The Kelsey's

Well, it’s finally arrived.  The first inklings of a sign of the end of an era.  Last night, with evidently no prodding on any family member’s part.  Nathan decided to take a stab at pooping on the potty.

He came downstairs with no pants on, holding out his hands saying that he needed a new pull-up.  It was getting dark in the room so I couldn’t see anything unusual, so I replied just a minute… (I was looking something up, how unusual).

Next I heard Caleb call down that he needed help cleaning up the poop.  What?!? As I came upstairs he explained that Nathan had tried (an ‘A’ for effort at least) to use the toilet.  He mostly got it all in there.  Just a little on the lid, some on his leg, and little portions helping to keep his fingers stuck together.

We got the little guy some relief.  He wasn’t sure whether to cry or cheer.  We left the toilet in its somewhat soiled condition as mommie would be home in a few minutes and it would be good for her to see the evidence.  Plus I had done the fingers, the leg, and the unwiped bottom – well, frankly, I was pooped.  (wah-wah!)

My father-in-law called right as we were running down stairs as we heard the garage door opening.  We took Laura up to the scene of the crime.  She couldn’t believe it.  We all cheered for such a great accomplishment.  Nathan exclaimed one of his all time favorite sayings: “I so happy!”

When he gets a handle on the idea of proper body waste disposal, it will be the end of a decade plus of childhood incontinence.  I’m not saying it won’t be a welcomed change, but it’s just another signpost in life saying the time marches on.

Aside:
On another note, we went and signed our taxes at the end of the night. My dad just started doing taxes for H & R Block; he asked us to help him out, so we did. He found way more money than our normal tax guy had. It was quite a good deal. Way to go dad! I don’t like getting refunds because it says that the government has been playing around all year with money that could’ve helped my family. But we’ll take it back happily.

(Yes, I know March is supposed to be in like a lion and out like a lamb – artistic license…)
Wow!  Did the month of March just – slip by?  I guess it just did.  Oh so many things to keep track of I’ll just have to give out little snippets of random news.  Let’s see…

New Internet Connection
We upgraded and are going faster now, one idea was that it would be easier to post audio podcasts and maybe even video podcasts – - stay tuned for some experimentation!

New Tax Man
My dad’s working with H & R Block now and we signed up to be tax guinea pigs. He’s had a hard time getting us to get our act together. But it’s all over but the signing now – tonight, in fact.

Working on an Internet Start-Up
It’s not really official, we haven’t put the word out much of anyplace. So you’re basically the first to know if you’re reading it here. But we’re creating an online community for homeschoolers called “Barnabas Way.” Right now it’s just a blog: BarnabasWay.com/blog but you can check it out and make sure you tell your homeschooling friends that it’s coming. I’m sure I’ll share more details as the firm up.

Looking at Irons in the Fire Worth Dropping
I’m taking inventory of all the things I’m involved in and trying to figure out what can be cut back. Between church, work, politics (FairTax? Tea Party? Run for office maybe?), 2 started books, 5 or so blogs, video archiving, an aging body, audio engineering, Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, media uploading, server maintenance, peacemaking ministry, kids growing faster than I can follow, and a house that’s starting to need handyman help ready or not. Some things are going to have to change.

Financial Pinch is Full On
2008 was not a great year for us financially. I was out of work in May, December, and half of January 2009. So we are still building our savings back up. It’s very frightening living from paycheck to paycheck. Some people do it all the time – I wouldn’t be able to take that. We have touched the bottom of the pool and are swimming to the surface as fast as we can. It’s still not fun when your lungs are burning and you can see how far you are from the air. There are many out there worse off than we are. But it is more personal when you’re being touched by the situation specifically. We’re praying that some invoices will get paid TODAY!

Well, that’s just a few of the things happening in March at the Kelsey’s. I’ve got to run off to work. I’ll try to get a little more out to you tonight.

Caleb wanted to participate in the giving spirit this Christmas.  So what’s a guy to do when he doesn’t have a car, or even permission to walk up to the Walgreen’s on the corner and he has to get a gift.  Well, ya’ get a little creative.

We have water bottles around the house as an available resource, so he decked one up with strips of paper and wrote on them little messages.

Each strip had been layered together and connected with a generous supply of tape.  So much so that the bottom of the bottle was a little sticky.

The messages on the strips of paper were as follows:

1. Caleb Josh Hannah (heart) and then a pictoral representation of all 6 family members.
2. A series of faces (facing right-side up) encircling the whole bottle (obviously for Dad who is constantly chatting online and sharing ’s with all).
3. Merry Christmas I love you.
4. I Love You repeated all the way around
5. Mom Dad alternated all the way around
6. Alternating hearts and Smileys (one with big teeth showing!)

Now, don’t be con-fused, this is not a bottle full of water.  This is a bottle that someone had already refreshed themselves with – it was empty.  Well, not quite empty.  Take a look.

Inside are two things, one is a toy cloak (I believe) and the other thing down at the bottom is a fuse.  It’s a tiny little fuse and I have no idea what it goes to!  But now it goes to Caleb’s Christmas gift.  So, this is a gift “charged” with love.

The moral of this story and the point of the gift is that it’s not the gift, but the giver that counts.  He was very happy to offer it up to us.  He saved it until the very last and brought it out of his room.  Hugs were exchanged all around.  We did have a good Christmas in 2008.

Whiling away the hours while your parents are teaching a seminar can make for dreary days.  You really have to stretch yourself to find things to occupy your time.  Fortunately, dad has provided the Kelsey kids with a couple of cameras last Christmas that can be used to take some snapshots or even to produce movies.  Caleb has been the camera nerd in the family, not to say that the older siblings are in any way shy to put them to use.  But this is the first foray for Nathan into the world of digital imaging.

The first thing you have to do is to become familiar with your equipment.

(This is what he took)

“I think I understand what is going on with this thing.”

(This is what he took)

“Ok, now, let’s get serious about this.”

(This is what he took)

“What do I see?  There is no viewfinder on this camera!”

(This is what he took)

“You know, this whole picture thing is just too easy!”

(This is what he took)

“Hmm, I can steady it on the table…”

(This is what he took)

“Check me out, who needs all that equipment like tripods and stuff.”

(This is what he took)

“This is so easy, this camera practically runs itself.”

(This is what he took)

Maybe these will be picked up by some syndicated columnist.  Or maybe this is the beginning of a blossoming career.  Either way, media savvy has definitely made it all the way through the Kelsey’s by now.

Not much to say here – just look at these photos of a hawk that sat looking around our back yard.  I think he was looking for some food.  Maybe he was tracking that huge snake I almost ran over with the lawn mower earlier in the summer (sorry, no pictures of that thing!).

Pretty wild, huh?

Check out a new form just to the right here. All you have to do is enter you first name and your e-mail and click on the “Click To Sign-Up” button. I don’t think I could’ve made it any more clear.

When you do that, you will be sent an e-mail with a link that you have to click. Once you do that you will be put on a list that will send you an e-mail every time a new post is entered on this web site.

Stay tuned, I have a post for Caleb’s birthday, a post about Joshua’s trip to a political rally, my own birthday, and my trip to the annual Peacemaker conference. But that’s not going to happen tonight. It’s time to head off for bed.

The House Situation

Today was a crazy day. I took Joshua over to meet an inspector to get an occupancy permit for the house we are trying to sell (the one we lived in from ’95 to ’03 or so). The back sliding glass door was open and the inspector said, “I hope you still have your copper pipes.”

He turned on the water and it worked. He said, “Naw, you’re ok.”

But I had go get my hair cut for my Job that starts Monday (more about that in a bit). And then I took Joshua home and went to take care of the house. I got some wood to brace the door shut. But while looking in the back yard for the stick that used to keep the glass doors secure, I found a chunk of a door frame… I figured it had to belong to me.

So I went through the whole house and I found the back door that leads to the car port had been busted through. Then they put the frame back up and even re-latched the chain lock and the deadbolt metal plate so it looked undisturbed. They just forgot and left the glass door ajar.

Well I’m not handy enough to actually fix the door – so what did I do? I took a long piece of wood and screwed it to the door frame. Now the door won’t open at all. So it’s secure, it just doesn’t function as a door right now.

So the question is, will this deter what is most likely mischievous kids, or will it make them more determined to break in to the point of breaking a window or something…? From talking to the neighbors, it seems that there was a party on July 4th at our house. We weren’t informed.

So that’s the excitement there, other than the fact that the people that were going to buy it aren’t going to be able to. And they were going to lease it, but it’s looking like they can’t afford to do that either.

So the house is still out there.

The Job Situation

So I took a 3 week contract to define a potential client’s needs, and then if they are willing, I would lead a team of developers to implement what we planned out. I’ve never been on such a short contract, but it sure beats sitting at home without a job. I’m being told that they are pretty confident that this short assignment would roll right into something much more stable if the work is done well. But they weren’t sure enough to sign a contract over it – now were they.

It will be an interesting stretch for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been involved in requirements gathering that was planned and not due to a chaotic work environment. So it could be interesting. I guess we’ll know much more after Monday.

It’s getting close to sundown on a Friday night, so I think I’ll just sign off for now. Gotta get you more pictures. Oh, one more thing… I incorporated a new commenting widget called Disqus. Give it a try and see what you think.

So what do you do on a holiday where the big event isn’t until after dark? Does the rest of the day feel like any other day? It may have seemed that way in the morning.

But soon after lunch time, we did something a little different. Laura suggested we stop laying around the house and go outside and play.

“It’s the 4th of July and it’s beautiful outside..!”

So we decided to do ‘some activity’ outside. Joshua grabbed his glove and mine, and a couple of baseballs. Hannah grabbed her iPod. Caleb grumbled a bit about having to put on socks and shoes instead of just flip flops. But I demanded if we were going to do some running around, you would need more than those.

So we were going to go in the back yard and play catch. After all, the yard still looked like it had been mowed. (That reminds me, I need to do something about the fact that I don’t own a working lawn mower – this fact will become noticeable to the whole neighborhood very soon.)

I thought we could walk over to the near by high school and run around the track. But instead we settled for walking a few blocks to the park and throwing the ball around. We got there and Joshua and I started playing catch. Hannah walked over to the swings and Caleb decided that doing that was better than watching.

It was only about five minutes when Caleb came running back over to us. I thought he had forgotten to go to the bathroom before leaving – he looked a little agitated. When he got over to me I asked him what was wrong. In an agitated voice he said, “Dad, there’s bees out here!”

I looked around and we were in a vast field of clover with the puffy white flowers poking out everywhere. I bent over and looked down.

“You’re right! Why this right here would be called a bumble bee.” I took a few steps and said, “And here are two more.”

This wasn’t helping.

“Caleb, you’ve walked all the way across this field twice now and they didn’t even notice you. Besides, this is why I told you to wear shoes instead of flip flops, you’re just fine.”

No consolation. By this time Hannah is on her way over because it’s looking like there’s a conversation that she’s missing out on.

We walked over to the sidewalk and considered just going home. But instead we decided to go on over to the track. Hannah wasn’t interested, so she took the balls and gloves back to the house. Only after we got home did we find out that she decided to take the long way home and even stopped off at the Haakenson’s to visit for a while. Freedom from the supervision of parents is becoming a “thing” with her.

So we walked over and ran up and down the bleachers of the soccer field. I was sure there was a track around somewhere. So we walked all the way around the back of the school and found it on the far side.

We ran one lap. This was enough to leave some of us gasping for breath! OK, Caleb was ready to go – but the rest of us were through. I did manage to jump one hurdle that was on the side. But that took it all out of me.

But before we left, I lined the boys up in one end zone and we pretended to run back a kick off. We did the 100 yard “dash(?)” for what would be considered a touchdown. However, a touchdown isn’t a touchdown when there is no defense. But there were all these metal stakes in the ground, but I don’t think they counted.

After a leisurely stroll home, it wasn’t long until dinner. Not a bad way to mess around while waiting for the big 4th of July feast that was being prepared for us.

Usually on the night of the 4th, we go to a local Steak -N- Shake and order milk shakes for all and sit on a hill and watch 3-4 fireworks displays. We discovered this worked better for our toddlers because they were far away enough from the booms. And the Florissant display was close enough that we could still enjoy some booms during the finale. Plus no crowd and we could just wander back home as soon as it was over.

But this year the 4th fell on a Friday night. We don’t buy anything from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday to honor the Sabbath day. So this year we just stayed home. We were pretty pooped from running around in the afternoon anyway.

It’s amazing how the prosperity of this country has allowed us to become so very sedentary! I’m not complaining! Just observing.

I think things will be changing around here soon… …Laura bought a scale this week.

Oh, a week went by yesterday – but we are still in the next week… I hope you are forgiving. I don’t have a theme for this blog post, just some recent pictures from the kids.

Cruisin’ with the Kelseys

Caleb is free with the pictures while riding in the van. This is a view from the family view mirror.

Here’s Nathan to Caleb’s left.

And here’s Hannah in her own world on his right.

Caleb has quite a few self portraits. I’m working on pulling those together into a slide show or a collage or something, stay tuned.

The latest thing

The boys have just been ga ga for their Wii. We are trying to help them to appreciate temperance with this new activity. But right now they are excited by this little guy…

That would be "Lego Indy Jones!" We’ll try to get you a recording of Nathan cheering them on…

I know throwing up a couple of pictures real quick is a cheezy excuse – but hey, I could’ve just left you hanging for a week or two.

We are getting geared up for another Peacemaking weekend. This time in Ottumwa, IA. Yes, Ottumwa is right in the middle of all this flooding mess. We’ll see what we have to face when we get there.

Speaking of Peacemaking, I have my paperwork in to my mentor. We’ll be talking about that together to make sure I have everything he needs to approve me. I then just need to turn in my independent paperwork. I plan on finishing that off over the next two weeks. Then I’ll be able to graduate in September! I’m sooo close!

We’ve been so busy living, that blogging has sagged a bit. Well no more! Starting this month you will see at least one blog entry every week! Oh, it’s the 11th? Well, last week we were at Camp Meeting… we were in the sticks… What can you do.

The Latest On the Car

First off, I think the biggest response I’ve gotten from people is that my car was wrecked. “Hey how are you doing? I saw on your blog that you wrecked your car.”
Ok, that was the end of March. It’s June now. But the lesson is learned. If it isn’t blogged, it didn’t happen. The car is fixed.

Hannah Continues With the Piano

Hannah was getting a little weary of having to practice. But she loves her teacher, and she loves her annual recital – so we’ll hang on a little longer. She’s back to practicing sans the complaining.

The Camera Is a Hit

The kids have produced more pictures, soundtracks, and even videos than I can possibly put up here – unless I just dumped them all on you. So instead of that, I’ll stick in some “flashback” posts and try to include more of them. Oh yes, very very soon. Here’s a sample shot. This is us at camp meeting. What’s typical about this shot? What’s atypical? If you can’t answer this question, I invite you to get to know us better. Or just call Laura, she’ll know.