Goodbye Goodbye?

  Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed, that phone etiquette seems to be a thing of the past? Increasingly I am noticing that people do not say "Goodbye" at the end of conversations, they just say something like "um, well, ok." then  CLICK, they're gone.  Now maybe it is my good upbringing :o), maybe my time spent as a receptionist, maybe just my own quirkiness, but I just really find it rude. I am left feeling like we didn't really finish talking............... like there was no closure to the conversation, like I've been jilted.
 lol! O.k. that was a for all of you melodrama lovers out there, but seriously, WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT SAYING GOODBYE?!?!?!  Maybe I should have labeled this post "Pet Peeve #1" or something.*GRIN* 

So, in honor of that underused word, Goodbye.
      Goodbye                     Goodbye
                      Goodbye                         Goodbye        Goodbye                                Goodbye

            :o)     GOODBYE      :o)         

Edna Mae Burnam

 My girls are DESPERATE to learn to play musical instruments and, as Grandma and Papa have a piano (which I am playing almost obsessively every day..... one of the things I have missed the most in our current house has been my piano. 2+ yrs without one has been too long!), J, especially, is anxious to get started. B wants to do the violin but i am hoping that teaching them both the basics on piano will
 A: Be a good foundation for whatever instrument they want to play 
 B: Save me money because piano is the only thing I really know anything about (my little bit of guitar knowledge is too minuscule to count)
 C: Be enjoyable for them
 D: Build their confidence and help teach them perseverance

Earlier this week I had made my own "work page' for them and they really enjoyed it. Not being very confident in my skills as a teacher, I decided to look through my folks' stash of beginner books. Having 7 children who have all had various amounts of piano training means she has a pretty decent stash of pre-loved (or hated haha) level A/1 books. As I was sorting through I stumbled across an absolute gem (that I am going to beg and plead for).  It is Edna Mae Burnam's (you were wondering when I was getting to that name, weren't you? :o) Piano Course 'Step by Step' book 1. It is copyrighted 1960 (copyright is actually in roman numerals) and it appears from the scribbles that my Grandma taught her kids and her grand-kids with it. Opening it and seeing the familiar pages, the wonderful illustrations, Grandma's little scribbles and notations, the colored stars she always put on for us, the names of so may of us written in it, etc.....  brought back so many memories. I could vividly recall sitting on the bench next to Grandma, hammering away at the "hard" exercises while her parrot "Emily" screamed in the background and her little Yorkie hid in her bedroom.  Her house was always tidy but every nook and cranny was filled with plants, birds in their cages, a little dog and a sleek, well fed kitty. I can remember the sounds and smells, the softness of her blue sweater, the hardness of the bench and how hard it was to keep from fidgeting.  The cupboards were filled with lucky charms and other sugary treats and, as her labor of love to the grand-kids, she would teach us piano. Her patience with us(and our impatience with her) and her love for the piano are so vivid in my memory. She played so beautifully until arthritis robbed her of the ability. I can remember lurking outside her house (where she couldn't see me) to hear her play. I always hoped that someday I could play as beautifully but now I realize just how gifted she was/is and so I don't hold out much hope for that. She loved to teach- be it piano, horticulture, or her life story, she loved to share what she knew.  Another thing that stuck out to me in the book was how often Nathan's name was in it.... then I realized that he was probably the last grand-kid that she taught music to, and Nathan loved music.  He could play pretty much anything he picked up, he was just naturally gifted in music.

  Anyhow, I think that I will be using the Step by Step book to teach my girls. It just seems right somehow. Now I need to call and talk to my Grandma..... :o)

Out of the mouths of children..... and other randomness

In our local area there is a Bridal Bible college. Because of that we get an influx of students each fall. As my children have gotten older they have become braver around these kids and seek out those that look friendly to them to become their new "best friends". Now, in case you didn't know this, there always seems to be an epidemic of twitterpation that accompanies these students. Many of the students engage in flirting and such, even while at church...... Now, my kids have been raised with some pretty strict ideas on what is appropriate and what is not and, though the eldest is only six, they know that kissing and touchy-feely friendliness is for when you are married. :o)  Anyhow, so Sunday night we had our Pastor appreciation potluck. My kids and I came late as we had to get dinner at home (potlucks and food intolerances are not a good combo) and so there was just 1 table left. We ended up sitting alone at this table which was right next to the BC students that had come. My kids were delighted to see their new friends were sitting so close and occasionally would engage them in conversation....... I didn't think much of it.  When we got home my 6 yo was telling about all of the Rebecca's that she knows, 1 of which was a student that had been at the dinner. Now, truth be told there were 2 students named Rebecca there but my girls have only met 1 so when, just because I love to hear my kids describe people because their insight is always so great, I asked which one she said (in a very matter of fact tone) "She was the one sitting next to the boy that couldn't keep his hands off of her" she then proceeded to tell me who all of the other Rebeccas were while I struggled to keep from hysterics. What a hoot! Children just say it like it is!  ( Just so no one gets a wrong idea of what goes on at our potlucks ;o),  he just had his arm around her shoulders or was rubbing her back - pretty discreet but obviously not discreet enough! LOL!!!)

 I was going to fill this with other random tid-bits (like- Mom, I rearranged your living room. Hope you like it! :o)  but I am tired and my sweet hubby actually got home at a decent time, so I am going to go pour forth my 40,000 pent up words upon his poor unsuspecting self. :o)

Lessons

I feel that God is teaching me a lot lately. I find myself struggling with deciding the difference between radical faith and charging on ahead on my own course and expecting God to "bless me and make it all right". I have been learning to praise Him regardless and to trust.  Fully. Completely. Unconditionally.  My friend "E" wrote a great post here and I was really touched by the quote at the end. (Thanks for sharing "E"!!!) I keep thinking about it and mulling it over. The whole quote was great but the last line really got me  "A miracle in the making, she had come to realize, at the time often appeared to be an insurmountable tragedy."  (By Thera Ferre Bjorn)  What a wonderful statement!  That my insurmountable issues may just be miracles in the making..... What joy there is in such a thought!  How much easier it would be to stand firm through trials if I could but always view them as miracles in the making......

 On a slightly different note, I am reading Job. Um, have you ever read that book? Amazing!  I actually started out by "randomly" reading the last few chapters which detail God's response to Job and his friends. Wow!  Who are we to ever question Him?  His response was so beautiful and so powerful that I have decided to go back to the beginning of Job and read it straight through. It has been awhile since I read it and I am looking forward to reading it again.  There is just so much there and is a reminder to me that I need to avoid the current trend of humanizing God. He is so much more than we could ever imagine! I am so grateful that He is not confined by human limitations, that He is so infinitely superior to us in every way. So comforting to know that I am in the hands of One who is so incomprehensibly more than I!

Now, off to start school with the kids! :o) 

When it rains.....

Have you ever noticed how storms seem to come in groups? When it starts raining it often pours?  We have been in a season of storms lately...... a season when there never seems to be just 1 thing going wrong. We have been in this stormy season for over a year and I have to admit that I would love to see a little sun. This house project is providing many downpours some of which are we a: are financially challenged ;oP (how's that for political correctness? LOL!) b: are having some literal storminess that may lead to flooding (not exactly going to speed us up and help us achieve our deadline of 3 wks)  c: we keep finding ugly "surprises".  Then today, with wind howling, power flickering, and rain pouring, my hubby came "home" to find that a ladder had fallen onto out car. Evidently there had been a ladder leaned up against my folks' garage and, as we are always busy herding children, carrying stuff, etc...., we never noticed it. The wind knocked it over and it broke our windshield! It did not break it entirely but put a bad enough crack that it will have to be replaced. I am trying to focus on being thankful that it was only the windshield and not the hood that will need replaced. The damage could have been so much worse....... Although focusing on these things does not bring total consolation it is helping me maintain some sense of sanity....... I have to admit that my response to my husband was " Figures..... the way things are going it doesn't surprise me at all". I am hopeful that through these storms I am growing and learning to praise my Lord no matter what. I love the first verse of 'Praise You In This Storm' by Casting Crowns...... it fits my life so well right now. I really thought He would have stepped in by now and saved the day, but I am trying to keep praising Him in the midst of the storms with what little strength I have. He is faithful and I am so blessed to be His child!!!

Frustrations

 This week has been so crazy..... trying to move everything out of our house and into my parents garage, trying to get the house gutted, trying to get settled here, and other craziness.School had to be put on hold this week. We had already done more than a 1/4 of the work for the school year so I am sure that one more week off will not be the end of the world, but I do hate to get out of the routine. I am just thankful for the flexibility of home schooling!  I have been trying like crazy to figure out how we are going to put the house back together -what rooms go where, etc..... and discovered that I had remembered my measurements wrong. Measuring the outside of our house it measures 21.5' x 36' so our square footage will be about 750 sq ft. I realize it's only 50 sq ft smaller than I had thought it would be but when there is so little space 50 is big! Much as this remodel will be an improvement, I find myself continually frustrated as I try to fit everything we need into such a small space. If money were no object we could afford to do more organizational helps (such as closet organizers as there is no room for dressers), of course if money were no object we wouldn't be living there! If I were naturally an organized person it would help but, though I hate clutter and love tidiness, I have no idea how to achieve that on a regular. *SIGH*  Trying to count my blessings.... and figure out what we can and can't live without. My idealistic nature gets in the way of this task. There is so much I want for our kids....... Oh well, that's my rant for today!  :oP 

Playing Catch-up

Well, it's been awhile and a lot has happened. First, you may have noticed, that I have a new blog in my blog list. This is because my parent's are going to indonesia on a mission trip. My Mom started a blog so that anyone who is interested can keep up no what's happening while they are there. The blog is called 'moos from indo' and I would just love to have you all stop over and read her stuff and leave her nice comments :o)  
 While my folks are gone we are house sitting and keeping an eye on my 12 yo brother. Should be exciting..... Actually the "exciting" thing is that it has become apparent that we have to gut our house and put it back together before my folks get back in 3 1/2 wks. For those of you who don't know, my husband and I bought a fixer-upper a few yrs ago (you know, back BEFORE the housing market took a dive). We were never going to live there but , ahem, we do and we have for a little over 2 yrs. There are 5 of us and the current living space is less than 500 sq ft. Nice and, um, cozy. Anyhow, there is additional space that used to be a garage but has never been finished....... We were just going to finish that and then we would have almost 800 sq ft of living space, but that is not looking like the best option at this point. When we moved into that house my health took a definate turn for the worse and has been declining ever since. We discovered that there is mold in the walls, and some other problems too, that are most likely irritating my health problems. Anyhow, since we will all be moved out and a lot of the materials have been slowly purchased over the last 2 yrs we are going to go for it. We arehoping to find several guys that can help out to help insure that we can have it habitable before my folks want their house back! ;o)
  I am quite nervous....... and not a little displeased with how small my faith is. I wish I handled upheaval better....... all this is making for some very cranky kids, we are beyond broke and, like I mentioned, my health is not very good.  Good time for growing.... but I have to admit to NOT liking the painfulness of these lessons. With all of the craziness I am not sure how much I will be blogging but I will try to update occasionally. Any prayers for us during this interesting season would be much appreciated. :o)