Why can't parenting be easy?

There isn't much news around here. The insurance adjuster came on Sunday, but it might be a while before we actually see any money. The wait is the aggravating part. We aren't even sure how much they are going to give us for everything. We do know they are going to cover a new roof, and probably pay for new carpet in the rooms affected (which leaves the other rooms with carpet that is 6 years old...can't exactly do that), a small portion for our fence (they depreciate the value for the age of the fence and because we share it with 3 neighbors...well, we won't get much at all for that, etc. It is all such a pain. T.C. contacted a man that we met through the summer swim team that owns his own home construction business. He has connections...so he is going to share a good roofer with us and also a guy that does small inside construction jobs to put new sheet rock on one of Ali's walls. Hopefully he can nail down the carpeting that we ripped up. We are thankful all of the carpeting dried without much of a stain. There is a big spot in the living room, but we are going to rent a carpet shampooer and see if we can clean them up. If we can't, we will then try getting it professionally cleaned. We are really trying not to have to recarpet the house right now. Not an expense that we are prepared for.

I am drained these days...just going to be brutally honest here. Clark is testing my patience...and my patience is gone out of the window. Unfortunately!! He is our major whiny pants. We didn't really have that with Ali, so I am at a loss. They have totally different personalities. We believe in first time obedience with our children...not 4th or 5th time obedience. Clark...oh Clark would rather do it until he knows you are coming after him. That drives me absolutely crazy. I am really trying to focus on that right now...it isn't going very well. There are lots of time-outs, crying episodes, drama, spankings, and on and on and on. I haven't found that perfect solution, though I know there really is no such thing....just a good solution would suffice! Being a parent is the toughest job out there. Just when you begin to think you have it figured out, the kids go and throw you a curve ball. I have read it all Shepherding a Child's Heart, Growing Kids God's Way, and the one I am reading now is Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel. It has great tools to use...trying to incorporate a chart where he gets smiley faces if he does certain things and sad faces for unacceptable behavior. Can't tell you if it's working yet, will let you know.

What books/Bible studies are you reading/doing right now? In my Mom 2 Mom Bible study we are reading A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. We are reading the book and doing the study guide that goes along with it. It is a fabulous book. I read it several years ago and was thrilled to take the study and read the book again. It addresses so many areas in a woman's life...being a Godly wife, mother, and mainly just a woman that follows God with all that she is. We are also taking a study during the Sunday School hour using the book Parenting in the Pew. I also read this book several years ago, and was so excited that our pastor's wife was going to be teaching through the book. It is fabulous for those out there that struggle with teaching your children how to truly learn to worship...not just sitting still in church...but truly teaching them what it means to worship God. It talks about how as parents we are concerned with what those around us are thinking about our kids and how they "act" during church. It focuses on how we need to think less about those around us and focus on our heart during worship, so that our children see and learn through us. WOW!! It gives ways to help guide our children through the worship service...reminding them of things throughout the week that could somehow relate to the message, etc. It is a great read!

Here are a few pictures from the last week or so.

Finally up and running!!

Yippy skippy....our cable returned yesterday afternoon! That means we now have our t.v., internet, and home phone. I am so happy about that. I shouldn't complain, we have friends that are still without power. I am sure she wanted to smack me when I complained about cable....she would settle for some AC and lights!

For those that haven't lived in a hurricane prone area....here is a little highlight. After power is restored to SOME gas stations, the lines are way down the street to get gas....for days. Station will run out of gas and have to shut down until they can be refilled. Grocery stores (the ones that have power) only sell non-perishable foods due to loosing all frozen foods and dairy from the loss of power. It was impossible to find milk for days. I, thankfully, brought some back from Louisiana with us. I also grocery shopped in Louisiana before returning home. We were thankful to have plenty of food.

Needless to say, we are so glad that life is returning to a more normal state. The insurance adjuster is coming by on Sunday for his walk through. We are anxious to see what exactly they are going to do.

Clark had his post op appointment yesterday. He has healed fine from his adenoidectomy. The ENT wrote a referral for speech therapy. He said because of the enlarged adenoids, he compensated by incorrectly learning some sounds. He seems to think that it will not take many sessions, and that we will learn exercises to do at home.

As of tomorrow, our weeks will be back to normal. Clark started back to preschool on Wed., gymnastics today, and Ali resumes guitar lessons and swim team tomorrow. She will be swimming as much as possible this next week. She will be participating in her first out of town swim meet next weekend in Austin at UT. (and has been out of swimming for over 2 weeks with the storm)

Well, no pictures to post tonight...hopefully this weekend.

Comcast....where are you?

We found free internet (for an hour) at a McDonald's near our house. YIPPY! We are still waiting (rather impatiently) for cable, internet, and our home phone to begin working again. We aren't sure when that will happen.

The roof was finally tarped yesterday, three days AFTER it was supposed to be done. AARRGH! But, it is done now. We aren't sure how long it will take for things to be repaired. The insurance inspectors have not given us an appointment for their walk through as of yet. Aaaahhhh, so again we learn a lesson in patience. (I don't like those...do you?)

It is almost business as usual around here. Clark will start back to preschool on Wed. I don't know about his gymnastics...and Ali's swim team is waiting on the green light from the city pool. Hopefully everything will be up and running sometime this week.

T.C. went back to his job today for the first time. He has been on orders with the National Guard since last Monday. He would like a day off...that is for sure. But, we are thankful for his job and work!

Well, will make this make this short for now. Hopefully I will be doing this from the comfort of our own home very soon!

Where in the world are the tarp people?

Well, as luck would have it...the tarp people were supposed to be at our house between 7am-7pm today to tarp the roof. Well, we left the house at 6pm to come and search for WIFI somewhere and they STILL weren't there yet. Ugh. Wonder if we will be pleasantly surprised when we get home and have a blue tarped roof? We aren't holding our breath.

We still don't have our cable service...so therefore no internet or phone either. Bummer. But, we are thankful for power. We talked to some friends at church last night that are still without power. So...we are at McDonald's right now PAYING for WIFI, something we said we would never do..haha! We won't be doing this often.

Our little nephew is doing great, from what we hear. A tiny little squirt, but we are hearing he is quite cute. I will definitely post pictures when I have some. I haven't even seen a picture of him as of yet.

It was strange driving back to our home for the first time since old Ike hit. It looked a little like a war zone. Pretty much our entire neighborhood lost their fences. A little weird seeing into everyone's backyards. They mostly have roof damage as well. The roofing companies are going to be very busy around here. We don't have a clue how long the wait will be for our insurance to be taken care of....weeks, months?

The kids have been troopers through it all...pack up...rush off to grandparents...worry about their dad being in the middle of the storm...wait a few days....pack up and rush back home to a damaged neighborhood. We have tried to stress to them just how fortunate we are.

I will run...need to get the kids home.

Then there was light......

Got a call from T.C. last night about our power finally being back on. YIPPY! The kids and I are returning home today. I don't believe we have cable or internet yet...so this may be it for a while. I have a million loads of laundry to do, and probably some clean up.

We do have great news though...my brother and his wife welcomed their son into the world last night. He was itty bitty at 2.4 lbs. and 14.? inches long. His name is Wyeth Kai and we can't wait to meet him.

Still hanging in there...

Well, we are days 2 post hurricane...and T.C. is going stir crazy. He had an extremely hectic morning as he awoke to a horrible rain storm (which wasn't exactly what he needed with an already leaky roof!). Needless to say, he spent all morning placing/emptying/replacing bowls all over the upstairs. There are multiple spots that are leaking through from our attic. I think he said there is even a place on Ali's wall that was wet. We don't know what all will have to be done when it comes to the repairs. He also said we lost one of our shutters to an upstairs bedroom window and it hit his car on the way down...think he has some scratches. (just icing on the proverbial cake) We are still thankful and blessed as we know it could have been much worse. We dread the clean up...shampooing carpets, repairs, painting, bleaching...

On a positive note, a company hired by our insurance company is coming by on Tuesday afternoon to tarp the roof. We are very glad about this. T.C. has used every towel in the house with leaks...with no way to wash/dry them. Like T.C. said...it will look like a big tent. Ha! Anyone that has been through a hurricane knows the blue tarps!!

We still don't know when we will have power. T.C. said an area near our house got power today...so we are hopeful. We would like to all be together again.

I will update when there is other news.

Safe from Hurricane Ike...

We are all safe and very thankful today. The children and I evacuated Thursday to family in Louisiana. T.C. stayed behind to care for our house. I was a nervous wreck last night...all night. Here in Louisiana we got more wind than I have probably ever endured. It literally whipped all night. I couldn't get in touch with T.C. until this morning...I was beside myself. He lost power at home, of course, and is limited to what battery is left on his cell phone. Once his cell runs out of battery, we will not have any way to communicate. As of now, we aren't sure how long we will be without power at home. We lost power here last night, but regained it around noon. We were quite thankful. As for damage...as of a few hours ago we had lost a lot of shingles from the roof, rain blew in our attic and has caused about 10 damp spots on ceilings throughout the house, and we lost a lot of our backyard fence. That is all I know of right now. I went ahead and called our insurance company and got a claims number. We will see. Just thought I would give what limited info that I have.

Going on a boat.......

A glimpse into my day....
I was cooking dinner the other night when Clark came into the kitchen with a sock cap, gloves, and cowboy boots on (on the wrong feet)...and dragging a suitcase. I chuckled and asked him why he needed a hat and gloves on. I mentioned that it was hot outside and he surely didn't need those. He looked up at me quite seriously and said "I need it, I am going on a boat...and the space shuttle...I be cold" Well, okie dokie then little mister. Can you tell his dad works for NASA? (what 4 year old normally says he is going up on the space shuttle..heehee)

Our little man had his first day of Mother's Day Out on Monday, then again today. He seems to really be enjoying it. I haven't gotten all that much out of him except that they had church (chapel) Monday, a man played the guitar, they played, and colored. He is eating like a monster. Both days I packed what I thought was too much food...and his lunch box came home empty. This is funny...Clark was telling me that he didn't want me to leave him at school on Monday. So, I walked him into his room and stayed a minute. He again told me "don't leave me Mama"...then two seconds later he said "bye-bye Mama." (I am pretty sure he was thinking "don't let the door hit ya on the way out...") Ha! The teacher was rolling.

Ali has her first middle school Bible study tonight at church. She is nervous. It is for 6-8th graders.

Ike is looming out in the gulf, unfortunately. So, we are watching in anticipation. We hope it doesn't head straight for us. We are just praying for God to calm the storm!

Here are a few pictures of Clark on Monday and a few others.

From First day of school...

Grateful....

Grateful doesn't begin to explain how I felt after Clark's surgery was completed. The mention of putting one of my children under general anesthesia sends my mommy stress level over the top. When they wheel your child away on a hospital bed, even for a routine minor surgery, there is always the possibility of complications. It is the constant balance of knowing that God loves our children even more than we can comprehend and just being a parent that loves them so deeply it hurts. I breathed a sigh of relief when Clark's doctor came into the waiting room to tell us we could go back to recovery and be with Clark. We walked into the recovery room and two kind nurses were taking care of him as he was waking up. I was so impressed that one nurse was even cradling him in her arms as she put it "so that he didn't have to wake up alone in a hospital bed." Isn't that great? I just loved that. She then placed him into my arms so that he would wake up with me. He was so sad waking up...whimpering in pain. His little body just doesn't handle anesthesia very well. He wakes up very slowly, and it really upsets his stomach. Unlike his prior surgery, he actually made it home before he got sick this time. Woohoo!! He had an upset stomach all afternoon, but felt better by the evening. The doctor said that surgery went well, and that his adenoids were quite enlarged and were into his nasal cavity. Please pray with us that this eliminates his need for speech therapy. Another prayer would be for his little stomach. He has had some issues for almost a week now with stomach aches, etc.

As I was able to cradle our son while he came out from under the anesthesia, I was so thankful for the gift God has given us in this little fellow. We waited a very long time, traveled half way around the world, and anticipated him more than just about anything...ever!! Ali and Clark are our treasures on earth and I am so proud to be their mother. God wants to cradle us also, doesn't he? To protect us and hold us so that we are not alone. The love I have for our children is just a sliver of the love God has for us, his children. That is incomprehensible to me...but comforting at the same time.

We are trying to post a picture everyday on the new link T.C. added over on the side. It has been fun capturing a photo that sums up our day. He even added a funny quote last night...pop over there and check it out. It really was hilarious. I will give a little background. I came downstairs yesterday and find Clark and Timmy happily in the dining room.....Clark with a big grin on his face. Ummm, not always a good sign..ha! Clark happily tells me that he fed Timmy out of Happy's bowl. Meaning, he fed Timmy the rest of Happy's food. Ok, we had to have the "Timmy only needs to eat the food that we give him in the morning and at night..ok...do you understand...that food is there for Happy..." Then last night we were coming home from our small group Bible study at church and Clark proudly admits that he, too, snacked on Happy's food. Ok, GROSS! Then that was followed up by the quote on our other site. Oh bother....God truly knew parents of boys needed a good sense of humor! Clark never ceases to keep us laughing.

However, laughing is NOT what I was doing at Old Navy yesterday morning. I was so excited...I received a postcard in the mail about a great sale that O.N. was having. I have been waiting for days for the sale to start. Since I am a stay at home mom, I try to watch for sales when buying the kids clothes. So great sales really make me happy!!! (some of you are probably thinking...this gal really needs to get our more..haha!!) However, none the less...we made our trip out to Old Navy. Clark needed some clothes for church, his pants from last year are getting a little short. Anyway, I grab a bag and start shoving in 2 sizes of each (didn't know if he could keep up a size 4 yet.....by the way, he can't) and made our way to the dressing room. Moms of young kids, can you feel my pain? Put it this way, Ali was waiting outside the dressing room when we finally emerged with these words "that took a LONG time." I wanted to respond with a big "you don't know the half of it..", but I didn't. It was like wrangling a wild animal on caffeine. We were given the large handicapped dressing room since I had his stroller, which was nice. However, every stitch of clothing I would finally get on him, he HAD to see in the mirror. So with every shirt or pants, he would hop off the bench and run over to the mirror...make his comments...until I convinced him to return to the bench. Wew! When all was said and done he got some new clothes at great prices (which I always love!). Today is Ali's day...we will hit an outlet store where we usually find her clothes. She didn't like anything at Old Navy. To say she is a picky clothes shopper is an understatement. Wish me luck. T.C. has guard duty this weekend...I am sure he is glad he is there and not shopping! Heehee!!

I will be posting Clark's first day of preschool pictures on Monday. (sniff, sniff) I am sure it will be way too quiet around here while he is gone! I hope he loves it and has a great time though. Have a good weekend.

We survived Gustav....

Ok, honestly survived is a strong word...we actually didn't even get a drop of rain. We couldn't believe that! At one point we thought we might get hammered...but not so. However, we are definitely NOT complaining. My parents and my brother's family ended up not coming here at the last minute. My parents ended up going to a town where they actually sat through the eye of the storm. However, the house had a generator so they had power when everyone else didn't.

T.C.'s mom came in on Saturday evening, so we have been enjoying spending some time with her. She left this morning. We drove down to Galveston Beach one day to see the waves from the hurricane...the water was pretty rough with plenty of not so smart people way out in the water. Ali received a sewing machine for Christmas that she had not used yet. She and Mimi spend quite a while learning how to use the machine. She sews great, so she was able to help Ali a lot. Ali made a blanket for her cousin, Kai, when he is born (due in Nov.). It turned out cute...but she isn't quite finished with it yet. She is also going to make one out of the same fabric for Clark.

Clark will have his surgery tomorrow. He has to be at the surgery center at 10:00 in the morning. That is later than I was expecting, so he is going to be one hungry boy! (he can't have anything after midnight) However, he is excited about starting children's choir and hand bells tonight at church. Wish I could be a fly on the wall.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days......