Take Ten in '10, Week 39 Reading Schedule

I pray the Lord's blessings on you as we head into the last quarter of the year!

Bible Reading Schedule for September 27 - October 3, 2010

Monday, September 27th
Jeremiah 49, 50
Psalm 35

Tuesday, September 28th
Jeremiah 51, 52
Psalm 36

Wednesday, September 29th
Lamentations 1, 2
Psalm 37

Thursday, September 30th
Lamentations 3-5
Psalms 38

Friday, October 1st
Ezekiel 1-3
Psalm 39

Saturday, October 2nd
Ezekiel 4-6
Psalm 40

Sunday, October 3rd
No reading. Complete any that were missed.

Four Sisters

I borrowed this from Pastor Dad's Facebook page.  I'm sure he won't mind.  :)

A Sneak Peak

Her mommy has been just a little bit too busy the last couple of days to blog but I think that the privilege of  posting the first pictures belongs to Karen. Still, I can't resist a teaser.

Reporting Live From the Hospital

Most of the waiting is over! The baby has been born!

Now we're just waiting to hug her, and squeeze her, and call her... Well, we don't know what we'll call her. Not only does she not have a blog name but she hasn't been given a real name yet either. As her sisters said with a giggle, "Well, we know one of her names anyway," meaning her surname!

This is a REAL Thankful Thursday!

I'm A Frayed Knot

And so is everyone else that lives in this house.  Our nerves are coming unraveled.

• We jump every time the phone rings. 

I've never spoken to so many telemarketers, political volunteers, and charitable foundations.

• We plan our excursions with the utmost care.   

How far are you going?  When will you be back?  Which car are you taking?  Does the car you're leaving in the driveway have enough gas to get Karen and Philip to the hospital?  (We're swapping cars because ours only hold 5 people.  3 people in our family + 3 children from theirs = 1 too many people for either of our vehicles!)

• We make sure someone, anyone is at the house in case Philip has to drop off the girls in a hurry. 

Pepper not included.

• We make sure our cellphones are charged at all times. 

Even when I have Karen with me.  The Bear seems to love this new level of accessibility to his mother/food provider.

• We are feeling extreme pressure.

And we're not even the ones birthing this baby! 


Our stress is nothing compared to Karen's, or Philip's, or Philip's parents who live about 300 miles away in another state so they have my sympathy.

Any day hour now we expect that our newest granddaughter will set events in motion that will signal her  much-anticipated arrival!

Those humorous, nervous sitcom expectant fathers have nothing on us.

The Secret Weapon

Everyone who follows baseball knows that the Cincinnati Reds are having a fantastic year.  Sure, Votto, Bruce, Arroyo, and their teammates get all the press, but this is my favorite player wearing the uniform this year. And take it from me, he's got a wicked fastball!

When "Murphy" Comes to Visit . . .

It makes for some great blog fodder . . .
     But no time to blog!

Such was my week.  Murphy (of "Murphy's Law" fame) came for a prolonged visit this week and I'm hoping that he has now moved on.  I couldn't say for sure, though, because I'm leery of opening the door to the spare bedroom to see if his bags have been packed and removed.

He wreaked a lot of mischievous havoc while he was here:

• Monday he made sure that the morning history class that I am teaching at our co-op would begin its first class without the workbooks.  A quick change of lesson plans resulted.
• Also Monday, in the afternoon physical science class that I am teaching at our co-op I discovered 2 interesting things:  first, that my son's homework for his chemistry class (which was in session elsewhere) was in my briefcase; and second, that having studied both the chemistry and the physical science units the previous week made me present more difficult information to my younger class than what they were expecting.  Those of you homeschooling multi-ages will appreciate this phenomenon and especially those of you familiar with the first chapter of Apologia Chemistry and Apologia Physical Science.  The charts and information in the first module of each book are surprisingly similar. 
• Wednesday morning Pastor Dad got up and left to make a hospital visit, the Bear and I got up to go to a taekwondo lesson, and Karen and Philip showed up unexpectedly with the girls.  I'm positive now that we had been told of the time of her prenatal doctor appointment but it hadn't registered with any of us.  So there I was with no car seats currently installed in my car (I have 3 of varying age-appropriateness even though my youngest child is now 15) and we were all in a hurry to get to our respective destinations.  We quickly switched keys and vehicles.  Almost immediately a game of "Gym bag, gym bag, where are you gym bag?" began. Thinking it to be in my trunk, I ran out to stop my car's departure.  Too late!  Therefore, the Bear went to his lesson without the necessary gear.  We later discovered that the gym bag wasn't even in my car.  Pastor Dad had it in his.
• Also on Wednesday, several minutes later we reloaded the girls in their own vehicle and left for the taekwondo studio.  We were probably going to be 10 minutes early but that was fine because the Bear hadn't changed into his uniform yet.  We hadn't been driving more than 10 minutes of the 30 minute drive when Sweet Pea announced that she had to "go potty."  The current leg of our journey was on a seven-mile long two-lane highway that has few public restrooms.  The nearest one was in a grocery store about half-mile behind us.  Obviously, I turned around.  After the pitstop we returned to the 2-lane road only to find ourselves in a long line behind 2 very large and slow trucks.  As a consequence, we were 10 minutes late instead of early, and we still had to explain why the Bear had no gym bag.
• Thursday while the Bear and I were working through a math problem the phone rang.  I recognized the name on the caller id as one of my lineage society acquaintances so I answered.  After exchanging brief pleasantries she asked me if I'd had my baby yet.  {Insert stunned silence}  Once I found my tongue I asked if she meant my daughter had had her baby yet.  No, she assured me, she meant my baby.  I almost quipped right then, "Sure!  I've had my baby.  Do you want to talk to him?  He's sitting right here doing trigonometry."  {Insert her stunned silence}  I didn't say it.  She obviously had me confused with my daughter, Karen, whose baby is due any day now.  People have confused us for years, but never quite to this extent.
• Thursday evening I attended an information meeting about the Bear's upcoming basketball season.  It was obvious that Murphy had been working hard here, too.  The gym location for practices and games is in question as are practice times.  This Murphy has been a busy guy indeed!

Tomorrow we will be having special homecoming services at our church which will include special preaching and dinner (we're Baptists - it's what we do).  Among other things, I'm making two pies for the meal.  I know that several of my readers will be there so I'm just warning you now.  If something I make doesn't taste good, cut me some slack. Remember that I've had Murphy visiting me this week and I'm not quite convinced that he's gone!  Anything is bound to happen.

Take Ten in '10, Week 38 Reading Schedule

Bible Reading Schedule for September 20 - 26, 2010

Monday, September 20th
Jeremiah 32, 33
Psalm 28, 29

Tuesday, September 21st
Jeremiah 34-36
Psalm 30

Wednesday, September 22nd
Jeremiah 37-39
Psalm 31

Thursday, September 23rd
Jeremiah 40-42
Psalm 32

Friday, September 24th
Jeremiah 43-45
Psalm 33

Saturday, September 25th
Jeremiah 46-48
Psalm 34

Sunday, September 26th
No reading. Complete any that were missed.

Take Ten in '10, Week 37 Reading Schedule

Bible Reading Schedule for September 13 - 19, 2010

Monday, September 13th
Jeremiah 16-18
Psalm 19, 20

Tuesday, September 14th
Jeremiah 19-21
Psalm 21

Wednesday, September 15th
Jeremiah 22, 23
Psalm 22

Thursday, September 16th
Jeremiah 24-26
Psalm 23, 24

Friday, September 17th
Jeremiah 27-29
Psalm 25, 26

Saturday, September 18th
Jeremiah 30, 31
Psalm 27

Sunday, September 19th
No reading. Complete any that were missed.

Field Trip Friday

We visited the Creation Museum yesterday with Karen, Philip, and the granddaughters.  Polly, Tigger, and Sweet Pea rode Gomer (the camel) and met Buddy Davis (the musician and dinosaur sculptor). 

Pastor Dad and I bought the grandchildren a CD of Buddy's music when we took Fen to the museum last month.  I take it that the girls have been listening to it quite a bit because they were able to sing along during yesterday's concert.  Unlike Fen, though, they weren't prone to dancing in the aisles.  :)

It was a beautiful day of not-too-hot-but-not-too-cold-weather.  It wasn't raining either.  We had a nice time walking in the gardens and feeding the animals and fish.

When Pastor Dad, Philip, and the Bear left to attend a science workshop courtesy of Cedarville University,  we females attended the Buddy Davis concert where the girls were thrilled to be situated on the 2nd row.  After the concert they had their picture made with him and also aquired his autograph.

It was a wonderful day!

(Background paper courtesy of Kimeric Kreations.)

Take Ten in '10, Week 36 Reading Schedule

Bible Reading Schedule for September 6 - 12, 2010

Monday, September 6th
Jeremiah 1, 2
Psalm 9, 10

Tuesday, September 7th
Jeremiah 3, 4
Psalm 11, 12

Wednesday, September 8th
Jeremiah 5, 6
Psalm 13, 14

Thursday, September 9th
Jeremiah 7-9
Psalm 15, 16

Friday, September 10th
Jeremiah 10-12
Psalm 17

Saturday, September 11th
Jeremiah 13-15
Psalm 18

Sunday, September 12th
No reading. Complete any that were missed.

Field Trip Friday

This was a different kind of field trip week for us:

• Pastor Dad went to Louisville, KY and participated in the Andrew Fuller Conference at Southern Seminary.
• The Bear is currently on his way to Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains where he's spending the weekend with friends.
• And me? I went shopping!

While Pastor Dad and Philip were gone to Louisville on Monday the Bear and I met Karen and her munchkins at the mall in Florence, KY. We were on a quest for a dress!

This was no ordinary dress. This dress is to be worn by the newest munchkin on her first day in church. It has become a tradition - Polly and Tigger recently reminded me - that Gram buys each grandbaby her first dress. And so began the search for the dress.

This isn't as easy as it sounds. Have you noticed that even the dresses for newborn girls look like they were designed for the Miley Cyrus crowd? Unbelievable! I can't imagine dressing any girl in some of the clothes I saw, but a newborn?!!!

I began to search online for something suitable. I found a few that I liked but I couldn't decide from the grainy pictures that closely resembled the kinds of photos that I am prone to take!  The retailer stated that their Florence store had the dresses in stock. Florence isn't their closest store, but it is the closest that had the dresses.  Comparing the dresses in real life seemed the best option.

We planned our outing to coincide with the two men's absence. I'd say that I felt sorry for the Bear but that isn't true. And he was suitably rewarded for his patience with some new additions to his own wardrobe. The hardest part for him was getting things he liked past the committee of female critics. Come to think of it, that was the hardest part of picking out the baby's dress, too!

The first thing we had to do was d-e-l-i-c-a-t-e-l-y eliminate Sweet Pea's choices. Her three-year-old tastes tended to the gaudy. Big, bright, multi-colorerd polka dots = a three-year-old's dream! Karen made the final decision and it wasn't as hard to convince the rest of the committee of her choice as it was Sweet Pea who held out a while longer for the Bozo the Clown outfit.

I think Baby Girl #4 will look beautiful in her little pink dress on the first day that she attends church. And I can't wait to see her in it! Really, I can't wait to see her! And it won't be too many more weeks before I do.

In other shopping news, I went to the grocery store this week and was handed the following coupon with my cash register receipt:

I don't know about you, but I don't think saving a half-penny is going to convince me to try this, or any, product!