Fall Family Fun Day 2006

Fall is my favorite season.
I like to pretend that we have a fall.
There may not be any changing color of leaves,
but we might get the occasional sweatshirt weather cool front,
and that makes me all too happy!
With fall, comes the annual Fall Family Fun Day!
Mock us if you must, but we Bacaks love our little traditions.
On FFFD, (which we conveniently had the week we studied the letter F) we get to
pick out our pumpkins. Everyone gets to pick one, but there is a spending limit.
I like to pick one of the so-ugly-they're-pretty gourds, with funky colors and warts
all over them. Rusty seriously makes fun of me for this.
We carve our jack-o-lantern, and by "we" I mean Rusty. I am not fond of touching
pumpkin guts, and neither are my children really. So I stand back and unwrap the
caramels. This is the heavenly part. We make caramel apples with nuts and toffee
bits and all! This is way too messy to make on a regular basis, but WAY TOO GOOD
to not make once a year for the FFFD! My children were covered from head to toe
in caramel. It was on their feet, in their hair (with the exception of Rusty and Jax
because they don't have hair), on every sticky finger, leaving a trail of stickiness wherever
they thought about touching. But still, so worth it for the FFFD.
Our cutey jack-o-lantern is positioned proudly on the front porch now, and Justus keeps pointing
to the other pumpkins and then to the knives, waiting for us to butcher the others. Not going to
happen. One is enough. But who doesn't love the Fall Family Fun? Who?

Prayer for Justus

This is a letter I sent to my family, but I thought I'd share it on my blog, so that we could enlist all of you for prayer!

Hello Family!
I wanted to ask you to pray for Justus. We have recently started Justus in Speech Therapy, as you probably know. Rusty and I have been contemplating what is really going on with his speech. His frustration level has really escalated the last 2-3 weeks, and he is somedays filled with rage! He gets so angry that I don't understand what he wants sometimes, and he is hitting me and throwing things A LOT! He knows, with 100% certainty, that he will get a spanking for this. But he has no self-control. He is so frustrated! As you can imagine, I am frustrated too.
It seems pretty clear to us that Justus is not just exhibiting a normal speech delay. His receptive language has always been awesome, but his expressive language is hardly improving. He is really bright, so we are not at all worried about his IQ, but still he rarely intiates speech. He probably intiates 5 words in a day, with a total of maybe 12 words that he's able to say. I don't know if anyone else could recognize these "words" like we can. He has NO names for his brother and sister, who he's with his every waking moment, and no name to request his paci, still can't say the words he has been signing since he was barely a year old, etc. These are things he should definitely be saying on his own! There are so many reasons why we are feeling like this is more than a speech delay. (I could elaborate, but am trying to keep this brief.) I didn't retain everything from college, but just enough to have a slight edge in this area. (All this loan money should be worth something!) Obviously, Rusty has so much to offer in knowing what is on target developmentally as well. We know that it is no mistake that God put Justus in our family! Praise the Lord!
We spent several days praying before we approached his speech therapist with this. I was afraid, because he is so young, and nobody wants to diagnose a two-year-old with anything, that a SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) might dismiss me and say to give therapy more time. However, this could definitely change his management, and I don't want to waste another year in therapy, and him be a three-year-old who is hardly improved. So I prayed, and I approached this cautiously. But our prayer was fruitful, because our SLP, Brandi, seemed very open to this idea. (She and I were actually in school together at Baylor.) The Speech Disorder we think is a possibility is Speech Apraxia. (You can look at the website http://www.apraxia-kids.org/) But we truly are not qualified to make any assumptions. Only an SLP can do that. Thankfully, she was anxious to think about it, gather more info. on him, she listened to me, and she wants to research and talk to other SLP's. I could not ask for more.
Please pray for Brandi, that God would guide her and use her. Pray that we would find the right approach to help Justus communicate better. We are doing more signing, as suggested for kids with Apraxia, using the total-communication approach. Communication is my top priority!
More than all of that, pray for his healing. God can definitely give our little brown bear words if He chooses to. We know, no matter what, that God is going to use this all for His glory.
Thanks for loving Justus, and your prayers will mean so much!
jenn

Church Signs

This is one of the books I want to write.
Church Signs.
You know, the ridiculous, "catchy" slogans churches put on their sign for all to see, that is supposed to do...what? Entice people to come on in! Convict them of all their sin as they're driving by?
This has been a soapbox of mine for many years.
When we drive to Arkansas in the summers, they get even more entertaining as we go. The misspellings are more heinous. Sometimes the meaning of the catchy phrases are totally lost on me!
Recently, we saw one in this town that said something like "Beef a lot, and you'll get in a stew."
Really?
Really????
Based on these tiny representations of our churches everywhere, why would anyone ever go to church? If I were lost, and I read one of these signs, I would thank my lucky stars I'm not one of the crazies that park my car there on Sunday morning. If I went there, I would start parking in the back, where no one could see me. How embarrassing is this?
I'm so, so, so glad our church doesn't have a goofy sign. But if we did, isn't scripture enough, if you want to put anything on it at all? Or like my Dad's church, how 'bout just the service times? Something useful. Something non-retarded. If our church had a sign, I know who would be in charge of putting something up there...my friend Heather...and who knows what insane thing she might choose each week. It would be truly entertaining.
This needs to be a new break-out session offered at the Southern Baptist Convention. Stop driving people away from the gospel with your ridiculous, meant-to-be-clever, but totally not, signs.
Someone stop the madness!!!

Nacho Mama!

I decided on my Grandma name.
Nacho Mama.
I saw a letter addressed the other day to "Nacho Mama."
That's all. Just Nacho Mama.
I think that is the coolest Grandma name.
The other Grandma won't choose it.
No one will forget it. Everyone will say
"Hey, it's Nacho Mama!!!"
And I love nachos. I made them for dinner this week
and they were GOOD!
Your Grandma name is very important, because you could
have it for like, 50 years. It's about as important as
your real name.
I've got dibs on Nacho Mama.

I want to be her!!!

I love her.
I've been dying to tell you how much I love her.
I mean, I want to be her. I always have.
(You can pray for me if you want, that I want to be a "witch."
I'm totally fine with it.)
I don't want to be her, like with her most annoying husband Darren, who
is totally unworthy of the most beautiful woman ever. (Truly, if you asked me who is the most beautiful woman of all time, I think it's her!) But I want to look like her, and have her superpowers.
Think about it! Have you seen what she could do? Do you know how this would change your life?
I think about it all the time. I've probably spent a hundred hours thinking about it from childhood up until now. If I watch an episode, which I can at anytime now because my wonderful husband bought me the first season on DVD, I just can't stop day dreaming about twinkling my nose, and poofing-up dinner, or when she makes the vacuum cleaner work on its own! Or snapping my fingers and having lunch in Paris. Can you imagine? Why didn't God give me superpowers? I could handle it. I'm sure I could.
I used to think I also wanted to be Jeannie, but then I grew up and realized she was a dim-wit. AND, she was paired up with that totally over-bearing jerk of an astronaut for a master. Yeah, the smoke and the bottle were really cool, but she was always baring her midriff and was shacked up with that guy. And she truly had the IQ of an eight-year-old.
I found this website while looking for the picture of Elizabeth Montgomery (above) asking the poignant question, "Jeannie or Samantha? Which would you rather be?" There's no doubt about it, Samantha. She rocks.
I so want to be her!

Pre-Kids...Just a Distant Memory

I was thinking the other day about things I used to do pre-kids.
Or even when I had less kids!
It's hard to remember that era of my life, but I vaguely do.
I was thinking how I would like to hear some of the things that
you, fellow parents, did before kids. Reach way back, into your memory.
The children may have burned that part of your brain, and fried
it beyond repair, but TRY! You young mothers (i.e. Sally and Kendra), it was not too
terribly long ago, but your lack of sleep may make it equally as difficult.
So here's a short list of mine. Some things you didn't know about me:

1. I used to arrange fresh flowers once a week in a vase in my house. It was quite lovely.
For those of you who have witnessed my dead plants, you know that is no longer the case.

2. I used to be an interpreter for the Deaf.

3. I used to wear make-up on a regular basis, not just on Sundays, and always checked the mirror before leaving the house.

4. I used to spend hours and hours clipping recipes out of magazines, and made things that required a long list of ingredients! (Cooking has had to be a bit more simplified now-a-days.)

5. I never, ever, ever exercised, except for a brief period before my wedding, thinking I could get a brand new beautiful body for my wedding. I did not.

6. We went to movies on a moment's notice, without planning it 5 days in advance, and paying $10/ hour in addition to the cost of movie tickets. Sometimes we even went on a WEEK NIGHT!

7. We randomly went on weekend adventures...to wherever we wanted. We drove to cool places, slept in, and shopped for clothes for ourselves!

8. We watched live TV, payed our bills long before they were due, and our to-do lists were much easier to achieve.

These are just a few. Now, by reading this list, you may think I would wish to go back to that time in my life.
The odd thing is, despite all of this, now is the best time of my life BY FAR! I love my life, and would not trade being a mother for anything in the world!!!! Our time and energy is a lot less about US, but our life is so full. We are so blessed.
Now-I want to learn new things about you people!!!

Come see #3

You must see the new soccer player in our house.
Jax had his first game last Saturday, and y'all, this is entertainment at it's finest. And free! No one will charge you a ticket. Just bring a chair and have a seat. You're garunteed to laugh.
Jax did a great job last Saturday! He scored a goal, which was way exciting! He had the proudest look on his face. He assisted others. (This sounds very professional, for players who can't remember which goal is theirs.)
He was awesome! What surprised us was he was an aggressive player! Rusty was thrilled. (Not aggressive like throw other kids down and stomp on them, but intent on getting the ball, and not afraid to get in the middle of it.) Yet he was still focused mostly on snack time, and blowing me kisses from the field. Goodness, he's too cute.
We tried soccer last year with Emma, and it was an interesting season. It turned out soccer was not Emma's thing. She was the team flower-picker. She's never felt the need to follow the crowd, and soccer was no exception. If everyone is huddled around the ball, she'd rather be somewhere else. And as you can imagine, we had a hard time keeping her upright on the field. She spent much of the time on all-fours. We were always yelling "Stop being a puppy Emma!" She would bark back at us. Soccer didn't go so well last year. We got smart and followed her true passion with horses. She excels at riding horses and is dog-gone beautiful doing it! She and her horse are ONE!
But soccer could be Jax's thing. Who knows? Either way, this season is going to be so fun to watch!

The Poop-Flinger Strikes Again!

Since this story has become renown in the B-CS area (which is what I've always wanted my family to be famous for...throwing poo), I thought I'd give you an update.
He did it again.
It was approximately 5pm yesterday, and I had a million things to do. Thursday nights we have Countdown here, so I was trying to get my dessert made, plus start dinner, and get it all done quickly so I could get to Praise Team practice...it was just that kind of afternoon.
So there was no time in my schedule for poop flinging.
The worst part- Rusty wasn't here.
It was just me, alone, face-to-face with my two year old poop flinger.
I went to pick him up out of bed, and I re-lived the nightmare I shared with you weeks ago.
Poop everywhere.
Smeared on the bed.
Thrown in every direction.
Now, the first time he did not get a spanking, because I felt partly responsible. I had put him in bed in only his diaper, and I thought maybe it got heavy (wet) and came off. Then he decided, 'Hey, here's my poop. I should see how far I can go for distance with it.' Like I said, he's got quite an arm.
But this time, he went to great lengths to achieve his goal.
For goodness sake, the boy was wearing overalls.
OVERALLS! He took them off. Threw them so far, I couldn't find them at first.
Then his diaper, so on, so forth.
I don't know what he's thinking at this point? I think I have poo in my diaper. Maybe I'll use it like Play-do? Or is it purely for my face when I open the door and start shouting 'NOOOOOO!'
Anywho, he got a spanking with this one.
When Rusty came home I had him give the boy his stern Daddy face, which tends to work better than my spankings.
As I was cleaning this up, ALONE this time, I was seriously praying 'Lord, please keep this child out of prison. Please! Break this rebellious spirit in him!"
Every two-year-old must be broken, but he might take a little more work.
Good thing he is crazy cute!

JAX'S NEW CATCH PHRASE!

Okay, we've got a new one. Ready?
"Get a load of yourself!"
Interject it casually into conversation.
That's the way it's done.
If you want to say it Jax-style, it's going
to have to be a little louder than anyone's
"indoor voice" should be.
Jax is still keepin' it real.

Jax's version of Humpty Dumpty

Nursery Rhymes are a party of our Pre-K/K curriculum in the Bacak School. Jax's versions always kill me! Like when we did "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary..." He would say "Mary, Mary, white and cherry." That week, and for a long time after, he was obsessed with cockleshells. I don't know what cockleshells are!
Anyway, this week is Humpty Dumpty. This is what Jax recited today.

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a big wall.
....and he fell....
All the kings mans, and all the king's horses
put him back in pieces a-gether."

It's close. Evidently Nursery Rhymes don't necessarily have to rhyme. I love it!

Caught Red-Handed

I know, the title was just too easy.
This is our two-year-old.
This is him playing on the porch, with the grown-ups pre-occupied with the dishes.
He got a hold of the red paint and was just squeezing away when we found him.
You can't see it in the picture, but red paint is everywhere! All over the porch and grass.
Rusty says it looks like a bad scene in CSI.
He wanted to draw chalk outlines around some of it for effect.
That's his innocent face he's giving to his Daddy, who is looking at him AND me disapprovingly because I got out the camera. This is not the face he gave me after the poop flinging incident. He was purely proud of himself for that one. But his Daddy wasn't there either. That seems to make a difference. Rusty assured me, while scrubbing everything and everyone of red paint, no matter how many cute babies I see at church, prompting me to beg him to get me another one, this is it! In these moments he feels very sure.
You gotta love the 2's!

The Amazing Race Predictions

I love this guy! Phil. I love the way he talks. He's got an accent. Rusty hates accents, but I love them. Everything he says sounds smart.
This show rocks. My friend Bethany got me going on it, and I love it!
Amazing Race watchers, any predictions?
I want to hear who you think will be top 3?

Meet Jodi!

For those of you who don't know, this is the angel, Jodi, who is living with us right now.
(And Emma has a blue balloon above her head.)
Justus is madly in love with her! He stalks her in the house.
Jodi is also the kids' Homeschool Math teacher. She is doing a fabulous job! Emma is counting to 100! They love math time with Jodi. (Jax is mainly in it for the stickers, but whatever works.)
Jodi will only be here this semester, sadly. She will be headed back to Dallas with her family, and then will be marrying Andrew in June. (Andrew's great!)
We love Jodi, and wanted to fill everyone in on the latest in the Bacak house.

Me at an Aggie Game

This is me at my second Aggie game ever.
I'm even wearing maroon under that pancho, can you tell?
This is hard to believe, considering how my husband loves Aggie football (or hates it, depending on the moment), I'm a Baylor Bear, and the fact that we live in Aggieland.
Most of the time, he watches the games at home.
Alone.
He doesn't like to watch them in groups.
He watches them standing up...the whole time...pacing.
Now that we have kids, he TIVOs them, and watches them without interruption.
He doesn't watch too many sports on TV, but Aggie football is important to him- so it's important to me.
Because we had been living far away in Amarillo, it had been years since he had attended a game when we moved back here. For his birthday that year, I gave him tickets to a game. We went together. Considering my first game experience, it is most surprising that there was a second.
We had just moved here, and I hadn't fully appreciated what the Aggie cult was about.
Now, keep in mind, I love living in Aggieland, and love Aggies!!!! (i.e. my husband!) So I feel one must embrace this world, to a degree, Aggie or not. I went to Baylor and loved every minute of it, but I will probably never again attend a Baylor game, and that's totally okay with me. It's not even on my radar screen.
So we went to this first game in 2003, in the afternoon, in the blazing sun. The sun was directly in our eyes the whole game, and we STOOD the whole time. I was wedged in on every side by tall, sweaty guys. (One of them was Rusty, which was okay, but the rest of them, I was not excited about sharing skin-to-skin contact with.) I could only see about a third of the field, and I don't know that much about football anyway.
There was sweating. Then singing. And SWAYING. It seemed to be constant, sweating, singing, and swaying.
Now I love you Aggie people, and have great respect for your tradition, but I draw the line at singing and swaying, yelling hell, and "sawing horns off." This is where I have a seat. I have some real thoughts about the fact that your school song is almost entirely about UT... I mean just love yourselves! Why is there so much focus on them? Is there school song about you? Isn't that kind of sad? But I know no one is interested in my thoughts on that, so I'll move on.
I think whooping is fun...except at my wedding...and I asked Rusty if someone brought one of those air horns to church and just blew that little tune, would everyone whoop out of reflex? He said adamently yes. It's a little strange, but a well-placed whoop can be fun. (Not for me, of course, but for others.)
At this first sweaty game, what followed the sweating, singing, and swaying was dehydration. I went out to buy $4 water! How wrong is that!!! It's like in NY, where the umbrellas sold on the street go up $2 when it's raining! On my way out to buy water, I watched a boy puke into a trash can. I'm thinking- THIS IS NOT FUN!
I was glad Rusty could attend a game. But I was sure he would be attending the rest of them without me. That was 3 years ago. He has attended a few freebie ticket games since then with guys, and had a good time.
Last weekend, Jodi and her fiance Andrew, who have season tickets, offered us tickets to go to the game with them. I was excited for Rusty! And I love hanging out with Jodi and Andrew, obviously! I know Aggie tickets are like gold, so I felt honored.
My weather savvy husband was up on the weather report, so we packed our backpacks like we were going camping for a week. We were fully prepared, with water bottles, rain panchos, towels, trail mix, and granola bars. (No lie!) This came in handy for the two hour rain delay. But this was a much better experience, barring the 2 hour delay...and the rain. It went fast in great company.
I love watching my husband revel in his Aggiehood.
Jodi and Andrew have amazing seats. And we had fun! (Thanks again Jodi and Andrew!)
But still- the singing and swaying! All the time! And that song gets so stuck in your head!
I enjoyed the Aggie Band. That really was impressive!
I have to say, coming from Baylor, some things are really different. (Like we don't often win games.) But our school mascot is so much cooler. We get to watch the bear drink Dr. Pepper at games.
You've got a dog who barks- a lot! A dog. We all have dogs at home.
If she were really like Lassie and saved children stuck in wells or something, that would be cool. But from what I hear, her only trick is biting people.
This poor dog lives such a strange life! I think she's wondering about the singing and the swaying too!
And the strangest Aggie thing I've heard so far is that you have former Revellies (sp? sorry) buried under the outisde scoreboard, so that they can always "look up at the score"! Come on! That's creepy, and weird! Give these poor dogs a break! And everybody knows all dogs go to heaven, so they are free from their duties as Super Aggie Dog. In heaven, they're free to just lick themselves and sleep all day, like other dogs.
All in all, we had a great time, and truly, I know I'm skating on thin ice with some of you Ags.
But I love you Aggies. I would be pleased for my kids to go to school here. You can't live here without just rolling with it.
Beside my husband, I have deeply loved so many Aggie girls since moving here! Starting with Camile, Arlene, Morgan, Sarah, Lisa, Jodi- and so many more! I adore you!
It's all a little strange, but I love you Aggieland.

"Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." James 1:19

A while back, we taught this verse to the kids, and we were working on not interrupting each other. We wanted them to learn the value of listening to others, and not just thinking about what THEY had to say. (Something we grown-ups can work on too.) So "interrupting" has become a major offense in our home. This is huge for a four and six-year-old who are constantly fighting for talk time. I don't know what we'll do when Justus finally tries to get a word in!
So Jax gets quite frustrated when someone interrupts him, but he says "Emma! Please don't uncle-rupt me!" "Uncle-rupt" gets me every time! So there's a new word to work into your vocabulary. Uncle-rupt is way more fun to say than interrupt!

The Poop Flinger

I hesitated to put this story on the blog when it happenned because I fear that some of you childless people, with weak stomachs, might not be able to take it. Or that you might swear off having children. Or you young marrieds would immediately double up on your birth control. But the story has been requested by more than one, so I'm posting it. Read at your own risk.
Our precious little two-year-old bundle of joy had a surprise for us one afternoon. I went to get him out of his bed after nap time on a Saturday afternoon. What I found was him standing in his bed, covered in poop, poop flung all over the room, (I mean, to every corner of his large room! On the guest bed, etc. As Rusty would say- He's got a good arm.) He had also rubbed it all over the rails of his crib.
Somehow, his diaper had fallen off, and he had peed on his pillow and thrown that out of his crib. Then he pooped, and just had a big party with it I guess. When I went to pick him up, tip-toeing through a mine field of poop, I couldn't stop saying "Sick! Justus, gross!" and of course, hollering for my husband. I very gingerly plucked him from his bed, and headed straight for the bath, since the poop was now getting crusty all over him. Now the real hero of this story is my husband!!! Yes, he cleaned and sanitized the room. He's a man like no other man. He's my knight and shining armor. Single girls, marry a man who will do such a thing for you! It's just lucky for me my husband is a doctor, and sees and does things in a day that would make the rest of us common folk dry-heave on the spot.
As for Justus, he was quite proud of himself. No kidding, in the bath, he was giggling away. It was nothing but good fun for him. The adventures of Parenthood!

Addition to Favorites List

Faithful Bacak bloggers: Remember the favorites list? I want to make an addition. (Is anyone else hooked on that creamer? It gets me up in the morning.)
Are you ready?
Jogging in the rain.
Yes, Rusty and I went jogging in the pouring rain last night, and I felt a little like Rocky. It was awesome.
The sad thing was that when I returned home, despite the theme music playing in my head, I didn't look so hot. I forgot I put on eye make-up, and it was streaked down one side of my face. I looked more like that messed-up chic on Star Trek with, like, half of her face melted. Jodi was frightened of me.
But jogging in the rain- you got to try it! Okay, I know, it's still jogging, but that's just a necessary evil in my life. If you're going to jog, you ought to try it in the rain.

Noah was a righteous man

The kids and I have been reading through Genesis. We learned about Noah, and that he was a righteous man. When I taught them this, I told them that I thought their Daddy was a righteous man too. He tries to do what is right for God.
You never know when your words will come back...
Jax was talking back to Rusty today, and Emma piped in, how she doesn't talk back to Daddy...because he is a righteous man!
She then was saying a prayer for "Mommy to be a righteous Mommy, and Jax to be a righteous Jax," etc. She was praying for our whole family to do what is right for the Lord.
I covet the prayers of this sweet child of God. She has such a pure relationship with Him, it humbles me. I pray that we would be a family who does what is right for the Lord. It's just that simple.

Emma's new slogan

I knew this day would come. From the time she could point and make noises, we knew she was passionate about animals. Not in the normal, little kid way, but to the point of obsession. Still, as a five-year-old (almost 6-aaaaaaaaaahhhh!) she lives half of her life as some sort of animal.
This week we are studying farming. I knew I needed to tread carefully in the subject of farming for meat. It's not as if I showed her pictures of a slaughter house. No. I simply told her that some farms raise cows for us to eat meat, and chickens, etc., so on.
Well, at the lunch table today, she declared to Rusty and I, as we ate meat, that killing animals for meat was "not fair" and she would not do it anymore. This slogan was actually almost verbatim what she said. She wants to save the lives of animals. She wants to buy her own farm so that she can raise them to live.
Rusty tried the whole "God gave us animals to eat...blah,blah." But her adament response is "it's not fair." So she will not be apart of it anymore. I told her she was becoming a "vegetarian", which is strange for a child who boycotts vegetables.
We'll see how long this lasts. I told her I respected her decision. This may last until tomorrow, or until she's 16. Or maybe she has made a life-long choice at 5. I don't know. But knowing my Emma, it doesn't the least bit surprise me.

The Grandparents Day Luncheon

The Grandparents Day Luncheon was a smashing success! (If you ask me.)
As I saw Grandparents Day approaching, I remembered when I was in elementary school, and my grandparents came to eat a nasty, tray lunch with me in the cafeteria...and I thought it was the coolest thing that happened to me all year.
I wanted to make Grandparents Day cool for my kids in our own homeschool way.
(When my Dad arrived, he asked where my Prairie dress was? I have yet to don the prairie dress, and we have not yet made our own soap. We are on our own unique homeschooling track.)
We invited my grandparents, Rusty's parents, and my Mom and Dad. I told the kids this would be theirs to host, and Jax immediately told everyone when they came through the door that "he was in charge." These are rare words for a four-year-old, so he was drunk with power! (Please pray for Jax to come to love Jesus, so he uses his powers for good and not evil!)
They served everyone, and were as cute as they could be. They also got to show off all that they are learning. Emma read some books to them, and they both signed a book "Ten Little Ladybugs." The Grandparents were able to peruse their journals and their review book, a scrapbook of everything we've done so far, as well as their artwork already on display. We had a great time!
It was good to celebrate Grandparents. We feel so blessed to have them in our lives. The legacy of love and Godliness they have passed down to us continues to trickle down to my children. That is priceless! We love you Ed, Cindy, Ray, Bern, Bob, and Betty!

Emma's new supertalent

My daughter has many talents. Like the uncanny animal noises she makes. Or travelling at the speed of light on all fours! (Challenge her to a race if you don't believe me.) She can climb any tree. She can catch a bug, no matter how fast, slimy, or disghusting it is. (Some may not deem this a supertalent, but in the Bacak house, it is.) But we have a new one this week...
READING! My little girl read three early reader books today!!! I am awed and amazed! We are just in our third week of Kindergarten, and she has begun reading! I feel like I just gave birth, or potty-trained a kid, or one of those achievements that Moms remember for a lifetime. It's so exciting! She has come so far so fast, and I could not be prouder of her! So come over and let Emma read you a book!

Only in a Doctor's House...

Jax is a simple little guy. Save your money at Christmas, because his favorite toys cannot be bought at Toys R Us. Right now, all he wants is a rubber band (for a bow and arrow), a straw (for a sword), and a pap smear stick.
Yes, you read that correctly.
He doesn't exactly call it that. (There may be a more professional name for it that I'm unaware of.) It looks like a popsicle stick with a bone shape at the end of it, so Jax calls it a bone stick. It makes a handy sword as well.
Am I raising him to sell weapons on the black market, or what? I have no idea. There is something very strange packed into the DNA of a boy.
Anyway, I knew that he was bringing them home from the office when we went to visit Daddy, but I didn't know what they were for!?
I asked Rusty to bring him home a bone stick, since that's all he was talking about. He said "You mean the ones for pap smears?" I was a little sicked out, but how would I know what they look like! I'm not down there when it is used to torture me! We don't know what those tools are being used. But I tell you what, they don't look like what you imagine. By the time you can gather your paper gown around you and get vertical, the tools have disappeared. It's really one of the strangest things that happen to us as women.
Of course Rusty wondered if he was going to be an OB someday.
That's also a weird thought. My little boy! I'm much more comfortable with my sweet and totally politically incorrect Indian.

Funny tidbits on the other munchkins:
Jodi, the sweet college girl who is now living with us, came to me the other night and asked me if we were keeping Disney's food in her bathtub. Of course not, I answered. Disney's food and water dish go in that bathroom, but we don't expect Disney to crawl into the bathtub for food, although that would be a cool trick.
She said that the last two nights she found dog food poured into her bathtub. This sweet, childless young woman didn't know what Justus is capable of. She cleaned it up the first night, thinking it a little odd. I'm glad she asked the second night. You never know what Justus is going to do in a split second.
His favorite thing right now is a simple spray bottle. He has literally spent hours entertained on the back porch spraying water on every surface, window, and of course, himself.
I'm serious people. Save your money at Christmas!

Emma, who is learning her vowels, has put a new spin on our "I learned my vowels today" song. When singing it with me, she will yell out "Sing it baby!" or "I'm doing it baby!" It's hysterical, and then we go into our vowel song dance, clapping and going crazy.
Homeschool is a trip.
On a more serious note, Emma took her first Lord's Supper last night at an amazing serving at our church. Emma cannot get enough of the Bible at home. I had already done our Bible Story for the day, and she has been begging me to sit and read more and more stories. I think her main motivation for learning to read right now is to read the Word. It's awesome!

Rusty: He is going to love that I published this story! Last night he was on call. He got hit hard last night, with atleast two admits, and dozens of calls. He uses a flashlight so he can write things down without turning on the light (since the calls don't even wake me up anymore. The life of a doctor's wife.) So he went to grab his huge, mega flashlight in the dark, and instead, grabbed a cup of water, and poured it all over the bed and his crotch region. (Am I allowed to say crotch on my blog?) He slept a lot closer to me last night to avoid the spill.
Just so you know, when you call your doctor in the middle of the night, he could be delirious. Somehow he still makes life or death calls in this state, and hasn't killed anyone yet! He's amazing!

Kathleen

Do you see a resemblance here? You should, because this is Justus and his birthmom, Kathleen. I do think he looks like her, and she is beautiful, so that's great!
We spent this past weekend with Kathleen, and I treasured every moment! We flew Kathleen here, since she lives so far away, and we haven't seen her since Justus was 7 months old. She came for Justus' 2nd birthday, and it happenned to be her birthday, just 2 days before his. It was an amazing weekend!
At least once a week, someone says to me "I want to talk to you about adoption." I always say "I love to talk about adoption!" Because it has been a beautiful, growing experience, as having children always seems to be. I am in awe of our God, who uses everything to draw us closer to Him. So much of what I have to say about adoption centers around this lovely woman pictured above. We are a perfect picture of open adoption, if you ask me, and how good it can be when you allow God to remove fear and pride. (Only He can do that!) I cannot separate Justus from Kathleen. I cannot say to a woman, who loved this little boy so much, she put aside her own feelings and chose something better for him, "thanks for your baby, now go away. We don't want to see or hear from you again." She gave me my baby!!!! There is no selfishness is that decision! I always tell her, it's a pure picture of a mother's love. As mothers, we put them first, and us last. Kathleen has no other children, and I know still longs for a child. But she knew, for reasons that I won't get into out of respect for her and for Justus, that she couldn't give him everything he deserved. Mainly, a Dad. (I think he hit the jackpot on that one, by the way! Kathleen agrees, Justus couldn't have a better Daddy!) Kathleen will always have a place in our lives. She will definitely always be important to Justus. He will grow up knowing, 'that's Kathleen. She's my birthmom. She loves me.' Doesn't that take the mystery and agony out of it for the adopted child?
For those of you who feel totally freaked out by this- and there's people in our own family who still are- let me just assure you of some things. With semi-open adoption, like New Life does, we don't exchange last names or addresses. She still doesn't know what town we live in. Communication and visits go through the agency, and they are there to assure that a proper boundary is set in place. They are amazing at their jobs! But I do not fear her. And she does not fear me. We are two moms who are constantly reassuring one another. I tell her over and over that we always want contact with her, and Justus will always know her and know that she loves him. That's all she wants!!! For me, she constantly tells me how happy she is with her decision, and the immense peace it gives her to receive our pictures in the mail of him playing with his siblings, Daddy, or his dog Disney. She told me several times this weekend, being with us and seeing him brings her no sorrow or regret! Only joy and peace. She is so happy for him! This is a self-less woman, who doesn't even know the Lord.
That's another aspect of this relationship that I want to share. Kathleen is Muslim, and we had the opportunity to take her to my parents' church with us. I knew that I needed to seize the opportunity in the car on the way to the airport to talk about our Lord Jesus with her. It was just me, her, and a sleeping Justus. It was an easy, open, honest conversation, and I told her what Jesus means to us (which she has heard many times before in letters and cards), and asked her if she would just pray and ask God if Jesus is the Way? Please, if you know what it means to have Jesus in your life, pray for her to come to know Him too. I know, beyond any doubt, that bringing me my sweet little brown bear was not God's only purpose in this adoption. I believe that God is drawing Kathleen to Himself, and I don't want her to miss Him!
Make no mistake about it, I am Justus' Mom. If you ask me about Justus' "real Mom" I will tell you "you're lookin' at her." (That's me!) There is no confusion for any of us in that. But there is still a lot of room in his life for her, and for her family, who love him. I wouldn't dream of shutting them out. Why? To nurse my Super-Mom ego? Or out of fear? My faith in Christ dispells that fear. He holds our family in His hands. If you have any questions at all about open adoption, or about New Life, a pregnancy crisis center and adoption agency in Houston, please let me know. Like I said, I love to talk about adoption! Look at the end result.

Article for Lily 7

This is an article that I wrote for a college women's ministry in the Midwest called Lily 7. Thought I'd share it.

Faux-pas

I was reading an interesting post by my friend Nikki on the blog about a sorority that required it’s girls to wear thongs in order to safely avoid the fashion faux pa of visible panty lines. I have not been able to shake this from my mind all day. This bugged me for a few different reasons, but I’m trying to sort through them, to the root of it. I would like to make a public announcement that I wear underwear, and if you see my panty lines, I’m ever so sorry. But my secret is out. I will wear a thong when absolutely necessary, but a few hours into it, I’m down-right unpleasant to be around. They make me grumpy. That little tid-bit about myself was free…totally unrelated.
This is what it comes down to for me. Phil. 2:3 in the New Living Translation. First, let me tell you I’m part-near fanatical about the NLT. I love it. Also, I always say that none of us can be a Proverbs 31 woman until we’ve become a Phil. 2 woman. I have studied, re-read, re-memorized Phil. 2, again and again, and it convicts me every time. Phil. 2 reminds us that none of life is about us. What we all need is a huge dose of Christ-like humility. I have found that almost every stubborn sin that plagues me has pride deep down at the root. Okay, now to the verse. Within verse 3 it says “don’t live to make a good impression on others.” This is found within the context of throwing off selfishness and putting on humility. But this phrase has stuck with me. In fact, I’m trying to make it my new mantra.
I would not have normally described myself as someone who lives to make a good impression on others. I would like to say I embrace ME for me, and would rather lead than follow. This may or may not be true, but other’s opinions of me hold a much higher regard than I once ought, or admitted to myself. They do for all of us. We are concerned with fashion faux pas, social faux pas, and maybe even political faux pas. (I’ve never written the word faux pa so many times in my entire life.) Some of these “rules” may seem to be motivated out of courtesy. Sending a prompt thank-you note. Being careful not to offend others, and being polite. I’m from the south, so we are brought up as experts in this. However, most of these things, if we’re honest, are meant to make us look good. We are always conscious of what others are thinking, or how they see us. Do they see our panty lines? Do we look attractive in what we are wearing? Are others impressed with our creative abilities? Do they take notice of our gifts? How do we look to others? To others of the opposite sex? To our Moms? To our mothers-in-law? To our girlfriends? We are playing the comparison game all of the time. We compare our weight, our clothes, our gifts, our abilities, our grades, and anything else we can find to compare. We have an invisible shifting standard that we as women are trying to live up to, and here’s the kicker. We never will. This is a sad description, and maybe a little pessimistic, but it hits home for many of us. I could take this directly to the issue of contentment, because that is our command from scripture. Do you know when Paul said in Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” he was talking about contentment? Read that passage and the context of that verse. This must be the most highly quoted and abused verse of all time. It’s actually not a Nike commercial slogan. It’s talking about our contentment with whatever circumstances we are given! (And look closely at some of those circumstances for Paul!) But contentment will have to be another article.
My issue with this obsession of ours about what others think of us is this; we spend a lifetime of thought and worry over what man thinks of us, and very little thought and worry over what the Lord our God thinks. We are nonchalant in our persistence in sin. (Hello, have we read the Old Testament!?) We have a long list of excuses as to why we are not in His Word. We allow things that have no eternal value to pack our schedules and consume our thoughts and energies. What is our problem? When will we care about what God cares about?
I have had to ask myself so many times when struggling with something, “is this eternal?” Most often, it’s something that I am doing in an effort to “make a good impression on others.” I become a crazy lady when my mother-in-law comes to visit, trying to keep my house clean, with my three kids smack-dab in my way. The Lord has to grab hold of me and remind me of my new mantra. I am not living to make a good impression on others anymore. My life, and everything in it, is to please the Lord, the Creator of me and everything else. My purpose is to bring him glory! So under that assertion, everything else can go to pot. Okay, I’m not quite there yet. I go to the gym and run on the treadmill like an insane person because I don’t want to gain weight. (I’d like to say it’s only because my body is the Temple of God, but there’s a little more to it than that.) I search high and low for cute jeans because I don’t want to become one of those Moms. You know the ones, with jeans pulled up just under their saggy boobs, and a fanny pack around their waist. No thank you. And my house still does sparkle quite a bit more than normal when my mother-in-law comes to visit. I wish I could say that I had discarded all of that, but I haven’t. But I do have to keep myself in check. What is eternal, and what is temporary? The scripture says several times that God does not look on our outward appearance, but looks at the heart. That rules out our obsession with physical appearance. When I’m using my gifts, are they for the Lord, or for myself? Is everything, I mean everything in my life about glorifying God, or do I save a little for my own glory? What am I holding back from him? There’s so much freedom in letting some of those things go, and focusing on being a God-pleaser and not a people-pleaser. (Galatians 1:10) When we are free to focus on what pleases God, our hearts are broken for the lost, our priorities radically change, and the temporary is traded in for the eternal. Paul wrote in Phil. 3 “I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage…” I think a lot of what entangles us in this life is in fact just that. Garbage.
How did all that come from thongs? I do not know. My mind is a scary place. But in my opinion, if you must sport a pant line, do it proudly. From one sorority girl to the next, I would turn in my pin and save my money if there is an actual rule about your underwear. That is ridiculous. We as women need to start encouraging each other to focus on pleasing the Lord, and care less about impressing everyone else.
Jenn Bacak

My Kids Say the Darndest Things...

Jax: Where do I begin? He has quite a bit of Scooby-doo lingo going on. Like "Let's split up gang!" or "Yikes!" or "Jinkys!" I feel like we could all jump in the Mystery Machine and go!
Jax tends to be the king of one-liners. He has these catch-phrases that crack us up. One of his favorites for a long time was "Shake it Down." Every now and then, he would just randomly say "Shake it down, Mom." His latest is "Tick-Tock." That's how he says goodbye. And sometimes he'll throw "get it?" into a normal sentence, like there's a punch line, when there actually is not. Like "Let's go brush our teeth. Get it? brush our teeth!?" No one gets it. Except him.
He is very captivated with Indians right now. (Sorry, they're just not Native Americans to him!) Today he wanted to go around in his boxers all day because that's what Indians would do. Shirts are for the white man.

Emma: I wish I had a script of so many of our conversations, but today the cutest thing she did was to be Disney's veterinarian. This is her life aspiration. She wants to "heal animals for God." Disney went jogging with us last night and got something in her paw. When we came back, it was bleeding. Ever since then, Emma has been fussing over her non-stop, doing anything to make her feel better. Tonight, she put on her scrub top, got her toy stethescope on, and put band-aids on Disney's paws. The funny thing was that Disney let her. She kept telling Disney she was her best patient! She saw many other "patients" (stuffed animals), but Dis was her best!

Justus: Still word-less, but humorous nonetheless. (Is nonetheless really a word? Because it's really three words in one. What a deal.) Anyway, Justus has a new lease on life with his stool. He carries around his step stool (yes, that is the kind of stool I'm referring to) everywhere he goes to reach things that were formerly out of the question. This has opened up a whole new world, like reaching the water spout on the refrigerator door and flooding the kitchen. He feels very proud of his added height and abilities to achieve greater mischief.

It's always fun in the Bacak house!

School is Fun!

The Homeschooling has begun! Emma had her first day of Kindergarten yesterday, and Jax- Pre-K. We did calendar, (all in sign, because when I teach, I default to sign. I used to be a Deaf Ed. teacher for Pre-K/K for those who are confused.) they "journaled", which they loved, we had a lesson on the sun, which is what they are painting about in the picture, and we also had lessons in sign language, reading, and math. Rusty built me that awesome easel! Impressive, hu? The man can build me anything if it will save us money. He's amazing!
The last two days have been so fun! Teaching them is a blast! They are responding well so far, and I am loving it. I can't imagine missing out on these millions of moments with them, learning and having fun together. Today Justus slept for one hour of our teaching, and then glued macaroni on paper for almost the entire remainder of it. He is learning too!
For those who have not read my previous post, let me again say, I don't think homeschooling is for everyone. Nor do I think it's "God's Way" for education. I NEVER thought it would be my way! But for a former teacher, which I'm finding many homeschool Moms I know are, we're having a good time. So far, so good!

Emma's Baptism

Emma was baptized in our outdoor service on Sunday night (and watermelon fellowship. That's old-school Baptist!) It was so special for us, and we were glad to have grandparents and our wonderful church Body there to share it with us. When Pastor Butch asked her if she believed that Jesus died for her sins, she said "Yes sir!" Then he and Rusty baptized her together.
The Lord gave me this verse for Emma on Friday morning. Isaiah 61:10-11 says

"I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation, and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bride-groom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. The Sovreign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, filled with young plants springing up everywhere."

We are so grateful that the Lord has clothed our Emma in salvation and righteousness! He has written her name in the Book of Life! She is a bride of Christ. She is most definitely a young plant, springing up (rather quickly, it seems to me), and I can't wait to see what the Lord will grow her up to be. We pray she will always love Him with her whole heart and life.

Goodbye to our good friend, Suki

We need to say goodbye to our good friend, Suki.

Not to be confused with "sushi."

This was Emma's beloved fish, and her end was disastrous and traumatic for all in the Bacak household.

There is a culprit in this story, who was behind the murder of our friend Suki, and you may have guessed him already. He's little, brown, and has an irresistable mischevious grin. You guessed it.

So Justus has tried to "off" Suki once before. He climbed up on the bathroom counter (knowingly violating rule #1) and poured Suki out of her fishbowl into the sink to watch her flop around, while giving his evil laugh. Luckily, I caught Suki that time, scooped her back in, replaced her water, and sighed in relief that we were saved from Suki's untimely death.

But this past week, it went down a little differently. Rusty and I were out on the back porch, as I was starting to buzz his head. (For his cool new haircut.) And I had just buzzed one wide strip right down the middle of his head, when we heard Emma screaming, frantically calling for us. I reluctantly put down the clippers, leaving Rusty on the porch wearing a garbage bag with a hole cut in it over him, with his arms tucked in. When I arrived on the scene, I'm sad to say, Suki was already gone. Not only had Justus successfully dumped Suki out into the sink, but was then running scalding water over her. Emma was watching in terror and disbelief. Suki never had a chance.

I called Rusty in, garbage bag on and one stripe cut out of his head, to spank the little booger, while I did my best grief counseling with my sweet, "one with nature", "all animals love me!" Emma. She was weeping, saying over and over "I can't believe this happenned to Suki! She was my best Suki ever!" We sat on the back porch, and gave Suki the best funeral we knew how. What was really sweet was, Emma really wasn't upset with Justus at all. He came out, post-spanking, to kiss Emma. Jax joined us, with his own set of tears, and Daddy came out, again with one strip buzzed out of the top of his head, garbage bag removed, with a shovel to bury our Suki in the backyard. Emma asked Daddy to pray, and sweet Emma forgave Justus quickly.

She wants a new Suki now.

The whole night was a sad one for Em, but she has recovered.

I knew at the moment that this would be a story that would be funny later, but it was too sad at the time.

Goodbye Suki. How we loved you. How you...swam around....and...ate your food. You were a good fish. We're glad you're with Jesus now.

My brother Chris, and a Shark Attack

These are my cutie nieces and nephew, Hanna, Trinity, and Christian. (Solomon is missing from the pic, but he's a cutie too.) I don't even like to mention the phrase Shark Attack in the same post with their picture in the water, but let me explain...

My brother Chris (the oldest of my three bros) has an interesting life. He is a well-known Emergent Church Pastor, Church Planter, Author (if you'd like to know the dirt on my family, you can buy his book "Faith of My Fathers" by Chris Seay- order it on Amazon or wherever) and Speaker. Part of his interesting work is to spend most of the summer in the Bahamas, meeting with other pastors there and writing his books. He works for NavPress, and is doing a Bible Translation project right now. ANYWAY, he and his family are in the Bahamas, and this is the latest story that he related to us...

The shark attack was the big drama here on our first day - we have not seen any sharks since. But if you have not heard a teenage girl was bit on the forearm while snorkeling. I was the closest to them when they started screaming and lots of blood was in the water. I passed off Christian and swam out to pull her in - they were in major shock and were basically hysterical so it was not easy to get them in. The strangest part of it was clamping down on the wound to slow the bleeding while i drug her in and feeling an empty spot on her arm where the chunk was taken. I thought she could bleed out quickly, but my friend Greg (pastor in st louis) got a towel to wrap with pressure and the condo employees took her to a clinic where they got her stabilized and flown to the US. It was pretty crazy.

I was shocked and appalled that a shark attack occurred at the beach where my sweet little nieces and nephews were frolicking in the water, but not the LEAST BIT surprised that my brother rescued this girl. If any of you know my bro, you know what I'm talking about. Crazy. I've always said, we are living polar opposite lives. I'll call him, while sitting in my house, doing laundry, and he'll say, "Yeah, we're in Seattle speaking at a conference. We've been sitting in these hot tubs where you can see the whales swim up near you...blah,blah,blah" Or wherever he is, something interesting is happenning, probably because of him.
Maybe next time I will write something on the Adventures of Robbie or Brian, but this was too weird not to share.
jenn

8 Years!

Rusty and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary today.
We watched our wedding video tonight, and it was so much fun!
(I want to have parties where we all watch each other's wedding videos, and look at pictures. Obviously for girls.)
I can't tell you how blessed I am to be married to this amazing man! For all of my college girls, please wait for God's very best for you, because when he brings it, HE BRINGS IT!
God is good to us.

150% ???

This is something that has been bothering me.
I don't like it when people say "Give 150%!" Or "It's a 200% garuntee!"
You see, the percentile scale is based on 100 units.
There IS NO 150%!!!
So really, if you give me a 200% garuntee, I don't believe you at all.
I can't give 110% in my aerobics class, because I only have 100.
This is an abuse of the percent.
And it's a slippery slope. I mean, where does it end?
Once you've exceeded the only reasonable percent, when is it enough?
110? 150? 200?!!! How about 2,000,000? It's all the same, because none of it exists.
When someone tells me in Step class to give 150%, at that point I'm going to sit down, because there is no such thing, and I don't think we ought to let this tomfoolery continue.

Got Breast milk?

I seriously pulled into Target the other day and parked next to a mini-van with this sticker on it.

She also had one that read "I make milk. What's your superpower?"

If you know me, you know that I could not possibly be MORE for breastfeeding. I have to be very careful not to push this on others, because I feel strongly about it.

But bumper stickers?

I will pay any of you $20 if you will put this sticker on your car for a month.

Maybe more if Aaron will put it on his truck.

Snakes on a Plane

It's as if a movie writer saw into my nightmares, and decided to make a movie out of it.

The whole movie is about snakes...LOTS of them...on a small, tightly closed-in space.
My skin is seriously crawling as I'm writing this. I already feel like there are snakes on me.
I would not see this movie if you payed me money...
or if you offered to pay my children's way through college...
or if you could cure me of aging, acne, my addiction to sugar, or stretchmarks.

Nothing on God's green earth could convince me to see this horrible movie.

Why would anyone?

Start using OFF instead of perfume

This is Heather posting for the Bacaks...

They just called and wanted to update the West Nile post (see below).

Rusty's patient DOES have West Nile!

They will give details later. Besides being in awe of this whakiness, I think we are supposed to pray for the West Nile Person as well....

And personally, I think we should all start wearing these...


I'm not sure what is cooler...the hat, or the shirt that ties. That's a hard call to make.

OK: THIS IS RUSTY
WEST NILE IS REAL AND REALLY SCARY, BUT REALLY RARE. LIKLEY 1 IN 100 OR LESS MOSQUITOS (MOSQUITOES?) CARRY THIS VIRUS AND THERE IS LIKE A 1 IN 10 CHANCE THAT THE VIRUS WILL PASS WITH EACH BITE OF AN INFECTED MOSQUITO AND ONLY 1 IN 100 OF PEOPLE INFECTED BY THE BITE WILL ACTUALLY GET A SINGLE SYMPTOM. THERE IS A LOT HIGHER CHANCE OF YOU GETTING IN A CAR RECK TOMORROW THAN GETTING INFECTED. TO THIS DATE THERE HAS BEEN ONLY ONE CONFIRMED CASE OF HUMAN WNV IN THE BRAZOS COUNTY - MY PATIENT! SO DON'T PANIC OR LOCK YOURSELVES UP - BUT JUST LIKE YOU WOULD BUCKLE UP IN CASE OF AN ACCIDENT, WEAR MOSQUITO SPRAY AND KEEP INDOORS TOWARDS DUSK.
OK - YOU ARE NOW WONDERING IF THE HEADACHE YOU HAVE COULD BE RELATED TO THE BUG YOU SWATTED OFF YOUR ARM LAST WEEK! HEATHER - YOU JUST DON'T HAVE CANCER OR WNV - I PROMISE. SYMPTOMS OF WNV USUALLY ARE JUST A MILD HEADACHE AND POSSIBLE FEVER (AND REMEMBER THAT IS JUST THE 1 IN 100 OF INFECTED PEOPLE THAT ACTUALLY GET ANY SYMPTOMS), AND IN THE ABSOLUTE WORST CASE SCENARIO - VIRAL MENINGITIS AND SOMETHING HORRIBLE LIKE THIS MAN HAD. BUT EVEN HIS CASE IS A HUGE RARITY EVEN FOR WNV. IF I WAS STUDIOUS, I WOULD WRITE THIS CASE UP, BUT I AM NOT. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE NO ACTUAL CURES FOR WNV, DON'T PANIC - YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WILL BE OK!!!!
RUSTY

Homeschooling- Not just for Weirdos anymore!

We have decided to homeschool this year, after MUCH prayer and consideration.
(Okay, it's possible that we ARE weirdos.)
I know what some of you are thinking.
I used to be the biggest opponent of homeschooling.
I've already noticed, when I told some people we were considering it, I got the glazed over look in their eyes, and the slow nod...saying nothing.
I used to do that, thinking to myself "Your kids are going to be weird, and you are CRA-ZEEEE in the head!" I literally thought you were insane to think you could solely be responsible for your children's education. If my kids ended up educationally messed-up, I wanted to blame someone else!
Plus, I don't like to wear Prairie dresses!
However...I could not find rest in my decision for Emma and Jax's education this year, even though I really liked their school. Emma had a great time in her school last year, but was still not learning the basics, despite being taught them in school. I wondered if she had a learning disability, for real. Then I started doing "school" at home, working on letters and pre-reading skills. She has done beautifully, and is ready and dying to read!
Over the years, people have mentioned the words "ridelin" (sp?) to me when talking about her. She doesn't need medication; she needs one-on-one instruction, and constant stimulation.
Jax just wants to follow Emma.
So this year, we have decided to save almost $4,400 in private school costs, and try this for a year. (This was stretching us too thin financially, and stressing me out.)
We are not locked into one educational method. Our kids could end up in public school someday, or private school (if we win the lottery.) But for this year, we are going to give homeschooling a shot.
When we first started considering this, it gave me instant bouts of IBS. It terrified me. But as some of you know, I used to teach Pre-K and K (Deaf Ed), and I loved it! Kindergarten has always been my absolute favorite age! So I am super excited when looking at my lesson plans at the fun, hands-on things we will be doing.
I haven't got it all figured out yet, but my husband, the only other bigger opponent to homeschooling than I, has decided we should do this. We are excited, and nervous, about what this year will be like. But I know that God equips us for every good work! (2 Tim. 3:17)
I am thankful for the people in my life who are not weird, and neither are their children, who do this very well. I am seeing more and more Moms just like me considering this for various reasons. I don't know what is ahead in the long-term. Thankfully, I don't have to know.
For now, I'm just going to break out the prairie dresses!

THIS WEEK'S CRAZY MEDICAL STORIES!!

OK -
Although I will probably be sued for breeches of patient-doctor confidentiality (the names of the people have been changed to protect the not so innocent), I though it would be fun to post the crazy and funny and interesting cases of the week in my practice. This includes the worst "I decided to call the doctor on call at 3:30 in the morning for my month long rash" calls. Now for medical enigmas, the Hendrick family usually takes the cake, but none this week!

Case 1: SLOSHED: I had a "city call" hit (we take turns admitting ER patients who have no docs) with a blood alcohol level of 427. That probably does not mean much to you, but realize that Mel Gibson's level was 120 and I think the legal limit is 75! 427!! The amazing thing - that is not even why he was at the hospital - he came for chest pain. How do you feel ANY pain at 427? The good news for me was that his heart was so pickled by years of booze that his heart was OK. He left the hospital with a level of 286 not even slurring.

Case2: This is the "House" case (although so far I have hated that show - the guy is an absolute jerk!) of the week: A gentlemen came with fever up to 105 and suddenly could not move his legs. He could feel them though. Different possibilities included abscess in the spinal cord or even POLIO! To make a long story short - it looks like West Nile Virus! Unfortunatley, he might not improve! Pray for this guy and buy DEET repellent!

Case 3: 2 year old with fever and seizures on her birthday. Likely viral meningitis and no big deal, although could also be coming back as West Nile Virus!!! Freaking me out!! She's OK though.

10-15 minutes?

I had to "RUN" into Wal-Mart this morning... a necessary evil in my life...and I always laugh to myself when I see these signs for Mom with kids parking that say 10-15 min. limit.
Now I want to make clear, I LOVE THE MOM WITH KIDS PARKING! If we see you pulling into this spot at HEB without children visible in your car, Rusty WILL stop, and say something to you. I'm not kidding.
But the fact that Wal-Mart thinks that a mother with small children could possibly get in and out of it's giant time-sucking store in that short amount of time is laughable to me! It's going to take me 7.5 min. to get in, and at least that to get out. That's not taking into account the joyous 30-45 min. I spend juggling three kids with their teeny-tiny baskets! Could someone from Target call Sam and let him know about the baskets? Sometimes I would rather just spend the extra money at Target (and because it's a happy place; it has Starbucks) than to deal with the lack of basket space.
I have decided not to take this time limit literally, but more as a suggestion.

It's a Bacak thing

Yes, if you know our family, you know my husband loves soccer.
He has played it all of his life, up to the present day.
I admire that he has loved the same sport, and continued to play it for so long.
Whether or not our kids will play, who knows?
But they will always wear the jerseys Rusty buys them in Mexico. (while on Medical Mission trip each year) You may have noticed them.
This year...bright yellow. This really freaked out the newly named Hendrick dog, Homey. He was not sure about the yellow...but it helps so that we never lose them in the mall, or at the park, we can just glance up, look for yellow within a 3 mile radius, and we're good.
I wanted Rusty to bring me back a cool, matching, Mom jersey; but these were the only ones he could find, and they say "Bimbo" on the front, and the sponsor on the back is Corona. This would make me not necessarily the cool Mom, but another kind of Mom...not good.
How cute are my bright yellow soccer players?

THE ADVENTURES OF FEARLESS EMMA- IN COLOR (but no longer sideways because Heather is a rock star)

(see previous post- "The Adventures of Fearless Emma" for explanation.
Our 5 year old truly amazes us!)

This Week's "Mammory Verse"

This past week, we learned the verse "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." We talked about different ways we could praise Him!

When Jax said it, to my husband, (who is by the way, still a junior high kid on the inside. Yes! Many of you think he's a grown-up doctor, but really, I like to call him "Beavis" much of the time.) it sounded like...

"Let everything that has breasts praise the Lord."

He got a big kick out of that.
No, we're not very mature.

The Story When Jesus was Born by Emma Bacak

When Jesus first, there was someone named Mary. She had an angel told her she's gonna have a little baby named Jesus. So the angel told that back to her husband. Then her husband put Mary on a donkey! And then, the husband...he just walked. And then, they went and went to the place called BETHLEHEM! And when they went to Bethlehem, there's a lot, a lot of people. Mary been gotting tired. So they went to the hotel, best there's NO ROOM. Best then, a man told them there's a stable where they can be there. And then when Mary was at the stable resting on the hay, she had Jesus in her tummy! And then Jesus came out! And when Jesus came out, all the animals looked at it. There was lots and lots of people coming. But then an angel told some shepherdsmen to come there and see Jesus! And when they did, he's been so born and tiny. Best then he growed up into a kid, a couple of few days...best then he grew up bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger... then he stopped. Then he was God's Son.
The End

(Well, this story been true. It's been true, true, true. Please tell everyone this story. Bye-Bye.)

OUR FAVORITE THINGS...in no particular rank, because that's too much pressure

Jenn's favorite things:
I like...
-My new favorite creamer; Chocolate Caramel by International Delights! Truly DE-lightful! Worth waking up for!
-brand new lip balm. Can't live without it. (When Justus eats it and rubs it all over his face it makes me really sad. He thinks it's sunblock AND a yummy snack.)
-Little House on the Prairie; hands-down, my favorite show ever made- despite Rusty's relentless mocking that everyone on the show goes blind.
-a good fictional book, that does not necessarily make me better as a person, but is so real to me I start to pray for the characters, and I try to never finish because I don't want it to end.
-napping with my little snugglebugs, which is right now just Jax. Emma has outgrown it, and Justus hasn't grown into it yet. One of my favorite Mommy things, for sure!

Heather, are you impressed that only one of these is food related?

Emma's favorite things:
I like...
-going to the Hendrick's
-playing with my little brother Justus
-playing "Happy Thoughts" with Mommy and snuggling
-chocolate milk
-lizards, animals, horses, and cowgirls, YEE-HAW!


Jax's favorite things:
I like...
-when Justus chases me a lot and tackles me
-to eat some food cause I so hungry
-to do this (standing on one foot with all
his other limbs in a funny position)
-to play hide-and-seek and play games
-rocketships with Indian's on them
(these are paper airplanes with Indians drawn on them, holding various
weapons... I'd love to explain why, but I don't really know.)

Justus' favorite things:
Wouldn't we love to know? But the boy doesn't talk.

Rusty's favorite things:
Since he's not here, I'm going to take a guess...this is a true test of our marriage.

-Aggie football, in the Glory Days, he likes to call them, back when he was in college. (And yes, to the shock of our friends now in college, was before the internet was invented.)
-Playing soccer, though he is still hoping for someone to start an over 30 league. He's tired of these young whipper-snappers!
-Pina Colada smoothies, anywhere, but mostly in Mexico!
-Christmas, and putting up his Christmas lights that can be seen from Hwy. 6, during the holiday season.
-80's music. He's an 80's music trivia machine. Put him to the test!

This week's memory verse

The kids started learning their verse last week: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind..." "and love your neighbor as yourself."
After a few days of learning this, I asked them to recite it back to me, and this is what they said:

Jax: "Love God
with all your self
and all of your heart,
and your mind...
and what else?
and all your neighbors."

Emma: "Love your God
with all your trust
and your mind
and Love your neighbor
OF yourself."

I asked Justus if he could tell me his verse,
and he shook his head no.

So cute!
Also, the sweetest thing Jax has said to me this week is "Mom, you know what is awesome? I love you."
Does it get any sweeter than that?

"All scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for correcting, teaching, rebuking, and training in righteousness..." 2 Tim. 3:16

Okay, this is NOT how the Bacak children learn scripture. However, they DO learn scripture, as we apply it to our everyday life. 2 Timothy 3 says it is useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness, and this is especially true for how we discipline our children.
The Lord impressed upon my heart some time ago that giving our kids rules for the sake of rules is training them for goodness, not Godliness. Because we have been talking about this at church, I wanted to share our own experiences with this. We want our kids to become obedient because of a heart change, not simply behavior modification. When we train in them in the way they should go (Godliness), they will not depart from it! Just telling them "because I said so" is not good enough. That ticked us off when we were kids, and it does the same for ours. Really, if we can't think of a good enough reason, that's pretty lame. If we have a rule in our home, it needs to be backed by a scriptural principle.
I though I'd share some of the most frequently quoted and used scriptures in our home. Almost all of the infractions committed by my children come back to these verses. Some of them are in the Bacak family translation, not to contort scripture to suit our own purposes, but to put it in language they understand WITHIN the spirit of the true meaning of the text. (That's what you call a disclaimer, folks.)

"Do everything without complaining or arguing." Phil. 2:14

"Do not let any unkind words come out of your mouth." (paraphrase) Eph. 4:29

"Be kind and compassionate to one another" Eph. 4:32

"Children, obey your parents..." Eph. 6:1

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind...
and love your neighbor as yourself." Matt. 22:37 & 39

These are just a few examples of the verses that my kids know well, and that we use in the everyday. No, we don't sit with our Bibles open at the table and study them everyday...yet. My kids are 5, 4, and 1. But we infuse the use of scripture in our everyday lives, because God's Word is so applicable! There is a Biblical solution to our every sin problem.
I also try to make prayer an everyday normal part of our day as well. Our best prayer times are in the car. Deuteronomy 6:7-9 says "Repeat them" (God's commands)"again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and your gates." The Bacak translation says "...when you are eating breakfast, and when you are driving in your mini-van. When you are snuggling together at bedtime, and when you are teaching them at home." Prayer and scripture memory cannot be compartmentalized into the church box of our life. There should be no church box! It should be a natural part of our everyday, 24 hours a day, life.
That's my goal as a Mom. If I have not trained them in righteousness, they will not be "thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:17) I cannot send them out into the world...heck, I can't send them to Kindergarten unless I know they are hiding His Word in their hearts and have a clue as to how it applies to them.
We haven't got it all figured out as parents, OBVIOUSLY, but the Lord continues to show me new things as a Mom, and if we all shared those new things with one another, we might benefit.
Let me know effective ways you are teaching your kids as well!

GRAND INSIGHT BY UNKNOWN AUTHOR...

I don't know the author of this poem, but I think he's right on the money!
I got this from my brother Chris.


In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the end of your sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences- so-called
because they used to, like DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not-
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happenned to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally...
I mean absolutely...You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just like...
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation...ness
is just a clever sort of...thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since...
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

If a Tree Falls, and there's no one around, does it make any noise?

Okay, you know that saying, if a tree falls, and there's no one around... Well, my predicament is, if you catch a fish, and there's no one around, does it count that you caught the fish? Do you get fish credit?
Here's what happenned.
The theme for tonight did not have much to offer my kids, so we decided to go fishin' instead. Now fishing it supposed to be peaceful, quiet, relaxing. But not if you're taking three little ones with you. The event is filled with knots in your fishing line, several near-death experiences with Emma's hook while casting her line, and Justus using a fishing cane pole to stab everything and everyone. However, the kids are useful for helping catch bait. That's their favorite pass-time anyway, so we finally got some poles baited and ready to go. (I like the fishing, but no way I'm baiting my own hook.) So Rusty had some near bites on what he's sure is an enormous Bass, toying with him. Me nothing. He's using the fancy pole, with a reel and everything, and I'm using the plain old cane pole. Just throw it in. But as the games of the evening are released, kids stampede toward the clinic for their injuries and illnesses to be attended to. For the first time all week, Rusty is called away to the clinic. He has to see an 11 yr. old girl who has had some bee stings, and is hyper-ventilating. (He said rich kid medicine is a little different from his real life.) So he leaves me standing there, with my three little "helpers", cane pole in the water. I ask him as he's running away, "What if I catch one?" with a hint of sarcasm in my voice, because what are the odds? (We didn't catch anything last year.) But off he goes.
Low and behold, I'm trying to keep an eye on my kids, and when I look back at my bauble, it's under water completely. I get so excited, I start to scream. I pulled my line out of the water, and there was a fish. A big fish. I'm screaming bloody murder, totally freaking out. I've only caught a few fish in my life, and never while I'm standing there without fishing assistance. I'm screaming, and this fish is wriggling all over the place. It hops off my hook, and the children all run over to it. Emma is hollering at me to let it go. She said that's what Daddy says to do, and he makes the rules. However, I want to try to catch it in the net because if it goes back in, who will see it? I don't mean to discount my children as people present, but one of these little people doesn't talk at all, except for the phrase "MMM, BOP" lately (maybe because he's a big Hansen fan, but we're not sure), and the other two live in an imaginary realm almost all of the time. They could tell Daddy that we caught a fish...and an octopus too. And it's in their pocket, see? So you see my predicament? The fish is lying on the bank, wriggling around, looking up at me with one eye, like "Lady, make up your mind." I don't know for sure, but I really think it was mocking me.
Well, sadly, the fish did wriggle it's way back into the water, and disappeared out of my sight. In a moment, the whole entire victorious fishing moment was gone. No evidence. Nothing. And that was the last of the bait, so I didn't even have a second chance.
I knew right then that I was going to be one of those pathetic fisherman, telling the story, and holding out my hands to say, "It was this big", and people would yawn and roll their eyes. And I would say, "But...the kids saw it...right Justus?" "MMM, BOP" will be his only reply. I felt sad.
By the time Rusty made it back, Jax had taken his cool new Superman fishing pole, (thanks to Lisa and her friend Chris) and woven an invisible obstacle course through the trees with fishing line. It took me 10 minutes to unwind it all. I was so frustrated, and MAD that he wasn't there to see my fish, and be impressed with me!
Rusty didn't quite understand. "You're MAD that you caught a fish?" He could care less if anyone is there to see it if he catches a fish. But I am looking for fishing credit. Girls, do you feel me?

Okay, highlights for the day:
Emma: archery, hitting the bullseye! That's right!

Jax: Lifeline, the evening "service" you could call it, where they sing songs and hear a message. (The theme was Christmas, and he is half-expecting Santa tonight. He may be disappointed in the morning.)

Justus: I'd like to think swimming in "Wacky World" with me, jumping on the water trampolines. But when I asked him he said... you guessed it..."MMM, BOP."

Jenn: Catching a fish, even if nobody saw it.

Rusty: Taking Justus down the big waterslide, the "Zamboni."

Peace out, my friends! I'm so thrilled that y'all are reading this, and I LOVE your comments!

jenn

The Adventures of FEARLESS EMMA...

Okay, if you know my Emma, you know she is crazy. She will do just about anything. And yet, it still amazes me. Today, she did the zip line. Not like the zip line in the Hendrick's backyard. (No offense to the Hendrick's zip line, because the fact that they have a zip line in their backyard is the coolest, and we won't minimize that!) But this is about a 50 ft. tall zip line that zips over the lake. It's huge. I did it last year, but I have to confess there was trepidation in my heart. Rusty took her during nap time to do this, so I didn't get to witness it first hand, nor do I have a picture yet. But he said the easiest part for her was jumping off the edge to zip across. She didn't even hesitate. (insane!) But getting across the elements, as their called, was most difficult because she was just too little. Basically you tightrope across some sections, but there are cables to hang on to with your hands. She couldn't reach them, so she was tightroping 50 feet in the air like a stinkin' circus performer. (I've often wondered if she had a future in the circus. If you've ever seen her shimmy up a pole in 10 seconds flat, you would know what I'm talking about.) This was frustrating to her that she couldn't reach some of the things, so someone finally had to carry her across that part. But Rusty said when she got to the platform to jump off, Fearless Emma jumped right off. Thank God for secure harnesses.
Tomorrow, we'll do it again. The thing we love about Fearless Emma is that if you ask her if she wants to try something, no matter if she is by far the tiniest kid around, she will always reply "Sure." What great promise this could bring for her life! She will experience things that all of us wish we had. I'm pretty sure that if we flew her up in an airplane and told her to jump and parachute off, she would. (I have no doubt she will do this someday. I think we'll wait a few years.) It makes me nervous and proud at the same time. It just makes Rusty proud.
Fun, Fun, Fun! More tomorrow!
jenn

THE ADVENTURES OF CAMP OZARK

Jean Lafitte's Cajun Food
If you are going to take a roadtrip, it's my opinion that you should never stop at a chain-anything to eat. According to the rules of the Bacak vacation, you look for someplace with character. Someplace hillbilly, home-owned, or even weird, in order to make a memory.
Well, we did just that as we ventured into East Texas. This is my first restaurant review, but it must be shared. If you find yourself in Palestine Texas, it would be a cryin' shame if you didn't stop at Jean Lafitte's Cajun Food. We stopped there not only because of the giant boar's head sticking out of one end of the place, and half a boat sticking out the other; but also because Jax really had to use it. Good thing, because otherwise we might have missed out on this "only in East Texas" experience. (We found ourselves saying that frequently during dinner.)
The decor of this place is a 50/50 split between pirates and hunting. The front of the menu has a skull and crossbones on it. The walls are totally covered in weapons of every kind, and dead animals. Not only taxidermied animals, but animal skulls, with the most cool being a few crocodiles. The kids were totally beyond excited by this!
98% of the menu was fried, of course, and you could order most anything in a basket. But best of all, everybody could help themselves to cornbread and beans. Awesome! The thing the kids loved the most were the walls you could "color on", so we signed our names right near the bathroom. Look for it when you stop in.
Rusty most loved an old sign on the wall that was an ad for "rectal dilators", which we are dying to get for our office. (The sign, not the rectal dilators.)
This place had character out the whazoo! You must see it for yourself! So make a note to self: stopping at McDonalds or Dairy Queen is for boring people. Don't do it! Make a memory, and then share it on your blog. I will totally go there!

The Chicken Egg Layer by Emma Bacak

Well, the chicken had some baby eggs from inside of her. One cracked out and said "cheep,cheep,cheep,cheep." It was kind of funny. Her Mom said "Stop that", and she did. Then all the eggs cracked out with worms in their mouths. Then all of them went on a hunt. Then the chickens got lost. Then they found their way back home, and when they did, Jesus came down, from the sky, and he told them to go back. Then they went back, and comed back again, and that was okay. Then there were some babies said "cheep,cheep,cheep,cheep" and more of them said "cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep." It was kind of funny like that. Then they went home, laying on their nests, and at night one of the chickens had a dream about a bunny rabbit trying to get their egg hopping around. Then that chick lay there, and went to sleep again. But then it was morning again, and the chicks were tyring to sleep, even their mother. So she went "CHEEP!" and woke them up. And they got breakfast, eating grass with the horses, and hay with the horses. Best then, they did lunch, and when they did lunch, they found a hat. The farmer best gave them some food. The chicks went to eat everything, and the mom tried to stop them. They went home. Een End