Packin' up

Well, since Ike blew in life has been really tough, emotionally. With a newborn, my aunt's crazy accident and death and not having power- it was really overwhelming. Just as I thought I was seeing light, my Grandmother started to not do so well, so my dad and his brother made the decision to move her to an assisted living place in Finneytown. It's been really stressful. My folks are hoping that they are making the right decision, worrying about how long they can afford her to live there, driving over to her house and calling her everyday to give her medication to keep her stable. It's really crazy to see all that they are going through.
This past week I've been over at her condo a few days this past week starting to pack her up and get her ready to move on Sunday. We got rid of 5 huge garage bags of stuff to donate from ONE closet. This week I need to get her clothes all boxed up and ready to go. It's been a mixed can of nuts. On one hand I've thoroughly enjoyed hearing the stories of where she was when she wore some of her evening gowns that are now in my closet; it's been great to see old photos of my grandparents and to see them in a different light. It's been fun to hear stories that I've never heard before. At the same time, it has been difficult to watch her make decisions about what to keep- she kept saying that she didn't want to get rid of it because she didn't want to forget the memories. It was hard to throw things away that she felt were treasures. It was overwhelming to start to pack up and give away a life's worth of memories.
It's also motivated me to start going through our house and declutter it and start getting stuff out of the house so that our home isn't quite as overwhelming.

The 5 questions of Sarah

Thanks to Sarah Smoker, I've been asked to answer these 5 Friday questions. I tag anyone who reads this to either 1. Answer these 5 questions in your own blog or 2. Answer these questions by posting a reply to this post.

1. Where's your favorite beach?
Hilton Head Island- Palmetto Dunes although I will say that there was a beach in Belfast Maine that Brian and I visited many moons ago that was breathtaking. We had to walk through this field of wild flowers to get to it.

2. Where's your favorite place to spend money?
Target. They have way too many cute things that I don't need so I try not to go there much anymore.

3. Where's a good place to watch people?
It depends on whom it is you want to watch- there are so many different types of people. Kings Island is a study in anthropology in and of itself (those of you from cincinnati know what i mean).... I also enjoy people watching in Clifton.

4. Where's a good place to be totally alone?
The shower.

5. Where's a place outside of work or school where you're likely to run into people from work or school? The Clippard YMCA. I've run into more people that I went to high school with there. I just stopped going there and go to Powel Crosley now. No offense to those of you I went to high school with. :)

So, Sarah, here are your five answers! Sorry I'm not a bit more witty. I'm tired.

For those with facebook, I posted some new pics of the kids tonight. I'll try to take a minute and post new pics of the kids and stories tomorrow.

Newish pics of Abigail and the kiddos

Just thought I'd post a few newer pics of the kids. They are all doing really well. Abigail is growing up so fast and is such a great baby. We love her dearly. Elizabeth is so cute with her and is constantly looking out for her. If Abigail isn't within eye sight, E is asking where she is and wants to be sure she is okay. It's very tender. Abigail still isn't doing a whole lot: she smiles, she coo's, she eats, she sleeps, she poops, and she likes to look at the little birds on her swing.

Elizabeth is doing great. It is fun having her home with me and getting to spend so much time with her one on one. She is super smart and reminds me a lot of Zach. She is really into letter naming and sounds. She is also wanting to wear lots of twirly dresses and today told me that I had to call her Princess E.

Hannah is blossoming into such a joy. She is a special one. She loves gymnastics and ballet and is doing well at school. She just started violin lessons a few weeks ago and that has been going pretty well. The first lesson she was pretty shy and wasn't too sure about what to do but she seems to be blossoming each lesson. She seems to be picking things up pretty quickly. It's fun to do that with her...now if I could only figure out how to get her to practice. :)

Zach is doing great as well. He's excelling in school and seems to really like learning. Each day he comes home with a 'Rosy Reader' book and reads it to the girls. It's so fun to watch that (and it buys me 5-10 minutes to get ready for the rest of the day). He started cello back up with a new teacher and seems to be liking it and I am SO happy. Eric (his teacher) and I were in youth group together and he seems to be a good fit personality wise. I'm learning how important that is. He's also playing flag football and is a demon on defense and is getting more comfortable with the offense. He's loving grabbing others' flags, but not so happy when they are all chasing him trying to get his!

I'll make sure to update after the big camping trip this weekend. I'm sure it will all go well. :)

Busy creating fun things

Well, every few months I get bit by the 'crafting bug' and as of late, I've been a bit too busy to do much, but I've found some great sewing books full of quick and easy ideas and now I'm thinking I'm Martha- okay, so not really. But, I did just make this really cute blanket for my new cousin. I love the fabric. I also bought some fabric to make a quilt for Abby as well as fabric to make a quilt for another friend of mine who is having a baby early next year. Since I've still to finish the binding of Elizabeth's quilt (it's only been 2.5 years), I thought I'd start the other two and then finish them all off at the same time. We'll see how that goes for me!

I've also got some fun bibs almost finished and ready to show off too. I'll post pics of those when they are finished. Hopefully this weekend, since Brian is taking 3 of 4 kids camping with my dad on Saturday. What a good husband. I'm excited yet I'm not sure if I'll know what to do with myself for almost 24 hours with just a 9 week old little one!

Lions and Tigers and Bears- Oh my...

Okay, so it's not really that bad, but for poor Elizabeth it seems that way. Elizabeth is not exactly overly excited when it comes to animals, especially if it is fuzzy or moves- so that just about includes everything. As you can tell, she's not too keen on the bunny and she entertained the idea of the pony ride for all of 20 seconds. We were at the College Hill Pumpkin Patch this past weekend and while E likes the idea of animals, it's the reality that isn't so great. Two weeks ago we went to a festival at one of the forests near our house and she did touch a pig- a shocking development. I took the photo to prove it.
I was pretty proud of her for getting on the pony. She was pretty good until it moved and then she was done. I give her points for trying!

As you can see, Hannah is the complete opposite. She wants to be a vet. when she grows up and if she had her way, we'd live in Noah's ark.

Photo catch up

Happy Birthday!
Here are a few pics from celebrating Hannah and Brian and my mom's birthday. I made the cake and Hannah and Zach and Elizabeth helped ice and put the candy on it. They had a lot of fun and it was pretty easy to make (much easier than the famed giraffe cake and the baby carriage cake). I'm learning as I get older. Hannah had a great time as did the rest of the family.

It's been busy at the Kershner household. I think I'm getting used to that fact that from here on out, it's just going to be that- busy. I've been trying to figure out how to balance the 'busyness' of the family with my own needs and when is it okay to put myself first and when is it moving into selfishness. I'm learning that it is a hard balance to strike. I'm not very good at it- I came from a small family, as I'm an only child. I'm trying to figure out what's normal and not normal for siblings. Hopefully, as we continue on this journey, I'll feel more comfortable in my role and the boundaries that I have to keep to stay sane.

Last week was birthday week in our family. Wednesday, Hannah had a birthday; Friday, Brian had a birthday and then on Sunday, my mom had a birthday. We celebrated with Hannah with an ice cream cake and then on Sunday the girls helped me make this so cute cake for all of them. Minus cutting out all the pieces on Sunday morning before church, it was pretty painless. I found these really cool decorating icing things. They look like accordian bottles and you just screw the cap with the icing tip on them and off you go! I find that they don't break the line as easily as icing bags do. They are my new find and friend! Hannah and E were extra 'helpful' on Sunday morning and rolling and cutting out their own cookies. Really, we just made a big mess, but it was a lot of fun.

Hannah also started takin violin lessons last week. She seemed super nervous, but I think it was just the new place and new person and trying to figure out what to expect. She can be more introverted than I realize at times. She may process verbally through things (and my goodness does she do a LOT of it) but she is more of an introvert in every sense of the word. She was more comfortable this week and seemed more confident. Her little (and it is little) violin is SO CUTE!

Zach has started playing flag football and he is a beast on defense! His team is mostly city kids and it was awesome to see them whoop up on the Mason teams last week (not that it is about winning... I know, I know!). They are playing up in Mason again this week. Brian's dad will be in town and so Z is pretty excited. Brian is coaching- I know, no reason to state the obvious (we're WAY too busy to have Brian coaching)- and it is going pretty well. He seems to be enjoying it and we're trying to figure out how to take this experience and turn it into ministry opportunities for the kiddos in College Hill. Brian's dad was a commissioner for a league in Cleveland and Brian has been talking with him about what to do to make it sucessful. We'll see where that leads.

Tuesday was eventful in it's own right as Hannah had a tooth pulled! When she was 2, she fell off a bar stool and knocked one of her teeth loose and there was some damage to the tooth and to the root. I've been praying that it would stay in until she was 5 and less than a week after she turned 5 it finally came out! She was stupendous at the dentist's office and was super excited to get to have a visit from the tooth fairy. She's pretty cute with a missing tooth as well. She has a little lisp which makes it even better.

Abigail is great! She loves the little birds on her swing and when she gets fussy (which honestly, is like once every few days) we pop her in the swing and she gets all happy because she can see the birds. It's pretty cute!

Elizabeth is wonderful as well. She's growing up so much. Next week is potty training week. I'm not sure how ready I am to do it, but I'm definitely ready for the result! We'll see how it goes.

Picture Updates

Hannah and Zach at the Drive-In

E's ruby red slippers that she loves!!!!

Abby's first trip to the zoo! Elizabeth was so excited to show her all the animals
and of course the train ride.

Hannah's first ballet class. Isn't she adorable?

This would be the reason why I didn't have power for a week. Not cool.

I'll post pictures of the tea party in the next few days. They are ADORABLE!!!!

what a week...

I'm not even sure where to begin. It's just been one of those weeks. On Sunday, Hannah celebrated her birthday (which isn't until the 24th) with a tea party for her and a few of her friends. It was so much fun with lots of really yummy food. They dressed up in hats and gloves; made cute crafts and seemed to have a really good time.
Last Sunday, the 14th, also was a strange day in that Hurricane Ike mixed with a cold front and produced unprecedented winds and gusts- some up past 70 miles an hour. On the half hour drive home, I saw trees snapped in half, whole portions of the city without power, trees falling in the road and on the Interstate- it was nuts. I kept telling Hannah and her friend in the van with me that it was just snowing leaves and that we were safe and all would be okay.
Well, as we got to the exit to get home, the interstate was closed because of an accident and as we were waiting my mom, in her car a few ahead of me called to tell me that she and Elizabeth were okay, but that there had been an accident and that a tree had fallen on her sister's home and they weren't sure if she was going to make it. I told her to get over there - quickly and I'd have Brian meet her and get Elizabeth. Well, I ended up being able to get to the meeting spot, by my aunt's home and as I waited I asked the neighbors how bad was it- they said it was pretty bad... and indeed it was. A tree, a HUGE tree that for years Aunt Min hated and always feared would fall on her house, did just that and she was killed instantly.
To top it off, the power in the entire city for the most part was knocked out and we were without power until Saturday morning at 1 am when it finally popped back on.
As we've been trying to deal with the electricity problem, our church allowed us to stay in the house they have for missionaries on furlough to stay at until we had our power back. What a gift that was. I'm not sure what we would have done- found a hotel or something I suppose. The kids didn't have school until Thursday so for 3 days I had to entertain the kiddos, try to deal with the power thing, watch ALL MY BLUEBERRIES SUFFER A HORRIBLE FATE (i'm a bit bitter about having to throw my precious blueberries away) and try to absorb the random tragedy that my family had on its hands- it's been a long week.
In the midst of it all though, I kept seeing God's hand and there are already things I'm understanding that I need to walk away from this week with...
1. Tell your family and friends that you love them as much as you can. Don't assume they know. I wish I had told Aunt Min more often that I loved her.

2. Nobody is perfect and those who seem to drive us insane the most are usually broken and hurting people who need more love to help heal the broken parts. As hard as it can be, I need humility to love those who are hard to love.

3. If you don't have a will and your stuff in order- DO IT NOW!!! WHATEVER THE COST- IT IS WORTH IT!!! Be sure to tell at least two different people (one family, one not) WHERE the will is and WHO YOUR LAWYER IS just in case. Keep all those important papers together and in ONE place.

4. The body of Christ is created to reflect God's love and mercy and grace and abundant provisions. IT IS OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP and EVEN BETTER TO RECEIVE IT!! (still not an easy thing to do- but I'm getting better at it.

I don't think that it was God's will for this to happen. I think it was a result of the fallen state of the world. God didn't create us initially to suffer and have us die- he created us to be a reflection of him and to have life. I believe that in all this, God is good and that there will be good found in it. While I'm not too sure exactly what that is now, I do know that I love God and it has been my faith and trust in His goodness that has allowed me to have grace upon myself and has allowed me to grieve for my aunt without losing my love for Christ.

Let's All Go to the Movies...

Oh, boy. So, yesterday I thought , hmm... I've not had enough chaos, let's see what I can do to change that. Let's take everyone to the drive in movies and load them up with candy, popcorn, sugar, glow sticks and let them stay up until some ungodly hour watching old Disney films. Okay, so I didn't say that, but that is what happened.
There is a drive-in about 25 minutes away that was showing Mary Poppins and Swiss Family Robinson- two of our family's favorite movies. So, we loaded up the van and off we went. My parents followed suit behind us and after getting the back seat flipped for the kids we settled in for the movies.
The kids actually were really well behaved and after Mary Poppins, I was ready to leave (I was tired and COLD- I'd been sure everyone had warm stuff, but myself- typical), but the kids wanted to stay so we decided to just stay and we'd leave when they fell asleep.... 1:30am and AFTER the second movie was over. I took a nap on the floor of the van while my mom slept in her car with Abigail on her lap during the movie.
God blessed us with two sleepy heads (the girls) and then there was Zach, who decided to be up at 6:20AM... he's nuts.
All in all, it was a bit crazy and it wiped both Brian and I out, but it was so much fun and CHEAP (it was retro pricing night with free kid's admission!). We'll do it again, but not until next summer.