Email from Joseph

He is practicing sending emails and typing at school.  He sent this to Ben!  J

 

Hillo dad  this  josep  today  meed   good   God  help  yuo  I,love  yuo  MY  dad  today  lunch  I,like  taenkyuo  dad  I,love yuo  so much

We're on a roll...

Seriously... what is going on around here?

Jacob and Danny had baseball tonight while Ben drove Joseph to soccer in Richland. I had 5 kids, he had 1 - wouldn't you know tonight would be the night of a very dramatic baseball game! Jacob was playing 3rd base when a ball bounced and caught him HARD in the nose. At first I thought he was OK (probably because he tried to make the play after the injury) but then there were 3 people surrounding him and I was running. I got to him and saw blood pretty much pouring from his nose. His shirt was soaked with blood and he was looking a little woozy. I helped him off the field and we administered ice and nose squeezing and other important things. I was so glad that one of the moms on the team is a nurse and also has a son in Kindergarten with Jacob so she knew all about him and was right there with me. After about 10 minutes I moved him over to the chairs and had him rest. He was dying to get back in the game and I was not about to let him go - he was still bleeding. After another 10 minutes or so he was ready, and he JUMPED out of the chair when I told him he could go back in! He finished out the game just fine and we headed to McDonalds for an ice cream - I really needed it! :)

When we got home I helped with showers and started soaking Jacob's clothes in the sink. While I was busy with that Addy was busy with nail polish and long wearing lipstick - all over her lips and fingers! I waited until she was sleeping to get this picture!

I sent everyone to bed...

Oh yeah, AND I dropped the bike rack thing on Ben's foot and he is limping and it is bruised - at the rate I am going, he will probably hurt it again tomorrow and will neet to be in a cast for 10 weeks! :)

You are welcome!

I am so glad that you all got such a good chuckle at my expense :)! My babysitter and good friends Alyssa responded to an email about how much I owe her for watching the kids with this:

I had 28 hours, and you owe me like $40 for groceries/haircut. Did you want me to contact Jan to have her pay me, Oh Blessed Mother of 6????? =0) Totally kidding.

My friend Lisa said:

just thought I should tell you that my stomach hurts from laughing. I am laughing becuase I am just so thankful that I haven't done that YET. I say "yet" because it is just inevitable.

Lisa continued her email about how she counts her kids at the grocery store... WE DO THAT ALL THE TIME! 1 2 3 4 5 6, sigh and relax... 1 2 3 4 5 6, sigh and relax... 1 2 3 4 5 6, sigh and relax... 1 2 3 4 5 6, sigh and relax... You get the idea! I am sure people think I have a tic disorder because I seriously do it all day long. Even at work I think about where I dropped everyone off and count again to be sure I didn't leave anyone at home! :)

Anyways... I am still here and have not been arrested. That is a good thing because for some strange reason we are having a Yard Sale this weekend. Didn't we just do one??? YES!!!! Are we insane???? YES!!! But somehow there is stuff left and with 6 kids we need some more space so there are a few things we should/could get rid of. There were also several things we forgot to take over to Jan and Dan's for the last Yard Sale and since there was no room to put it :) they didn't get anything out for the last one . Our goal is to make $200 - start praying, friends! We are going to the beach at the end of June and we are hoping to make enough to pay for our trip to the zoo on the way down and 1/2 the gas money! I cannot wait to take the kiddos to the zoo and the beach!!! I am definitely more excited than they are! :)

Not a REAL woman

I seriously thought I was keeping it all together! Each day someone asks me a question like, "How are you surviving as a mom of 6?" And each time I smile and tell people it is easier than I thought it would be and that everything is going really well! I truly believe that it was harder to go from 1 kid to 2 than it was to go from 3 kids to 6. Language issues and all! I was even doing super well yesterday when Ben had school board and left at 3:30. I thought 'NO PROBLEM." I fed the kids, did homework, picked up the kitchen, got Joseph ready for his 1st soccer practice, got the other 2 boys ready for baseball, started laundry and left the house to take everyone where they needed to go. And I still thought all was well.

I dropped the boys off at practice, took Joseph to Grandpa's so that Grandpa could drive him to Richland for practice and then went to Fred Meyer to get gas in the van. I punched in my number to get my discount, pushed the button to pay at the window (I had 2 gift cards I was going to use) and happily filled up my COMPLETELY EMPTY van. It wasn't until the van was filled that I looked for my purse. It wasn't there. In one of those sickening moments when you are feeling both stupid and horrified all at once I remembered that I had left it in the Suburban and I also remembered that I had told myself at least 3 times to get it out of the Suburban before practices... OH.MY.GOODNESS!

I walked to the window and when Ken (the Fred Meyer gas station attendant) looked at me I started babbling incoherently. It went something like this, "I forgot my purse in the other car I can't believe I did this it has never happened before I know Russ the manager he will vouch for me I don't know what to do I don't have any ID I can't believe this happened and I have to go get the boys from practice and my husband is at a meeting and I can't believe I did this and what do you want me to do I have never done this before I thought I had it and I am so very sorry..." He sighed (very loudly) and told me that he had to register it as a "drive off" but as long as I come back soon to pay for it, it SHOULD be fine. (Meaning the police won't be looking for me - yet) He told me that he was getting off at 7 and I should come back before then.

I was panicking slightly as I got back into the van (the 3 girls were completely oblivious to the whole thing and were happily watching Mermadia). How would I get the boys, and get my purse and be back to Fred Meyer by 7? I called my most wonderful Mother-In-Law and asked meekly, "Are you going to Fred Meyer soon by any chance?" She told me that she was actually on her way to see Grandma and asked what I needed. I told her the story (probably without punctuation) and she laughed - sort of. She said she would go right now to pay for it and then go see Grandma.

I guess Ken was maybe slightly irritated when she got back to pay. He did not laugh when she told him that, "my daughter-in-law wants you to know she isn't a lunatic." He just responded, "Russ says Hi." Jan asked, "Russ who?" and Ken told her, "Oh, she will know".

My own Grandma would actually be horrified by this story - I think about her EVERYTIME I leave my purse. When we used to watch Dukes of Hazard and Daisy would get arrested (again) she would ALWAYS say, "That Daisy Duke is not a REAL woman! Real women never go ANYWHERE without their purse!"

Jan is holding onto the receipt. Ken told her to, just in case. Gas theft and "Drive Offs" are serious business around here so if you see the police hauling me off - just call my mother-in-law, she has the receipt.

When I called Jan this morning she asked right away if there were any other bills she needed to pay... :) Funny.

Prayer Time

Each morning, as I drive the 4 little kids up to drop off Lilly and Addy at the babysitter we say our morning prayers. We use the little tiny cow farm on the way as our reminder. It is our time to pray for our day and our friends and the girls ALWAYS thank God for "the sun and the rain." Addy made sure we didn't forget today when she said, "Mom, we need to say our pray real quick!" :) I am guessing that I say that everyday without knowing it... "Hey, it's time to pray real quick!"

I must now remind the kids that we are praying QUICKLY because we could probably drive all the way to Finley and they would still be praying... what a fabulous problem to have!

In case I haven't said it lately -

I LOVE having 6 kids!

Nap Time

I love nap time...
I mean I REALLY LOVE nap time.














It is not quite the same with big kids at home, but it is still pretty wonderful! The girls take naps, the boys USUALLY read books and rest and Ben and the big kids often work on a project or visit Grandpa.

Life is GOOD!

Road Trip

We took our first road trip today! We had our first Post Placement visit with our social worker who lives in Spokane. She works from home and was willing to let us come on a Sunday! The plan was to leave our house at 7:30 and get to Aly's at 10:00. We actually didn't leave until 8:05 because it takes a long time to get 8 people out of the house and we forgot Addy's shoes so we had to come home to get them. Thankfully we were only 2 miles down the road when I said to Ben, "Did you get Addy's shoes?" He responded with, "I thought YOU got Addy's shoes." This happens to us all the time. :) Once we were at Aly's the kids were sent to play and all was going well. We answered all her questions, were told we were doing a great job... etc. etc. It was super low key and was really good to just get a chance to talk about all the transitions going on. She was being paid to listen and has heard it all before - it was great! The next part of the plan was to leave Aly's and go see Ben's cousins. The kids were SO excited to see them and couldn't wait! Addy had been asking every 10 minutes when we would see them... But just as we were winding things up Marta came to get me to tell me Danny needed me. He was green. It wasn't pretty. After several minutes of good-bye's we started loading into the car where Danny promptly jumped out and threw up all the over their street - and maybe a bit on my shoes. Poor guy! Change of plans. Do we go straight home (it is a 2+ hour drive)? Do we stop for lunch? Do we go to our cousins (and infect them)? After a bit of DISCUSSION we decided to try out Cabela's so the other kids could at least do something a little fun and we could grab lunch too. It was about 6 minutes down the road (in the other direction) but well worth the stop. Danny slept in the car and Joseph has a new favorite store! The kids loved it. Ben REALLY loved it! We will go back. We made it the rest of the way home with no more throw up. And really, it wasn't a bad "First Road Trip" after all.

I thought I was smart!

I know it is a combination between a cultural thing and a teenage thing... but it drives me pretty crazy! I have a Master's Degree in Administration - I am NOT stupid!

Really it is getting better everyday. Really. I think. Or maybe I just got enough sleep last night that I don't feel quite so stung by it. "IT" refers to my oldest son telling me "NO, Mom" on pretty much everything. Not when I ask him to do something, but when I show him how to do something, he thinks I am showing him wrong. When I helped him mow the lawn last week, "No, Mom! I know Mom!" When we played Hide N Seek in the house yesterday too.

Maybe he thinks that I think he is stupid. Could be... I guess I should stop being so sensetive and watch very closely how I talk to him. I am so used to talking to 7-year-olds as my oldest that I suppose I could be talking the same way to my new oldest. This is the same young man who fed his family and worked and went to school. I suppose he probably doesn't appreciate me treating him like a 7-year-old. Hmmm...

OK, so maybe I am not so smart after all!

Reading

Last night Jacob was reading to me while I was cooking dinner! The book was something about a Boat that floats but while he was reading I had to run upstairs because I heard A LOT of water flowing! I walked into the bathroom to find an overflowing toilet with Addy standing sheepishly next to it! She had gone potty on her potty chair and decided to put the potty AND an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet. She then flushed several times! So I quickly plunged out the toilet (so glad we bought a plunger for EACH bathroom), cleaned up the water, took the 5 soaking towels to the laundry room, started the towels in the washer, put a new roll of toilet paper on the holder, straightened up the bathroom, had a talk with Addy about toilet paper, put her infront of the TV and went back downstairs to read with Jacob. As he read to me I would get things out of the fridge for dinner, help him with a word or two, chop veggies and then read some more. It was working really well until I was stirring dinner and couldn't stop and he got stuck on this sentence:

I will ride my bike and see a red hen.

Jacob read, "I will...."

I said, "Spell it for me honey"

Jacob read, "I will spell it for me honey my bike..."

I stopped cooking and sat with him while he finished reading his book! :)

So very sad

Maria Sue Chapman 2003 - 2008Photo by Mary Beth Chapman

Last night Maria Sue Chapman, adopted and youngest daughter of Mary Beth & Steven Curtis Chapman, was killed in a tragic accident in the family driveway. She was LifeFlighted to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital but for only reasons God can explain she went home to Him... not back to Franklin as we all so desperately wanted.

We are all humbled by the incredible outpouring of love and support at this difficult time. I have watched you, the Chapman friends, overwhelm website servers and jam phone lines with your gracious words and heartfelt prayers. The Chapman family is so grateful. Obviously, we cherish your prayers for all in the Chapman family, and we welcome you passing this along to others to pray and encouraging them to sign up for Steven's e-mail list to receive continuing updates.
If you'd like to express your condolences and get a glimpse of this beautiful little girl through a short video clip, click here.

In lieu of flowers, the Chapmans request any gifts be directed to Shaohannah's Hope, click here.

In closing, as many of you know, the song "Cinderella" was written by Steven to help him (and us all) grab a hold of the special moments with those we love we might otherwise rush by. It was inspired by a bath time that Steven tried to "hurry," Maria and her sister Stevey Joy were not exactly cooperating. : ) Let us all be reminded again today what Steven compels us to with the lyric of this special song.

Maria, we already miss you so much, and we only take comfort in The Hope that assures us we'll see you again soon.

On behalf of the Chapman team and family, Jim Houser (Manager)