New One on Us

You know, we do surveys by e-mail, we do surveys on MySpace...why not post a survey to our blog?

Andrea's Answers to Survey from The Hogue Chronicle.

1. If your doctor told you TODAY that you were pregnant, what would you say?
Miracle of Miracles!! Sam has had a vasectomy, but if divine intervention occurs, we'd be pleased as punch.

2. When was the last time you flew in a plane?
I think I might not have remembered the last time simply because it was sad. I flew to Pittsburgh, PA for my cousin's funeral in 2005. Oddly, I don't remember the flight at all, in either direction. I know that I flew because I remember the guilt over not having enough money to buy my own ticket (thanks, Mom!), but I don't remember being on the plane at all. Too many other things in my head, I suppose. Oddly, that was also the first time I'd ever flown with a parent along.

3. What did the last text message you sent say?
I don’t text message.

4. What features do you find most attractive in the preferred sex?
I look at smiles, then eyes, then upper torso. I find high intelligence most attractive.

5. What is a goal you would like to accomplish in the near future?
Bringing my health and finances under control.

6. Shoe size?
10-11 depending on brand and fit

7. Been to Mexico?
Nopes.

8. When is the last time you had a massage?
Sometime in the last six months, Sam gave me one.

9. What was the last TV show you watched?
Sam and I just finished watching Heroes Ssn 1 on DVD.

10. What are your plans for the weekend?
I'm not sure, I tend not to plan that far in advance.

11. If your significant other asked you to marry them TODAY what would you say?
Where are we going to get the money for a wedding (we're already legally married-9 years as of yesterday)?

12. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
Um, some random junk and the back seat

13. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
Instead of sleeping this am, I was at church. It was a special occasion.

14. If you could marry any celebrity today who would it be?
So assuming I'm available for marriage and we're interested in one another...Gerard Butler.

15. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Um, I did go into one once because the owner also owned some apartments I was looking to rent one of. I had to go in to meet him. I decided not to rent, because the only apartment available was right above the club.

16. What is the best ice cream flavor?
Ben & Jerry’s Everything But The...

17. What is the last sporting event you watched?
The 2006 Super Bowl

18. Ever go camping?
Yes! But it has been forever. I went to camp (with cabins) when I was 11/12. I haven't been camping in a tent since my parents were together.

19. Last phone call?
A Friend calling to offer me more free stuff.

20. Are you allergic to anything?
Um, sulfa, lactose, and cedar or something of the nature (seasonal).

21. What is one thing you have learned about life recently?
That unschooling can be a truly workable method of leading children in learning, even my kids.

22. What do you do at work?
At the mo, I spend much time keeping and caring for a family.

23. What is your mom’s name?
Linda

24. Ever cried for no reason?
I don't think I can technically say "no reason." Even when I had tears pouring down my face without accompanying emotion back in 1997, I later realized that I had a nervous breakdown (I had been working 18-22 hour days for 2 1/2 months). My body just couldn't handle any more, so I stood at work (both jobs that day), with tears streaming down my cheeks even though I was doing my job. That's a reason, even if it's not necessarily an emotional one.

25. Can you do the Crank Dat dance?
Never heard of it

26. What is your favorite color to wear?
Blue

27. What is the longest plane ride you have ever been on?
The only plane rides I've ever been on have all been pretty much the same, between Portland, OR and San Antonio, TX (with one trip originating in Austin, TX instead). They were all mostly for custody. Then, I'm reminded that I've also flown from San Antonio, TX to Pittsburgh, PA. I'm not sure which is longer, though.

28. What is the longest road trip you have ever taken?
Ooh, last year, we took a 3 week road trip. We drove from Austin, to TN, to MI, to PA, to MA, to NH, to MD, to TX (home).

29. What are your turn-offs?
Not sure right now.

30. What was your last alcoholic beverage?
Um, I think I had a glass of wine with dinner sometime last year.

31. What are you craving right now?
I just ate a honey bbq chicken sandwich I had been craving.


Bloggers: Copy and paste, answer the questions, and send as a link to this post under comments. Have fun!

New Directions

At some point in everyone's life (many points for most people), one feels their whole life taking on a different direction. Here in the Dharma Family, we feel the change coming. We've made many changes and hope to make many more in 2008.

Let us tell you about some of the things we've changed and some of what's coming...

• We mentioned back in November that we now speak to Sam's oldest son fairly regularly. We were on an every other month pattern last year, but we started out this year well by speaking to him both in December and January.
• We have, as a family, decided to wholeheartedly embrace unschooling. We've done a lot of research and realized that so long as each of us has a deep internal desire for personal betterment, this will be successful. We've also realized that if we don't have that deep internal desire, that no amount of school or workbooks at home will change that.
• We still want to open up our own store. We've had to put the idea on the backburner with the housing slump because lenders all over are more hesitant to give out their money. This leads us to:
• We've created a budget. We bought this great book called America's Cheapest Family and we've actually created a workable budget. We've already begun applying some of their money saving principles and plan to start our budget in February. Already though, we've found more money in our pockets just by applying some of their money saving principles.
• We're also changing the children's allowance system to a work and get paid system that is a modified version of the one found in America's Cheapest Family. We are all excited about it.
• We plan to move this year, because we're not happy with where we live now. We're still very unsure about where we're moving to, we'll update you when the time comes.
• Since embracing unschooling, even Sam and Andrea have rekindled their individual desires to learn and so learning is constanly happening around here.
• We're embracing our sister-in-law's desire to unclutter her house. We plan to spend 2008 decluttering our living space.
• Andrea is finally taking charge of her health and saw a doctor today to discuss her lack of weight loss and constant fatigue, among other things. She goes in for lab tests tomorrow.

Well, that's about all of the changes. The last thing that we'll be changing is that we're going to make more of an effort to keep our online followers updated. We belong to an unschooling listserv where everyone has been posting their days and we plan to do something similar here.

That's all for now folks!

Lots of love,

The Dharma Family

Isaac...wonderful Isaac...

This is an update about our friend Isaac Lehr who has been mentioned in previous posts. This update was written by our friends the BareNakedFamily.

This morning as we were standing in line for security check in to fly to Santa Rosa we got the call that Isaac has passed away this morning. We are sitting here in the airport waiting to board our flight and surrounded by the love of Isaac. Even in a busy place like this the love that is God and is Isaac is surrounding us right now. We can't help but listen to the music that is playing right now and see his crazy big grin shining down on us. Isaac has left this world knowing his place with God and completly at peace. It is so comforting to know that he has smiled and been courageous all this time.

I know that he loves everyone of ya'll who have been keeping up and sending amazing love, support, and prayers to him and his Family. It's so awesome that we get to take the love of all of ya'll out there with us today.

Today, we honor the man, father, husband, and friend that Isaac Lehr has been and will continue to be. There ain't no one else like him in the world.Isaac, thank you. You are loved. You are missed. You are celebrated. You are wonderful my friend. Thank you for allowing me to smile this morning. We will always remember 'Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona' together.

barenaked love,
Greg, Jenn, Austin, Kesley, Sunny

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanskgiving is on our doorstep yet again.

Last year, we had much to be grateful for. We gained 3 children, brought them all home full-time, bought new furniture, so everyone had a bed and we had a real couch and dining table with chairs. Those were a big deal for us, because we've always had mattresses on the floor and inherited couches/tables or purchased at Goodwill. We were so grateful last year, we couldn't imagine being any more grateful.

Well, this year we've gone and outdone ourselves. We still have 3 beautiful children, whom we get to watch grow into beautiful adults on a daily basis. We've finally found a good child center that is providing our entire family with the therapy we need to move on in our lives. We get to talk to our missing 4th child on occasion and hear directly from him how he's doing in school, how much he misses us and loves us. This year, we got to take a family vacation and travel a significant portion of the Northeast of this country.

It's funny when we talk to people about our roadtrip. We were out for three weeks visiting family and seeing the U.S. When we mention it to other parents and/or people who know our children and the troubles they've had, we get asked, "How did the kids do on the trip, being on the road for so long?" I always respond with a quizzical look and, "They did just fine." Honestly, I didn't expect any different from them. Folks are amazed when the children report that they loved the trip and had no problems sitting in the car for long periods of time.

This was a far cry from our roadtrip from Oregon to Texas with the kids, though. That's what we're thankful for this year. Through our many blessings, our children's loving spirits, and of course, some even handed love from Mom and Dad, our children have already come such a long way, that even if their spiritual/emotional growth stunted today, they would be decent adults.

This year, we find ourselves giving less thanks for material things and more for love and for family. Each member of our family has their health and only one friend doesn't. We've told you about him before, his name is Isaac. Click on his name to refresh your memory about who he is and how you can help him and his family have a truly blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Even if you can't help monetarily, please pray for them.

So with love to all of our friends and family, Happy Thanksgiving!

Dharma Family

Nearly another month has passed...

In all fairness, we've been really busy this month. Halloween was a couple of days after we last posted and we went trick-or-treating with our friends, the Surettes.

After Halloween, we began gearing up for Karma's birthday. That was one wild ride! We ended up celebrating her birthday for a week. It started on the 7th when we went to Red Robin for her free birthday burger and sundae. Afterward, we rented a movie and got a beautiful cake (pics to come) and some ice cream. On Friday, we went to Austin's Park and Pizza with the Surettes. That was tons of fun. We went mini-golfing, go-cart riding, bumper boat bumping, laser tagging, and we played for hours in their arcade and enjoyed an all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, and salad buffet. We also took raspberry cheesecake bars for everyone's enjoyment.

On Saturday, Mom went to work and everyone stayed home and rested from the previous two days. Then Sunday, we rented another couple of movies and finished off the birthday cake. On Monday, Mom went to work while everyone rested again. Then on Tuesday, which was Karma's actual birthday, she opened her presents and we had pizza for lunch. Then Mom went to work and came home early, so we rented another movie and got another birthday cake. On Thursday, we went down to San Antonio and walked around River Center Mall before going to Grandma's new house which has a hot tub and a pool!! Sadly, it was way too cold to take a dip and we didn't have our suits with us. We had pizza with Grandma and Aunt Peggy though and Karma got some books she'd really been wanting for her birthday. All in all, Karma said it was her "Best Birthday Ever!!!"

So, here we are now on Friday and we ran some errands, went to an appointment, had dinner at Chili's on a gift card we won, then came home and played Monopoly. Overall, it's been a hectic but joyous last couple of weeks.

We're very excited about the upcoming week as well. We should be talking to Shane tomorrow and possibly seeing the Surettes. Also, Thanksgiving is coming up, which we'll be going to Grandma's for. We're hoping the weather warms up so we can take a swim while we're down there (not likely, but we can hope, can't we?). On Friday, is a special picnic with the homeschooling soccer folks that we plan to attend. At this picnic, we'll being seeing the BareNakedFamily, who have been in New Mexico for the last several months. We've missed them tons and can't wait to see them again.

Our love to all of our friends and family who read this. We hope you have a great and blessed Thanksgiving.

Wow, where have we been?

Geeze, another month has passed and you haven't heard hide nor hair from us.

Well, Andrea has been working (as previously mentioned) and since she does most of the typing in the house, that makes for fewer posts. :)

We've done a few things in the last month. Andrea's best friend, Stephanie did indeed move out into her own, spacious 1 bedroom apartment. Her puppy, Koopa now gleefully runs throughout all the space that is hers. Our house seems a little empty with Steph gone, but we're dealing. We plan to put to use the bedroom that she vacated, that'll happen...sometime.

Andrea has been hating her job for the most part, though it got a little better last week when she talked to one of the higher-ups and found out that they hate the place as much as she does and are working to make it better. The only question that remains is, "Can they make it better before it sinks?"

The other thing about the job, even if it becomes the best place to work ever, Andrea will still be away from everyone else for 45 or more hours per week. That part sucks. Is there enough money to ever really make that worth it?

Everyone else is pretty much same, same. It's an adjustment for everyone to have Andrea gone so many hours and everyone's been dealing with that in their own way. Mostly, they've been spending a lot of time together, which is good.

Karma has a "boyfriend" now. I say "boyfriend" because she's 13 and he's 15, not a whole lot of "boyfriendly" stuff going on there. One really good thing about that though is that our family gets along really well with his family. We spent his birthday hanging out together, where he mostly talked to Sam and tried to not ignore Karma. He didn't do so well on the trying part. But that's okay, that's why he's her "boyfriend."

Let's see, over the past month, we've been to a Social Club dance, been to Alex's (Karma's boyfriend) birthday party, been to a tour of the Austin Museum of Art, and been to the first ever Austin Green City Festival. At the latter was where we spent the day with Alex's family.

Caedmon is starting structured homeschooling again. We're not sure he'll ever be able to really unschool. We're going to try to leave him with the ability to explore and find knowledge on his own, but because of his past, he may never be able to "break free of the system."

Aurora has asked for more structure in her unschooling. She's always kind of liked some structure but we also think this is because of what she's been through. Being jerked back and forth in custody is a little unstable and makes it difficult to be a structured person. We have confidence though, that she'll eventually be able to structure herself.

Karma is just as unstructured as ever, but that works for Karma. That is her structure. She actively seeks knowledge wherever she can find it and she's better for it. We're contemplating giving her some structure in some specific areas, or at least giving her some tools to accomplish certain kinds of learning, in Grammar, for example. :)

Sam and Karma have acquired Guild Wars Nightfall which Sam plays constantly (or pretty constantly) because that's what Sam does. On the bright side, Karma's Alex also has the game, so they stay up late online together some nights, playing in game with Sam.

Ah yes, Karma's birthday is coming up. We're working on sorting out what to do for her birthday. Mom has some ideas, but Karma is reading the screen, so we won't post them here. :)

All the kitties are mostly the same. One very positive thing to note is that Axl has started gaining weight and getting bigger, ever since we had him dewormed for tapeworms specifically. When he was treated before, he was too little for tapeworm dewormer, so it was never done. Also, on positive notes, Cyrano seems to be getting sick less. He still really needs to see the vet, but it's kinda like the car, we know the estimate for repair is going to be high, so we hesitate taking him/it in for a check-up.

That's about it for now.

To close, we'd like to give a shout-out to our BareNaked friends, who will be coming home to Austin next week. Hi guys! We miss you lots and are sorry we haven't taken the time to respond on MySpace. We can't wait to see you and think it would be great if we could throw you a coming home party...

Lots of love,

The Dharma Family6

Some changes

We're going through some changes on the Dharma front. Andrea has started a new job, which has her out of the house 45 hours per week, again. We'll see how that goes.

Andrea's best friend, who has been staying with us since her separation is going to be moving into her own place next week. This will be a relief for all involved as this little house is just not made to hold 3 adults, 3 kids, 6 cats, and 1 dog.

The kids have begun unschooling. We're testing the waters with all three kids. The premise of unschooling is that children have an inherent desire to learn and so will seek out knowledge when left to their own devices. So far, only Karma is really seeking out knowledge, though Aurora spends time reading and doing math as well. It's recommended that kids take a little vacation and are given time to rediscover their inherent desire to learn. That's where we're at right now. Also, Sam and Andrea are hoping to model good learning to the kids through their own pursuit of knowledge, which fortunately happens quite frequently.

We'll keep you posted.