update on the Farming Lutz'

About mid-May Joey talked me into a garden. It was suppose to be sun Flowers inspired by the seedling he started in his 1st grade class. Once we started we added peas. Then how could you have a garden without a tomato plant. Well from each added plant we added another until our garden was complete. In the end out plot of land 5 by 14 had added a lemon cucumber, a baby boo pumpkin, a zucchini, soy beans, and egg plant.

Then came the fear of will our garden would grow? I signed up for an organic gardening group for beginners. It's a great web site an you should check it out.

http://www.beginner-gardening.com/

I watered my garden daily without fail, I fed my plants a liquid tomato and vegetable plant food by Miracle Grow. I plucked all the little seedling weeds out each day and I waited. The garden grew but not so much. The weather believe it or not was cloudy and windy. Then we had two days of real sun. Our garden grew. Mind you we still have no veggies to pick but I have a lot of hope. It's easy to hope when Joey is the biggest garden cheerleader with huge yelps of delight. "Mom did you see the tomatoes they are huge!"

Since the garden began we also germinated flowers and herbs in my kitchen window and have trans planted our seedlings in to a flower bed and pots on my front porch. They are growing. Not as big or as fast as our veggies but I get a little more excited each time I see they are a little bigger. Marysa had the great add-on idea for that. Tanner as much as she hates dirt even got her fingers a little dirty.

Four plus years ago when I met Warren we talked about my tiny little strawberry garden I had in front of my little house in Concord. He told me about this big garden he had in San Leandro. Some how I always feel like I am in his shadow. It must come from being the last of seven kids and feeling like everything is a competition. Even our sweet little garden. Last night Warren walked out to the garden. The first time I had seen him do that. I could feel my stomach racing like a judge or teacher was coming to grade me. I know, how weird and I? Warren said your garden has really taken off. That made me happy.

There will be more to come as the garden grows I'm sure so keep checking on it. I know I will, as I do several times a day.

Work, work, work, kids, kids, kids, and more work

I have 5 kids and a full-time job. Declan is six months old and my job as much as I don't like it has been good to me. I have been able to stay home with two of my babies and Joey for his adoption with the guarantee my job will be there when my bonding time is over.

I got hired there in July of 2000. Marysa was born in December of 2000. My office closed while I was on leave and I had a new job in a new office waiting for me when my leave was over. Mind you Marysa was only nine weeks old and I was only 25 I had a great paying job with great benefits waiting on me. Back then as much as I hated leaving my baby I had the drive to make sure she had every opportunity my parents gave me. They only thing she didn't have was her Mommy at home raising her.

Having Sonny two plus years ago coming back to work was really hard. After all I had this beautiful new baby and I had time to spend with Marysa, my dream. I got to see Joey turn into a different boy than the one I met and Tanner and I got to become friends. I stretched my baby bonding leave out with Sonny until he was 13 months old. Going to work a few weeks with my job and splitting it up with a few hours a weeks at a great job in Walnut Creek. When my time ran out I got lucky with a great daycare a few minutes from my work I could go spend my hour lunch with Sonny and it wasn't so bad.

Then I got pregnant. I found out in April 2008. Declan made me sicker than a dog. I took a lot of time off for morning sickness spending more time at home with my Sonny- Bun.

In December 2008 Declan was born.I didn't think I was going to be able to share my heart anymore but it opened up bigger and I fell in love with him.

I have five mouths to feed. A need for money to feed them and no desire to go back. I am trying to break my time up with Declan. I went back a few weeks in March and I'm back again for a few weeks now. All I can think about is how much I miss my babies. I wonder if Sonny in pinning for me like I am for him? If Declan is going to be like Marysa and need me to hold him all night long when I get home? Is Joey getting left out while the girls play? Are the girls even playing? How's my mom doing with my kids?

I'll be on my leave again in just a few short weeks. Full-time is waiting for me in the not so distant future. My heart already aches to be with my family and my efforts to work from home is getting smashed to bits in this economy. Once again my job is there for me when my time is up and my kids wont miss out on anything but their Mama home. Things wont be bad for them. I'll just miss them.

This one cracks me up

Another masterpiece by Joey.

Boys and their potty

Marysa was so easy when it came to having to go. She said potty and we would run to the potty and go. The only times I can remember her having an accident was me being in a hurry to get somewhere or long after all the training was complete she had a few so I took her to the doctor and she had a minor irritation.

Joey's potty training wont ever end. The poor kid had a ruff start with no one taking care of his toileting needs so when I got him at four years old he could only tinkle in the potty. He'll be eight soon and he can use the potty but chooses not to. We are seeing a professional.

Now here is Sonny's turn. First let's give him credit he's only two and a young two at that. He has peeped in the potty a few times and made poop-poop for Daddy once. He watches the Elmo potty video and plays on his potty fully clothed. Today we made a little more progress. Today my love bug yelled 'off diaper'. I asked if he had to go potty and he yells 'yes' and runs to the potty. He didn't go but we gave him a jellybean anyway. Then we decided to bring potty to watch TeleTubbies on and he sat there a good 20 minutes. No potty was made but he was smart enough when he was tired of sitting there to ask for a diaper. I love that kid. He really makes me laugh sometimes.

Sonny, My kids and Jesus

As anyone who has met Sonny knows he is a handful. He is a a force that is able to make my heart, sink to the bottom of my stomach, skip a beat, and be overcome by complete love. Sonny is my sweet guy.

He is also my wild child. He has caught black widows barehanded, sliced his hand open almost all the way down to his tendons and still cry to go back to the park. He wants kisses on a bloody knee or egg on his head so he can feel better to continue playing just as hard or harder.

He recently learned to open our front door. I am not even close to as fast as he is darting out our front door straight down our drive-way and left down the hill, right in the middle of the road. I was holding Declan and wearing flip-flops thinking got to catch him before someone drives up my hill. Thank God I caught him. The mail man who never returns my hellos laughs at me. My heart now firmly planted in the stomach surrounded by butterflies thanking God things weren't worse. My whole life would be different today if Sonny hit that road running full speed blindly as a car drove past. I am terrified of taking him out my front door.

There are so many things that have to be done on the other side of that door. Today it was a retirement party for Joey's first grade teacher in a park near a busy road. Crowds, Sonny and traffic don't mix. Twice I went into panic as he ran towards the road.

With Sonny clearly defined, and people including the new pastor of my church seeing him in action I asked the new pastor is he could post his sermon. Our church has a blog. http://firstlutheranconcord.blogspot.com/ He did.

Now this is the first time I have not heard a sermon but read it. Normally during a sermon my mind wonders no matter how hard I try to listen. My kids are fooling around, there's a noise, a new banner or something else. A good sermon my mind wonders when I try to prevent myself from crying. Now reading a sermon at my leisure is a totally different experience. I'm not the best reader and I may understand things differently when I read them than when I hear them spoken.

This particular sermon Pray like Jesus, PT 1. The opening jumps out at me. "how is it that we learn to pray?" That got me thinking not how is it that we learn to pray. I assume it's learned by example, but how do we learn what we are praying too. That is the guts of this sermon, the trinity.

Now my thoughts were not so much about the trinity in this sermon but my kids. I have five of them. Each unique. I try to expose them to what I believe by taking them to church when I can. I take them without help when we go. I pray with them, not as often as I should. I talk to them about what I believe in daily conversation, (An example would be God's promise not to flood the world again by giving us a rainbow. We talked about Noah and the floods. ) and answering questions that come up. My kids have hundreds of them. They all have different backgrounds after all my family is blended. Each of the girls have lives very different than the one they have at our home at their other parents home, Joey has his views and memories from being in different foster homes and then they have me and Warren who's beliefs are very opposite. There is enough noise to confuse anyone.

I think of my kids when I read this sermon. I pray that I learn the right information when read it. What I read is a potential question and I want to be clear with my belief and practice when I answer. After all my kids will be presented with all sorts of different information when it comes to God and religion.

Marysa is my mealtime prayer leader she seldom forgets, and she asks me questions like "Are we Jewish?". Tanner tells me about God sometimes but we haven't had that good heart to heart yet. Joey, my parents and I half joke about him becoming a preacher. He likes to learn about God by reading books with me or on his own. Ironically one of his favorites is: A Picture of God 3 in 1, by Joanne Marxhausen. A book that details how the trinity can be explained with an apple. I personally think it is a great book and would recommend it to anyone who doesn't understand them self or has young children. My little Sonny likes to sing Amen at the top of his lungs and loves the songs I sing to him about Jesus and God. You can hear him sometimes trying to join in. Declan is still just a gummy smiling baby. Sweet and kissable.

So back to the point I was trying to make. Surely no one can follow closely my twists and turns in my words. My point is I have something to be thankful for today in addition to all the many blessing my family and friends give me. I have a sermon I can read when I am trapped in my safe Sonny world. I often feel like I am not doing my job as a parent well when I don't take my kids to church and sometimes I feel like I need a little extra Jesus in my heart than at other times. I am glad I spoke up and was listened to. That our new pastor took the time to post his sermon not just for me but for all of us stuck at home for what ever reason.

Pastor if you read my words I really do appreciate it. I can't wait to talk to my parents about it this week. Sermons are usually a hot topic for me and my dad.

Joy and Pain of a large family

One of the joys of having a large family is you always have a built in party. My husband had a birthday and all but my wild two year old Sonny went out to Claim Jumper. Sonny stayed home with our dear friend Trevor a 12 year old boy and played hard and slept long.

The party was wonderful, the food the company the service.

The pain that follows a large family after one of these built in parties is Sonny is well rested at 5:00am and Mama has been up since then as well. Mama would be me, also planned a dentist appointment during his nap and hasn't recovered at 5:00pm from staying out late for her and getting up way to early.

Once again blown away

Joey was given a book at school. A chapter book, this is a big deal in First Grade. The book he choose is "How to Talk to Dads" by Alec Greven. What impressed me was not that he read the whole book and liked it but he did a Picture book report on it on his own freewill. It's detailed and very impressive. Don't you think so?