CRANKY

Hello World!
I don't know if anyone even reads this but I SOOOO love reading everyone else's blog. I would write more often but I don't even know if anyone reads this. So for the moment, I am posting that I am cranky. Tired of having a hurt leg, tired of wanting to have help. My kids are cranky because I can't do what they want. It's finally hot outside and no one wants to be out there - we LOVE cool NY!!! Kaylee is such a stinker and KNOWS I can't chase after her when she is doing something bad. I hate feeling like I am always yelling at my kids. Just plain frustrated!!! How long does it take to heal a hurt leg?? The bone doesn't hurt as much as the ligaments around my foot. Want to be normal and not use crutches BUT should use crutches so it doesn't hurt. AAAAGGGGHHH! Am so appreciative of all the help I have gotten and hate to ask for more help. I h ave not been treating my husband with the utmost care he deserves. He has done a great job of taking care of all of us. I'll just go away and go eat worms right now!! (Actually, I'll just go look at pictures to order for our visit to the in-laws next week.)

Fun with Bugs!!

We have been having fun with bugs the last few months! In May, I ordered a butterfly garden, ladybug farm and an earthworm factory. The kids LOVE it!!! We received the butterfly kit and ladybug kit on the same day. The butterflies arrived a small caterpillars in a plastic cup. They looked like they were sitting on brown sugar. After reading the instructions, I learned that that was their food that they ate until they built their chrysalis's. These things ate and ate and ate for days! As they ate, they spun webs for them to crawl around on. The caterpillars looked huge and I couldn't beleive the webs could hold them up. After 2 weeks of eating, they crawled to the top of the cup and hung down and turned into these coccoons right before our eyes!!

taking abreak to head to Maine for vacation!!

The hole in our Gospel

I am reading a wonderful book called "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns, CEO of World Vision. It is an excellent book!! I want EVERYONE to read this book. It is changing the way I am shopping!! It talks about how we as Americans are so blessed and don't always share that blessing with others.. If a family's income is $50,000 a year, that family is wealthier than 99% of everyone else in the world!! I have slowly read the book and am wondering what more we should be doing as a family. We have SOOOOO much!!
D and I just completed the Dave Ramsey course on Financial Peace. He talks about building your wealth in a Christian manner along with tithing. I don't know if I can build my wealth without tithing MORE. Why should I "build my wealth" when so many people are dying without having clean water, starving, can't feed their children. There must be a balance somewhere and I am trying to find it.
Early in the year, I decided 2009 was going to be a year of gratitude. I have been journaling along with this theme and trying to let my family know how much I am thankful for. Instead of always grumbling. I would rather be thought of as a happy person! So that is one reason I wanted to read this book! I want to share our blessings! I want to train our kids to think of others more than themselves so I need to show that I do that in my life too.
I am not going to list all that we are doing because I don't want to appear that I am bragging but what kind of things does your family do??

Update on the Garden

It is now about 2 months after we put the garden in. Everything that we planted from PLANTS is growing so well - lettuces, tomatoes, celery - but absolutely NOTHING that we planted from seeds even sprouted!! So I added several bags of new potting soil and tilled it in. Then I planted new seeds in teeny pots to see if they would sprout from there. So I just added tiny carrot, more lettuce (since it grows SOO well here!), green beans and sugar snap peas to the garden. I guess they will now be ready in September.
We went strawberry picking two weeks ago. I briefed the kids before we left. "What color are strawberries??" Well, Bodie loved picking the green ones!! "We don't have enough green ones!!" Everyone in the patch started laughing each time he said that! I guess Kaylee was out of her element because she just stood in the patch screaming for me!! We picked 10 quarts of berries!! Yum. I canned for the first time and made 16 jars of strawberry jam. I was so proud of myself!! :) I felt like a pioneer woman. Maybe I could survive 100 years ago! We will go blueberry picking at the end of July when my parents are here. I LOVE New York!! :)

Working with Riley's class

While we were in Texas, the parents had to work a set amount of hours volunteering at the school. Yorktown Christian Academy was a wonderful school for us to be starting all of our academic careers (Riley as a student and me as a parent). Plain and simple, they expected the parents to be involved!! Such a difference when we came here!! Just put your kid on the bus and away all your responsiblity goes with the bus?? After a couple of weeks, I couldn't handle it! At YCA, we talked to the teacher everyday as she walked the child to our car. . . more later. . .family calls. . .
Now a month later - I am finally sitting down to work more on my blog!
SO I went in to talk to Riley's teacher. WE all LOVE Miss Buckley!! She is a wonderful teacher, calm, quiet but loves the kids. We decided that I would come in a couple of times a month and make crafts with the kids. We made peppermint cocoa mix for Valentine's Day, rainbow fruit salad for St Patricks' Day, handprint bunny's for Easter, Mother's Day brooches and Key chains for dads. I also went in as a mystery reader. I read a few Eric Carle's books and then ended with the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Then I left them with a kit of caterpillars that would develop into butterflies! They loved it!
I also joined the school's PTO because I read that it is important to show how you value's your child's education. I had no idea what a PTO does!! Last school year, our PTO raised something like $22,000!!!! for our school use!! Without the PTO's money, the school would be without many programs!! No exciting morning programs. The district has cut field trips so the PTO provides the money to bring special programs to the school - like a traveling zoo, plays, naturalist, etc. I CAN'T believe what all a PTO does! SO get involved in your child's school!!
Well, at the end of the year, Miss Buckley wanted me to come in so the class could thank me for all I did. I wanted to help out the class 1) because Riley wants me to, 2) I enjoy it, 3) I want to be a help to Miss Buckley and 4) because I realize that this is a way to shine my light to children who might not see much of Jesus in their everyday life. Well, I was NOT expecting what Miss Buckley and the class did for me!!! They had a large cake that said "Thank You Mrs Lierman", she made a book where all the kids drew a picture and wrote what they liked doing the most with me, made me a picture frame with a picture of all the kids and all the kids signed their names AND THEN she gave me a Vera Bradley bag!!! What!! I was trying to help her out and show her MY appreciation for being a wonderful teacher to all these kids!! I just can't believe it! :) Let's see what I get done next year!! I am looking forward to it! :)

Gardening

Since we live in such a wonderful climate, we have decided to start a vegetable garden!! Daryl and I spent one weekend preparing the area. We borrowed a rototiller from the Albert family and Daryl rototilled the area. I raked the soil after him and picked up TWO large BUCKETS of rocks from the area. The builders must have put as must rocks in the yards as soil. :{ Daryl used the rocks to line our front flower beds. I am trying to grow as organically as I can. We bought cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, basil, several types of lettuce and dill from the farmers market. Then we planted pumpkin, green bean, sugar snap peas, and carrot seeds. We seeded a potato and planted that too. I used marigold to edge the garden since it and the dill are natural bug and deer repellents. I hope something grows!! I am worried because nothing has sprouted yet but Daryl is reminding me that it hasn't been very warm yet and two nights have been frosts. I love it!!! The kids love going out and helping me water. I think it will be such a great learning experience for all of us!! I want to learn to can and make jellies and pickles. I won't post pictures until things actually start growing. I do hope they do!!

Spring is full of Sickness!

We have never been so sick since we moved up here!!! Probably from all the new bugs around here. Since we got here, we have had 6 bouts with the stomach bug, unknown cold - which turn into sinus infections, Kaylee has had at least 1 ear infection a month (WITH tubes), Daryl gallbladder problems and surgery, and the latest is his back (bulging disk). Ugh. So many weeks full of sick kids. Not fun.
Riley is not sleeping well so that in turn wears her out. So then she ends up getting sick on Friday night and is sick all weekend. I am praying to how to help her! Before she goes to sleep, we talk about the blessings in our lives. We have memorized the 23rd Psalm and then I have talked about the meaning of the verses and why it is so special. We have a list of my favorite Bible verses that deal with comforting and peace so she can read and memorize them. We don't read scary books or watch anything remotely scary. I do not know what is bothering her!! I talked to the school counselor and she will be in a life skills counseling session next year. I LOVE her school!! They really work with you!! And I love her teacher!! The counselor said it might be such a shock to her that she came from such a small Christian school where the parents HAD to be involved and kids were to act a certain way and now she is in a LARGE public school where there is almost no parental involvment and kids come from all types of families. Keep praying on that one!!
Kaylee is seeing an immunologist to see why she is getting sick so much. It has been continual!!! We are trying a few things and are also to get a complete bloodwork test done on her - but haven't done it yet.
Overall, Bodie's asthma is much better here!! His body likes the dry air and we can tell by his breathing when it gets more humid outside.
Our pediatrician knows us VERY well. The office staff love us. The pharamcy tech doesn't even ask our names when we come in and she hands us lollipops when we leave. On a monthly basis we see - along with our regular ped. - a GI specialist, pulmonologist, ENT dr, and now an immunologist!! Thank goodness we have insurance!!!