schickHouse

Just Checking In

All is well here at Schickhouse. Last night Steve repaired some O-rings in the pool pump to stop a leak. Success! Last night he also worked in the basement on a rusted out pipe that was leaking. Again, success! He is so amazing at fixing things.

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Our water situation is under (God's) control. We've been conserving water as much as we can, being selective as to when the children bathe and when we do laundry. But that is all going well.

Meantime, I've been absolutely loving this book! It is just what I had hoped for. It lays out enough information to let me feel like I have an inkling, but not so much information as to overwhelm me and make me not even want to try. This year I think we'll stick to a small veggie garden. In years to come, I'm eyeing up more veggies, chickens, a piggie, and hopefully a minicow or two!

The abundance of flowers on our property is delightful. I've taken lots of pictures. I'll post them eventually, but I might wait til our main "photo computer" is here. We've met three of our neighbors, which is about all of them. :o) Still loving everything about it here. I am in awe at God's providence. I love the fact that this was one of the very first houses that "caught our eye" when we started browsing. It was the second we looked at. Why DO we worry anyway? (I read Matthew 6 this morning.)

The countdown til baby's due date has reached the 8 week mark! I am very excited to meet this new little one face to face. I'm still in limbo on a doctor. Hoping to resolve that this week. Since I started on insulin (bedtime only right now), I need to switch to a doc instead of midwife. The docs my midwives work with are in Lititz and Ephrata. Too far for weekly or biweekly visits. So, I'm waiting to hear from a doc in Lancaster. They are "full" for my time of delivery, but I gave them my sob story and am hoping they accept me. There is so much I'd like to get done before the baby's arrival. We're planning a yard sale on June 6 for all the things that don't fit (or would clutter up) the new place. I want to get all these boxes unpacked. Ha! And I'd like to get a good handle on the tiny garden. But I'm doing surprisingly well at just taking one day at a time and doing what I can. It's great to finally be able to nest!

o. my. goodness.

i was perusing the 'freely educate' site and came across a link to the 'kiddie records weekly' site. all i can say is wow. i am so gleeful. :o) see my big cheeser? these are probably a little before my time, but both steve & i fondly remember listening to these or similar versions. remember "wait for the bell to turn the page?" i introduced cyrus & shelby to them the other day, and i was rather surprised at how much they loved them. one story they listened to didn't even have any pictures to go along with it, and they just stood by the computer for 15+minutes entranced with it. we will definitely be visiting these classics more.

      

Amazing Two Days... Going For Three

wow. ok, i'll try to be brief cuz i know i won't do it justice, no matter how long-winded i am. yesterday, God blessed me with an amazing day. i had the energy and motivation to vacuum the house. i know, that does not SEEM earth shattering, but it did great things for my insides. see, the "household" part of my duties is usually a struggle between procrastination and denial for me. and ever-so-slowly i am learning to serve more consistently, with a right attitude, and before the end of my rope. the vacuuming felt like a huge step yesterday. THEN, as if that wasn't wonderful enough, i tackled my small mountain of "needs sewing attention" pile. i brought it all up to the kitchen table (cuz it has the best light). there were the soles of cyrus' slippers, elle mae's purse strap, the little parachute man, four fabric flowers on shelby's pants, cyrus' zipper on his necktie, the loop on the viewmaster case, and the jingle bells on shelby's socks. i think that's all of them. i just decided rather than sit on the computer or be frumpy all evening, while steve & cy were at practice, i'd work on my long-awaited mending. nearly immediately shelby chimed in with, "i want to sew, too!" i'm sorry to say that my instant reaction (inside) was, "oh dear. i really want to get something accomplished on my TASK here." i'm glad to say that God conquered that selfish thought, and i agreed to have her sew beside me. what a blessing that turned out to be! now, shelby has only sewn one time before. i got her a book for Christmas, and i went step by step with her through it while she made a little yellow, felt, stuffed bird. we got her kit out, and voila! she followed right through the book like we had before, only this time with barely a help from me at all! now, don't get me wrong. i love to help, especially with arts and crafts, but it was so neat to see her take right off with it, threading the needle, tying the knot, even pinning the pieces together! so last nite while i mended, shelby sewed another but slightly larger red bird.
(so much for brevity.) then today. this morning we rose early and headed to a lake to help stock fish. what a blast! the children were shin-deep in the lake catching, tossing, and dumping fish into the water. i believe they said about 650 fish were added to the lake. after that we did a family breakfast at good ol' mcd's. then to the store to get some gear for tomorrow.
after church, barring rain, we plan to go back to the lake for a fishing derby! i am so excited (but a little overwhelmed at the moment because i'm tired). following the derby, shelby has a quick practice at the church for next week's violin concert. then home to relax. usually our sunday's are much more low-key, so i'm sure it will seem to go by too fast for me. but i think it will be good.
ok, oh, i thought i was done, but one more thing. today i found a lot of time to read, mostly during nap time. and i was just captivated by the last few chapters of this book. wow. i started this book down in florida, and i just LOVED it straight through. i've been blessed with a lot of great books lately, but i'm not sure when the last time was i liked one so thoroughly. and i'm wanting to go through it again just to read my highlights and study the Scripture it references so often. the two authors back everything they write with verses, so i think it'd be beneficial and completely engaging to go back and read the passages they reference. highly recommended. ok, 'night all. ~bec.

Winter Reading Challenge

the winter reading challenge is coming to a close. and for me, counting down - 27 hours (or so) til we leave for florida, it is basically over. i didn't read as much as i wanted to, didn't get every book on my list done. but i know that it did spur me on to read more than i would have otherwise. i had nine books on my list. i finished four, am in the middle of two, and have three to delve into yet. and as always, i keep coming across more books (usually online browsing) that i add to my hope-to-get-to-someday list. and then a few that hit the sooner-than-later list. i have this one on its way to me. i try to control myself. even though i firmly believe i WILL read all of these, i figure there's no reason to break the bank at the present time if i have a stack already beside me waiting to be read. ~bec.

Liberty Square

finished up my liberty square book last nite. i was all wired from a successful nite of shopping, so i decided to read instead of veg. i thoroughly enjoyed the book and all its local stories. thanks, dad! ~bec.

Moving On (Finally)

yesterday i finally finished up the book 'one blood.' please do not consider how long it took me to get through as a reflection on the book. i just took a hiatus in the middle. it was excellent and easy to read. also yesterday, i started a book my dad got for me called 'liberty square observed and noted.' it's about the southern end, its farms, the old days, and it has a chapter which includes a story about uncle bob and his farm that got swallowed up by muddy run. ~bec.

Homeschooling Book of Answers

couple days ago i finished the homeschooling book of answers by linda dobson. i enjoyed it greatly. i believe the first hs book i read was by this same author. she has an unschooling bent but not so much as to omit other viewpoints. the book of answers was more a compilation of many experienced homeschoolers but still had that unschooling bent. it's be a good read for anyone new to or interested in hs. my copy was from the library, so i wanted to get it done quickly (unlike the rest on my list!). ~bec.

It Works

this evening i finished 'the strength of mercy.' my book list motivation worked! great book about one family's adoption journey. amazing threads of providence revealed. beautiful.
going down now to snuggle the three cuties in my bed. sweet dreams. ~becky

bexboox

i just walked myself through adding a list here on ye ol' blog. on the right, you can see a list of books i am currently "in." i may be reading straight thru, i may be browsing & skimming. the books may be mine (i prefer because then i can hilite) or they may be borrowed. i may love them, i may not. at any rate, right now i am "in" too many for my liking. i haven't been reading consistently like i would like. and i thought that perhaps having this little list would be a fun-for-melancholy-me way to give myself motivation to keep reading. see, odd as it is, it is some kind of fun for me delete a little book off that list, type in the isbn of a new interest, and watch that new little icon pop up! strange, yes. but i've come to appreciate my strangeness. ~bec.

Mommy's Favorite Birthday Gift

i found this most unusual "coloring book" at b&n the other nite. i got it for shelb for her bday. you can read the description, but i'd recommend actually looking at it sometime. can't really get a feel for it til you see it. i'm a little anti-coloring book, but this one is more of an idea book. i kinda want one for myself! ~bec.