So Much Going On, Part Two

Well we got back from NJ Monday night, and Tuesday afternoon Phil and I drove to Dayton and flew to Kansas City, MO. The children reluctantly stayed at home under the care and supervision of their grandparents. Phil had a job interview in Garnett, Kansas for a job that would have been his dream job. This was exactly what he wanted and was so excited about this possibility. Sadly he ended up not being offered the job. Not only that, but we weren't officially notified of their decision. We found out by reading the minutes of their Board of Education meeting where they approved the new hire. The only reason I mention this trip at all was because we got to see Julie and Travis! They drove 4 hours from their home in Nebraska just to spend the afternoon in Kansas City and have dinner with us. Then they turned right around and went home. I was so touched that they were willing to make that long drive just for a day. We had a fabulous rib dinner at a local restaurant and talked for hours and hours! It was so good to see them and get to spend some time together without my kids running around interrupting.

We got home on Thursday and headed into the busy holiday/birthday weekend. Memorial Day weekend is typically busy for us. May 30 is Phil's birthday and May 31 is Matthew's. For Phil's birthday, we couldn't do much to celebrate. The lack of income will do that. But Nathan (Phil's best friend) and his wife came into town for the day Saturday and we were able to go to dinner together just the 4 of us. My best friend watched the kids for us. Yay! Getting to spend time with friends and have a quiet, grownup dinner is a rare occurrence in our house. This ended up being a perfect way to celebrate Phil's birthday.

Matt's birthday fell on Memorial Day this year. My baby turned 5!! I can't even believe he starts kindergarten in the fall. Everyone was right when they told me to enjoy my kids while they are little because they grow up fast. Matthew is a bundle of energy that NEVER sits still. He is on the go from the time he wakes up (usually 6:30 or 7 a.m.) until he finally collapses in bed at night. He likes to play pretend and will set up his action figures, tell me who I get to be and even tell me what to say. Being the youngest, he isn't often in control of anything so he especially loves this. He also loves reading books. Well he can't read yet, but he likes being read to. Bedtime especially is a long process because I end up reading 5 or 6 stories to him. How can I turn down the chance to snuggle with my baby boy and read stories? He certainly won't beg me for this forever so I will enjoy it while I can. He is quite good at playing games on the computer actually. It amazes me to see him using the mouse and playing games, just like the big kids. So much has changed over the years. I had never heard of a computer when I was his age! (I know that makes me sound old) He also loves to be silly and clown around. If something he does gets a laugh, he'll do it over and over again.

For his birthday we didn't have a big party or anything. We had an ice cream cake with presents at home the splurged and had dinner at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate. On the way home, we stopped at Walmart so he could spend the birthday money he'd received from various relatives. Boy did he have fun picking out toys. And it was such a hard decision too. He wanted everything and was so disappointed when I told him we could only buy a couple things. But I think he loved the experience of getting to pick out some of his presents himself.

I was going to post a recent picture of him, but don't seem to have many recent pictures of him on my computer. I'll try to add one later.

So Much Going On, Part One

So where have I been lately that has prevented me from blogging? Well we spent a long weekend in Runnymede, New Jersey with Phil's family the weekend before Memorial Day. His grandfather was the pastor of a church there for 55 years. The church was celebrating its 100th anniversary and invited the whole family to come back for the celebration. Lots of firsts that weekend: the 1st really long car trip for the kids (12 hours, including stops at every rest stop between Cincinnati and NJ), 1st time seeing NJ (the kids and I had never been there before). The most fun 1st though was the trip to Ocean City on Saturday with Phil's cousins and their families. It was cloudy and a little cool (only about 65 degrees), but that didn't stop the kids from playing and splashing in the waves and having a fabulous time! I loved seeing the Boardwalk and checking out all the shops. We ate lunch at a place claiming to have the World's Largest Pizza. One pizza measured 26" across. It was HUGE!! But we still managed to polish one off. Yummy!

The church graciously opened up the parsonage for us to stay. This was the house Phil's mom grew up in and Phil visited when he was younger. It was so fun hearing stories from the family about adventures in the house. Friday night there were 19 of us crammed into that smallish house (the 6 of us, plus Phil's sister and 2 of his cousins, plus their spouses and kids). Saturday night we had "only" 14 of us there and Sunday night it was down to only 9 of us. The 6 of us Hahns slept in 1 room on the floor, which was another first. We did manage to get some sleep, although the kids enjoyed the adventure of it more than Phil and I did (we are TOO OLD to be sleeping on the floor!)

The church service Sunday was amazing! Phil's mom played the piano beautifully, his uncle preached a terrific sermon and his cousin sang. It was a tiny church and I think that people related to Phil made up more than half the congregation. At one point the current pastor of the church asked people to share blessings. Rose, David and even Matthew each stood up and shared something. After the service, the church had put together a potluck for us. There was so much food there, including this garlic bread that was absolutely, hands-down the best garlic bread ever anywhere in the world! I ate far too much of course, but the kids evidently didn't because they were hungry a couple hours later.

Monday morning we headed home after a fun, but exhausting weekend. The car ride home was much easier than the trip out. Not any shorter, but at least the kids didn't fight as much! The pictures I posted are of us at the ocean, Phil's mom playing the piano at church, the huge pizzas we ate in Ocean City and a group shot of the whole gang of us that made it back east for this fabulous weekend!

Boy I'm tired!

It's been a busy day for me today. To other people, this may not seem busy, but for me, who rarely does anything these days, this is busy. Today was Muffins with Mom. This is a tradition that started last year at my kids' school. The first graders invite their moms in the Friday before Mother's Day for muffins, juice and a little program. I went with David last year and this year was Rachel's turn. It was such fun. Rachel was so thrilled to have me in her classroom. I ate a small store-bought muffin, drank a small cup of store-bought juice and sat in a small chair. She even had presents for me that she made herself. One was a corsage pin. It was a conglomeration of colored tissue paper glued to cardboard with a pin on the back. It was maybe 2 inches big and very colorful. She also made me a book. Not just paper stapled together, but an honest-to-goodness hardbound book. I don't know how they do it, but David made me one at school last year for Mother's Day/Muffins with Mom. Each page had a picture she'd drawn along with something that she liked about me. Here's some examples: " "My mom is a teacher. She teaches me to color in the lines," "My mom is a chef. She cooks sloppy joe casserole," and one of my favorites, "My mom is a chauffer. She drives me to McDonalds."

Then the entire 1st grade gathered downstairs in the really-stinking-hot gym (the school isn't air-conditioned) and sang a couple songs for us. 2 of the 3 I recognized from last year's Muffins with Mom. It was just so cute!! And of course I forgot my camera so I couldn't get pictures of any of this. Luckily a friend of mine was there with her fancy cell phone and recorded the whole concert. She promised to post it on Facebook so hopefully I can get it posted to my profile also so you all can watch it if you want.

So that's how my day started. Then I had to run a couple errands, pay some bills, drop by my lawyer's office. Boring, but necessary. Head home, hang out with Matthew a couple hours, make dinner and then take a nap. And boy am I glad I had that nap.

Tonight I took my 4 kids to the annual school carnival. The kids had a fabulous time, playing the games, winning (and eating!) candy, jumping in the bounce castles and playing on the playground. I, however, limped home 3.5 hours later, tired, sore, hot and really cranky. The kids tended to see their friends and run off to explore the carnival with them. So at any given time, I had 1 or 2 kids with me, but never all 4 and never the same 2 kids. So it was a constant game of hide and seek as I tried to keep track of all of them. To be fair, Matthew did stick pretty close to me most of the time. Next year, I'm thinking seriously about bringing leashes and a really loud whistle! But I shouldn't complain really because we weren't planning to go at all. Ya see, to play the games and use the bounce castles, you needed a $10 carnival bracelet. Given our lack of income, we had decided it was too expensive. But 4 days ago, Rose came home with 4 carnival bracelets that the guidance counselor had given her for us! What a nice surprise! So Maddux (the kids' school) is taking care of us still. Maddux was one of the buildings Phil used to work in so everyone there knows our situation and has been helping out as they can.


P.S. Nope, no job yet. No interviews either. I am praying and praying but we are both getting more and more discouraged every day.

I didn't do it!

I just have to brag on Rose some. Interim report cards came out last week and she got all A's again. She is just very smart and is really driven to succeed academically. She really wants to maintain her all A's. I am so proud of her for doing so well and for liking school. She also loves to read and will often stay up until 10:00 on school nights (later on weekends) reading. I know I should scold her for not going to sleep earlier, but I just can't. You see, I do the same thing. I, too, will often sacrifice sleep to keep reading whatever book I happen to be in the middle of. I just love that my kids love to read!!

Last Sunday the kids and I were at church. The service had just ended and we were headed to the church library to take home some books and DVDs. A woman I'd never met before stopped me in the hall and asked if I was Rose's mom (kinda easy to figure that out since Rose was walking right beside me at the time). Well she is one of Rose's Sunday School teachers and proceeded to tell me that Rose inspires her. She said Rose has knows a lot about the Bible and has a very strong faith in God. She is really impressed by her and how she acts. Rose inspires her and she just had to tell me. I thanked her of course and we went our separate ways. My first reaction, after I hugged Rose and told her how proud I was, was "That's all God. I didn't do it!" I seriously can't take credit for Rose's strong faith in God, especially since I am faltering in that area here recently. I am so thankful that God gave her to us to raise and that she has been such a blessing to others!! It's nothing that I've done as her mom; at least I don't think so. It's all God!!


On a less inspirational note, Phil still doesn't have a job. It's been 10 months of constant searching by both of us and he currently has no interviews or solid leads. He is getting very discouraged and so am I. Life is stressful and hard. I am trying to lean on God, but that, too, is hard. Worrying is something I do really well unfortunately.

Good Friday 2010

This evening was the perfect way to spend Good Friday. Every year my friend Shannon and I go to a drama that recreates Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Last year I went with her then also went with Phil and Rose. Well Rose loved it so much that she has been begging me for probably a month now to take her back this year. So instead of a girls' night out, it ended up being me, my friend, Rose and David. This is truly an amazing production that this particular church works very hard on. As you walk up to the doors of the church you are greeted by people in authentic-looking Bible-era costumes saying "Welcome to Jerusalem!" The show opens with a reading of the passage from Luke that tells about Jesus' birth while showing Mary, Joseph and a real baby receiving visits from shepherds and wise men. A trio of guys playing drums march up the 2 aisles celebrating the birth of a king! Very cool!! The narration continues as actors highlight Jesus growing up and the time he was teaching in the temple in Jerusalem when he was 12. Then we arrive at Jesus as an adult and the drama begins. It mixes songs with Jesus performing miracles, calling his disciples, teaching the people and more. It's truly amazing! I really felt like I was in early Jerusalem as a witness to all this.

Act 2 opens in the Jerusalem marketplace with Palm Sunday. The entire cast roams through the 2 aisles of the church talking to people, giving away bread and fruit to lucky audience members (my kids LOVED this part!) and leading actual animals around. We saw several goats, a sheep and even got to pet a chicken! Then there were palms everywhere and Jesus made his triumphant entry. But all too soon, the mood turned sad and Jesus foretold his death and celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples. The soldiers were fierce and what little violence there was looked very convincing. The crucifixion was especially moving because they had 3 crosses on stage and a very bloody-looking Jesus hanging from one of them. It just really brought home for me the sacrifice that He made for us and made me realize a couple things. First, the stress and trouble we are going through right now are nothing compared to what He chose to do on the cross for us. And secondly, I can identify with Him just a little bit more since we, too, are suffering right now. Not to the degree that He did of course, but for us, this season of our life is, indeed, hard. It was so hard to watch this scene for another reason. David was sitting on my lap at this point (this scene was a little intense for him) and I just identified with Mary. I can't even imagine what she was going through seeing her first-born son suffering so much. Even knowing that He was the Messiah couldn't have completely diminished the pain she felt as seeing her child suffering. I just hugged David close and thanked God for sacrificing His son for me. Watching David suffer that way would just about kill me!

Throughout the play we saw Satan also: tempting Jesus in the desert, whipping up a nasty storm that frightened the disciples on the lake while Jesus slept and watching Judas betray Jesus. After Jesus was buried, there was a scene with Satan and his demons rejoicing and dancing outside the tomb. Then we heard a loud noise, saw a great light from inside the tomb and saw the stone roll away. The demons and Satan froze in fear, then fled in terror as Jesus walked out of the grave, clean, shining and backlit by a brilliant white light. It was just amazing!! The audience clapped and cheered. What a victory!!!


Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice on the cross!

Matthew's Trip to Africa

Ok, you've probably guessed that Matt didn't really get on a plane and goto Africa. This was something fun that happened in Sunday School a couple weeks ago. They were learning about how God always with us eerywhere we go. Well Matt decided that God would be with us in Africa. So he lined up chairs in a row, with each chair facing the one in front of it, like a train. He sat in the front seat as the conductor and anounced they were going to take the train to Africa. Well all his classmates loved it and piled on the chairs behind him. After a couple minutes their teacher asked where else they could go that God would be with them. Matt gave each child a turn to drive the train and off they went (with God!) to places like the zoo, the carnival and grandma's house. And while he wasn't the conductor, Matt sat on his teacher's lap. She was really touched by this because she said he hasn't been willing to do that before. He is improving so much!

Also did I mention that I officially registered Matthew for kindergarten? Yep I turned in all his paperwork and got him schedule for his screening in August. Our district brings in each new kindergartener to see what they know already so they can make up classes that are balanced rather than having one class full of kids that are having trouble learning the alphabet and one class full of kids that are reading already. It's so hard to believe that my baby is going to school in the fall!! The kids are growing up just so fast!! Matthew does drive me crazy fairly frequently but I have loved having time alone with him this year while the other kids are in school. I love how creative he is becoming. He enjoys playing pretend and will gather action figures and ask me to play pretend with him. It's fun hearing what he comes up with.

He and David are also starting to play together nicely. Poor David has been sortof left out the past couple years. The girls share a room and play together really well (usually) and David tended to be the odd man out. But now I am loving watching he and Matthew wrestle, sword fight and play chase together. I think Dave (he likes to be called Dave, not David these days) likes having a chance to be in charge. When all the kids play together, Rose is always in charge; she thinks up the games and directs how things go. So playing with Matthew is a great chance for Dave to be creative and do what he wants.

In other news, the kids got report cards kindof recently. I can't remember if I mentioned this or not. Rose came home with all A's again. Yeah!!! She is very creative and imaginative and enjoys art class and math.

David came home with very positive comments on his report card. He doesn't get letter grades yet so it's kindof hard to really tell you how he's doing. His teacher commented that he is very creative and very sweet. She enjoys reading what he writes about because he has a great imagination.

Rachel also had a great report card. Her teacher said that Rachel likes to write poetry and read books but has trouble sitting still for at-her-desk work. For anyone who knows Rachel at all, you won't be surprised to read that. She has more energy than almost anyone I know and is continually bouncing and jumping around at home. If I had a dime for every time I've told her to stop jumping on the couch I'd be a rich woman!

As you can tell (if you're still reading this anyway) I LOVE MY KIDS and am tremendously proud of them!!!!

Matthew's "Bed"

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Matthew sleeps on the couch. He's been sleeping on the couch for at least a year. Possibly 2, but I don't remember exactly. This was originally his idea and since he was good about actually sleeping and not wandering around the house, we let him sleep there. We figured it was a phase he'd outgrow. Recently we got rid of the bunkbeds in the boys room and installed an actual twin bed. The bunk beds were really old and didn't have a proper mattress so they weren't too comfortable to sleep on. David loves having a bed to sleep on! But it's just 1 bed, so now Matthew is stuck sleeping on the couch indefinitely. I was feeling guilty about that until we visited my parents last week and spent the night with them.

They have a 3-bedroom house so Phil and I get a room, 1 kid sleeps on an air mattress in my parents' room and 3 kids share a room. The kids' room has a double bed so 2 share the bed and 1 gets another air mattress on the floor. So Thursday after we arrived the usual fight began over who would sleep where. Everyone wanted to sleep on an air mattress in grandma and grandpa's room. There were fights, drama, tears and pleading worthy of an Oscar nomination! But finally we settled it all. Matthew ended up on the bed alone with Rose in a sleeping bag on the floor and David on an air mattress. Rachel was the birthday girl so she got to sleep in grandma and grandpa's room. We thought Matthew would be excited since he usually sleeps on the couch at home. He was in an actual bed! Little did we know what would happen next. . .

So after reading stories and making sure each kid had a pillow, blanket and the appropriate stuffed animals required for sleeping, we got them settled down. 20 minutes later as we grownups were collapsed on the couch, Matthew came out complaining that the bed wasn't comfortable. He wanted to sleep on the couch instead! So we tucked him in on the living room couch and he fell right to sleep! I just had to laugh! But at least I don't have to feel guilty that he doesn't have a bed at home. Apparently he prefers the couch, even when a bed is available :-)