Governor's Office of Homeland Security field trip

On Thursday, September 18th, we visited the Governor's Office of Homeland Security. First we watched a movie on "Getting A Game Plan" for the family in case of a disaster. Then they explained what GOHSEP was and how it worked...how all the different local, state, and federal agenices work together when a natural disaster occurs. Some of the kids got to act out an example of how different departments/agencies are called when a disaster happens. Finally, they got to see where the governor meets with the heads of the different departments.

Monroe Staycation

Back in August, we went to Monroe to visit Paw.  Since we aren’t going on vacation this year, we decided to do some “touristy” things in the Monroe area.  First, we drove over to Ruston to walk around the Louisiana Tech campus where Daddy went to college.  Then on our way back to Monroe, we stopped at Duck Commander in West Monroe.  Later on in the day we went to the park in Paw’s neighborhood to play a little bit with Elliott before they had to drive back home.

Trinity VBS 2014

The kids attended VBS at Trinity Baptist on Friday, June 13 & Saturday, June 14. They have their VBS over the weekend so the dads can help. I helped Amy in the kitchen where we provided snacks on Friday night and Saturday morning and lunch Saturday.

Greenwood Gator Farm

On Friday, June 6th we visited Greenwood Gator Farm. We saw real live alligators up close and personal at this full time working alligator farm. We saw gators of all sizes, from new hatchlings to full grown monsters! Greenwood Gator Farm houses and hatches 5,000 - 10,000 alligators each year. We took a guided tour of how Louisiana alligators are born and raised and learned about the centuries old art of alligator hunting from real life hunters. We find out how they go from an egg to boots and purses and sauce piquantes! (Mr. Tim buys alligator from Liz on the History Channel show "Swamp People".)

Insectarium Field trip

On Thursday, February 20th we took a field trip to the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium in New Orleans.  I didn’t get as many pictures as I hoped.  I was in charge of this field trip since Amy was not able to attend.  I entered behind our group and most of the kids took off with their friends except for Luke who was diligently trying to do the scavenger hunt.



Luke pointing to the huge grasshopper which is his nickname.

Bug Appétit

Luke was so nervous to eat a bug, but he ended up eating one that was in the salsa. I tried almost everything and Levi enjoyed the chips and salsa.

Grasshoppers in honor of Luke


Some of the cool beetle displays

Maggie's first field trip

Everybody's favorite area - the butterfly garden

Thankful that Daddy got to go with us

As per our tradition after a field trip or play day in New Orleans, we ate at Corky's BBQ in Metarie with friends.

Maggie’s Birth Story

On Monday, January 13th while I was folding laundry in the afternoon I started feeling some strong contractions.  My biggest fear was getting stuck in traffic on O’Neal.  I called my midwife Bethanie who was at the office that day.  I asked her if I could come in to check me to see if I had progressed since my last check-up.  She was only going to be in the office till 4:30 and it was around 3:30 pm.  I took a quick shower, called my mom and neighbor to come watch the kids and headed to the doctor’s office.  I had some pretty strong contractions while I was driving.  When I got there, Bethanie checked me and I had progressed from my previous appointment.  She told me to go ahead and go to the hospital since I was considering getting an epidural this time. 

I don’t know what it was this time, but I was more scared of the pain.  I think in the long run this fear prolonged the labor.  Once they described the epidural process to me, I knew that I didn’t want to go that route.  I knew I would regret it later and would also miss the freedom I have immediately after I deliver like taking a shower and getting up & walking around.  The first couple of hours I progressed a little but I was scared to let them break my water because I didn’t want to deal with the pain.  So I just walked hoping that it would progress more.  Finally, when I was ready for them to break my water the midwife Kathy wouldn’t do it.  I mentioned my fluid level was a little high and the baby was still high up that she was afraid if she broke my water the cord would come out first.  So we had to wait until the doctor came on the next morning.  They suggested I get in the bed to red but I couldn’t get comfortable in the bed. 

So at 7:00 am on 1/14/14, Dr. Huynh did a quick ultrasound to make sure the baby was in the right position and then broke my water.  I sat down in a chair because my feet & legs hurt from basically standing up & walking all night long especially since I had been up for 24 hours.  A new midwife Jan had come on at 7:00 and was massaging my feet when 2 more gushes of water came out.  After this, the pressure was getting worse so I moved to the bathtub.  I asked them to check me to see if I was ready to push, but they just told me to push when I was ready.  I started pushing in the tub but I eventually just stood up in the tub.  At one point, they told me to raise my leg and put it up on the side of the tub.  They kept telling me to push, but I felt like I was pushing all I could and nothing was happening.  This is when I shouted out “I ‘m going to die!”  Poor Levi, he had come to witness this birth and at that point he left the room.  At 8:10 am Maggie Faith was delivered weighing 9 lbs, 14 ounces and measuring 21 inches.  She was my biggest baby, but the funny thing is I didn’t have any stitches with her. 

This was the 1st time we didn’t have another adult with us when she was born so I don’t have a lot of pictures.  Amy came up to the hospital when I first went in and stayed for a good part of the night.  But eventually she had to go home because Rob had come with her. 

Here’s some of the pictures from when we were at the hospital. 

Merry Christmas from the Lindsays!

Greetings family and friends! Here is our annual end-of-the-year rundown.

Craig “Daddy” (41) – He continues to sing with the Parkview Praise Team and Choir and lead WAK (Worship Arts for Kids - Children’s Choir). He got in some more tennis “lessons” with the kids, coached Luke in basketball, Levi in baseball, and Luke & Cameron in flag football. He enjoyed taking the older kids to many sporting events, and taking the girls to the annual Father-Daughter Sweetheart dance. He and PawPaw Rick again played softball for Parkview. Craig also continues his Instrument and Control Systems Engineering work at Jacobs Engineering, where he worked on 3 new projects this year.

Candi “Mommy” (38) – She is busy homeschooling the kids and continues to blog about homeschool and family activities. She also teaches Bible drill at church and assists Craig with WAK. She assists her friend Amy with fieldtrips in their homeschool group Bayou Cajun Homeschoolers. She is expecting our 8th child due in January 2014.

	Luke “Grasshopper” (10½) – He is in 6th grade and continues to excel in math doing Pre-Algebra this year. He continues to love all sports and played basketball, kids-pitch baseball, and football again this year. He continued his piano lessons but took a break from guitar for the fall semester. He participated in the Louisiana Baptist Honor Choir in Pineville in the spring, music camps during the summer, and passed the State Bible Drill again in May.
	Cameron “C-Bob” (9) – He is in 4th grade and just usually tries to finish his school work as quickly as possible. He now enjoys sports almost as much as Luke and played basketball, baseball, and flag football. He continued piano lessons and started guitar lessons in the fall. He also sang his first solos this summer during summer music camps.
	Miriam “Axl” (7½) – She is in 2nd grade and does really well with all her subjects. She continued her piano lessons, started gymnastics through a homeschool class, and participated in summer music camps. She really enjoys spending time with PawPaw & ZeeZee, and going to early church with Daddy.
	Levi “Chicken Man” (6½) – He is in 1st grade and catches on to everything easily. He played coaches-pitch baseball and flag football, and will play basketball for the first time starting in January, with Daddy coaching. He also began piano lessons, participated in summer music camps, and moved up to the big kids choir at church.
	Micah “Slash” (5½) – She is in Kindergarten and doing considerably well, except for handwriting. She tried t-ball in the spring, but it wasn’t really her thing. She participated in summer music camps for the first time. She is taking a homeschool gymnastics class, but doesn’t seem to enjoy it as much as Miriam.
	Cole “The Cole Train” (3) – He is doing some PreK3 workbooks and does hands-on play while we do school work. He wants to be a “big boy” by picking out his own clothes and often picks his “Mettenberger” or “Naked-burger” jersey.
	Melody “TBD” (1½) – Melody celebrated her 1st birthday in February with Miriam with a music themed party. She loves music, dancing, demonstrating football penalties, and has already started babbling some words.

We truly enjoyed visiting with extended family this year; the kids especially loved seeing their cousins Carolyn, Grace, Elliott, Andrew, Trey, Zane, Rowan, Pierce, & Sylvia.

This year we would like to express how blessed we are to have so many beautiful and educational places in the gulf coast for our kids and a large homeschool group to tour for fieldtrips, all of them very reasonably priced or free of charge. Thank you to Amy Shelby for putting everything together for us and all these wonderful families. These were the 2013 fieldtrips:

• Jan - West Baton Rouge Museum
• Feb - Highland Road BREC Park Astronomical Observatory
• Mar - Bluebonnet Swamp
• Apr - Landry-Poche Strawberry Farm, DPW Traffic Engineering, Crawfish Farm (4 families)
• May - Louisiana Regional Airport
• Jun - Baton Rouge Police K-9 Division & Motorcycle Division
• Jul - Barn Hill Preserve, Houston Museum of Natural Science (our family & extended family)
• Aug - Livingston Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)
• Sep - NASA Infinity Science Center & Stennis Space Center
• Oct - Port Hudson Living History Day, Baton Rouge Symphony Discovery Concert
• Nov - Bayou Cajun Homeschoolers 6th Annual Thanksgiving Celebration
• Dec - Audubon State Historic Site Colonial Christmas

Finally, we mourn the loss and celebrate the life of Candi’s Uncle Brian, but we know he is in God’s permanent presence.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year, and please do not forget the reason for it in all the busyness. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17