The boys making pumpkin pie!

All of us breaking the bread for our incredible stuffing for Thanksgiving.

The only Thanksgiving pictures I got this year!

We are still here! I promise! I just heard the cutest thing!!!! Rebekah asked Sean, "Do you love my hair?" He said "Yes, you know what I love more...YOU!" Always so tender to her! That was said just as I started typing! The real reason I got on to blog was to give everyone an update! We feel as if we have been through the muck and back and then again and back! It truly has been a roller coaster ride. JEf was laid off in October. He has had a difficult time dealing with the rejection. Here he has been giving his life to the building of a rock plant...he was the only one on the project for 4 years and then the last two he was finally given a team...however, it has his fingerprints all over it. It really was not a nice way to say thank you...well we don't need you anymore. However, I am convinced that the Lord did not want him there anymore. For the past 2 months he has found some consulting business! He has been going to a few places helping them find holes in there processes. Fascinating! He is great at seeing how things work and simplifying it so that others can learn. This has come with some ups and downs. He loves going into the plants but hates not knowing where the next pay check is going to come from. (For that matter where any pay check is coming from...we have not received anything yet!) He is learning to depend on the One who feeds the birds and clothes the lillies! Hard to do but we experienced His goodness with Rebekah...we can experience it again! The jobs are few right now. He has been working with a few recruiters but they are not encouraging so for now, we get to have Jeff home with us in what used to be the schoolroom (with painted bugs on the wall and a card table as a desk). I actually love having him home. He adds a lot to our studies during the day. Needless to say, no Christmas cards will be sent out this year. Sorry! We have been thinking about everyone and hope that you have a terrific Christmas. Next year you might get 2 cards from us!!! For now we are trying to pinch a few pennies to make dollars. That is a benefit of not having a job...we just can't do all of what is expected to do during this season therefore we are getting to enjoy our decorations a little more!

Happy Birthday to the boy who made me a mom!

November 12, 1997 Jeff and I checked me into the hospital so I could birth the baby I had been carrying for 9 months! Oh how excited and nervous we were! We had the baby's room all set up, the toys ready to be played with, the blankets and clothes all washed, and of course the house spotless! Now all we needed was the baby! After a day of induced labor, Jeremy Mikael Otto was born at 8:11 pm. Oh how he has added to our life. Jeremy, you have become such a young man of integrity, kindness, thoughtfulness and add so much joy to our life! Thank you for the many acts of selflessness you do. I am really looking forward to watching you and guiding you into adulthood over the next 12 years! May the Lord bless these next ones, keep you healthy, and give us wisdom to grow you into all that He created you to be! Happy 12th birthday, Have fun camping!

Our Country song

I think we have the makings of country songwriters; "Lost my job, Lost my truck, Lost my dog, Roof is falling down...but I still got my girl!!!" Don't you think it will be on the top of the charts? Jeff lost his job 2 Thurs. ago. His truck was a company truck so that was gone as well! We had to put our beloved Dusty down...she was our first born...but the furry kind! Then this past Monday we had a huge storm and our ceiling starting leaking! Believe it or not...we are still smiling! Our mountain moving, gasp giving, awe inspiring (to steal a phrase from a bloggy friend) God has given us a lot to smile about. Jeff has started consulting! My dad is helping him break into the food plants (processing rocks or processing fertilizer, the machines are the same!) and help teach these guys to better run their plants! He has one paying customer already and 2 possibilities next week! This will allow him to work from home and be MUCH more involved with us! He taught one of our art lessons the other day! He is home for our morning walk/ bike ride and devotions! Granite gave us a nice severence package so if Jeff gets this business up and running soon then we might be better off than before all this happened. These last few months have been very stress filled, knowing that Granite would have to condense some jobs together. The cuts went %40 deep. He went back yesterday for lunch with a few friends and was really relieved that he did not have to play the political game anymore!

Drum roll please for the best news yet! Rebekah has not had a potty accident in one 5 days!!!! Maybe she just needed her daddy home!

If the Lord puts us on your mind...say a prayer. This is scary time to be unemployed and starting something new does not come easy to Jeff!

My Little 3 year old!

What a joy it has been to be this little darling's mom! She is funny, witty, a tad bit shy, adores her big "brovers" and "siser", and is my "little bit of heaven". We celebrated her special day with presents and rice! (That is all she wanted...rice and a balloon! Being the mom of 4 I noticed a deal!!! That is what the little angel got!) Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

Weekend Fun

Like father like son. Jeff usually spills his last drop of ice cream on his shirt. This time it was Sean's turn to do that!

All of us plus Reese, Jeremy's friend, at Sam's...a favorite restaurant of both Jeff's family and mine!

At Grandma Lorraine's

This weekend we went to Sacramento for some train fun! Jeff came home on Friday night and said he had a great idea for Saturday, to go to Sacramento and ride on a mini steam train. My first reaction was to say no but I have been trying to encourage Jeff to make plans for our family so I went along with the idea. I thought the older kids would think this was a "kiddy" thing to do, but to my surprise, they loved the idea! The trains ran on only a lawn mowere engine. The real steam engines were not runnin. We still had a blast and rode on them twice! We had a fabulous time and even got to stop by and see Jeff's grandma, Lorraine Otto. This grandma has never even met Rebekah. It was a sweet surprise!

Before we left for Sacramento, Jeremy tested for his green belt! He passed!!!! Now he gets to spar! This is Sean and Jeremy sparring!

Day at the Tide pools

Whoops! Did you get a little wet?

Jeremy made a new friend!

These 2 seals jumped up to say hi!

Maggie adores all things that swim in the ocean.

This one was the brave one!

A "gift from a seagull! And what is that? Might that be a fingerprint?

Mommy, look it is sticky?

Sean holding up the world!

What do you do when your oldest needs to be picked up at camp 2 and a half hours away? Spend the day at the tide pools! After reuniting with Jeremy, (what sweet stuff to a mommy's heart) we spent a few hours at Natural Bridges. I am always so stunned at the power of the Lord when we get to go to the ocean. The Bridges used to be two but the water has shaved them down to one! Power in water, water made by our Lord, Power in God our creator! It is a nice reminder as I struggle with being overwhelmed with today's economy, friends that have cancer (check out Aimee's blog on the sidebar...better picture is coming), and teaching 4 children that will have a bigger job to do in helping to reconstruct this world that we are giving them. I was reminded last week during our Truth study how the Lord has never given up and throughout history he has given His Church a job to do, and the honor of doing it! Ultimately, He is the one in charge and He never makes a mistake. Catherine Dang said during one of her training classes, "The Lord will always use evil to accomplish His good!" I am waiting and watching and working with hope! I hope you are too!

Garrett was here!

Garrett and his buddy Joey with my 4 kids!

Extremes!

Garrett, my cousin visited us last week! What an incredible man he has become! He joined the military last year and has been stationed in San Diego. He drove through our town and stopped by on his way back home to Washington. After a month of rest...he will go to Virginia to train and then off to somewhere in the world to guard one of our embassies. What a joy it is to know him and an honor to call my cousin. He lived with my folks for the last 2 years of his High School career so sometimes it feels as if I have a little brother! He is 6 foot something...taller than my husband by a few inches! It was very cute to see my smallest daughter who will probably never pass 5 feet look up to her 2nd cousin who probably was never that small!!! Garrett, you be very careful wherever they place you. I will be praying for you and counting the days till we see you again! Thank you for being an incredible role model for my kids to "look up to"! Most of all, thank you for protecting the freedom that we still have in America.

Mom

My Mom is here! We are having a terrific day. She had Sean for a few days and they rode the train up here. I want to be like her when I grow up!

Don't you wish everything was made of cinnamon rolls?

This was the question me adorable MaggieAnn said today. I felt as if I had been in the kitchen all morning. Made smoothie for Jeff before he left for work, breakfast for Rebekah who got up before everyone else, pottied in the kitchen...had to clean that up...pottied again in the kitchen...made smoothie for Jeremy who has decided that sleeping in is wonderful, taught a piano lesson, cleaned up the kitchen, put in cinnamon rolls, pottied again in kitchen, then heard my sweet Maggieann say this!!!! All was worth it! (I was not the one pottying in the kitchen...adorable daughter number 2 was!!!!) Off to go get the car fixed and get out of the kitchen!!!!

The Pictures!

Sorry! I was having trouble uploading the pictures for the last post! Here they are!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Happy Birthday My Dear Jeff!

Once upon a Time there were 2 little girls named Debbie and Peggy! They were best friends! They would always talk about growing up and having children and their children would marry! Well, In this story, happily ever after really happened! These 2 little girls actually did grow up, did not live next door to each other but lived clear across the state. Debbie had a boy and named him Jeff. Peggy had a girl and named her Tricia. The kids would see each other a few times as they were growing up but that would stop shortly after Jeff was 10 and Tricia was 8. It came to be time for these kids to go to college. Tricia went out of state as Jeff decided to go to Fresno. It just so happened that Tricia's parents moved to Fresno. Peggy was deperatly needing a child around so she rejoiced when she learned that Jeff had started Fresno State. Peggy "adopted" Jeff and he would be welcomed into that household just as if he was Peggy's son! Tricia would come home from college and meet Jeff only to think he was wierd. (You should have seen his clothes that he wore!) But Peggy would often tell her that the woman who captured JEff's heart would be the luckiest woman around! After a year of out of state tuition, Tricia decided to go to college in Fresno. She moved to the same apt. complex that JEff lived in. They would often walk to class together and reminis about younger days! They would talk to each other about everything! Jeff's roomate even asked Tricia on dates and bring Jeff along for support! One day, Jeff decided to ask Tricia to come home with him to visit his folks. She had not seen them for 10 years. What fun they had as they went out on the town. It was then that Jeff knew he had to ask Tricia to share the rest of his life with him.

Jeff, what a life you have given me! Thank you for your constant love, your dedicated learning of what makes me tick, your undivided affection. The Lord has truly blessed me by providing me such a great husband. I am honored to be your teamate. What a joy it is to watch you grow and learn how to lead our family. I am so glad the Lord choose to give you life 38 years ago today. I am so looking forward to your next 38 years! Happy Birthday!

What a blur!

Train ride to Hanford!
The best ice cream in the valley!

My Mom and Maggieann

Sean with Jeff's Dad...the greatest dentist alive!

Okay, here it goes! What a blur of a week. One of the greatest things about homeschooling is you get to take trips anytime you want! My mom had asked me to come down for a mother/daughter shopping trip that her church was going on! Well, of course the girls and I would come...who passes down a shopping trip? We would ride the train from Fresno to Hanford (30 min), have ice cream at Superior Dairy (been around since my dad was a little boy!) and then go shopping! I also needed to get Sean's cavity filled (story to come next) with my Dad in-law...the dentist!!!! So the kids and I piled into our Suburban and drove to Fresno for a nice, relaxing visit with the grandparents. I love visiting with my folks. They take such good care of me. My dad does not let me do a dish and he is always there ready to walk all the way outside to throw a dirty diaper away! Jeff stayed home to put in our new (new to us but ripped out of my in-laws home) wood floor! He could get a lot done without kids here! So we would stay until Monday! We had a blast on the train. Rebekah was glued to the window. She would also say "choo choo" when the train whistle blew! The ice cream was delicious and I found some fabulous clothes at a great consignment shop!!! The day was successful. Monday, we went to Reedley, where my in-laws live, and got Sean's tooth taken care of. He goes to a dentist here in town but she frightened him. Sean picks up on adult talk very well. The dentist was trying to ask me if he would need laughy gas for his tooth filling. This is a pediatric dentist and she is very used to children that don't behave. She asked me in such a way that Sean thought she was going to surgically remove his head!!! She really should have pulled me out of the room to ask me. After all the filling was tiny. I said he wouldn't need the gas but she almost insisted on it. I didn't want my son to be afraid of the dentist for ever so I called Gene and asked if he could do it! He didn't even have to numb Sean's tooth up! It was that small! When Grampa was done Sean said, "Was that all?"

Right before we came down, I was talking to my mom about how I never can get anything done. Things get done...superficially, but nothing gets done completly. With all of the extra things that I have going on it sure would be nice to have some time without kids. I have not been without atleast one child for any amount of time for over 3 months! She said she would take the kids if I could wait until Tues. to leave. We have to go down the following weekend for a family get together for Jeff's family, so we would pick the kids up on Friday and go to my in-laws for the next weekend!

The days have been perfect! I had lunch with a friend on Wed, another friend on Thurs, settled some convention stuff and some carnival stuff. Helped Jeff put in the wood floor (he got sick while we were gone and did not do as much as he wanted to...however, he did do some!!!!) Planned for next year, ordered some curriculum, did the kids report cards and other paper work, cleaned and re-organized the schoolroom, had soushi with JEff, etc....The only thing I didn't get done was to clean the house. On Friday, after I had packed I came down with what Jeff had last weekend. I couldn't go with Jeff to pick the kids up and go to the family get together. I have been on the couch for 2 days and I am ready for this house to not be quiet anymore. I am really missing the kids. They were supposed to come home tonight but Jeff was too tired to drive home.(taking care of 4 kids in someone elses home will do that to you! He said that Rebekah woke up at 5:30am screaming for me! Agh, it's good for him!!!) Can't wait to see them and start a normal routine again now that I am caught up on everything and my house is organized. I started feeling better this afternoon so I cleaned the part of the house that hasn't been affected by the floor project...so now I am really caught up. Isn't it amazing what you can get done without those wonderful interuptions. Life would sure be boring if I didn't have those interuptions to keep me relying on the One that blessed me with those interuption makers! It truly is nice to have some time alone in my own home but now they can come back!!!!!! Hurry!!!!

I've downloaded Pictures!!!!!

Trying out the 3-D glasses that her brother had!

A day and the life of homeschooled boys! They were trying to get a paper airplane off of a ledge way up high in our house! They were using their dad's tape measure!

While the boys were inside with paper airplanes, the girls were outside getting wet and eating an Otter Pop.

Wow! The simple things in life sometimes are the most exciting! I have been waiting for Jeff to teach me how to download pictures off of the camera for a super long time! I know it is not hard, but Jeff has a way of labeling the pictures that I didn't want to mess up! It seems that our time is filled with too many things to get done that the camera is neglected. Well, the chord was plugged in and the kids didn't need me roght at the moment...so I downloaded anyway without the camera master! I'll let you know if I've screwed up the labeling process. Oh well! One can only wait so long!

We're back!

It's been a while but we are still alive! Blogging has been so far down on my list of things to get done. Feels like just the neccesity has been getting done. That will change now that summer is almost here. We are wrapping things up for school. Most of our curriculm is done, now we are just tying up loose ends. This year has been such a challenge as far as schooling the kids. Rebekah does not nap more than one hour so most of school is juggling! I have become a good juggler though and Rebekah getting older helps! She actually goes to her desk now and gets her books out!!! I can't believe we have had Rebekah as part of our family for over a year! Some things still feel so new. The other kids are still infatuated with their little sister! Sean continues to tell her how cute she is. Maggieann is learning how to be a big sisiter and is starting (as of the last month) to really WANT a shadow!!!! Jeremy LOVES to hold her hand and walk with her!!! She now loves her daddy, but I'm still "IT" in Rebekah's book!!!!

Here are a couple of pictures from the last 7 months!