John Paul

Turned Around

We have moved into a new house. It's awesome and we love it. I would love to post some pictures but I can't find the camera cord. It's in a box. I guess. I would also love to post some pics of the kids but, well that would require the afore mentioned camera cord. That's why I haven't posted in so long. I hate to post without pics and I can't post pics. I'm a little turned around. My goal is to get my house unpacked and organized sometime before the new year.

So, like I said we've moved into a new house. The girls are 4 and 5 and they know their way around our little town very well. They can navigate me around town to the grocery store, the church, Walgreens, CVS, Chick-fil-A, the pizza place, and to many of our friends homes. At least, they could before we moved. Although we only moved 3 miles, they are completely turned around. We use some different roads. When we use our old main roads, we enter them at a different intersection then before. We still go to all of our old places but the children cannot figure out where we are going. They typically do not even recognize which road we are on.
This has led to a lot of frustration on their part. They accuse me of being lost or of not knowing my way around. They even accuse me of lying about our destination. We have had frequent discipline problems our this issue. A few days ago, we were on our way to a friend's house. I took a different way then we did before we moved. The girls flipped out. I assured them, "We are just going the backwards way. It's okay. No,I am sure. I can get us there." Seriously, Hannah was sobbing, "We're lost. We'll never get to Miss April's house. I know this isn't the way. I know how to get there and you don't." And then! There we were! At Miss April's house. Just like I promised. We took a different way. But we arrived all the same. I pulled into the driveway and prayed, "I'm sorry God. I'm sorry that I do not know my way around my own life. I'm sorry I accuse you of forgetting me or leading my astray. I think I know the best way to get where I am going in my life but really, I'm just a turned around little girl and you are an awesome God. Help me to walk in the way you would have me to go. Help me to walk in love and trust, without fear. Thank you for my children who illuminate your goodness to me. And help me not to yell at them. Really. Please, help me not to yell at them. And thank you for not yelling at me, even though I obviously deserve it. Amen.

Water-Logged

A few weeks ago, Jesse and I decided that we would take a family outing to our neighborhood pool. We had a blast. We packed snacks, got our suits on, found everyone a towel, filled several water bottles, covered outselves in sunscreen, took a last minute stop at Walgreens to pick up more floaties, and we finally made it into the pool and eventually coaxed everyone into the water. About ten minutes later, the skies opened in a torrential downpour. Here are my children: sitting on the covered patio happily eating a snack. Such good kids! They didn't complain about it. When the rain let up a bit, we loaded everyone back into the van and went home. It stormed for the rest of the day.

At home, I put them all in a warm bath. The warm bath is more fun then a cold, big pool anyway. They splashed most of the water onto the floor and I washed the bathroom rugs, again.

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork

Be Where You Are: Why I am quitting facebook

I have three favorite books of the Bible. Well, maybe four but we'll say three. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, makes the list as one of my top three favorite books. It really is an incredible book.

A few weeks ago, Jesse and I watched a movie called "Everything is Spiritual." You can watch the entire thing on YouTube and I highly recommend it. The movie is actually a lecture from a guy named Rob Bell on the first chapter of Genesis and modern science. I like science. We all know that I like Genesis. I like lectures, because I'm a school nerd. And I especially like giant, dry erase marker boards. So, this is the movie for me.

The movie was really interesting, even if you are not a school nerd like me. Rob Bell is a good speaker: funny and compelling. One point that he made stuck with me in particular. He quoted Exodus 24:12. This verse is when Moses was going onto the mountain top to receive the law from God. The verse says, "And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there." The verse sounds a little redundant, doesn't it? Come to the mountain, and be on the mountain. Rob surmised that the verse is not redundant at all. Instead, God was giving Moses very clear instruction. Go to the mountain. While, you are there, be there. On the mountain. I suppose Moses was a lot like us. He would have spent a long time planning to go to the mountain. The moment he arrived on the mountain, he would have begun planning his trip back down. In so doing, he would have missed actually being on the mountain.

Does any of this ring true to you? It does to me. How many time do I sit and play with the children while my thoughts are elsewhere? (about half the time, maybe more) How often do I sing their lullabies without listening to the words and without watching them drift off to sleep? (almost every night) How often do I surf the internet and ignore the precious sleeping baby in my lap? (more then I'd like to admit) I've been thinking a lot lately on simply being where you are and I find that I am often not where I am.

Several of my new readers are also my friends on Facebook. I love Facebook. It's a great way to connect with old friends and share pictures and stories. It's also a great way to escape my home mentally when I should not do so. It can be a great hinderance when I use Facebook as a diversion from my actual life.

So, what's the point? The point is that I need to be where I am. The point is that real life gets priority. The point is that I can't be where I am when I let my computer time squanders away my motherhood. Something has to go.

So, Facebook is out but blogging is still in. Blogging allows me to keep family and friends updated on our lives. It also allows me to write creatively, which I love and it serves as a sort of journal of our life for me. I hope to blog more frequently now that I am working to focus my computer time instead of frittering it away. I hope to post more often. So, see you here, and not on Facebook.

Welcome John Paul!

We are happy to announce the arrival of the newest member of the family, John Paul Von Mook. John Paul was born May 10th, Mother's Day, just after 5:00am. I delivered him at home as planned with no complications. This pictures was taken when we was just one day old. His siblings are very proud! They are all adjusting really well. Jesse took a week off of work and then my parents came for a week. John Paul is now a month old. I'm feeling great and we are all doing well.

Hello, hello, hello!!!

Hi! We have not forgotten about this blog. We have been very busy. This is Jesse by the way so this blog entry will not be as funny or well writen :) We started doing homeschool with Hannah a few months ago and that has been fun. She would be starting school in Aug, but we wanted to get a jump on a few things so we started early.
Also we are about to have a baby! Actually due date is May 13th but really any day now the baby could show up. We do not know what we are having, which is why I just keep say the baby and not him/her. We also do not have a name. As some of you know they last two did not have names for the first 8-10 hours of life. Once the baby is born then you have to agree upon a name. No sense going days with out a name, that is just weird. So we wait until the baby is here then we spend a few hours talking about it and Done! No weeks or months of deliberation. Just a few hours.
Now if anyone has any suggestions feel free to post them.
Also we have gotten rid of our house phone and have cell phones now. Please email us if you would like our new numbers. We don't want to post them on the page, that would be creepy.
Well if I do this right then there should be some new pictures of the kids. "hope that works" ... I think I was supposed to use ( ) for that last statement, I'm not sure. English majors what are the rules for talking to yourself while blogging on your wifes blog? You can leave a comment on that too.
Here is that email address jessemook@gmail.com NO SPAM! (does spam stand for something? Stop Putting Anonymous Mail-in-my-Inbox? if that is the case shouldn't it be S.P.A.M.? Okay that looks like the meat... whatever)

Allergy Update

I have had several questions regarding my previous post containing our menu for the week. I didn't mean to post the menu on this blog. I intended for that post to be published on my other blog. Anyway, most of the questions have been regarding Katie and her allergy to chicken. When Katie was diagnosed, the doctor gave us some information regarding food allergies in children. One thing he said was that many children will test as allergic to a food and will later grow out of it. He stressed that at her age (2 1/2 at the time of the test) growing out of the allergy was a very real possiblity. He also told us that many individuals can recover from an allergy if (a) first you totally eliminate the food from the diet for 3-6 months to give the body time to heal and (b) reintroduce the food in small amounts. Once the individual can eat the food again, it should only be eaten every few days. Constant eating of an allergic food leads to more severe reactions. We totally eliminated chicken for 6 months and we now allow Katie to eat chicken every 5-7 days. She could probably have it a little more often but this plan is working for our family. I find that having a written meal plan is very important so that I do not misplan our meals. I also write in on my meal plan what we actually ate. Sometimes I need to change the plan to avoid having chicken too often. For example, I planned to serve breakfast for dinner Saturday night. Some friends of ours gave us a gift card to a restaurant and some other friends offered to watch our children (thanks!). What if Katie eats chicken with the babysitter? I obviously need to have a backup plan for Sunday lunch that does not include chicken.

All in all, Katie seems to be doing a lot better. We still avoid eggs. From what I can tell, Katie's more severe reactions were to the eggs. I will let her eat one muffin or two homemade cookies but I try to limit her consumption of eggs as much as a I can without letting these allergies rule our lives.

Meal Plan Monday

I have been planning a weekly menu for some time now and I really enjoy it. My family is blessed when I am not stressed out about dinner! My husband recently found out he is allergic to wheat so meal planning has become more vital than ever. Here is our meal plan for Jan. 19-Jan. 25.

Monday: Build a Mountain
Tuesday: Rotisserie style chicken in the crockpot, brown rice, veggies
Wednesday: Tuna melts (omelet for husband)
Thursday: Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, green peas
Friday: Appetizers at Bible study
Saturday: Pancakes, bacon, omelets
Sunday: Crockpot baked chicken, rice, green beans

For more meal planning inspiration, visit OrgJunkie.

A Much Overdue Update

Well, it's 10:45 and my entire family is sleeping. In the past few weeks all the kids have had the stomach bug. It's the same bug that all the kids at church have had in the past month or two. If your kids haven't had it, brace yourself. It's coming. I had it yesterday and Jesse is coming down with it. It's really not that bad: just a 24 hour bug with occational vomiting. Thankfully Hannah and I are not vomiting kind of girls. Hannah used to throw up daily. Yes, I said daily. But, the great state of South Carolina cured her of that. Seriously, since we have moved here, she has stopped throwing up. I, of course, do not puke. It is aganist my code. I think my throat flapper is broken. I'm on my fourth pregnancy and no puking. Not once. I've had countless stomach bugs and even a severe case of food poisioning during college (fie on MickeyD's) and I had not puked.

I know you care.

Keep reading.

So, instead of puking, I have simply been painfully tired. My house is feeling the effects. I was caught up on laundry but after two days of non-stop sleeping, I'm a little behind. How does this happen? My girls run around naked or in panties all day and still I have mounds of laundry everyday. I'll tell you how this happens. Every time they bathe, they pour gallons of water upon the bathroom floor. This creates the need to wash towels. A lot of towels. I also wash the bathrooms rugs. Daily. The spin cycle gets all the bath water out of the rugs and keeps them from mildewing. Bedding is also a constant issue. It's like a contest to see who can have clean sheets most frequently. Hannah is in the lead but Katie is holding a close second.

So, that is the update for today. We are all fine. Tired and sicky but fine. Soon I'll post about Christmas. It was awesome and certainly deserves it's own post, with no mention of puking.