Rebecca's Blog

(Song: Broken Arrow by Nuttin’ but Stringz)

Change is something I grew accustomed to growing up.  Aside from the normal changes that come during adolescence, my father was finishing his education up until I was 7 and our family rented houses my entire time with them – allowing me no more than 1 1/2 – 2 years in any one house my entire childhood.  Marriage didn’t change that either.  I have never minded, though.  I have always enjoyed the fresh start this allowed me.

It wasn’t until we purchased our current home that I spent a large amount of time in any one place.  Though some may still think it short,  four years is longer than I have ever lived in one house and I have come to feel the security of stability.  We are in a wonderful ward (church), in which we have gained many friends and my children have enjoyed the luxury of going to only one school.  By the time I was Elizabeth’s age, I had attended five.

Now, don’t mistake me to mean that I’m about to announce that we are moving soon.  We are not.  I mean only to illustrate how I have gone from a life of change to a life of stability over the last four years and how I have come to terms with the predicable.  Little did I expect, however, that 2009 would end this stability for an unforeseeable amount of time.

Early this year, Ryan decided he wanted to go back to school to get his Ph.D. in physics – a field different from which he received his Masters.  As such, it started him on a rigorous study schedule intended to prepare him to pass the physics GRE coming up in October and officially putting my education on hold once again.  These are just some of the texts he’s been studying:

Also, helping in postponing my education was the arrival of our fifth little one, Michael, who has blessed our lives.  As mentioned in other posts, his method of arriving was unpredictable.  Our experience with him was eye opening and testimony building.

Though momentous, these changes seem to be only the start of our journey.  Once through the rigmarole surrounding Michael’s birth, life sped up and change increased – some of it minute while some of it life changing.  The summer of 2009 became our season of change.

Everyone in our little family has experience some sort of change this summer.  In July, I officially became “not pregnant,” Michael was born and Sariah lost her first tooth and is currently growing her first adult tooth.

August saw the start of a new school year.  Elizabeth became a fourth grader and Sariah became a first grader.

One more of my children joined the ranks of elementary education as well.  Why is he not pictured here?  Well, because it’s Benjamin – my child who doesn’t deal well with change.  He didn’t want to go to kindergarten, and therefore refused to be in the picture.  In fact, Ryan had to force him into his car seat and Elizabeth had to hold him in while I drove just to get him to school.  Once there, he pressed himself against the back side window of the van and wouldn’t come out.  I had to get in and pull him out kicking and screaming.  He continued to scream all the way to class.

It didn’t end there, though.  Oh no.  The crying, screaming and yelling only intensified and several times he tried to make a run for it.  I had to place him in his chair at his desk several times.  Finally the teacher and aides blocked his way at his desk and both doors in order to prevent escape while I ran for it.  I stood outside the door several minutes to see if he would calm down.  He didn’t.  Deciding I could do no good standing there, I left – crying.

When I went to pick him up, he had apparently decided kindergarten wasn’t that bad afterall.  He came out smiling – declaring that he would never cry again and he hasn’t since.  In fact, he’s doing marvelously in school.  I got a picture a couple days later.  Too bad the sun was in his eyes:

With the start of the school year came eye exams.  Benjamin and Sariah passed with flying colors.  Elizabeth, however, joined the world of the bespeckled.  Thinking it important that she actually wear the glasses, I allowed her to choose whichever two frames she wanted.  (They were 2 for 1.)  Little did I know that one of the pairs she would choose would be Armani.  Can you guess which pair?

A week and a half ago, Michael turned 6 weeks old.  Around that time I discovered that he no longer fit his diapers or his clothes.  At 6 weeks, Michael started wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothing.  The following pictures were taken at 7 weeks:

Most of the above changes were predictable changes that occur in everyone’s life.  However, Ryan made a decision towards the middle of August that sparked a series of large changes in our home and lifestyle – Ryan quit work to start his own business.

There were many reasons for this change ranging from discontent at work to securing a way to support our family when he returns to school.  His plan is to engineer on the side while he studies.  He quit now in order to build up a clientelle.

In order to make the plan work, Ryan had to build in our loft:

In order to create an office (in which the new wall still needs to be finished):

So that he can work in peace from home:

The process of adjusting to this change is just beginning.  Ryan is working long hours to get his business organized, and up and running.  Between the projects he is working on, designing his website and marketing, we hardly see him.  I can’t wait for things to settle down so that I feel like I am no longer a single mom.  It seems, however, that change is to continue in our family for an undetermined amount of time.  He still has yet to see if he does well on his GRE and get into a school.  Should he be accepted at an university, a move is in our future along with all the changes that go with it.  Should he choose not to take that path, our future is a mystery.  Change is imminent.  We have only to ride its wave.

OK, so I started painting the interior of my house in around June.  I managed to get the downstairs and most of the staircase done, but then I got pregnant and had a miscarriage and never quite got around to finishing.  Well, come November I was figuring that the house may never be finished, but, luckily, my husband came to the rescue with a determination to not only finish what I started, but to paint over the loft as well.  We HAD to get rid of the poo stains, after all. (I’m sure you all remember how the poo stains got there, but just in case here’s a link.)

Anyway, Ryan came up with this idea of letting the kids each paint an area of the wall in the loft.  At first the idea horrified me, but after we talked and settled on just exactly HOW we were going to do this, I came to like the idea.  Each member of the family would get one square – kids and adults alike.  They could paint whatever they liked in it and then we would paint borders around it.

The kids loved this idea, so I ran to Lowe’s to buy sample cans of red, yellow and blue, which we could mix to make other colors as well, more painting supplies and the color for the remainder of the walls in the loft.  In the meantime, Ryan would tape boxes on the wall for everyone to paint in.

It was actually quite fun and I’m pleased with the outcome.  Elizabeth took her painting very seriously and asked Ryan questions about how to make a sunset look more realistic.  Sariah called hers her masterpiece and worked very diligently to finish.  Benjamin loved the mini roller and slathered many shades of blue all over the wall with it, definitely not staying within the confines of his box.  Joshua had fun as well, but got just as much paint on himself as he did on the wall.

The project took a couple of weekends, but we finished.  Below are the finished masterpieces.  See if you can figure out which painting is who’s.

Unfortunately the lighting isn’t very good.  You’ll have to come see us for the real effect.  Below are pictures of the finished project.

Please ignore the mess and the fact that Benjamin is, once again, in his underwear.  Just be proud that we actually finished a project for once!!