So . . . It's Been Awhile

Yes, a new post - finally. I know, I'm such a slacker. I just looked at the date on the last post and saw that it has been more than three months since I've posted. Oops! I have no idea why I didn't post in December. Holidays, I guess, but I don't remember too much insanity. So no real excuses (other than four little ones).

January I have two excuses. First, I found the Flylady. She teaches people how to FLY - to Finally Love Yourself. Well, I don't really need to FLY, because I have Jesus, the author of Love! But, I could use some help to organize my weekly/monthly/yearly cleaning, and some definite help on getting rid of clutter. You know that other half of my garage (and master bedroom) that is boxes of kids' clothes that I was saving until Bethany was born and proved that she was a girl like the ultrasound said. And all the boxes of decorations and memorabilia and who knows what that haven't been opened in at least two years, and some not since I packed them up when I graduated college. Okay, if it hasn't been missed in more than ten years, I don't really think I need to keep toting it around!! Especially heading into the military where we'll be moving every two to three years. Crazy! Second, I finally made the decision to homeschool my kids. Yup, I'm going rogue (and currently reading Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue, so that phrase is stuck in my head). Everybody thinks I'm crazy. But we already knew that, so what's the deal? I've spent at least half of my time the past two months researching everything homeschool from styles to curriculum to how to pull my kid out of the public school system that he's been a part of for the past seven months or so to what direction to go in to get him speech therapy to - you get the picture. I'm excited, though. Still don't have all the details figured out, but I do have lesson plans for the next year and a half (the rest of kindergarten and 1st grade for Aiden and Mikayla). I'm going to try and teach them together at the same level. We'll see how it goes. I think Mikayla can do it, but I'm not going to force her to go faster than she's truly ready.

February, Philip and I spent the first three days in Atlanta at the headquarters of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in information sessions and interviews for Philip to be endorsed to become a US Navy Chaplain. We flew back into Orlando International Airport (MCO) about 7:00pm on Wednesday the third and I flew out of MCO at about 7:00am the next morning with my parents and my kids. I was home about eight hours. We headed up to Wisconsin for my Grandma Baeten's 90th birthday. What a special time that was up there in cold country! The kids still talk about sledding in the snow and seeing Grandma Bacon - yes, you read that right, they pronounce it Bacon. Crazy kids! Too cute! So when I finally stayed in Orlando for more that eight hours at a time, I was already a good week or so behind in everything from laundry to life. Then the kids and I got sick. Nothing horrible, but major headcolds that resulted in a double ear infection and nebulizer treatments three+ times a day for Aiden, single ear infection for Mikayla, and horrible, nasty, traumatizing coughs for all four kids. And I was just flat-out miserable. Thankfully Philip never got it.

So now it's the second week of March, Aiden is off all meds, Mikayla still has half her prescription to go, and everyone is sounding and feeling much better. Bethany is nine months old and as tiny as ever, but babbling up a storm and cruising all around the furniture. She'll walk holding onto one hand, but doesn't even consider moving her feet if she's not holding onto something. Which is fine by me. That means she's at least a little slower than her brothers and sister.

On the 18th or 19th of February amidst all the illnesses, Philip got the paperwork saying he was endorsed by NAMB to seek a commission as a Navy Chaplain!! His recruiter is going to set up an appointment for him to go to MEPS (medical physical for the military) and have an interview with an O-4 Chaplain, both of which are necessary to complete his application, sometime in the next week or so. Then on April 13 he is scheduled for his CARE Board. Basically he will fly up to Washington DC to stand before about half-a-dozen bigwigs in the military and answer all their questions as to why he wants to be a Navy Chaplain. Or so I gather. Obviously I (and he) will understand better afterward. Hindsight will definitely be 20-20 in this case. From there, within that next month the board will make their final decision and hopefully they will offer Philip a commission with the US Navy.

So I'm sort of caught up from February's insanity and still trying to track down info on speech therapy and homeschool and how the two shall mesh. And cleaning out my clutter - made several trips to Goodwill already. I can't wait until I can see my garage floor again. And I can't wait until my older two kids can read. And I can't wait until my third finally realizing how much more comfortable life can be when you actually use the toilet rather than the diaper, pull-up or underwear as a toilet.

And maybe I can actually post on a regular basis again.

My question now is how long it will be until the few readers I have actually realize that I have a brand new post up . . . :P

(And if you haven't seen or heard about Philip's Navy Blog tracking our (his) road through the Navy Chaplain application process and our future time in the Navy as Chaplain and Chaplain Spouse, the link to it is on the right.)