Friday, May 9, 2008

No, I haven't fallen off the planet!

But I sure haven't had any time for blogging!

I've never been a diary kind of person, and taking photos of everyday events is not my strong suit!  So when you combine my lack of talents in those two directions with a HUGE move, painting our new house, cleaning/painting/fixing our old one, being in the first trimester when way over 40, homeschooling 6 children, dentist appointments, tutoring appointments, a business to keep running (and adding a new line of diapers as well), and keeping my husband happy and my 9 kids at home cared for and keeping in touch with my oldest who's overseas in the Marines....let me see....oh I forgot - going out of state to watch my second oldest son compete at the National Bible Quizzing Tournament, putting our mobile home on the market and showing it around 3 times a week....and for some reason, I just can't find much time to blog!  LOL!

So here's a quick catch up as to where we are now (there's just not enought time to even hit the high spots other than what I did above!) -

Our oldest son is transfering from Okinawa to 29 Palms, CA next month!  He'll finally be in our time zone again!  Bummer is that he's with a new unit - Recon - and he has no idea if he'll be continuing with computers, or if he'll be facing a new job description - he will also be spending at least 6 months of the next 2 1/2 years overseas, most likely Iraq - God's Grace is what will get us through that if it comes to that!

Our second oldest son is still working fulltime where my DH works and is doing a great job - and using most of his income to fix up his two cars and other hobbies (like video games).

Our oldest daughter just turned 18 and can't wait to have her own Costco card so she can help with the shopping - not the usual thing for just-turned-18 yos to be excited about, but then again, when you homeschool your kids just don't turn out "normal" - they turn out so much better!   She's also getting pretty deep into dog breeding/training and hope to start competeing in the AKC and UKC this year with her latest dog, Sebastian!

The rest of the school aged children are growing and learning and doing normal stuff.

Our two littlest are typically very busy and often getting into trouble, but they're so cute it's hard to get mad!

As of now our kid's ages are: 21, 19, 18, 14 (15 in 2 weeks), 13, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, and #11 due September 30!

We are in our new house, but there's still trim to be painted, and flooring to get done, but that should all be done by the end of May - and then we have to tackle painting the outside! I don't even want to think about painting again!

I will put up a photo after the mobile is moved off and the new house is painted, as it doesn't look much different from the last photo from the outside!

We just sold our mobile home last night (well, we accepted an offer and will do paperwork next week) - Praise The Lord - I tried very hard to rest on God's providence in this but at times I found myself worrying about "what if it doesn't sell" - but I only hurt myself and should have always trusted Him for this!

I figured out during my recent spell of being on bedrest after my trip to Minneapolis (Bible Quizzing) that I need to keep to home this summer and get my rest - this is a real testing time for me!  And for my family as they're used to me going 90 mph 24/7 and now they're having to help out more and allow me to get the rest I need!  So no camping trips this year, bummer!  Oh well, our van's broken so we can't take the trailer anywhere anyway!

And business wise, out first round of wholesale orders is going to be shipped out next week!  We are frantically trying to pull everything together this weekend - so check out the "What's New" page for information about the new Snap-EZ Eco Pocket Diaper and the retailers who will be carrying them this first round (I already have about 9 more retailers in line for the next shipment!).  We are so excited about this project...maybe this will be the ticket for my DH to start working from home with us and then start on his own business!!!!

Above all, God's been working on my heart to trust Him at all times, even when things don't seem like they are making any sense - I am in His hands 24/7 and nothing will come my way without his loving hands allowing it for my good (to make me more Christ-Like) and for His Glory and to show me His grace! - and what a peace this  gives when I am leaning on  and trusting in Him!

Glad you stopped by and read my long update!  Hopefully things will be slowing down a little more and I'll do a little better here!

Ruth