Most of my family is sick...

Because of that, at least in part, I have become obsessed with spring cleaning. I haven't done spring cleaning in years! I used to do it every year, but made a cleaning schedule to keep me going through the year and discarded the spring cleaning idea. Now that I haven't been keeping up with the schedule, we've all been sick, the house is somewhat trashed and we haven't even 100% moved in yet, I really want to do it. Oh, and did I mention my parents want to come sometime? That really isn't the driving issue, but it sure does give me extra incentive.

Although I want to do lots of actual cleaning, I also have some other things I want to do

• hang up pictures
• empty boxes
• organize attic
• add flooring to attic
• organize garage
• redo my pantry/laundry room including adding shelves
• do a oamc session
• add a plug to downstairs bathroom
• hide cords in living room
• paint the front door 
• install a peep hole in the front door
• organize junk drawers (make ONE junk drawer)
• plant flowers
• get more lighting for school room 
• purchase bookcases for FAITH library and catalog library
• put screens up for non-screened windows
• put window coverings up for all windows

I'm sure I'll be adding more the list. I know I am forgetting things here but I wanted to get them down while I am thinking of them.  I am planning on spring cleaning taking the whole month of March. Just hoping I can get it done in one month.  

I know, I know... boring post. It's mostly for me anyway. :-P

Psalm 6

Psalm 6:1-10 NASB

"O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger, Nor chasten me in Your wrath. Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am pining away; Heal me, O LORD, for my bones are dismayed. And my soul is greatly dismayed; But You, O LORD-how long? Return, O LORD, rescue my soul; Save me because of Your lovingkindness. For there is no mention of You in death; In Sheol who will give You thanks? I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief; It has become old because of all my adversaries. Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping. The LORD has heard my supplication, The LORD receives my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed; They shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed."

See it at YouVersion.com:

http://bible.us/Ps6.1.NASB

Blessings and Joy,

            -:¦:-   ¸.·´¨¨))

                .·´   -:¦:-Kahri ★

        ((¸¸.·´

http://kahri.blogspot.com

Good night?

I reckon it's time for me to go to bed... It's after 3 in the morning.

I don't want to go to bed. It's an admission of defeat:

"Okay, this day got the best of me. I give."

And I don't want to give.

But tomorrow (aka in a few hours) is a new day. And joy comes in the morning.

Let's see.

Unplugged?

I had a blog for many years called: Our Peculiar Life.  It was started to document Kaedra's miraculous life and keep people informed about what was going on with her. After she stabilized and our life became more "normal" the blog morphed into just some this and that about our family. Most of the posts were still put through the filter of who I knew was reading them.  I frequently deleted or never wrote things that I really wanted to because of my audience. They were expecting something out of me, and I didn't always have that something.  Eventually, I gave up on the blog and the pretense that was going on while I was writing it.  It was literally too much work to keep up with keeping the readers happy.

This blog isn't about that.  This is all me.  I'm still peculiar (1 Peter 2:9).  My life is a giant adventure.  I am sitting next to Jesus on a honkingly huge roller coaster and switching between holding on to Him for dear life and raising my hands in the air and whooping with Him.

But this is me unplugged.

un·plug   [uhn-pluhg] Show IPA verb, -plugged, -plug·ging.
verb (used with object) 
1. to remove a plug or stopper from.
2. to free of an obstruction; unclog. 
3. to disconnect (an appliance, a telephone, etc.) by removing a plug: to unplug a toaster. 4. to remove (an electric plug) from an outlet. 


I am removing my stoppers and freeing myself of obstructions. I am no longer clogged by trying to make others happy.  This is me.  

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin

He is Risen

I wrote this for some friends a few months ago. Found it again today and thought I'd post it here to remind MYSELF.

We've all been going through some rough times right now. Sometimes it even seems impossible that things will get better and it is easy to despair!

Just like the disciples did on Good Friday...... they were giving up...all was lost. They were distraught. They had no idea that people would someday refer to that day as "Good" Friday. To them, there was nothing good about it. Sounds like where we are.... there is nothing good about anything we all are going through. Jesus had said "It is finished." They believed it... all was finished. To them, they had lost the most precious and sacred person they had ever known. The amount of hurt and pain and betrayal was so much more than anything we all are going through....even though we are going through a lot.

Saturday had to be horrible. Looking back from this side, we know that all is not lost. We know that there was hope to be held on to. But imagine being there... your friend, your savior was just crucified on a cross in the most undignified and horrible of fashions. All that you have been living for is gone. All that you believed must be wrong. There is nothing left. Don't we feel like that? With financial worries, worries about our children, worries about jobs...doesn't it seem like there is nothing left? that what we believed must be wrong?

Imagine now, if you can, in the middle of this darkness and utter despair, you hear a voice saying, "He is risen." He. Is. Risen. Hope. Joy. Relief. He is risen. All of a sudden, in those three words, everything that happened the past three days is erased. Joy came that morning. Abundant, overwhelming joy encompassing all the pain and sorrow. There was hope. All was well.

We are almost there, guys. We may be in the midst of Good Friday or Holy Saturday... we may be believing all is finished or everything we believed must be wrong. But joy is coming. Hope is coming. Relief is coming. Don't give up and don't forget that He is Risen! Even in the midst of all that we are going through, those three words should give us joy.... it means that there is something else coming. Everything looks dark and bleak, just like it did on Good Friday. But when Jesus said, "It is finished" he meant that the prophecies had been fulfilled, our sins had been taken away, Jesus had paid our price, Jesus had done ALL. What might have sounded to some like it was the end, Jesus meant as the beginning.

And what might seem to be the end to us, Jesus is going to use as a beginning. We are on the crux of our breakthrough. We are awaiting the Good News... the News that He is Risen but remember, we have the blessing of hindsight! We KNOW that he is risen and we need to keep proclaiming it! Proclaim it and praise God for our savior! Our Savior... He has SAVED us!! Hallelujah and Amen!! I know that we are right on the brink of Easter morning. We will all be able to see the stone rolled away and the hope that came in the empty tomb. We will get the breakthroughs that we all need and we will all be able to run back to our friends and say, "He is risen" and hear each other say "He is risen indeed!"

Just a thought

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin

Jacob's Birthday

Yesterday was Jacob's birthday. We made our annual trip to his gravesite and sang him "Happy Birthday" just as we always do. This year was very cute because Ethan did a dance for Jacob, as he was singing. Ethan and Kaedra are asking a lot more questions about Jacob: where he is, why he is there, when they will get to see him, etc.

Here is a picture of the kids....  while you might think it's a little odd to see their big smiles at their brother's grave - remember that they all know that he is in a much better place and that they will get to see him again!

photo.JPG, a photo by Kedlynn on Flickr.

Busy Week

Well I haven't had a lot of time to work on house projects this week! It's been a busy busy week! Tuesday we had a doctor's appointment (Emily got her cast off!), we got pictures taken downtown and Michael and I went on a date. It was a wonderful date.....maybe my favorite ever. Since it was such a beautiful day, we started off by going for a drive. We had a wonderful time driving through Catoosa and seeing an area Michael had never seen (but I had discovered recently).  After we were done, we were driving by the Hard Rock Casino and saw that there was a Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill Restaurant. Having been there in OKC, we knew we liked it so we decided to go there.  We finally found some parking in the crazy casino parking lot and we got inside. It was really cool! Since it is a Hard Rock establishment, there is a lot of rock history in there.  I loved this wall full of quotes from rock songs

There were columns in the middle of the slot machines that had outfits, guitars, pictures, and other memorabilia from musicians and bands. Here are some of my favorites:

 This is Prince's guitar. Not that I am a huge Prince fan, but I love his guitar. Reminds me of something Dr. Seuss.

 The Eagles Guitar from Hotel California. Also some music and the album cover.

 Billy  Gibbons, ZZ Top. 

 Metallica

 Stevie Ray Vaughn

Eric Clapton

The colors in the casino were gorgeous. They had lots of beautiful creations hanging from the ceiling that made the place very pretty.

They also had HUGE posters of different rock legends.

Well  I have to get off of here and get ready for co-op.  I will finish up later!

projects

An Edelweiss

Admittedly, this is an odd looking flower, but I just love them.  

I love the song from The Sound of Music, too. I sing it to my children almost nightly.

So I am feeling better.  I had a really bad month or so. We were going to change my fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue meds over to another med.  I weaned off the one medicine only to find out that I couldn't afford the other medication.  I had to wean back on the first medicine and the whole thing took about a month for me to finally feel good again.  I did learn something important.....  I was thinking the medicine wasn't helping very much. After weaning off of it, I realized how much it really is helping me.  Apparently my FM/CFS has gotten worse over the last year and I really do the medicine to function at this time.  With the medicine, I feel a little better than I was, with occasional flare ups. Without the medicine, I feel like I'm in one big flare up all the time. 

Not only did I have that going on, I also got sick.  AND the kids weren't sleeping hardly at all.  At least I got everything done and over with at once.  Although I wish they didn't have to deal with it, it IS nice to have friends who have similar problems and really understand what I am going through. I read a lot about people who do not have a good support system.  My friends at least understand me and sympathize.  

Now that I am feeling better, I am "waking up" to realize everything is falling apart! Brittany has done a GREAT JOB at keeping things rolling as far as laundry and picking up. Michael has helped out a lot with meals. However, some of the littler stuff (cleaning out the frig, messy cabinets, piles of papers, etc) needs to be done.  

Not only that, but I am waking up to some truths as well.  After talking to my friend April on  Friday, I realized that I really need to move in to my house.  Yes, we are moved in enough to reside here....  but I haven't made it a home yet.  We still have sheets up in the windows, boxes in our rooms, boxes in the garage, and from the outside you probably can't tell if we live here or not.  The reasons are numerous but the crux is, I needed to change my ways.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling good and with a mission.  I went straight to the garage (where we recently had our hot water heater flood) and started going through boxes. I opened and went through every box that was in there. I had to throw quite a bit away because of the flood... the rest I put in piles of whether to take inside, put in the attic or put away in the garage.  By the end of Saturday, I had worked 5 hours in the garage and finished one side of it.  Sunday morning I went back out and worked on the opposite side. I finished up the boxes and organized the workbench. I am not done yet, but mostly it is just bringing stuff inside and taking things to the attic.  Once I am done with that, the garage will be nearly empty and I will be able to park inside again! :-)  Not only that, but, if we had another flood, nothing would get ruined.  

One of the benefits of going through all the boxes was finding "lost" treasures! I found all my fishing stuff and had such fun looking through it all.  I also found many decorations. Now I am looking forward to getting things put up and put away and having our house really be homey again. 

Today I realized that the inside was getting very messy while I was working on the outside. Since Michael and Brittany were both gone, I thought I would surprise them and clean the kitchen and my bedroom.  Unfortunately the kitchen is taking a little more time than I thought. I got about half of it done and it's going to take another day.  It is feeling great to get it done, though.

Now I am feeling a little worn out. I am hoping I just need a nap to get renewed and that I haven't overdone it.  It is so hard not to try to get EVERYTHING done when I am feeling up to working.  I KNOW I should take it easy...but it's hard to do.  

Well that's what's going on here....