Welcome Home Dad!

After a year and a half of being away, Dad has finally finished all of his overseas duties, and has returned home.
He was scheduled to fly in yesterday, at 11:00 but called us that evening and said that due to plane problems his flight was canceled.

We were all pretty disappointed especially mom, but he called this morning at 5:00 and said that he had landed in the States, and would be landing at the Sea-Tac, airport around 11:15.
We thought that mom would be the only one going to pick him up since Daniel was at work and couldn't take the rest of us, but we called him and Brian graciously let him go.

When we walked into the airport we were reading the arrivals sign and trying to figure out where he would be and which baggage claim we should go to, then as we turned around we saw someone that looked like him coming up behind us, and Sill started running towards him then looked again and said "that's not him" it was, he just looked a little different with a mustache!
Mom hadn't arrived yet so he went to change back into his uniform before she got there, then we all had a joyous reunion.

After walking mom and dad to their car we loaded up in the van and came home.
They will be staying in a Hotel for the next 2 days before returning home.

Thank you all for your prayers and support, we appreciate all of your care and love.
May the Lord bless you all for being faithful friends.


(Mom and Dad have the camera so I can't upload the pictures till they get home:)

Boy's Birthday Celebrations

Why God Made Little Boys

"God made a world out of his dreams.

Of magic mountains, oceans, and streams,

Prairies and plains and wooded land.

Then paused and thought"I need someone to stand,

On top of the mountains, to conquer the seas,

Explore the plains, and climb the trees.

Someone to start out small and grow,

Sturdy and strong like a tree" and so

He created boys, full of spirit and fun.

To explore, and conquer, to romp and run,

With dirty faces and banged up chins.

With couragous hearts and boyish grins.

And when He had completed the task He'd begun,

He surely said "That's a job well done."~ Arthur Knight

Every Year after Thanksgiving, Isaacs Birthday marks the beginning of our celebrations of the boys birthdays.

November 23, we celebrated Isaac's 4th Birthday.
We made him Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast, and he talked to Dad on the phone while he opened one of his presents.
We asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, and he said we should put up the Christmas Tree, so Stephen and the twins brought down all the decorations and we got everything ready for Christmas.
Later in the afternoon, Mom Sill and I, went shopping for his gifts and birthday movie, and after his nap he opened them.
Out of all the gifts he got, his favorite was the camouflage pajamas, and slippers.

He was so excited he said"this is what I've been waiting for my whole life, now I can match daddy"
Daniel Stephen and I stayed up till 10:00 putting together his Lego castle, and Isaac helped until he finally got so tired he fell asleep.

December 3rd, the week after Isaacs Birthday was Stephens 17th.

Thursday after breakfast, Mom took him shopping and out to dinner.

On Friday he opened up his presents, a few of his favorites were: Purple French Cuff shirt with Cuff Links, and Purple tie (yes my brothers believe in wearing purple), Orange Ski jacket, and gloves.

Daniel rented "The Last Samuri" one of Stephens favorite movies, and after the children went to bed we watched it, and had popcorn.

January 7th, was Kenneth Lees 8th Birthday, as it happened to be on a Monday nights we had Symphony Practice.

While we practiced Daniel took him to the warehouse (our filming location for next week) and after we finished we took him to Dairy Queen, and got him a Blizzard.

Tuesday after breakfast he opened presents, his favorites were a Lego castle, and a BB gun.

Later in the afternoon, mom took him shopping and to "The Keg" his favorite steakhouse.

While they were gone we decided that we needed a little fun too, and had a tea party.

I made Salad, Chicken filled cream puffs, and Puff pastry, and Priscilla made Chocolate Pudding.

After eating we watched 1/2 an hour of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice, then finished the evening with a few english country dances.

The next morning we woke up to snow so Stephen got out everyones snow clothes, and I took them outside to make snow forts and have snowball fights.

I'll post pictures later.

New Years Celebrations

When the Bryans were leaving our house after Christmas, they invited us to come to their house on Sunday, so after church we followed them home.
Leanne gave us a tour of the house, then we talked for a while in her room before the boys came and asked us to play games with them.
After our 2nd round it was time to help get dinner ready, Mrs. Bryan made Chicken Catchetorie, and Leanne made salad.
After Dinner and dishes, we watched a short movie and had ice-cream, then we talked for a while longer before it was time to go.
Priscilla and Leanne thought that it was New Years Eve, so 9:00 seemed early, then they went and looked at the calendar and saw that they were a day off.



New Years Eve mom called and invited the Pollocks over, thankfully Pastor was feeling well enough so that they were able to come.
They brought Chicken, Potatoes, and apple crisp, and I made Rolls, Roast, greenbeans, carrots, and broccoli salad.
Sarah and I had fun grilling the chicken on the porch, even though it was freezing cold out there.
Daniel thought we wouldn't have enough propane to grill it all, so he and half of the boys piled into the truck, and headed off to town to get the other propane tank filled.
We were finishing the last pieces just as they got back, but they had a fun trip anyway.
After dinner, and cleanup, the children played restaraunt, while the rest of us played Dutch Blitz.
Abigail and Esther were the youngest on a team but age has no limits around here, and they were the first to reach 100 points, winning the whole round.



After that we sang hymns for a while, then had dessert, and hot cocoa.
Even though the parents had planned on leaving at a decent hour, they stayed till 11:30, and we decided that it was already the New Year in half of the States so it would be fine if they left a little before midnight.
After they left we put the Children to bed then waited up a little while longer and after the clock rang, we all went to bed.























This morning we had of course, Waffles and Strawberries, and almost everyone wore their new OU (Oklahoma University Football) shirts that Grandma had gotten.
Every year she sends the boys one, but this year she went to every store in Oklahoma City, and got us all one, so we wore them to honor all her efforts.




















Have a blessed, and a wonderful New Year!

Christmas Celebrations

One of our Christmas Eve traditions that started when mom was growing up, is to have Waffles, with strawberries and whip cream, sausage, eggs, bacon, eggnog, and orange juice, for dinner.

It usually takes about an hour to make enough waffles for everyone because we only have one waffle iron, so this year mom, and Stephen went and bought 3 more, and with all 4 going we had 17 hot waffles in about 15 minutes.
Dad called during dinner, and we discussed girl names for the baby, we couldn't agree on any so we had to stop, but a few we came up with were: Clarissa, Elisabeth, Eliza, Ruby, Alexis, and Catherine.
After dinner everyone opened a present and we all played with the games we had gotten.





On Christmas morning, we had our traditional: Cinnamon rolls, eggs, and cocoa with whip cream, then after an hour of everyone getting dressed and ready, we opened our presents.

















About a month before Christmas everyone draws a name of who to buy presents for, and this year I had Kenneth- Lee.
He loves to draw, paint, and color, so I got him: Markers, 72 different colored pencils, paint brushes, two books full of graphing paper, and a metal chest to put it all in.





When all the presents had been opened, we played games, and tried out our new gifts for a few hours, before our friends the Bryans came over.




Everyone had a great time of playing: Catch Phrase, Dominoes, and Cosmic Catch, before dinner was finally ready.
For dinner, we had: Ham with brown sugar glaze, Sweet potato's, Mashed potato's and gravy, Rolls, Green beans, Cranberry sauce, and Sparkling grapejuice.(thats what the bottles on the table are)



















After dinner Leanne and I played Chutes and Ladders with the children, while the boys washed dishes, and the parents talked.















A little while later we played 3 full rounds of Dutch Blitz(a card game) a full round is when someone reaches 100 points, we played with two people on each team and my team won every time.




After games, we had pumpkin pie which the twins had made, and at around 10:30 it was time for the Bryans to leave.






Dad called again and talked for a little while, and after putting the children to bed, we olders played an inside game of catch that Daniel had gotten for me.
We all had a wonderful day, but are looking forward to an even better Christmas next year, with Dad and the new baby!

IT"S A GIRL!!!!! :)

Despite my predictions(which have always been proven wrong) mother just finished with her ultrasound, and we were informed that it is indeed a girl.
We were all sure this was going to be a boy, so when mom called and told me, we were all pretty shocked, except for Daniel who said he thought it would be a girl just because everyone else thought other-wise.
Isaac was a little dissapointed to find out that he's getting a little sister to take care of instead of a little brother to play with, but is nevertheless excited.
Josephine's first comment was "but we gave away all the baby girl clothes" to which she also commented "well I guess we'll just buy new ones" yes she's very logical.
Stephen, said "mom will just have to have twin boys after this so that the boys can catch up".
The twins and Kenneth decided that the best thing to do would be paint pictures of their new sister, so that they'll have an idea of what they're excited about.
As for me, well you can never have too many girls in the house, the more the merrier!

Nutrition Class

This past Weekend, Rachel, and Jaime Rowland, Katy Sterland, and I attended our second class for becoming Certified Nutritionists.
Among some of the homework in our Anatomy Book, I really enjoyed learning about Chemistry: the atomic number of different atoms, the formulas for each molecule, and the structure of protons, neutrons, and electrons, among many other things.
We have class every other month from 8:30-6:30.


On Saturday, we learned about Digestion: proper function, and dysfunction, what causes acid reflux, bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, and illiocecal valve problems, then we learned the different functional evaluation points to use when testing our clients for these problems, as well as the supplements that will help to heal and clear them up.
After they taught us each one we had to practice on each other, Jaime practiced her palpating(gentle pressure) on me and Katy, and after poking and tickling me I told her she needed to work on her "gentle touch."

After a few more lessons we had an hour and a half for lunch break before returning to learn about Blood Sugar Handling, glycogen, glucose, glucogenesis, type 1 Diabetes, and type 2 Diabetes, as well as all the testing points and supplements to go along with it.
Katy thought we should all eat ice-cream so that we could be good class examples of bad blood sugar handling, well her plan worked because when they palpated my pancreas it was a little painful, but nothing extreme.

Sunday, we learned about Adrenals, the tests for Adrenal function/dysfunction, how to take blood pressure, how to do the raglans test, and the chapman reflex for adrenal function.
After practicing those tests the teacher asked who all had Adrenal failure, it turned out to be everyone except for me.
After all our practicing we had an hour more of lectures, then they told us our homework assignments for the January class, and we were able to go home.
Now all we have to do between Christmas and next class is homework, reading, and practice.

Thanksgiving Celebrations

Quite a few weeks before Thanksgiving Day, we received a call from Mrs. Pollock saying they wanted to be the first to have us over for Thanksgiving.
So after a little discussion it was decided that they would would come over to our house and we would feast and celebrate together.

While I got the Turkey ready, and prepared some of the other food, Stephen and the children set the table,lit candles, and filled water cups.
At around 12:30, the Pollocks finally arrived, and we were ready for the fun to begin.
While Sarah helped me finish making rolls, Daniel and the parents sat around and talked, and the children all played games in the boys room.
Sarah and I joined in the games for a little while before going back to the Kitchen to finish the rest of the food.

When everything was finished and had been set out on the table, we called everyone downstairs, and after the prayer we were ready to eat.











We had Sweet Potato Sufflet'(our favorite part of Thanksgiving food),Mashed potatoes and gravy, Rolls, Cornbread stuffing, Cranberry gelatin salad, greenbeans, and of course Turkey.
During dinner we all had a wonderful time talking about different things, and thouroughly enjoyed being able to have fun and fellowship together.

When we finished eating, we left the parents to talk at the table, and while the boys did dishes and dinner cleanup, Sarah, Priscilla, and I, took all the children for a stroll around the neighborhood.
We had quite a laugh seeing 6 or 7 cars lining the neighbors driveways,










Sarah commented on how this is the time of year most people are frantic because they have to cook a meal for 12 whole people!
humorous to think that wast what's normal for us is stressful for others.






After our walk, we waited for the boys to finish then we were ready to play games.


We first tried playing a game called Celebrity, which was basicly the same as charades, but instead of acting out celebrity's(which none of us really know) we acted out different friends, and families.









When we tired of that game, we started to play Mad Gab, then our mothers told us we needed to come into the living room so we could all play a few rounds of Catch Phrase, we always play boys against the girls,(and the girls happened to win every time).
After playing that for an hour and a half, we all voted on a new game, and the suggestion of Psychiatrist was agreed upon by all.











How to play:One or two people agree to be the Doctor(Psychiatrist) and leave the room, while the rest of the group come up with a problem,(problem meaning everyone thinks they're something or someone other than who they really are)
and the Doctors have to ask questions until they figure it out.
While everyone was thinking, Sarah and I served up the dessert.
When it was Sarah, and My turn, they were all their favorite piece of dessert.
When it was Daniel and Stephens turn, all the girls were Grace, and all the boys were Isaac.
When it was Stephen and Jonathans turn they really took it seriously, and even got outfitted for the occasion, with clipboards, note pads, and aprons, they had to figure out that we were all someone from the Puyallup Fair, and exactly which job we all had.
When it was Mom and Mrs. Pollocks turn we were all illegal immigrants.
When it was Pastor Pollock and Mrs. Pollocks turn, We were all the person on our left.
When it was Priscilla and Sarah's turn we were all different characters from the Reformation, and after Sarah figured that out, we made them state exactly which Character we were, I was John Tetzel, Stephen was Mary Queen of Scotts,David was Fredrich the wise, Daniel and Jonathan were both John Knox, Mom and Mrs. Pollock both chose to be Luthers wife, and Pastor Pollock was Pope Leo X, it was quite fun getting into our Characters and especially Mr. Pollock was the most humorous to listen to.
We played until almost 11:00 when Pastor Pollock proclaimed that it was time to depart.
After loading everything into their van and saying our goodbyes, they departed and after talking over the events of the day we all retired to our beds and a good nights sleep.