I don't have much time to write today as I spent my lunch emailing someone that I felt needed a smile. I hope she got it!
We finally got some good news last night, Tricare, our military insurance is going back and reinstating our insurance from the day we were originally eligible from when my husband seperated from active duty and became eligible for Tricare Reserve Select... It's complicated, however, this was an answered prayer for sure... If they wouldn't have reconsidered, we would be facing $30K in out of pocket expenses. Now we are only responsible for around $4K-$5K... And hopefully we can raise that at her fundraiser in the next month or so. PRAISE THE LORD
We are still waiting to hear whether Josh got selected for FTS or not... patiently we wait, knowing it is in HIS time... Still praying
Here are some fun photos of my girlies:
Playing Photographer: Merry Christmas from the Nihiser Girls!
Miss Lil T thinks she needs to crawl.. she won't sit up, but she crawls... REALLY! Slow down little miss!
Standing on her toes... Where does the time go?
And a funny one of our family photo shoot, God love our photographer and her patience with us!
In an effort to obtain more followers so that I can start having giveaways I have linked up with the Military Monday Blog hop. For every 100 followers I reach I will be having a giveaway. The first giveaway will be from the Faith Bebe Boutique Collection.
OH, CAN ANY OF MY FOLLOWERS HELP ME? I'VE BEEN ASKED BY A FEW OF MY FOLLOWERS FOR MY BUTTON TO PUT ON THEIR PAGE... ANYONE KNOW HOW I DO THAT??? I AM HAVING ISSUES!
I decided that I was going to do something "outside" the box. Traditionally folks send Christmas cards and letters around Christmas, this year I'm sending a New Year's letter! So for those of you in the blog-o-sphere here is this year's letter, you can pretend that you just went to the mailbox and retrieved it!
Dear Family and Friends,
I hope this finds you well! Boy have we been busy! A recap of our year, I was offered a promotion within my company. I couldn't be happier. I have successfully now worked in all of the claims departments throughout State Farm. (I don't know if that is a good thing or not. :) Josey turned 2 and I can hardly believe she's almost 3!!! Where does the time go? Josh and I attended : "A Weekend to Remember" which is a Family Life Marriage Retreat! It was amazing... There are still things that I reflect on from that weekend, so much that Josh and I have decided to attend once again. When we first arrived and they pooled the audience and there were couples there that had been attending for thirty odd years, I'll be honest, I thought they were crazy. I couldn't see how people could use this more than once... Boy was I wrong!
In March Josh was laid off from his job which made us realize the effects of the economy, but we've made do. Shortly after his lay off he took off to Great Lakes, IL for additional military training. I stayed back and ran the ship at home only to be put on bedrest in May. The big girls finished Kindergarten and Second Grade. We also decided in April that for the following school year that we were going to switch school districts, ours was going through a lot of financial ruin based on our state legislature cuts and we just wanted to ensure the BEST education for our girls. We considered homeschooling full time, however if Josh ended up going back to work then we didn't know if we could keep it up.
Sera bug turned 4... which also meant that my grandpa had been gone for 4 years (he passed 11 days after Sera was born) My family often thinks that Sera channels my grandpas spirit, and while we really don't believe in all that, there are definitely things she says and does that make us question... for example the time that she said grandpa was out in the back yard watching us... While I know its her vivid imagination, it still lightens your heart to know that she is so pure an free!
In July we welcomed Baby Lybertei (Liberty) into our family. She is such a joy. I can't believe that she's almost 6 months old already! Where does the time go? Josh wasn't able to be home for the birth so my mom was in the OR with me. "Lil T" as daddy calls her is definitely her daddy's girl (they all are really)! She looks just like her dad and grins ear to ear when she sees him!
August brought the girls back to school, in a new school, making new friends. They have adjusted really well, and while we don't necessarily agree with all of the teaching practices, we have faith in the teachers!
September brought a roller coaster of emotion. Drea began getting really ill after Labor Day. After several days with a 104 fever that wouldn't quit, nausea, vomitting and what not it was time to take action. I loaded her up and took her to the ER... much to our disliking they ran no tests and did nothing. They told us she was having migraines...now I'm no doctor, but I do know that migraines do not cause a fever that high for 5 days. We left and the following morning made an appt with our doc who diagnosed her with a sinus infection, while I wasn't completely satisfied I took the RX and hoped that maybe she would get better... She got worse so we decided to take her to Children's Hospital, while the wait was long, the quality of care was amazing! She went through extensive testing, IV's, meds, XRays, spinal taps, and on and on and on... Final diagnosis was Lacrosse Encephalitis and Aeseptic Menengitis... Thank you local hospital for dismissing my childs symptoms in which she nearly died, not from the encephalitis, but from the extreme dehydration that she was experiencing. (sorry about the rant, just stating a point!) After spending nearly a week in the hospital with no insurance (TRICARE has been a mess!) our jubilent 8 year old was back to normal! Sadly enough she spent her 8th birthday in the hospital. She was a real trooper!
September also meant that I would be leaving my babies for the first time in 5 months. It was the hardest day ever! With that being said, if all works out hopefully soon I can become a stay a home mommy!
November has brought Josh the opportunity to work on temporary orders at the reserve center, it also opened the opportunity to work as full-time support... He filed his paperwork, and as with anything with the military, now we wait! :) (PRAYERS REQUESTED!) This has reminded me PRAY HARD, ALL things in HIS time!
Finally December hit, who knew it could come so fast?!?!?! Payge turned 7, and we celebrated at the zoo. The three oldest girls have been taking Tae Kwon Do for the past several months, Drea has advanced so well that she tested for her yellow belt and earned, she also earned the 2010 Spirit Award! We are so proud of her. The oldest three are also dancing, and we inherited a violin and piano which we hope to start lessons here soon.
We've seen a couple moderate snow storms and frigid temps for the past month. It is sad that 2K10 has come and gone so quickly, but that means that 2K11 is here and it's time to face it and all of it's glory!
So with that we say to you: DEU 6:5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul ,
and with all your strength.
My mother is finally getting around after her recent back surgery, now we just wait to see if it worked.
The kids had yet another amazing Christmas, as did mommy and daddy! There is nothing more that I love than being surrounded by family and friends. Isn't it sad that it has to be a holiday before we all find time in our busy schedules for each other. We have one more celebration with my family on New Year's day. My aunt and uncle live away and won't be "home" until Friday evening. I LOVE spending time with them, I wish I could spend more time with them.
Now that we are through the holidays it is time for me to get to organizing, school work, and craft projects!
Looking forward to following my followers and gaining more... For every 100 followers I will be drawing for prizes! Tell your friends to Hop on Board!
I've been thinking about this post for some time, so here we go: These are the minimum numbers for our day,everyday...
*14 socks
*7 pr of underroos
*7 shirts, pants, and coats (in theory)
*14 shoes
*9 towels, at least
*21 plates, 21 forks, and 21 spoons
*if each person left 5 things "laying around" in a day, that's 35 extra items for me to put away.
*a minimum of 8 bags leaving and returning to the house
*5 hats and 12 gloves
*2 boxes of macaroni and cheese
*one loaf of bread
*half gallon of milk,at least
This is sort of a large post, so I decided to increase the size for point and emphasis, maybe it's overkill! :)
Anywho, what is the point of this post? Well... the point being these are just a few of the numbers. How is a mother of a large family supposed to function with all these "things"?!?!?! Well I finally, about a month ago, have came to realize that I am not super woman... I can't do it all. The biggest part of that is accepting this fact. So as a part of my realization came some new rules and practices at our home, which have been quite effective I might add. We inherited clothing racks from our church when the clothes closet shut down a few weeks ago, now that I have them I need more. I recently purchased more than 200 hangers and truthfully I need more... My goal by February 1, 2011 is to have all of our clothes hung minus undergarments and socks!. I have a system that my husband still isn't too keen on, but hey it works so I'm going with it. All of the shirts are on one side of the rack, by size. Pants, sweaters, dresses, and OSU garb are all the same as well. My exception to this is Lybertei's... her's are on a rack of their own. I am hoping to get a few more racks for my husband and I. The kids find it amusing and say it looks like a store.
Beyond clothes I have instituted a few more small activities that the kids are responsible for. First, my husband had the opportunity to spend a few weeks working at the local Navy Operational Support Center so that has left me to get all 7 of us ready and out of the house by 0700 daily. So, everyone (but the baby) is responsible for getting themselves ready, once you are ready you are then responsible for getting your buddy ready. I have matched Drea and Josey together because they are most alike, Payge has been paired with the baby, and Sera is responsible for herself. I start by laying out all 7 complete outfits, although my husband has kind of been on his own lately, but he is managing well. (insert snicker here) All they have to do is get dressed, this also entails, shoes on, teeth and hair brushed, coats and bags ready, and THEN and only then you help your buddy. The system has worked pretty well.
Secondly in the evenings my kiddos have been leaving things lay lately... and the room(s) I absolutely HATE to clean is the kitchen/dining room... The clutter that arrives in that area so quickly frankly annoys me! I even bought a plaque at the local thrift store yesterday that makes reference to the clutter... I will hang it in our new home. I have been making them do the floor clean up plan... What ever is on the floor pick it up, I DON'T CARE IF YOU DIDN'T PUT IT THERE! I asked you to pick it up so please do so.
Payge has been so willing to help and do dishes, I remember when I was so eager to do the same... hehehe, oh well she likes to do it and does a good job at it, so occasionally I allow her to help with that as well.
Slowly my brood is learning what teamwork can mean when it comes to cleaning so hopefully we can keep up this momentum. And hopefully in early 2011 we'll be moving!
Here I was thinking that I was doing well, only a few more weeks away from being able to file my application with BlogHer and the others to actually get my webpage featured. I have been, err, or I thought I had been posting from my Blackberry... Much I guess the journey to becoming a "professional blogger" of sorts resumes today.
*If you were looking, which most of you aren't, you'd find me in a very busy hospital waiting area. My mother, who is 47 years young, is having decompression and fusion back surgery. Lybertei and I are waiting patiently for word from her doctor that she is in recovery and what the status of her surgery/recovery will be. Our hope is that this will greatly improve her quality of life, because I will be frank, she has none at this point.
*I am diligently dredging through my way through school. The first class was a breeze and the next few will be fine... my current one, however, is killing me. Why? It's English... no worries right?, wrong! I love to write, obviously or I wouldn't be a blogger! BUT, when you want me to break apart my work, highlight here, underline there, yada yada yada I emotionally freak out. Finally after struggling for like three weeks my husband, oh the wise one, said something that resignated with me... JUST WRITE, then go back and do all that fussy stuff... you know what? I did and I managed all 8 assignments in one night. I am in the finishing stages of editing them so that I can submit them.
*We are eerily approaching Christmas, which I love, but I'll be honest... I am really under prepared! I still have gifts to buy, everything to wrap, gifts to make, and on and on and on! For me it's not about the gifts, but about the family! I love being with family... I truly believe this is why I have so many beautiful children, as I get older they'll be here to spread the joy.
*In a few upcoming posts, most of which will probably will come today I'll be writing about my little Ninjas and one big accomplishment of one of them! My final plans for Christmas gifts,etc. And a whole lot more! :)
God Bless,
Amanda
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OH, CAN ANY OF MY FOLLOWERS HELP ME? I'VE BEEN ASKED BY A FEW OF MY FOLLOWERS FOR MY BUTTON TO PUT ON THEIR PAGE... ANYONE KNOW HOW I DO THAT??? I AM HAVING ISSUES!
