A favorite song

I thought I'd post one of my favorite praise and woship songs as of right now and the last 4 years.

Before you read through it all, I'll explain a bit of why I like it. Four years ago right now I was pregnant. I found out right around this time that I was pregnant with twins! Oh my, what in the world were we going to do with twins??? Blessed be your name, in the land that is plentiful. Well, as most of you know, we never found out because they were called back to heaven at just 13 weeks gestation. Blessed Be Your Name when I'm found in the desert place. I certainly walked through a desert place at that point. I didn't spiral down into a deep depression, but I could easily see how it would happen if I didn't have my older son Evan to have to get up and take care of every day. Anyway, fast forward a couple years and my girlfriend was pregnant. This time it was after thousands of dollars worth of fertility treatments. At 25 weeks gestation and just 2 lbs her little boy was born into the world. During the weeks he was in the hospital fighting for his life, we sang this song at church. You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Lord, Blessed be your name! Well, with much grace and mercy the Lord decided to let Zane live. Blessed be your name when the sun's shining down on me, when the world's all as it should be, blessed be your name! Forward through another couple years and we find out that our pastor's wife is pregnant! Her oldest is in college and her youngest is 11!!! That baby wasn't to come into our lives in a tangible way and I shared how much this song means to me. Blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering, blessed be your name.

I still cannot sing this song all the way through! My voice catches at least once or twice every time I sing it. I hope you're blessed by the Lord and can sing "Blessed be your name" whether you're in a place of abundance or of desert.

Blessed Be Your Name
by Matt Redman
- - -
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Thanks Mom!

I got a large flat cardboard mailer today. Well, I didn't get it, it was addressed to the kluth boys. Inside was a blast from my past, a book called "What Do You Say Dear?" I was excited to share it with the boys who were awake (Toby was upstairs in his closet.). I started out reading it with the same tones and inflections I remember my own mother reading it to me with. Until I came to the cowboy page. I changed my tone and read a little quicker as I came across the following words: "You are a cowboy riding around the range. Suddenly Bad-Nose Bill comes uop behind you with a gun. He says, 'Would you like me to shoot a hole in your head?' What do you say, dear?" I don't remember this book being quite so violent!!! I guess reading it to a houseful of girls makes it a different experience for a Mom than reading it to a houseful of boys!

Baby's in the closet

Well my life started way too early this morning! Toby got up at 6:18. Jim went in to get him out. Jim opened the door to the closet where Toby sleeps and Toby was standing in the pack and play and said, "out!". He definitely makes his needs known!

Why was Toby sleeping in the closet you ask? Well, it is sort of a long story. Toby once slept in his own crib in his own room. Because Aidan wouldn't sleep in his bottom bunk bed, we demoted him to the crib in Toby's room and Toby got to sleep in the pack and play in the big boy's room. For some stupid reason I cannot understand, I thought it would be a good idea to move Aidan and Toby into the same room together and give Evan his own room. So, we scootched the pack and play into the closet (it IS a big closet) and slid the crib officially into the bigger bedroom. Evan has his bunk beds, he loves the top bunk (and Everett got to sleep on the bottom bunk!). Aidan has a toddler bed, but usually ends up demoted to the crib because he won't stay in the toddler bed; and Toby has the closet. Toby loves the closet! When I've moved the p/p out of the closet in an attempt to get him to learn to sleep in a crib or something, he screams his head off and doesn't settle down until we slide it back into the closet. So, that's the story of why my baby sleeps in the closet!

Toby's Poo

In update to the post about Toby eating a fork, it all came out fine. I never did find the piece of tine, but I wasn't really diligent about looking. Would you want to scrape through a diaper full of poop looking for something that used to be white??? No ill effects that we could tell.

Yesterday I took Aidan and Toby to Leah's house for a mini-carnival. It was fun, but took longer to set up than to play! She only hosted, her PCA Jane and Jane's boyfriend set it up and paid for it all. It was very nice of them to do so! My boys got soaked, check out Leah's blog at leahs-house.blogspot.com for an update from her point of view.

Last night Jim and I had our second budget meeting. We're following Dave Ramsey's ideas. He suggests to get an emergency fund of at least $1000 then pay off debt, then save. We're on to the saving part! :) Our only debt as of now is our house. No medical, no library, we never had credit cards, so that isn't a problem. We got through half of the meeting before I started feeling sick and went to bed.

The boys, well, Aidan anyway, are clamoring for breakfast, so I guess I should be a good mommy and feed my kids!

Help Me Mammas!

Ugg. This kid will not stay in his bed! Aidan has a toddler bed (and shares a room with Toby) He gets out of his bed, he gets demoted to the crib (sometimes it is coupled with a swat). Right now, instead of taking a nap, he's up there shouting around and kicking at the mattress. How can I get him to go to bed, stay in bed and go to sleep?????

Just a quick update.

I don't think I have much to report! Evan's been Presbyterian this week, enjoying their Vacation Bible School. Aidan and Toby have enjoyed their time in the mornings, but when we drop Evan off Toby waves and says, "Ebba, Ebba, Ebba" his way of saying Evan. I'm 7+ weeks pregnant and starting to feel it. I picked up Chinese food last night which was fine because I didn't have to cook! Jim's running a garage sale today. He's made over $300, but $200 of it was because he sold a van. That's Jim!

I'm back!

This weekend Aidan and I traveled to Sioux City, Iowa. I was invited to a birthday party for an old high school friend. Since Aidan is the easiset to travel with, he came with me and Jim stayed with Evan and Toby.

Aidan and I had a great time. He didn't disappoint me in figuring he'd be a good travel companion. He slept for over 1/2 of the trip down and the other part was a very good boy. He chatted, listened to books on tape and sucked on his fingers and just looked out the window! Grandma spoiled him, which made up for the fact that he was absolutely mortified of their dog! He spent much of Saturday on the back of the couch where he was safely out of the slobber zone of Cooper the beagle. Sunday morning he stayed in the basement where Cooper doesn't go and told me that he would stay there until I went up and put Cooper away!

The party on Friday night was fun. It was nice to see my old friend Claire and get caught up with a bunch of people from my junior high school/high school years. Saturday Mom, Dad, Adam (my brother), Keven (my nephew), Aidan and I went to breakfast at HyVee then on to Le Mars to the Ice Cream Capital of the World and home to Blue Bunny Ice Cream. The tour of the museum was quick and kinda boring. We found some interesting facts none of which I can remember here! Since Aidan had only a doughnut for breakfast and ice cream for lunch, he was literally running around like a tazmanian devil! I grabbed him up and carried him flailing about back to the ice cream parlor (from the play place). While he was flinging himself all over and I was gripping on to him for dear life he commented, "man, you stwong!" :) What a ham!

Sunday we lazed about in the morning which was great because I was suffering from a major allergy attack. Mom took us to Walmart to get some lunch supplies and do a little back to school shopping for Evan. He now has his lunch box, back pack and a few other little supplies. Thanks, Mom! After lunch Aidan and I hit the road. He wasn't the travel companion he was on Friday, but he was still good. We listened to the disney story on tape of the Three Little Pigs about 100 times as well as the songs of Cows and Ice Cream Mom got for us at the Ice Cream museum. When we got back into cell range, I called home. Evan answered the phone, chatted with me for a minute and then asked to speak to Aidan! It is so sweet to see them grow into close siblings! Toby wanted Aidan and Mommy as soon as we walked into the house. They missed each other which was a great thing!

This morning was a very trying morning. Uggg. It started with Evan and Aidan getting into the water outside just 10 minutes before I was going to take Evan to VBS with the Presbyterians. Aidan was soaked, so I had to get him into outfit number two before we could go. (If it hadn't been the first day when I had to get him out and register Evan I might have left him wet!!) Then we got home, caught up with a friend on the phone and arranged to go meet her at the mall for a playdate. Moments before we were to leave, Toby pulled my 2/3 full cup of coffee down onto himself. Thankfully it had been sitting out for two hours and wasn't hot. So, off to outfit number two for Toby! When we got home, the little boys played while I did a little more housework. After a while, Aidan wanted to go play in his room. 10 minutes before I was to go pick up Evan, Aidan came downstairs saying, "Mommy, look at this on my hands". Neosporin. Most of a tube of it. It was smeared all over his hands, legs, clothes and hair. We washed his hands and threw him in the car to go get Evan. Forget making lunch, I picked up Wendy's! After 4 hairwashings with three different soaps/shampoos I was not able to get the goop out of his hair! He did get the third outfit for the day...A little internet research suggested using cornstarch on the hair or mixing baking soda and baby shampoo, so after nap he's off to his second bath of the day!

Phew, well I guess that catches you up on my life for now! Until next time.

I think I'm becoming a hippie!

First a cute kid quote: This morning Aidan was sitting on the loveseat watching cartoons. I came over and sat down beside him and said, "I need a good helper to help me unload the dishwasher." He replied, "Evan is a good helper!"

Anyway, why do I think I'm becoming a hippie? This afternoon I spent way too long online looking for homemade recipes for things like laundry detergent, fabric softener, dishwasher soap, weed killer, toothpaste and baby wipes! They all seem really easy, single step recipes with not too odd of ingredients. I think the hardest thing I'll have to do is find glycerin and washing soda and grate a bar of soap!

Has anyone else tried "hippie" recipes for common cleaners???

I'll never learn...

Well, I did it again. About a month ago I got some donuts for some friends who were coming over that morning. Anticipating a possible play date this morning, I did it again. The same thing happened that happened a month ago. Aidan got the box and doled out the donuts to himself and Toby. At least he shared!

I'm feeling pretty good otherwise. Woke up yesterday feeling pretty crummy, but a quick breakfast cured that.

Evan is at VBS this week for 3 1/2 hours every morning! It is nice to have just the little ones, but when we dropped him off this morning, Toby was saying, "Ebba, Ebba, Ebba" wondering where his favorite play mate had gone! Fall will be a tough change for the little ones when Evan is gone to first grade all day every day. Hey, it will be a tough change for me too I think. As much as he drives me nuts, I love that guy.

Our excitement for the day

This past school year we met Chris S. He is the Spanish teacher at C High school, just down the road from where Jim teaches. We ran into him several times at various Republican events and we kept saying, as people do, "we should get together and do something". Well, surprise surprise, tonight we actually got together! We went over to his house, met his wife and SEVEN children. They are all remarkable children and range in age from 16 down to 2.

Dinner was going well, our kids were behaving themselves and acting in such a way that we were really proud of them, until Toby snatched Aidan's fork. We (being a total of 14 people) were using plastic silverware. Toby managed to break off one of the tines to the fork and swallowed it (we assume since we didn't find it anywhere). So, we called Olmsted hospital to see what we should do. You guessed it, just watch his poo to see if it comes out!

The rest of the evening went really well considering all the kids that were there! Our kids and theirs all get along really well, so we're hoping to get together with them again soon.

Here's the family

This isn't my favorite, but since Jim took the camera today I can't get a fresher one of the boys! Toby is 11 months, the big ones are 5 and 2 and change! I really don't have a black eye, not sure what that is all about, but we're all there at the same time looking about at the same spot!
Jim's parents are on the right.

Here's Toby!

Okay, I think Toby is 14 months here. Somehow we had a chocolate something in the house. I had a piece on my plate, but turned my back for just a second. This is the result! Yeah, I posted a picture!!! Watch for more pictures later today...

How can it be?

Ugg. I'm only 5 weeks pregnant and exhausted! I'm in a stage that I feel like I can't go to sleep, but I can't really wake up either. Leftovers tonight! Good thing Everett came this past weekend. I cooked, so I have a bit of leftovers!

Not much else going on here. Evan's building things inspired by his Lego cataloge. Aidan and Toby are recovering from their long night of marching in the Stewartville parade last night and fireworks. Aidan was scared, but he's scared of his own shadow. He sat with Jim and covered his ears the entire show. Once Toby discovered that he wasn't in danger he would stand up, arms upstretched to reach to the sparks and say, "boom!". Typical for those two! :)

Cute Kid Quote

This morning Jim tried to take a picture of Aidan with the digital camera. He'd just put new batteries in it, but they were really cheapos. I told him that those batteries didn't have enough juice to run the camera. Aidan hopped off the bouncing horse he was on at the time and ran towards the house saying, "I'll go get some juice for yourbatteries, Daddy!" :)

A death in the family.

It is with great sadness (on Jim's part) that we announce the death of beloved pet mouse, Mr. Squeakers. Mr. Squeakers was rescued from a barn by Jim Kluth on Thursday last and was hand fed and loved greatly by Jim and Evan. Aidan was neutral and Tara was against the idea from the beginning. Anyway, we buried him in the backyard this evening.

Monday the third

We just said our good byes to Everett who has been here since Friday. We had a nice visit and the boys enjoyed climbing all over him! We're scheming a trip out this morning, nothing too exciting, but the boys are bored! Oh, but since when am I the activities director????

My first attempt at a blog

Well, here it is, my own little bit of cyberspace. I'm sort of experimenting here, not exactly sure what to do, but hey, here goes! Today we celebrated Auntie Alice's 73rd birthday. It was fun to be with family, sort of crazy with three little kiddos running around, what can you expect though???

Oh, and if you haven't heard yet, we are expecting our own little baby number four! The new little bundle should arrive at the end of February. Yeah!