Wednesday, May 25, 2011

oops

About a month ago all of my kids had their well child checkups. I then remembered that it had been quite awhile since my older kids had seen the optometrist, and my middle ones hadn't ever been, so I made them all appointments for the same day. My oldest(11) I was fairly certain was fine, the second one down(8), I was pretty sure needed reading glasses since she decided a few weeks ago to start holding books about 6 inches from her face. She told me that the letters get all mixed up if she holds it any further away. The pediatrician thought that the third one(7) might have some vision issues, since he was having a hard time reading their chart, and the fourth one(5) was just kind of along for the ride.

So on Monday, after 5 hours in the optometry office, many annoying shows on PBS, a ton of snacks and treats, and I'm sure the biggest family visit they've ever had, this is what we found out. We were right about the oldest, his vision is great. The second one doesn't need glasses(although she REALLY wishes she did), the third doesn't need them quite yet, although he probably will by next year, for the OPPOSITE reason we thought he needed them! It turns out that he will need them for reading soon. They were amazed that he doesn't complain about it or anything!

My poor poor sweet fourth child, the one that was really only along for the ride, the one I was kicking myself for even making an appointment for... her vision is terrible. It's worse than 20/40, and is so bad that the optometrist won't even give her the full prescription yet. He wants her to wear half her prescription for 6 months before he gives her the full one. It was so bad that she couldn't even name one letter on the board, and they had to switch to pictures. She could still only make out the biggest 2, and then guessed some of the 3rd biggest. Poor thing can't see a thing! He had to use a stronger eyedrop to dialate her eyes, that didn't wear off for over 24 hours, just so he could make sure her prescription was accurate.

It runs in the family, both sides really, but we would have NEVER guessed that she was having issues. I was kicking myself wondering how I didn't notice, why she didn't say anything... I started asking her questions after we got home, like why didn't she want to sit on the couch to watch tv, already knowing the answer now. I had thought it was because she was 5 and couldn't see past all her siblings. I asked her to show me where she could see the tv well. She pulled her chair about 3 feet away from it. I stood about 7 feet away from her and asked if she could see my face. Nope. Poor thing! It answers so many questions, and explains so many things! We've been just cracking up talking about how she won't come to me when I call her in a crowded room, she probably can't tell which adult I am. No wonder when I give her a dirty look from across the room she smiles at me in return. I thought she was being ornery, she was probably thinking, my mommy sure does love me! HAHA! 

I told her yesterday that when she gets her glasses she'll be able to see my face from across the room, and see the tv from the couch. She got pretty excited.  So today we went to order her glasses, and she is so happy. We got a great deal on 2 pairs that she picked out, and they should be here by next week. I'm so excited to see how much this effects her, and to know that she can see! How is it that a problem we weren't even aware existed a few days ago, could make me feel so horrible, and so relieved when it was solved? I guess that's all part of being a mom, and wanting the best for your kids. I can't wait to upload some pics of my beautiful little one with her brand new glasses. BTW, she had SO much fun trying on almost every pair in the store, and admiring herself in the mirror!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

The goings on at the Boyer house...

Well, alot of you know, who know us well, what's been going on here. However, I figure it's about time to share with the general public. I know alot of you are thinking, how can she announce she's pregnant again while she's still pregnant??? HAHA! I deserve that one, since it's usually the only big news we have around here. Actually, God has been working in some pretty big ways around here, and I've been waiting for enough time to blog about it without interruption. Well, today is the day! :)

I guess it all really started when T and I were growing up. Both of us were brought up in good Christian homes, where we were taught all about Jesus, and serving the Lord. We were missionaries for a little while when I was in elementary school, and ever since then I have wanted to do missionary work, long or short term, it didn't matter to me. T did a little missionary work, but never really felt much of a call to that. He did however feel God's call on his life. We both had turned from our faith, and were kind of doing our own thing when we met. Since then, God has called us back to Him, and strengthened both of our relationships with Him, and our marriage and family through the years.

T is in the Army, and has always planned on staying there. He didn't want to do 20 years and retire, he wanted to do 30! He likes everything about the Army, the job, the guys he works with, the stability. Since we've been up in Alaska, we've been going to this really great church. It'll be hard to leave when we're done with our 3 years up here! A little over a month ago, as we were sitting in church, our pastor was preaching, and I really felt like God was speaking to T. I don't usually sit in church and think, oh man, is God speaking to that other person over there, but this time, I really did feel that. I sat in my chair next to my wonderful husband and just silently prayed over him the whole sermon. He looked really nervous, chewing his nails and the whole bit. The more I prayed, the more nervous he looked...

When service was over, we picked up our masses and headed out to the car. He's still acting nervous as all get out. We start to pull out of church, and he says that he doesn't know how to tell me this, but he thinks we're supposed to get out of the Army and go into full time ministry service. So of course, instantly I'm hoping it's missionary work. He's thinking of(and praying for) something else... HAHA! I think he expected me to freak out, instead I couldn't stop grinning ear to ear. We have no idea what exactly God is calling us to, except for now, to get ready. We have 3 years left on T's contract, during which time we will get the rest of the way out of debt, and T will go to school online. Then we'll use his GI bill to finish up his last year to 3 years of school. That's all the instruction we get for now, and to be honest, it's more than I thought we'd get. God does, after all, ask us to live day to day for Him, not necessarily with a road map, or a step by step guide.

Funny enough, I'm totally not even worried about it. I can honestly say I have more peace about this than anything else in a long time. I know without a doubt that we will have all the things we need, and so much more. I'm really looking forward to this next part of our adventure. A little side note to those of you wondering what this does to our "we'll take a many kids as God will give us" belief.... It changes nothing. What kind of belief would it be if the first sign of instability made us turn our backs on it?

My hope is that my hairbows and diaper cakes will take off enough that I can help T out so he doesn't have to go to school and work full time when he's done with the Army. I keep feeling like there's something else I should be doing as well to get ready, but for now, God hasn't revealed that to me. So, as a friend reminded me, if you don't feel any instruction from the Lord on what you should do next, just do the last thing He told you to do, until He gives you a new task. So for now I'll be homeschooling, paying off debt, building a business, supporting my man, and waiting...

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

making baby stuff

So lately, to keep off the urge to go buy a bunch of baby stuff, I've been making stuff like crazy. I finally found, after much looking, owl flannel that I really liked at Joann's. I bought about 3 yards of it, and another 3 yards of a coordinating fabric, and I've been sewing like crazy ever since! :) I guess this is more like a brag than an actual blog post. I really wanted to post pics, and since I've been trying to stay off of FB except for 10 minutes on the weekend, I figured I could post the pics here instead!

One side of the crib blanket
The other side of the crib blanket

One side of the stroller blanket

The other side of the stroller blanket

Outside cover of the changing table, unfolded

Inside changing pad, unfolded

The changing pad, all buttoned up!

2 of the burp cloths

My favorite part, the mobile! I love the owls and apples together!

Monday, May 16, 2011

flour tortillas

Ok, so the other day I needed a recipe for tortillas and for whatever reason couldn't pull my whole wheat one up on the computer, so I pulled out a super old church cookbook, and there was this recipe for flour tortillas, and I thought, sure, why not...
Well, I'm not sure I'll ever go back to making my whole wheat ones because these are FANTASTIC! Here's what I did...

4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
10 Tbs oil/butter/etc
up to 1&1/2 cup warm water

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together, then mix the oil in with a pastry blender. Add water a little at a time until dough is sticky. Dump out on floured surface and knead until soft and even. Divide dough into egg sized balls(I usually get 20-22). Let rest 20 minutes. Roll out each ball very thin, and cook on griddle or in a pan(ungreased) on medium about 30 seconds on each side.

This is double the original recipe, so if you don't need as many, you could half the recipe, or make this and freeze the leftovers for another meal. We only get 1 meal out of 20-22 tortillas! We had tacos tonight with these and we had 1 tortilla left over! HAHA!