Almost Heaven happenings........
• March 17, 2008 - Prayer Request for our important news!
I have been holding out announcing our news on blog world and to extended family and friends until I got a doctors confirmation. Something about not trusting yourself yk. But then I decided I would rather have the prayers of my friends to back us up. Also... should something happen, I would like friends to support me. But I am trusting in God with our lives in his hand.
So without further ado...
Our family is growing bigger! And we are THRILLED! I have no clue exact dates when I am due but we figure November this year.
Now to elaborate a little. I have a doctors appointment on March 31st. I will do blood work before hand to get it done. Were we trying? YES! For 13 months! Not long compared to many of my dearest friends who have struggled with that. But with each person ttc, it seems like forever to you.
I am sure you all know how we felt after we found out Tristan had Leukemia. We were PRAISING GOD that we had not conceived when we thought we wanted it. Because the timing would have been awful. With being in the hospital and his chemo. God truly does know best!
Now the second amazing thing in the story is they timing of this pregnancy. Tristan is in intense treatment. You would think that would be when we would not want it but not true! With his intense treatment in clinic means we are NOT administering chemo pills at home. So I have not touched chemo pills since mid February. And I am not going to have to handle them until May.
We have to give them to him all at the exact same time each day. Now since the break, is the time I can change the hour I give it to him if I choose. Well now I can make it later so Justin can give them to him! So I might not ever have to touch them again. How good is God?
We are thrilled. I have had two times of seeing a tiny bit of blood when I went the bathroom. But VERY small and only once yesterday and once today. If I was not already pregnant I would think implantation. No where NEAR what I bled with Tristan's pregnancy. I was reading online and it looks like 30% of pregnancies experience some spotting in the first few weeks. So we shall see. I am trusting God.
But I started thinking about waiting... and thought, you know. I want my friends to pray for this baby. Because I really want this child. I have been praying hard for it and I want all the prayer coverage I can get for a healthy pregnancy. So I am officially announcing our little addition coming this year!
And why did I take two tests? I was asked that already.  The answer is because I took the test and it came up RIGHT away. (Never had that happen before! Trust me, I had to hold the test in the light and show mom where the line was for Alyssa's Pregnancy Test! lol) Mom said... try it again in 10 mins. Maybe something it was not right. So I did. Boom. Immediately double lines and dark! I was thrilled! |
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• March 15, 2008 - The most wonderful Pizza Dip recipe!
I tried the most wonderful Pizza Dip Recipe from a good friend Jennifer online.
Pepperoni Pizza Dip
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 C. sour cream
1 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/2 C. pizza sauce
1/2 C. chopped pepperoni
1/4 C. sliced green onion
1/4 C. chopped green pepper
1/2 C. shredded mozzarella
Town House crackers for dipping
1) In a small mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, sour cream, oregano, and garlic powder. Spread evenly into a 9- or 10-inch pie plate.
2) Spread pizza sauce over the top. Sprinkle with pepperoni, green onion, and green pepper.
3) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Top with cheese and bake 5 more minutes to melt cheese.
Now I varied my a little. I used light sour cream and 1/3 fat cream cheese because it is all I had on hand. I also did not use onions but used onion powder and left off the peppers.
It was sooo good my family ate the whole thing in one night and it was just the 4 of us! :eek: I made it my dinner! Bad me I know!
I cannot wait to try it with the real stuff, not light. I bet it will be even better. But so you know. It was great that way! So if you want to cut the fat, it was not bad. |
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• March 7, 2008 - I feel lonely tonight!
My dh, daughter and son are all "camping" in the living room. I feel lonely!!! I keep asking over and over if Tristan wants to come to bed with mommy. I really want to snuggle with him! sniffle sniffle! But he wont! He keeps saying "nope! I want to sleep in my tent!"
Tristan giving funny faces to mommy
Roasting Marshmallows in the fire place! lol
And snug in their tents watching a movie.
She was all serious into the movie, not grouchy.
So here I am... in my room. I took a nap with Tristan today so I am not tired... but... my little boy is sleeping in the living room! boo hoo! Where did my baby go??? |
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• February 26, 2008 - WOW! And Happy Birthday to Tristan.
I made blogger of the week! What an honor - can I say, I always hoped to be someday! 
Seriously - my son takes up a lot of time recently so I often update my Homeschool Blog because it is where I chose to add the "Tristan's Journey" Posts. You know how that goes. The friends and family wait for updates.
I like to keep this blog more for homestead and simple life learning experiances.
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Today is my little boys birthday though! Tristan turned 3 today. I cannot believe it. 3 years ago I would have never guessed life would be like it is now. But we are growing! Tristan calls himself "Strong and Mighty" and he is!
For a birthday tribute - here is Tristan over the years on his birthday.
Birth
One Year Old
Two Years Old
3 Years Old
For anyone who does not know why - Tristan has a mohawk because his hair was thinning and I was not ready to shave it all again yet.
Happy Birthday Tristan! You make me PROUD! |
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• February 11, 2008 - Updates on things we did in our house.
When we got our home, we had an old dresser that came with it, in the bathroom. It was the only place for towels. So after it is breaking apart, we decided to make it a closet. So we took a short cut and got a plastic shelf and built a door around it. The shelf came in boxes that Justin cut for the kids into bus shapes! They had a BLAST with them!
Here is the dresser that we stuck in the hall while we were setting up the shelves. I hear Tristan calling "come find me!" and found him here! Of course Alyssa wanted in too!
And here is my foyer. We are working on. We are going to do the floors this spring when we can open up the doors again. We have them completely shut off for the winter. We will have to replace the door in front here. The cold cracked it right in the middle! Anyways. Here is a bit of our old furniture set up.
And our new chandalier that we got on clearance at Lowes. Justin LOVES it. It is not my style but he liked it a ton so hey, it is his house too. He can have it.
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• February 6, 2008 - Good advice from a magazine or newsletter.
I had received a newsletter or something ... maybe a magazine? Where I read something for burnt out homeschool mothers that REALLY has been my conviction recently.
"Why are you still doing the work you should be training your children to do?"
hmmmm very true. It is just sometimes sooo much easier to just do things yourself... but then the little things add up, with your big jobs and you feel burnt out.
I thought, yeah that is so true. And this week while I have been doing my daily things I will find myself putting away the dishwasher things and thinking... "why am I still doing the things I should be training my children to do?"  It is really in my head and heart.
So this morning I made sure when doing my laundry to pile up the dishcloths, washrags, small towels and kids pants for Alyssa. And I called her in and I folded my pile while she folded hers. It took a little bit of time to pull out hers but I started her again (taught her when she was 3 but it fell aside as a chore of hers) to do her part in the laundry.
I have been having thoughts of little jobs the kids can do popping into my head all week long.
Like I can have Alyssa make piles of dark and light clothes for me. Teaching her a skill and saving a tiny bit of time for me. It is not all about saving me time but about teaching her the skills.
And really when I am unloading a dishwasher and Tristan puts away the silverware. It might only save me a moment but in the long run all those little moments add up.
I just thought I would share. It has been on my heart for my own personal conviction this week and I am really thinking God is trying to tell it to me. Because of how often it is on my mind. |
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• February 4, 2008 - Delicious Ham and Leftover Ham and Bean Soup Recipe
Ok, I am using my holiday ham bone today to make bean soup. I figured I would blog my recipe for me, my mom, my sister in law and anyone else who wants it.
First to make a super easy ham.
Purchase a rather small spiral ham. I say small because my crock pot is not super big. One that will fit in your crock pot.
Then toss out that icky glaze package that comes with them. It is NASTY!
Place the ham in your crock pot. Take a Cup (more if you want more glaze) of yellow mustard on your ham. Then take about a cup of brown sugar. And pour it on. Then mix it all around. Taste. If it is too mustard-y add more brown sugar. If it is too sugary then add more mustard. You may also add a few squirts of honey if you like. Does not matter if you do or don't. I have made it both ways before.
Cook all day on low or a few hours on high.
Enjoy!
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Now, Save that ham bone and all the fun stuff still on the bone! Just pop it in a freezer bag!
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When you want to make bean soup, pull out your ham bone from the freezer and thaw in the fridge. Buy a bag of navy beans. Just fill a pot with water and let it sit over night.
The next morning put your ham bone in the crock pot. Sort through the beans to make sure there are no stems or odd pieces. They are processed by machine so things slip by sometimes.
then pour the beans with some water in the crock pot over the ham bone. Add an onion if you like. I do not like onions and did not have any here anyways.
Cook all day! YUM YUM YUM!
A little before you want to eat, scoup out the bone, fish out some of the fatty pieces. Then serve! ENJOY!
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• February 1, 2008 - Blowing the Dust off in here...
Hey Homestead bloggers! I have not blogged in here in a while. Life of homesteading has taken a different turn for me. With moving to our new home in the city and Tristan's Leukemia journey, topped with a case of winter blues... we have a homesteading slump!
Good things going on in my homestead life...I finally did get a new stove! I can cook in the oven without burning. But now I am using electric. The slick new flat tops... I BURN EVERYTHING! aurgh! Someday I am going to laugh at my cooking adventures! I cannot figure out if it is my pans that mom bought me or the electric cooking. I do not seem to burn on my old pans but it could be I am just happening to be there more when I use them. Sometimes I walk away from the stove for a second and BOOM my rice burns. Or my corn beef hash is ALWays STUCK! And that is so fatty to begin with! Who burns that!??! me! 
But we have become a little more convience and quick instead of the money saving natural ways. DH has encouraged me by saying that it is only for a SEASON in our lives. So I can deal with it. I am thinking tomorrow I want to bake some bread though to make myself feel better! I have not made bread since Tristan got sick in October! I need to make some strawberry freezer jam too! But I will wait for summer for that. But I am making TONS when I do! It was our favorite!!! On fresh baked bread.... YUM!
Our home improvements are going slower than we had hoped. With Justin being on workmans comp he has had to stop anything hard to fixing the house. He does a little rewiring here and there but makes me do all the lifting! I wanted to scream when he decided to put up a chandilier! Here honey, Hold it up for me while I connect the wires!  He is lucky that 9 bulb huge thing did not come crashing down on his head! I about DIED! I am a weakling! That was mans work! No more of that! So now he is stuck only doing the little things. He hurt his back so there is not much he can do for now. But he should be good to go soon. He is getting better by the day with physical therapy. We just want to baby his back so he does not have a life of back problems. Trying until he gets released not to do anything to hurt it more. We are thinking sometime this month he will be good to go.
Also with Tristan things have stalled too. But that is ok. Life throws us curves. And I am learning to be more flexible.
Tristan is doing well. Chugging along with Treatments.
Homeschooling is going well too. I am halfway done with my second year of homeschooling. I am glad I started with Preschool. Sonlight Preschool was only about an hour a day. Kindergarten was a little more complex. I just got my first grade stuff and it looks like it is another big leap for us. A Lot more time consuming. I am very pleased that it has been an ease into learning.
Anyways... I am still here! And wanted to come over and clean some cobwebs from my blog! |
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• Wednesday, January 2, 2008 - Who knows?
Posted By csstumper
| My older grandson has been accepted to a prestigious University, but the family hasn't got the money to help him. I'm going to try to give him a talking to, to get him to work his butt off this summer. I'm not so sure a college degree is right for everybody, but he gets good grades and perhaps it will help him. Education is never a bad thing, but academic institutions are a whole other thing. By the way, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a happy new year. I'd say prosperous, but that is defined differently by different people. In my mind, it certainly isn't just more money, though GOD knows that is the target for many. We've never been very ambitious, so we'll wish for better health (my good wife is getting better, thank you), and the ability to keep our heads above water. Be seeing you. |
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• January 2, 2008 - Looking Back on 2007
When I look back at 2007 my year took a MUCH different spin then I ever expected. It is interesting to see how life pans out and how God had his hand over my bigger picture.
In February 2007, my dh and I decided to try to expand our family and have my IUD removed to ttc a third Child. Each month brought disappointing results as negative results came on my pregnancy tests and AF reared her ugly head.
This summer my dh and I looked for a bigger house so we could fit if we were successful in ttc. In August we moved into a nice big house in the same town as my mother.
End of July when we were closing on our house wondering how we would cut corners to live here, Justin got a promotion at work which he was trying to get for years! The timing was the WEEK we closed on the house! God is GOOD!
Well October 2007 we found out my son had A.L.L. Leukemia. With this came a 12 day hospital stay and lots of x-rays and chemotherapy. And of course you can check out my Homeschool Blog
and see his progress. When I was twiddling my thumbs in the hospital it occurred to me, If we had succeeded in ttc in Feb, I would be 9 months pregnant or having a NEWBORN right now. How upset we get when our own plans do not work out only to find that God knew best. And if I was pregnant I could not have been there for my little boy. I could not have held him for his x-rays, and even today administering his chemo pills would be impossible. They are VERY dangerous to a pregnant person and the baby.
Moving into this big house to have more kids was our idea. But moving to the same city as my parents was Gods reasons. Weekly trips to Clinic means I have to have mom watch Alyssa. And just when his immune system is down and I need someone to help me get milk from the store, it is a blessing to live so close to my parents. God knew what he was doing.
Another blessing of 2007 is the fact that God did allow us to have me staying at home. If I was working we would have been thrown into a tizzy of trying to have me quit my job.
Also when I was young I NEVER drempt of homeschooling my kids. It tears me up to think how God was preparing our lives for this season. Tristan will complete his treatment when he is 6 years old. I asked the other kids at Childrens in the Oncology floor how they did school. Most of them just never started. Or are missing years. A 7 year old child we met will be entering school for the first time next year. Being a homeschool family will keep Tristan and Alyssa in a most normal life. Now no matter if we end up with hospital stays or clinic visits, we can still keep going with our school as uninterrupted as possible. It AMAZES me that my life decisions really were the RIGHT ONES! :) I no longer doubt that I am doing the right thing because I know it was Gods plan for us. God is so good!
So my plans for making my own bread, grinding my own grain, growing my own foods in the garden, using all natural cleaning products and nothing disposible are on hold. Dh told me that I have to just wait to do those things because of the added situation on our plate. I am learning to lean on God, trust his plans and see what when I think I have a year planned out, and it turns out completely different, it is not awful but a blessing. God is looking out for us. He has a plan for our lives, Plans to prosper us and not for us to fail. He loves us. It is so amazing.
While each month I still yearn for more babies. I know in my heart it is Gods plan and he knows best. And praising God that we are still young enough that we can get through this and grow our family in his timing. Whether I be 28 or 38. I am still young. And God has our family in his hands.
What a great life changing year we have had. I have learned a LOT and have grown closer to God and my family along the way. 2007 was a good year dispite the unexpected turns and I cannot wait to see what 2008 holds!
And one more exciting tidbit for 2007! TRISTAN POTTY TRAINED the last week of the year! What a blessing! |
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