Hello World

Or shall I say the VERY small, but special portion of the world who actually reads this blog :-). It's been a crazy busy weekend, so I am just now getting to blogging. Our wonderful neighbors gave me the best b-day gift ever (besides their wonderful friendship)...they brought over breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert on Saturday. I was ssoooo happy not to cook and enjoyed all the yummy food too. Sunday was the first open house since our house is now on the market. Unfortunately we found out that everyone who was going to come look took one look at the front yard and drove off. So, Drew has his work cut out for him and the pressure is really on. I'm trying not to freak out and enjoy each day as it comes....wether we sell the house or not....wether we get to move in Feb. or not?/? Hard to do...however, I believe it will all soon be a distant memory as was promised to me in a recent blessing. Additionally, Drew is preparing to leave for Africa in about 3 weeks. He will be gone for two weeks and then home for 1 day and gone again for an additional 3 days for an Activator seminar. He must go since his job is working with an Activator doc. As you can see on the right hand side of my log I've started a log of foods I am eating on my new diet. My neighbor is also following the diet, so I thought it might be helpful to see how I am making it work. It's a crazy thing, but this o'l body of mine is carb sensitive which is tossing proper hormone function out the window. I have come to a final conclusion that for the benefit of my health and my family...I need to eat this way. This last year (where I haven't been avoiding any carbs) has been such a struggle physically...which lead to emotinal unhappiness as well. I know my kids deserve a healthy, active mom...I also know in the depths of my heart that there are yet more children to join our family. I MUST start taking affirmative action by eating properly. It's a difficult way to eat at first, but gets easier with time. I know the Lord will be here for me as He always has been to give me the strength to hang in there with it. In the past on the diet I have lost a ton of weight, had more energy, and saw the return of proper hormone function. Well...it's nap time here at the Isaksen house. Chores are done, kids had a blast riding bikes at the path, had a good lunch too. This is my favorite kind of weather..."brisky/sunny".

Friday...already??

Wow...where did this week go? My left hand is hurting like crazy...so this one will be short. Had an appt. with a doc who is supposed to specialize in women's health issues. I left more frustrated than ever. Still no answers. Can't really get into it on the blog...TMI ya know, but I spent the hour sobbing in front of a complete stranger. I'm trying to cheer up and remember all that I have to be thankful for..and that is A LOT! And, I know with all my heart the good Lord has great plans for my life...and as my good friend Beth said...there are many blank pages still to be filled....even at 30. I'm making good progress on my first quilt. 32 squares to go. I'll post a pic when the project is done. We have our first open house on Sunday...fingers crossed.

Toodles for now...

Toe Tappin Tuesday

Today was a good day...busy and eventful (which is better than boring). We had a good start to the morning and took off to have a lesson about fish. I took the 3 little kids to the mall to look at all of the fish in the new petstore there. They explored the different colors of the fish, counted how many were in some tanks...looked at the many patterns on them. The kids had fun and I felt like it was a nice little field trip and had educational value. We also went to Sam's club to pick up a few food items. There was a cool find at Sam's. This good find really solves a few problems for us. The kids all have trouble winding down for bed since they share rooms. Seth has been sleeping in a pack n play all night and for naps ever since Joe was born. So I found a "lounger cot". They have several themes for little kids. It's extremely light weight and comes with a sleeping bag/pillow deal that slips right over the top of it. Seth has been sleeping SO well through the night that his hair is flat on one side when he wakes up. What I love about it is that I can move it to whatever room in the house I want. It gives great flexibility for nap ands bed time. If I could afford it I would buy another one for the girls to share. It happens that our loan well is more than dried up this tri. We had to pay for boards, taking down a tree, and other things that were unexpected. I hope Sams will still have those in November :-)

From 20 to 30

The day is soon coming when I will no longer be a "young mother" in her 20's. Saturday I will officially be turning the dreaded 30. Can't stop time from rolling on by no matter how hard I try. I thought it would be fun to list what was going on from 20-30...so here it goes ((if I can even remember)) Lol!

20: Going to and graduated from Texas Bible institute

21: Living in NJ, for part of the year I worked as a live-in nanny in Summit, NJ...it wasn't a great fit, so I found a job working as a placement director for Dakota Nanny Company. I was also involved in youth ministry and sharing an apartment with Amy. I remember going to the grocery store and having to figure out what food to buy for Amy and I every other week or so...that was weird.

22: Still living in NJ working at Dakota, doing youth ministry, and oh yeah...majorly single!

23: Moved back home to Oregon, got a job as a personal assistant for a family there, sang in the college jazz choir, did some community theatre, became LDS, met my husband and got married :-)

24: Hubby went to junior college, I managed apartments and duplexes and moved to Davenport, IA.

25: Hubby worked and did undergrad, I started up a preschool in our home

26: Still working and going to school...started foster care and adoption home studies. Kids came to live with us :-) Drew started Palmer

27: I got pregnant with Joe:-)

28: Adoptions were finalized and we had Joe

29: Drew Palmer, Michelle: Mom duty

30: Hopefully this year will continue to bring blessings along with the challenges as we transition from student life to contributing citizens. The kids will need some adjustment time with the move. Yeah for going back home to Oregon!!

Pioneer Pics and Popsicles

Today we went to the primary talent show. The girls stood so atill behind the mic...they were scared! But I was so proud of them for getting up there, staying till the end of the song. Every once in a while we could hear them singing. Joe and Seth had a good time running around the stage. Later in the afternoon, we all dressed up like pioneers and got our family pics done. It was quick and actually painless. Afterwards, they all got orange cicle pop ups. MMMM and sticky. Here are a few pics we took with our own camera before we left the house....

Adoption Poem

Once upon a time a Canvas was set.
Long before we ever met,
God placed it on the Easel. He waited.
A special Portrait would be Painted.

He set aside a Palette of Colors,
He knew just how to use them.
God waited till the Time was right,
then He began to choose them.


Placing His brush upon the Canvas
God painted an image Extraordinaire.
The details seemed faint at first,
but the Picture was truly there.

A Portrait of a Family;
children, a mom, a dad.
This painting had something Extra,
God used everything He had.

His Palette was full of Colors,
He knew just what it would take.
Each Stroke was deliberately brushed in place.
A Special Portrait He would make.

He blended dark shadows with subtle hues of Gold.
Using the richest colors, a picture began to unfold.
Four very special children..., 2 mothers
The image began taking shape with such beautiful colors.

Splashes of Love outlined colors of Pain.
Shades of Joy and Sadness
were mixed throughout the Picture,
among Stripes of Sorrow and Gladness.

The Portrait was finally complete,
He gently framed it with His Heart
He hung it in the Halls of Faith . . .
A Priceless Work of Art..

Homeschool Ramblings...

In case anyone is interested, I thought I would share what our family is doing for homeschool this quarter. Many of you know how crazy it normally is around here, however with the projects going for the house to get ready for the market....there is so much more than normal going on. I have had to force myself to do the lesson plans and activities so that we are actively learning. With the older two going to school, it has been a good starting point for the rest of us here at home to get into our own schooling zone. We are eclectic homeschoolers which mean we use a variety of resources to create a unique program. My kids love thematic unit studies, as do I. With these it is so easy to tie the acedemic subjects into the theme. This quarter we are doing an under the sea theme. Recently we bought a 55 gallon fish tank. The kids have been very interested in the fish. I've been trying to do more arts and crafts these days. I didn't do too many in the past because 5 small children plus paint or glue made me nervous. 3 little ones is a bit less of a mess. We are making a large wall mural and adding fish, coral, etc. to it as we create them. I also found loads of library books to read to the kids. I believe reading to them when they are little reaaly sets them up well for additional learning as they grow. My kids love wrokbooks as well. They get to do pages in their various books on a daily basis. Math-U-See is what we are using for math (in addition to games, flashcards, and writing practice). This is how we break down our family routine:
6am: kids wake up, get dressed, make beds
6:20: Family scriptures/prayer
6:45: Breakfast
7:05: 2 kids off to the bus stop
7:15-9:00 Chores, mom gets ready, free time, etc.
9-10:30 or 11-Homeschool

So that is the morning routine. After the kids get home around 2:30, we do a snack and the older kids do their homework. The little kids also like to do some workbook or activity page along with the older kids. I am excited to hear that D.J. has the best penminship in his entire class. He is doing great acedemically and has also had 2 praise notes come home in his folder this week. It makes me feel like we were successful in homeschooling him over the past 2 years or so. No I am relaxing and realizing that they are actually learning and keeping up (if not exceeding) school expectations. Well, I need to somehow shampoo the carpets tonight. We have less than 2 days until the house is officially on the market!