My Food Problem

***I wrote this July last year but never posted it. This "issue" is evolving into a new lifestyle for me and my family. I thought I'd post this now. I'm sure to write about in the future as I continue to learn.****

Food

The past 48 hours I have crammed my brain with food!

I realized I need help with meal ideas and in my search for "ideas" I have been on this exhausting Nutrition Mission.

I don't like spending time in the kitchen!

I don't like cooking, cleaning, preparing, or anything that involves the kitchen.

I don't like the time required to fix dinner.

I don't like visits to the refrigerator over and over and all day long.

Most the time, eating is a burden.

Being aware of my relationship with the kitchen, I am really really confused at the desire I have recently became obsessed with.

I feel like Jonah when he was called by God to be his messenger to the people of Nineveh.

I'm thinking "No, thanks. I really don't want anything to do with food and time in the kitchen. I'd rather live my life in ignorance. Eating my way to my deathbed if necessary.

Let me make this clear. I have been rescued by my husband, several times, from starvation. You see, I don't get hungry. I came prepackaged without the "warning system" installed that lets your brain know you need food.

It hits me fast and the next thing I know, I am beyond moody, and tired. When I get like this I'd rather go lie down and sleep off the hunger pains than go to the kitchen and prepare something.

The very thought of preparing food is too much for me.

I am alright with creating a breakfast or lunch. But I have a huge mental block on dinners. I HATE dinners. Showing up to a meal is perfect. Preparing one is torture!
One sure way to ruin my day is to realize it's getting late and the kids are hungry and I have NO thoughts on dinner plans.

Even if I did have dinner plans that would require I go grocery shopping. Another least-favorite hobby of mine.

So, do you see the bewilderment of my new found drive on nutrition?

What's going on here?

I don't want to put effort into educating myself on this topic.

I don't like it.

I didn't like it when I lived with my mother and she'd ask for help in the kitchen. I didn't sign up for these classes in College for a reason!

I am being asked to do something I really don't want to do!

I feel the Lord is telling me I need to become aware of the "nutrition" or the lack-thereof that my family is partaking.

Hummm....strange.

Bit by bit information has been placed in my lap! This stuff is coming to me.

The next thing I know I'm throwing away bags full of "junk" from my cupboards.

I'm talking to people with similar desires and getting great leads to some improvements.

Most recently, I found myself at the local library. While the kids were engaged at the kids section the thought came to me to find some cookbooks. I stood in the isle staring at the rows of books in front of me.
Having only a few minuets to choose I became frustrated. What was I looking for?

I offered a prayer for help then grabbed a handful of books and checked them out.

The following 48 hours I was reading profusely from those books. There is no doubt God wants me to know this stuff.

I spent the bulk of my day in the kitchen. Preparing Whole, Natural, Fresh food for all 3 meals of the day and a few snacks in between.

What satisfaction I felt...until it was time to clean up. I was exhausted.

My table is strewn with notes, books, lists, and recipes.
I had enough! My natural feelings of resentment toward the duties in the kitchen sent me into a terrible mood.

I don't want to do this all day!

I will be better off tomorrow for the knowledge i learned today.

But I have a feeling this isn't about me.


***Now here I am a full year later eating very different foods than I use to. This has been a step by step transition. I have learned so much about Nutrition. I have come a long way but still have the journey ahead. Another post, another day.

The 4th Child

My 4th Child is almost 3 months old. This week she came “alive!”

She watches me as I move about the room and breaks out a heart warming smile if she catches my eye.

She laughs at her brothers, wakes up HAPPY and stays awake longer with a pleasant disposition.

Gone are the eat, sleep,poop and repeat days. I love that she is more aware. Simply because, I feel she is giving back now.
A smile from her is so rewarding.

The poor girl is rudely awakened from her naps, almost daily, to pick up or drop off a sibling.
She tolerates the car ONLY if she has been feed, burped and isn’t sitting in a soggy diaper.

Given my schedule, these conditions NEVER line up and I am a MadMan driving from location to location with a screaming baby aboard.
It’s so sad.

I LOVE waking in the morning with her snuggled to my side. I love her little grunts and long stretches.

Everyone in the Hobi Home begs to hold her first thing in the morning. I can hardly get a private moment while nursing. They all love to be close to her.

I am so happy to have her in our family. A new baby in the home brings out a lot of LOVE.

I can’t help but WONDER, are we done?.........

Jace & Ammon

Jace gave a talk today in Primary. In fact, he volunteered!
Recently Jarom and Jennica gave talks too. He wanted in on the fun!

He said he wanted to tell a story about Ammon. I tried to practice with him but he wanted none of that. He told me I could wait and see in church.



He loves the story of Ammon. He can tell a lengthy story too.

He did a great job.

In the beginning he got a little nervous.
Once his mind cleared he did great.

Once again my shy, quiet, boy grew a little taller today.

Silence

After driving in the car ALONE this afternoon I appreciated SILENCE.

It’s not too often that I enjoy peace and quiet ANYWHERE.

There are always noises to be heard. Some cute. Others not so much.

Today I had a 20 min. drive to attend a meeting. Since the baby was sleeping I thought I’d take my chance and leave her here with Dad and see if I could return before she woke. (it was a success)

I was a good 15 min. into the trip when I finally recognized how quiet it was.
I thoroughly enjoyed my own thoughts.

I love moments like that. Ya know, the moments when you can hear yourself think.
No distractions.

I thought about church and the great messages I caught in between distractions.

I thought about how strange it is that I live so far away from my family in a world many of them haven’t seen.

I thought about how green it is here and how squirrels are taking over the roads.

Then I thought about why I do the things I do. I admit, lately I’ve been doing some weird stuff, but only because I feel it really is right.

Not WEIRD, weird stuff but "GREEN"stuff like;
not using a microwave anymore, or switching to RAW milk. Things that I would laugh at other people for doing (not out loud of course) .

But all these changes (aka weird things) have come to me when I have had silence. When I am listening to myself and the Lord.
(These changes are right for ME and my family.)

It always starts with a quiet moment and then WAMMO!
Enlightenment hits me and things start happening.

I love quiet moments. Most the time Enlightenment comes when I’m in the shower. (Not kidding)

The Lord answers my prayers, and sometimes gives me assignments,(more on that later) only when I am SILENT!

He’s talking but I’m not always listening.

I’m thankful I had a quiet ride alone today.

On a different note: I wish someone would have told me my inner lining to my skirt was jacked up all day. I wonder how many people were seeing right through me!!!
Silence isn’t always a positive thing!


Photo: Jennica drew this picture of me the last month of pregnancy.
Looks like I gave her a pleasant impression of pregnancy!

My Toy Story

We have too many toys!

The delimia: My kids don’t play with toys, they play with THINGS.
Hangers are bow and arrows, belts are dog leashes, boxes are trains.etc.
They create things to play with.
They use their brains to entertain themselves.

I am THINKING about getting rid of them.(the toys not the kids)

I have been thinking about this for a while but the truth is I DON’T DARE!

Going through a move is helpful in getting rid of junk. You realize you have been keeping stuff for no reason at all.
It’s easier to toss it than pack and unpack it.

Well. unfortunately most the toys made the first cut during the move.

Our new basement proved to be a wonderful home to the colossal amount of toys unloaded there.
I was excited to have a room dedicated to the kids enjoyment. We have never had that!
Previously, our toys were stored in the attic and came down into their rooms on a rotation process when I felt like a swap was needed.
So to have a space where everything could fit at once I was really excited!

After the move It took me several weeks to gear up the desire and energy to go down there and organize the chaos.

The kids didn’t play down there because it was a mess. Nothing had a place.
Finally the chore was done and I was please with the result.

The first time Sam walked into the room his comment was,
“We have too many toys!”

That made me MAD!

You see, I didn’t see all the toys, I saw memories of my little ones.
I saw the phases they went through with the castle, the doll house the horses and cars.
I was excited that they could all be played with in the same room! This was exciting to ME!

For him to suggest we needed to get rid of toys I felt sad!

A few months passed and every so often I peeked into the Playroom on my way to the laundry room.
I always saw one of two things.
1. it was still clean
2. it was still messy

Nothing changed much in there. Most the time the toys stayed picked up, which tells me they aren’t being played with.
The times it was still a mess was from the ONE time the drawer was dumped out for whatever reason and the mess just stayed there.
Again, nothing being played with.
I’m itching to simplify my life. I figure if I have less stuff I’ll have less to keep clean.
It’s sort of like plucking eyebrows. It’s torture to get started but once you get going you wonder how you’ve managed to get so out of control.

I went through my closet and drawers. The only things left are things I DO use. No more of the “I think I might ...”
It was liberating. My closet is bare but what I wear is hanging-nothing more.

So, this desire has carried over to the playroom.

I think I am ready to give away the childhood memories.
Not MINE, mind you, but my kids.
I don’t want to give these toys away because they represent the childhood years of my three little kids. They remind me of life we lived day after day stumbling over them, stuffing them away, or searching desperately for them when misplaced.
They were my life just as much as they were my kids.
Getting rid of them is accepting that those days are over. That’s what makes me so sad.

As I sat through Toy Story 3 it came to me. I was like Andy. Emotionally tied to a box full of toys. (basement in my case)

My kids are still kids but books, sports, and piano fill their spare time. I need to pack up the toys and keep the memories.

I instructed them all to go in the playroom and pick out their favorite toys to keep and then help me pack up the rest to give away.

I expected a little push back but got NOTHING.

They didn’t even care!

I think they each came away with 1 toy to keep!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I cleared off all the shelves dumped all drawers and emptied all bins of toys with their help.

They don’t even care!

Looks like I'm the one that needs to grow up!

Don’t get me started on stuffed animals.....

Imagination at work

Each Night when I crawled into bed, I made sure all my dolls were comfortable and “tucked in.”

I wasn’t sure if I really believed they would come to life at night, but I knew it was better to be safe than sorry.

Recently I witnessed Jace arranging his animals before turning off the lights. When he noticed he had an audience he paused for a moment considering if he should continue.

“Mom, did you know I feed all my pets before I go to sleep each night?” he asked.

“Really?”

“Do you want to see Mom?”

I stepped onto the lower bed to peer over at him on the top bunk. There he had all his pets in a specific order waiting to be fed.

I love this little guys imagination. He is going ALL day long!

For a good part of the day he is talking to himself pretending to be someone else while he follows me around the house. I am so thankful for his personality.
I can get so much accomplished with him by my side. He has the ability to make his toys come to life!

I’m getting TONS of mileage off the Police Costume!
In town, the City has been repaving some streets requiring the Police to block the road.

Jace asks, “Why is he just standing there?”
“Where is his Police car?”

Now, if you know Jace, he doesn’t just ask the question once. He repeats the question over and over till you give him an answer HE likes.

After seeing multiple Officers standing guard Jace got an idea.

Saturday he dressed up in his uniform and marched outside. I thought nothing of it. Some time later I walked pass the front door and saw him standing near the street.

I waited to see what was going on, but he didn’t move.

I waited....still nothing.

Then it all made sense. He was acting out the Officers blocking the road.

He stood there watching the cars go by for a LONG time.

Looked quite boring to me but he was in the moment.

Friday Night we went to the Movie Theatre. Of Course Jace was wearing his Uniform (I forget it’s a costume. He wears it all the time)
As we were walking back to the car I noticed Jace moved to the side closer to traffic.
Sam was on his side so I assumed he was safe.
The cars kept slowing down when they approached us.
Concerned, I looked to Jace to make sure he was safe. I see him holding out his hand and motioning the cars to stop!
And they were!

He is so bold in this uniform. Take it off and you have a shy boy that stutters!

He tells me when he grows up- first he is going to be a Missionary,
Then a Policer Officer, Then a Fireman, Then a Daddy.

I am getting a little nervous. He keeps asking what will happen if he calls 911. I’m afraid telling him the Police will show up isn’t a good answer.





Word is out about little Officer Hobi. He has been invited to a neighboring town’s Police Station to meet and take part of “Change of Guard.”
Request made that he show up in Uniform.

Last day of School

The day finally arrived. The day I have been looking forward to for quite some time.

Today I flopped out of bed, wishing it was really tomorrow.... the first day of Summer Vacation.

But alas, the Last Day of School had arrived.

As I pulled up to the school Jarom and Jennica surveyed the playground.

“How late are we?” They asked. (They ask that Every morning.)

Today the answer was, “You are 7 min. early!”

Anxiously they waited for me to pull up to the curb so they could jump out.

I overheard Jarom talking to himself as he climbed out of the car, “Last day of school, here I come!” and off he ran.