It's Me Again!

So I was working on MOPS stuff earlier today, making plans for a leadership training day I'm helping coordinate in Columbus and Cleveland. And while I worked I was mentally thinking about what to write on my Facebook status. Yep, I'm a Facebook junkie! But as I thought back over my day today, I realized there was too much to include in a Facebook status. Hence, my return to my blogging. Not that I'm gonna go through everything that's been happening in our lives the past 2 months.

So how are we doing? Well it's been 8 months since Phil lost his job and there is nothing on the horizon. He has had a couple interviews in the past 6 weeks or so, which is more than he had most of last fall. Unfortunately the companies decided to hire someone else. Phil is getting frustrated and a bit desperate to find a job. He says he's tired of being at home all the time and I can't blame him. I remember how tough it was for me to transition to being a stay-at-home mom after Rose was born. Anyway please keep praying for us for a job. Life is just really stressful for us right now. We are still getting unemployment, which helps, but doesn't pay all the bills.

The kids are doing great though. In fact, it was today and them that prompted me to blog. Report cards came out today. So I just have to brag a bit here. Rose got all A's again, just like in the fall. Her teacher commented that she is "a learning sponge" and eagerly learns everything she can. That's my girl! She loves math, which she obviously gets from her father, because that was my least favorite subject in school, next to science.

David also did really well, although it's harder to quantify since they don't start giving letter grades until 4th grade. He is an eager learner, likes to read and is very creative. His teacher says he writes very interesting and creative stories. Unfortunately they don't always make sense. Personally I think that his brain moves so fast that he can't get it down on paper quick enough to make sense.

Rachel also got very good comments from her teachers. She is reading very well, spells excellently and enjoys writing poetry. Her teacher said that Rachel is having trouble working quietly at her seat though, which doesn't surprise me in the least. She is a bundle of energy. She never walks when she can run, never runs when she can jump or bounce. She leaps on people, gives giant, squishy hugs and loves to tackle and wrestle her big brother.

And speaking of Rachel, she turned 7 today!! I can't even believe my baby girl is 7 already! She has grown up so fast. Tonight we went over to celebrate her birthday with Phil's parents. Mom cooked pizza and got a cake. It was so WONDERFUL to hang out with them and to not have to clean my house. Tomorrow we are headed to Sunbury to see my parents and celebrate Rachel's birthday with them. Then on Friday the kids are out of school so we're taking a trip to see my grandma. She's 95 now and we want to see her while we can.

Well that's enough of an update for now. It's getting late and I'm getting tired. Good night all!

Happy New Year!!

Well it's the start of another year and another decade. I wonder what this year will bring. My top wish is, of course, a job for Phil. He is getting very tired of being at home all the time and has said he needs to have somewhere to go, needs a job. And I need to get him out of the house. I'm noticing we are together a LOT but don't talk much or spend quality time together. We are just getting tired of being around each other so much I think. Is this a preview of what retirement will be like?

Ok, something more fun! What did you do for News Years Eve? We had a terrific time! Brett kept the kids overnight at his place (he does this every couple weeks or so and they all love it!) and had a party for them there. They called us shortly after midnight. I was expecting that Rose and Dave would still be up, but was very surprised to find Rachel and Matthew still awake also. This is a first for both of them. Meanwhile, we were at home talking, eating and playing games with some good friends who had come in from out of town. Specifically Phil's best friend Nathan and his wife. It was such fun!!!

Then today Brett volunteered to keep the kids all day. So we went out to lunch with Emily and Nathan and visited Krohn Conservatory together. I haven't been there in several years and enjoyed looking at all the different plants. The last time I was there was with 3 very small children and a stroller as I recall. Not quite as much fun as today. The kids arrived back home around dinnertime excited to see us and slightly cranky from lack of sleep! We watched some tv, read bunches of stories and put them all to bed early!

Phil read a chapter from C.S. Lewis' The Horse and His Boy to Rose and David and a chapter of a Junie B. Jones book to Rachel. Matt and I read Dr. Seuss and several of the new books he got for Christmas. I just LOVE reading to my kids and am so grateful that God has given all 4 of them a love of books. Praying they don't lose that as they get older!

Good times and bad

First the good stuff. . .

Matthew had a good report from his Sunday School teacher. You may remember that he was asked to leave preschool early last fall because he wouldn't follow their routine and had trouble listening to his teachers. I've been talking to his Sunday School teachers about this since then and they've been working with him on it. Well yesterday his teacher told me that he had participated in all the class activities, obeyed the teacher and stayed in his seat during Wee Worship. So he got to be the line leader on the way back to the classroom from Wee Worship. Yeah Matthew!! I'm so proud of him!

The other good news is that we have given Rose her own email account. She's been asking us for one since last summer. It was a tough decision but we decided to trust that she will be responsible with her email address. We talked to her about what to do and what not to do and laid down some rules for her. To say that she is excited would be an understatement. It's a step into a whole new world for her. She loved being able to "chat" with me online even though we were in the same room. This is actually a big step for all of us, letting her have a bit of independence. My baby is growing up! I admit I'm nervous and am planning to monitor her very closely to see how she handles it. It's definitely a different world than when I was 10!

Now for the bad news. I went to a funeral today. A friend of mine from MOPS had to bury her baby girl today. She arrived 3 months early and just wasn't strong enough to survive. Plus she had been diagnosed with Trisomy-18, a birth defect similar to Down's Syndrome. My friend knew this would probably happen and had been preparing for it. It was still hard for her though, especially since she just had a c-section about 10 days ago. I am so sad for her and her family. Seeing that tiny casket at the church this morning was just heartbreaking! I haven't been to many Catholic Masses before, but I was raised Lutheran so parts of the liturgy and songs were familiar. We sang "On Eagle's Wings" and "How Great Thou Art" which are 2 of my favorite hymns.

A couple things didn't make sense to me though. They sprinkled incense over the casket at the end of the service, Why? What does that represent? And why did the priest refer to the baby as a saint? He was talking to my friend's kids and told them that they had their very own personal saint in the family and that they could pray to her and she could help them. That doesn't make sense to me. I thought the process of making someone a saint in the Catholic church was a long, involved process including documenting miracles performed and other things. Can any of you, my few but faithful readers, help me understand this?

I did learn something new though. Today, December 28, is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which commemorates the baby boys under age 2 that Herod had killed in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. Having the funeral on this particular feast day seems appropriate somehow.

More Christmases!

Well Christmas #2 and #3 are both done and I am so exhausted that I want to crawl in my bed, lock the door and stay there for at least 2 days. I had fun though! Yesterday my parents came down from Columbus and Brett came over. We had lunch and talked some then opened presents. The kids got some nice things and a bit of cash (which thrilled them of course). I so appreciated them driving down to celebrate here, especially since they had driven to be with my grandma Christmas Day and are planning to leave tomorrow for a month in Florida. That's lots of driving!

Today we went over to mom & dad Hahn's house for the big Hahn family gathering. Mom had some fun games for the kids, including a white elephant candy game where each kid ended up with a jar of candy and a money game where each kid got to pick out a small tin of money (mostly coins, although Dave and Rachel both ended up with a $5 bill in their tin). Then we exchanged gifts. My 3 older kids got some cash and Matthew got presents to unwrap. Rose, David and Rachel are so excited by the cash they've received this Christmas and are already trying to decide what to do with it. It should be interesting to see what they think. Matthew got this really cool toolbox book with actual cardboard tools that pop out so you can hammer or saw or whatever on each page. He has read it 3 times already and has only owned it for a couple hours now.

At one point mom lined up all the Ford and Hahn grandkids and asked them their name, birthdate, favorite color and favorite Bible verse. I was surprised to learn that Rose's favorite verse is Proverbs 3:5 which says “Trust in the Lord with your whole heart and lean not on your own understanding.” That's such a good one! I am so proud of her – she has such a strong faith in God and I just pray that she keeps that throughout her lifetime! David said his favorite verse was John 3:16 but I'm not sure if that was really his favorite or if he just said that because his cousin Daniel had just said that was his favorite verse.

Anyway. . . I got to talk to most everyone at least a little. I had fun hanging out with baby Jack (Stamper). He is 9 months old now and just so adorable! He was looking around at everything and was very easygoing. He let me hold him and play with him some and he doesn't even know me. I just LOVE babies!!! (not enough to have another one though)

It was a fun couple of days but as I said earlier I am ready for some alone time! Phil and I got the kids settled in bed tonight and immediately went our separate ways to different rooms and different computers. He needs some time away from people, just like me.


p.s. Lori, if you're reading this mom and I ate raw broccoli tonight off the veggie tray and thought of you. Mom suggested that we should have had our pictures taken eating that most delicious vegetable and sent them to you since you "love" broccoli so much! Hee hee hee

Merry Christmas!!

As you may know if you've read my blog before, Matthew has taken to sleeping on the couch in the living room. Last night he fell asleep in the middle of watching Santa Clause 2 with us. I headed to bed about 1:30 and was laying in bed reading a bit. Yep, even that late at night I still had to get some reading in. It was about 1:55 when Matthew wandered sleepily into our room fo no apparent reason. I tucked him back in on his couch and lay on the other couch to make sure he went to sleep and didn't rip open the presents. He was mesmerized by the lights on the tree and spent probably 20 minutes just staring at the tree. I assume he fell asleep eventually, but I fell asleep on the couch before he did.

Fast forward to 6:30 a.m. when Matthew woke up. To his credit he asked me to come downstairs and put in a movie for him. I seriously expected him to want to open presents but he waited until about 7:45 when the other 3 got up. Then they dug into their stockings. That took all of 10 minutes. Next the kids charged upstairs, into our bedroom and woke up their father. Phil came stumbling out, barely awake and headed for the coffee while the kids dug into the presents. The hope was that we would take turns opening presents. Ummmm, that didn't really happen. They dug into presents as fast as they could find them. I loved watching their faces as they opened everything. They were just so excited - well not about the clothes they got, but certainly about the toys.

It was all over in probably 40 minutes. Our living room was strewn with empty boxes and wrapping paper everywhere. Breakfast was our traditional cinnamon rolls then I started work on lunch and even managed to sneak in a nap while they played.

Mom and dad Hahn came over for lunch and more presents. It was a simple, easy meal but everyone seemed to like it. Then a few more presents for the kids while the grownups rested and talked. It was a very relaxed, fun day! I loved spending time with everyone and not feeling stressed!!!

The day ended by Brett coming over wanting the kids to spend the night with him. Matthew and the girls packed a few things and headed for his house but Dave wanted to stay with us. So here it is almost midnight and I have enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Day with my family and a restful, relaxing evening with 2 of my favorite guys!

I admit that I was really worried about how this Christmas would go since Phil is still out of work. I knew we wouldn't be able to afford presents for the kids. But we were blessed beyond anything I expected! Friends and family gave us money, gift cards and presents for the kids (even a couple gifts for the grownups). It was truly amazing to see how many people reached out to help us through this holiday. God has given us a special group of family and friends and I am so grateful to all of you for your help, support, gifts, prayers and encouragement. I know I don't tell each of you individually how much you mean to me, but I do appreciate you (yes, you, the one reading this blog!!). Thank you for being a part of our lives!!!!!

December

Well it's been a low-key Christmas season this year. Due to financial constraints, we are not sending out the usual Hahn family Christmas card/letter/photo. I have not done much baking (or cooking frankly). We haven't been able to do our usual outings to the Cincinnati Zoo's Festival of Lights and the Cincinnati Museum Center's Holiday Junction like we have in years past. I have been kinda sad at the change in our routine. But ya know, in spite of all that, the kids are just as excited for Christmas as they usually are. So I certainly learned something about what's really important at Christmas-time.

Oh don't get me wrong. We still did some fun holiday things. We watched Christmas specials, made wish lists for Santa, and spent an evening driving around neighborhoods looking at some spectacular light displays. There is a neighborhood across the river in Kentucky maybe 15 minutes from us that has the same display every year. Their small front yard is filled to overflowing with lights, giant snowglobes, a Santa and sleigh and a shadow box featuring Alvin, Simon and Theodore singing their version of the Christmas song. "Christmas, Christmas time is here. Time for gifts and time for cheer." The kids (and me too!) look forward to seeing that every year!

Fast forward to Christmas Eve. We were tired after a busy week of housecleaning. A friend (actually she's the younger sister of my best friend from high school, but I consider her a friend too) came over to help us clean and pitch things. We worked SO HARD for 2 days. When we were done, there were 4 giant black trash bags filled with stuff we were throwing out! Yahoo! I am so thankful for her help. Can you believe she was willing to spend both of her days off hanging out at our house? The kids loved her and she wanted to help and was full of energy. She is just AMAZING! So now our house is clean and I am snapping at the kids, making sure the house stays clean.

We relaxed most of the day then went to the Christmas Eve service at church. It was less than an hour but not very kid-friendly. My older 3 kids behaved really well and seemed to enjoy the singing. They were bored during the sermon of course but sat still and kept quiet. Matthew however was squirmy and uncooperative. So I took him out and, ummmm, "talked" to him about his misbehavior. Then we just stayed out there the rest of the service, along with probably a dozen other kids and their parents. Next year we are gonna find a church with a more kid-friendly, family service!!!

The kids were bouncing off the walls and had a hard time settling down to sleep. But finally by 10 p.m. they were all not only inbed, but actually asleep. So Phil and I started wrapping everything. We put on our traditional Christmas Eve, present-wrapping movie "It's a Wonderful Life." What a TERRIFIC movie!!!! We had everything wrapped and under the tree by 1:30 a.m. which is about average for us. Now onto Christmas!! Yay!!!

The worst Thanksgiving ever!

At least that's the way it started out. So what happened to make my kids dub this "the worst ever?" Well Tuesday we headed up to Columbus to have an early Thanksgiving dinner with my parents and my sister and her husband. They (my sis & BIL) made a short trip to Ohio from their home in Nebraska where he is a pastor and had to divide their time between our parents and his parents. We celebrated early so they could also see his parents. The dinner was yummy - my mom's usual fabulous cooking. We also did something new this year. Each person had a placecard listing a different Bible verse about being thankful. We went around the table reading them aloud and telling one thing we were thankful for. How cool is that?

It was after dinner that the trouble began. David and Rachel had been coughing for a couple days and continued coughing there also. The others were concerned about them - thought it sounded serious. When David started running a slight fever, everyone kindof panicked. My dad, trying to help, gave 3 of the kids codeine to try to stop their cough so they could sleep. Well Matthew slept so soundly he didn't wake up to use the bathroom. So he was up around 4 a.m. soaking wet and upset. I didn't sleep well that night and apparently neither did he! The next morning we ended up going home. The other grownups were too concerned about the kids' coughs to want us to stay until Thursday like we'd originally planned. It was a very upsetting morning and knowing that no one wanted us there had me in tears as I drove home. We went to the pediatrician's office where I found out that David has an ear infection and Rachel has some slight chest congestion. After everything that happened, their illnesses were nothing serious after all. The kids were crushed that their trip had been cut short.

But in spite of all the drama, our holiday turned out quite well. We managed to find a webcast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Watching the parade is a tradition in our family and the kids were heartbroken when they thought they'd have to miss it. Fortunately they didn't. Hurray for the miracle of the internet. So instead of spending the day with extended family or traveling or cooking, we spent the day playing games, resting, talking, laughing and eating leftovers. Reading on Facebook about my friends who were cooking, running around busy and stressed out made me glad that we were alone together as a family.

As much as I complain, I know I have a lot to be thankful for. Here is a partial list (in no particular order):
1. I am thankful for a wonderful supportive husband who works hard at his current job (which is job-hunting) and lets me nap whenever I need to.
2. I am thankful for my messy house; I know it'll never be clean but the mess reminds me of my husband and 4 loving children. I'd rather have a messy house than a life without my kids!!!
3. I am thankful for my kids; being a mom may not be a glamorous job but it is the hardest, most fulfilling job I have ever had. I wouldn't trade the hugs, kisses and love I get from them for all the money in the world. For all those who say I am "only" a mom who doesn't have a job, I say that there is nothing else I'd rather be and no job I'd rather have.
4. I am thankful for our lack of money because it has taught me what is really important - not tv, not shopping on Ebay but my family and friends.
5. I am thankful for my parents in-law who have been so loving and supportive through this whole nasty time of unemployment and stress.
6. I am thankful for all our many friends - you know who you are!
7. I can't say I'm thankful that Phil doesn't have a job. But I am thankful for God's faithfulness and provision during this time. This has been a real test of my faith.
8. I am thankful for Brett, who loves our kids and goes out of his way to spend time with them, teach them about God and be a part of their lives. (In fact, as I write this I am sitting in a house populated only by Phil and 3 cats. Brett took all 4 kids for an overnight at his house tonight. How cool is that?)

There is so much more that I am thankful for. But in the interest of not putting to sleep the few people who read this, I'm gonna stop now. I've hit the most important ones already anyway.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I hope your holiday was joyous and fun