I’m going to have to start this with an apology. I can’t remember the last time I sent out an email to all of you. Horrifying, I know! I do have a couple excuses, so take them for what they are worth. First off, I started the summer feeling very tired and sick. For those of you who don’t already know . . . we are expecting Graber indian number 5!! Due date is Feb. 1 – right smack in the middle of winter. That is a very good time to have babies arrive! Nothing else to do and nowhere to go, might as well have another’n, right?
My second excuse is that we have been extremely busy since we took our trip back to Indiana in June. We had an enjoyable time seeing everyone again and also seeing Indiana in the summer. That’s the first time our family has been back in the summertime since we moved over 3 years ago! Where has time gone?
After we came home, Dad, Mom, Jeanie, and Randall came out to stay with us for 2 1/2 weeks. Randall was going to our church’s wilderness boys camp that they have every summer. So we were busy with all of them and sightseeing these mountains of ours. After they left to go home, Dana and Caleb Wray came for a couple of days on their way through to South Dakota and Ohio. So we have been missing-in-action for several reasons and I hope you will forgive us. I’m also swamped with canning produce from my two gardens this year. Yeah, what a year to choose to plant two gardens! We’ve done blueberry pie filling, applesauce, strawberries, two kinds of pickles, green beans, and have corn looking at me within the next two weeks, as well as peaches, pears, peppers, and more pickles. So I will warn you that I might be missing-in-action until October. Consider this your warning!
As for an update on all of us . . . we’ll start with the best-looking! Lowell has been continuing his physical therapy and is seeing improvement, although it is at a snail’s pace. He continues to have a good amount of pain. Any prayers you can send our way concerning his full recovery would be appreciated. We believe God knows best and that He has an eternal plan in all of this that we are not privy to yet!
Derek is gearing up for school starting in less than a month. He and I are going to take ourselves to Walmart one of these days for a mother/son day and buy him some school items. I think his mama is as excited as he is! He keeps shooting up, up, and up. We keep having to get bigger pants out of the attic to accomodate his growing limbs. I don’t even want to know how much longer I have until he passes me up.
Terrel is going to be the “big boy” when Derek goes to school this fall. He will be in first grade, which we will do at home. I could send him to school with Derek, but I think he needs a year at home to learn more responsibility with the younger ones. I have come to lean on Derek too much; I need to start transferring some of that to Terrel Cree. It may take a bit of training, but I think it can be done. Although with him the one in charge of the two littler ones, we may get some interesting stories for you over the winter. The other day he came in the front door and, with a huge grin on his face, said, “Look, Mama!” My heart plummeted at what I beheld because I knew from here it was all downhill. In his outstretched hand he held a wiggling snake – INSIDE MY HOUSE!!! I knew this day was coming. They had loved to play with the snakes, poking them with sticks and such, but never had they picked one up. And NEVER had they brought one inside my house! I had terrifying visions of that reptile slipping from his fingers and getting lost within the confines of my reptile-free home. To make matters worse, his little brother Logan is fast following in his footsteps and came in the house the next day or so with a little tree frog in his hand. Critters are okay to be appreciated outside in God’s green earth, but I do not wish to take up such close residence with them.
Megan is four, going on five in January. She is looking forward to this baby and knows that it will be coming soon after she turns five. I can hardly believe she will be that old. She was only 14 months when we moved here and was a regular butterball. She has slimmed way down and shot up to where she has almost passed up Terrel. It is fun to watch her. She and Logan play really well together, but she also plays well by herself since she is the only girl here. She is in her own little world alot since it’s hard for her to keep up with the guys. She and I take trips to town for girl days – it’s something we both need in this house full of “maleness”.
Logan is no longer my baby. At least not technically. It’s hard to be a baby and talk like a dictionary at the same time. Although once in a while, he and Mama both need to pretend he’s still the baby. The other night he woke up crying and wanted a drink of juice. I told him no. He whispered something I couldn’t hear so I bent down to his little face. He whispered, “Could you rock me in the rocking chair?” I don’t know how puddles walk, but they do in our house. This puddle of a mama picked up her 2 1/2 year-old baby and went down to the rocking chair. We snuggled, Logan fell asleep, and I sat there wondering who gave permission for my children to grow up. I know it wasn’t me . . . maybe I’d better have a talk with Lowell!
Well, I need to go start supper before Lowell and the boys come home with empty bellies. May God bless you all!
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