another door on the main level to see if a kitten has found shelter there.  Instead, Keeshka the dog suddenly pokes her nose through the upper door (which can no longer close given the shifting of the house over the last 100+ years) which makes me jump scaring the beejebers out of me (did I mention this stairwell is cold and DARK?).  I could not detect a cat but I did suddenly notice that I had to go pee!

Now let's go back to the 26th when my whole family was over.  My nieces headed out late at night clad in 80's snowsuits buried in our "treasure box" of excess snow gear and found a kitten.  A very wild kitten.  Another thing I should mention about my husband is his golden rule... NO ANIMALS IN THE HOUSE.  This has gone over well the many times Melina and I have found litters of kittens and sneak them into the entrance to play (and tame them) when Duane is working... only to be busted by the pictures I take of them while still in the entrance!  At which point my darling husband says "So glad to see that my rules are respected when I am not around" while shaking his head with a slight smirk on his face.  Anyways, the nieces asked if they could come in with this kitten so I looked over at Duane and he nodded but said with a stern voice... "but stay down in the basement."

Well that lasted about five minutes before curiosity got the best of me and I told them to come up quickly to show us the kitten and then go back downstairs.  Even though the little thing was frightened to death, it dug its little head into the crook of my brother's elbow (who could not resist holding it) and answered my sister's meow... brrr... brrr. meow!  For those of you who don't speak "cat" that means "Welcome New One... do not be frightened... we are your friend."  Or something along those lines.  But a rule is a rule and the kitten was let loose outside after it had warmed up (not sure if that is better or more cruel) and I sent out a little hope that Keeshka would NOT find this kitten as I couldn't help feel like there was something special about her.  Being so wild, that was likely  the last time we would see her.

All of this rambling to say after I shut that basement door last night, I actually DID hear a tiny meowing sound.  I flung the door open again and saw a little tail poking behind a hanging mat in the stairwell just as Keeshka stuck her nose through the door again!  (Poor dog must have thought it was some kind of game).  I creeked up the stairs and grabbed the kitten who did not panic but rather nuzzled into my arms safely.

My little brother has such a big heart when it comes to animals and I thought maybe we could nurture this little one until my brother could take her in and find a home for her.  This would be tricky given Ethan's allergies but we would do our best to nurture this little one without harming our little one!

Another bit of background info (man o man do I ever need to update my blog more regularly!) is that the past two weeks, I have tucked Ethan and Anika into their beds and have made up a story on the spot... one was about a little old tractor who was picked on by the big newer ones because they figured God had made them bigger and stronger but in the end, it is only the little tractor who can get into the flooded fields to save the day therefore God had made him little for a purpose!  Another one was about a tiny seed that asked the big oak tree when he would finally be big and the lesson of patience to trust that God would provide sun and rain when needed for the seed to grow.  But more recently was the story of Burgers the grumpy cat (aptly named after Burgers the grumpy cat on Youtube!) who asked God to help him make friends.  During these impromptu stories, the kids laugh as I exaggerate gestures such as, "and the seed grew... and grew and GREW and GREW!!"  They especially laughed at my story about poor Burgers the grumpy cat.  This story must have stuck because when I asked the kids what we should call this cat while we cared for her, the unanimous answer was "BURGERS!"

When Duane called at his usual 10:00 pm to say goodnight, I asked him to guess who was sleeping in our shower.  (We had setup up a little box & blanket with a few bowls with bone broth and leftover turkey there).  "Who is sleeping in our shower??  Should I be concerned?"

"Nope... it's Burgers!"

"Who?"

"That kitten from the other night!"

And to my surprise, Duane admitted that having a tame cat around the farm might not be such a bad idea.  Rather than ask me why it is being kept in our home, he said "Maybe we can set her up in the basement until it warms up a bit so Keeshka doesn't get to her."

Who are you and what have you done with my husband??  But a smile spread across my face as I imagined the love of my life thinking to himself "look at what my wife has me doing now!  Animals in the house... good grief!"

So for those of you who follow the Gregorian Calendar, may this find you reflecting over the adventures of this past year as you welcome the promise of the new year.  For those of you who do not follow the Gregorian Calendar... may this find you enjoying just another day in your own life!  May you be living every day for the gift that it is and trust that your purpose is being lived out whether you see it or not and that this scared-of-the-dark-basement mama loves you very much.  God made you and that makes you so precious... that His very breath of life is what makes you present here reading these very words!  Thank you for being His creation!  Thank you for letting me love you!  Thank you, blessed Father, for all that is good in this world!  In Jesus name, Amen.