Goodbye, Harley! And other thoughts

Saturday morning, Eric and the kids said "good-bye" to Harley for the last time as two different people were interested in adopting him. I was asked to stay around and interview the families to make sure that he would be put in the best family. It was a bit unexpected requirement and one of the families made it downright inconvenient by being 30 minutes late for the appointment. It meant spending an extra hour at Petsmart. It could have been worse. I could have spent an hour at Petsmart with two kids. However, a friend came with us and when I found out I would have to spend an extra half hour there, I asked if he could watch the kids at the nearby Barnes and Noble. I don't know which situation is more dangerous, an Overtoom kid in a bookstore or an Overtoom kid in a pet store with lots of cute dogs and puppies who want to be adopted. At least books are less expensive. We do have a new dog coming soon to keep Jacques companyand you can get his profile here.

We had a beautiful respite from the heat last week. One day, I looked at the thermometer at 9 a.m. and it read 87 deg F, as compared with it being 104 deg F at 10 a.m. today. We went outside and played for about an hour at a nearby park. We could have stayed out longer, but our water was running out and I was getting tired. Just about every afternoon, we see mountainous thunderclouds forming in the south or east. Most of the rain manages to avoid us, emptying itself onto Tuscon or Casa Grande in the south or in the Mogollon rim to the north and north east of us. It still provides spectacular views.

This Friday and Saturday, my husband and I will be sans kids at the Arizona Families for Home Education Homeschool Convention. I usually look forward to conventions because they help give me a bigger picture focus and I LOVE the curriculum sales. My focus, however, has changed over the years. Now I am looking at the "preparing for high school" speakers since my oldest will be in Junior High this year. It is held in July because that is low season for a tourist-focused town. I like having time to talk with Eric. We don't always attend the same classes, but we get to shop together for books (oh joy!) and have lunch together. Some VERY good friends are watching our kids while we are being inspired.

Dust storms and other summer fun

My daughter is asserting her independence through her hair. She has been wanting to get it cut really short and, since a child's hairstyle is not a hill on which I am willing to die, she and I worked together to find a hairstyle that was acceptable, in that it was not actually modeled by a boy in the hair book and it WAS modeled by a girl, not a woman. My husband teased her when we got home by saying that she now looks like Justin Bieber.

Before the dust storm, we had a pillowcase/wii party with a neighboring family. The moms worked together to make pillowcases for an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which you can learn more about by clicking on my link, We Are Blessed to Be a Blessing. The kids played wii while we sewed, which made everyone happy, or relatively happy. I was happy to have someone to share the sewing load and to help me persevere after messing up on a really easy pattern. Altogether, we made 10 pillows that day and my friend sewed 12 pillows on another day. It did confirm that I really dislike sewing in general but enjoy sewing something simple with friends.

For three solid weeks, at least one kid was involved in some kind of camp. Jessi was in the Phoenix Zoo's "FutureVet" program the second week in June. The next week, Elz was in their "Junior Zookeeper" camp and Kyle was taking their "Into the Wild" program. The Zoo's all-day camp lasted from 8 to 3 with a couple of dousings at their Yakula Caverns water play area to stay cool in the heat. All the kids had a chance to meet zookeepers, vets, prepare food and learn more about taking care of animals. I give the zoo high marks for organization and for excellence in content as they stuck to facts of animal care and zoo maintenance without bringing up either theories of origination.

I had a blast with John and whichever child was not attending camp. Kyle also attended Boy scout camp with Eric at R Bar C near Payson, AZ. He played games, learned how to whittle, made a leather pouch, rode a horse (which was NOT the most pleasant experience for him) and other fun and exciting things.

The last week of camping fun involved Summer Bible Camp at Redemption Church in Gilbert, AZ. This year, the theme involved private detectives Justin Case and Natasha Mygarbagetruckfellonitside. They were solving mysteries from Matthew 5:3-12. The large group presentation was AWESOME as were the games and crafts. Jessi, Kyle and John were attending while Elz and I worked on the snack crew. Elz is officially too old for Summer Bible Camp/VBS (sniff, sniff).

The boys took swimming lessons with a neighbor again for two weeks. The Tuesday after our July 4th celebration, she had a little swimming party for all of her students. That ended when Eric pointed out the big black cloud as the reason we needed to go. He (or was I the one?) thought it was a big thunderstorm cloud. The rest of the people weren't fooled. Cries of "dust storm" broke out and within 30 seconds the pool was empty and within another minute, everyone had vacated the property. We had walked to the party and hadn't quite made it home when the storm reached us. It wasn't too horrible to experience, with the exception of getting dust in the eyes and teeth, though pool towels helped limit that. Visibility was reduced to 1/2 a block within seconds of the storm hitting. I think if we had to drive, it would have been worse, though because of the visibility problems. Most dust storms get broken up by Gilbert, way to the south of us, so we knew it had to be pretty big. We didn't realize exactly how BIG it was until the next day, when we watched the news programs and saw videos on youtube. It was big enough to be on Russian news! It did mean cleaning up the house because, in the short time it took to get six humans inside one door and two dogs inside the other, a heck of a lot of dust blew in the house. Also, I had to clean the back porch the next day so that when we came in from swimming, we would track muddy footprints on the newly cleaned floor. I also cleaned the front porch and had Elz clean the pool deck. The blacktop was brown. Everything, in fact was brown.

July is half over at this point. The Overtooms have a camping trip in the near future and attendence of the Arizona Christian Home Educators conference in the nearer future. The kids and I might also spend a week with my Grandma C in a cabin up in Pinetop, AZ, high enough to escape the heat, which waned a little this week with more storms passing through the area. And, of course, swimming is almost a daily activity, even though the water is not much cooler than bathwater.

Introducing the Newest Member of our Family

The fish died. One of my children won the fish at a Trinity Community Church (when it was known as Vineyard Community Church) Harvest Party coin toss game. Those fish usually last a few days before dying because they are the cheap goldfish used as food for bigger fish. I probably bagged that fish, too, because that year I helped put fish in bags as part of the set up. It outlived many of the $5 golfish that we bought to keep it company. It survived roughly seven years and a cross country move in a big ice cream bucket. But its time was up.

For a while, I have been thinking that our dog, Jacques, needed a doggy friend. He can spot a dog from a far off distance and wants to smell each and every dog. I have to keep him on a tight leash when I see a dog to make sure that he doesn't lunge at them. And there are a lot of dogs in our neighborhood, sadly to say, that don't welcome him. However, true to form, our kids have failed to keep the agreements they made to feed and care for Jacques, mainly in the area of poop pick up. Eric and I have gone back and forth on whether to get another

dog. One morning as I was walking Jacques, I ran into a lady in the neighborhood that I hadn't seen in a while. We started talking about Jacques and the question of whether to get another dog and she mentioned the AZ Poodle rescue group that only takes in Poodles, poodle mixes, bichons and other non-shedding dogs. We would have to feed the dog and love it and take it to any vet appointments necessary, as well as take it to a PetSmart every Saturday. They would pay vet bills. We filled out an application, showed up a Petsmart and received Harley.

Harley is a fairly active dog. He is either a coton de tulear or a maltipoo.

Two ladies in the organization have a difference of opinion on the exact breed. He and Jacques like to play together, mostly in the morning. He LOVES his walks in the early morning

and evening (I wait until the temperature drops below 100 to take him for a walk, which usually

happens about 30 minutes or so after the sun has set). He is a bit mischevious and doesn't know how to beg at the door. This means that we need to let him out every couple of hours. He is quick an

d likes to dart, which means I trip over him many times a day. When we first brought him to our home his hair was badly matted, which is why he is wearin

g a shirt in this picture. The hair on his legs had overgrown his paw, which made him look a little like a Who from the The Grinch Who Stole Christmas fame. He loves to scavenge for food and will pull things out of my purse, jump on the kitchen table if a chair is left away from the table. Or jump up on our leg while we are eating. He loves playing with toys and anything can be a toy--a t-shirt left on the floor or any stuffed animal. He will drop for belly rub with the slightest interest shown to him. This makes putting a leash on him a bit of a challenge. Unfortunately, he has picked up Jacques' bad habit of barking when guys enter a room that I am in. As a result, we are trying to extinguish that behavior in both of them with the help of a squirt gun.

Jaques, I think, likes him and is jealous of him. They like to play together, whether it is chase or tug-of-war with a play toy. He also has been appreciating the extra food available, though he gets yelled at if we catch him eating Harley's food. The biggest problem comes when we give the dogs treats after walks. Jacques tries to steal Harley's treat after he has already been given his treat and he is not being as careful in getting his own treat lately. My solution to that will be to make him lay and put the treat on the ground so my fingers don't get nipped. I will probably have someone hold Harley to pull that off.

We have had Harley for two weeks now and a couple of people have shown interest, but no adoption looms. I am hoping that in the next week, someone who wants a medium-to-high energy dog to adopt him because our kids are becoming very attached to Harley. Parting with him will be difficult, even for me. But I keep telling our kids that most of the dogs that we bring in will be here with us temporarily and that we need to show them love and affection while they are with us and be able to let them go, knowing that they are going to a good family.

Relative Month--Part II

Part II has been delayed numerous times over the past month as I have been losing a wrestling match with Google's Blogger to publish other movies that I made from pictures using Google's Picassa program. Theoretically, it shouldn't be a problem since the same company had developed the both software packages that I am using, but it is reality that is currently winning the battle. Each time Blogger shut down after I spent a considerable time writing and trying to add movies, I have walked away in disgust for several days, maybe even a week. So I am giving up on the movie idea and sticking to prose for a while.

Five days after Nana and Poppa left with the cousins, Eric's sister, Michelle and her husband, David arrived. We had a great time hanging out, mostly at ball games. We did hike up the Treasure Loop trail at Lost Dutchman State Park the day after their arrival. Because a "cool front" came in, bringing temperatures down in the 80's, we didn't have to make sure to leave too early. During the drive, Elizabeth, Kyle and John, took turns developing a creature that became bigger and more deadly with each mile. I think they would have continued throughout the trail if I hadn't asked them to pick a different topic. The trail isn't as interesting as the Wind Cave Trail at Usury Mountain, but the Superstition Mountains, edging the trail are beautiful rock formations which you can see here. We hung out in the pool for a bit in the afternoon before getting ready for the highlight of their visit, watching the the Twins play the Diamondbacks. We took the light rail to the stadium. For the first time, I realized how unscenic the ride was as we passed about six strip clubs scattered throughout an industrial complex. It was a great game if you were a Diamondbacks fan. Unfortunately, the Twins fans accompanying us (Michelle and David) and surrounding us were not happy with the outcome. I did see someone with an "Alex, Minnesota" sign. During the game, I received a message that Kyle's baseball team, playing in a championship tournament game that evening won their game. Yay! The next game in the tournament was at 8 a.m the next morning. Boo! We stayed for the end of the game and watched the fireworks in the street while waiting for the light rail to arrive. The kids, especially John, who hasn't seen as many fireworks, were transfixed. We arrived home at 11 p.m.

The next morning started waaaaay too early. Eric and Kyle left earlier because the team had practice. Michelle and David were able to see Kyle play and see his team come from behind to win the game. We celebrated by eating at In-and-Out, where Michelle and David had the grilled onions (sorry KT!) and then headed back to home to nap, talk, and swim. I also had some great bonding time with Michelle at my favorite yarn shop, The Fiber Factory. I made Mojitos for pool time, Eric grilled and we all waited to see if Jesus would show up, since that was the day that someone predicted that he would return. As we expected*, Jesus was a "no show."

Sunday morning, bright and early, Michelle and David returned to Minnesota. It was really great to spend an extended time with them. We hadn't had much opportunity to really get to know David before he married Michelle last July. Happy 1st Anniversary to you both!

On a completely different note, I have returned to Facebook, but will be limiting my Facebook friends to family only, just to keep down my viewing time.

* Matthew 24:42-44 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3

A Relative Month--Part 1

May was almost equally divided between school and having fun with relatives. I just have to repeat what I said in an earlier post: I have the best in-laws! For three days, I had my lovely, talented, and wonderful SIL KT. I will let her tell her the details of her visit in Glorious Vacation, GV2, and GV3. She brought two of her four kids for cousin fun. On day two of her visit, Poppa Jim and Kathy arrived for week 2 of their vacation which involved seeing Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. I think it is almost a requirement that when you visit us, you need to visit the Grand Canyon. (Hear that KT?) Then KT left to return to the chilly north, leaving her kids for us to enjoy. Nana, Poppa and my niece and nephew stayed for a five more days.

I am so amazed at how creative these kids were. The girls found a site that showed you how to re-fashion old t-shirts into new outfits. They spent a night with a bag of "rag" clothes that I gave my daughters for their creative endevors and made some amazing things. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of that because Eric and I were out. This inspired the boys to have a fashion show, too, which I did immortalize in pictures:

A lot of fun involved swimming and playing games. Banagrams is currently the most popular. Think of it as Speed Scrabble without the board where the winner is the one who uses the last tile first. The kids were great at playing together. My oldest son and nephew really developed their friendship. Nana and Poppa were able to watch Kyle play baseball while I ferried the girls to church activities one night. I was able to spend some quality time with my niece and oldest daughter. Another highlight was taking Poppa and the boys on a hike of Wind Cave Trail at Usury Mountain State Park. The trail takes you near the top of Pass Mountain. I have done the hike at least a half a dozen times. Last time Nana and Poppa visited, they brough my niece with them and I arranged a girl's hike up the mountain. It was great to spend time with the boys, too. The weather while they were visiting was beautiful.

I have some more videos that I created from the few pictures I took. However, I have had some problems loading more than one video for some reason (or Blogger is not behaving itself). So the next post will be mainly pictures of the Wind Cave Trail hike.

Happy Birthday, to my wonderful husband

Is the house glowing from all the candles representing each year of my husband's life? No! The glow comes from his wonderful smile.

I won't say exactly how many years my husband has been alive. We have been married for over a decade. He is younger than me by 11 months. On his birthday when we were engaged, he would tell everyone "I'm thirty and she is thirty too." His humor tends to be punny. It has earned him the endearment "goofball." He is God's answer to my prayer to introduce me to a godly man. Though he isn't perfect, he is perfectly wonderful!

Happy Birthday Eric! I love you!

Oh yeah! The Boy can Play!

This year, Kyle joined Little League Baseball where the ball is thrown by a catapult-like machine. His team has done great, finishing second place overall in the league. He is currently in the 7-8 year old bracket, which is about the time you see them start to be able to actually catch and throw the ball. He just started playing last spring. Kyle is a great batter, rarely striking out. He is also a fast runner, thanks at least partly due to his oldest sister, Elizabeth and his competitive spirit. Ever since he was big enough to run, he has been trying to beat her in races. Of course, because she has always had longer legs, she only loses if I 'rig' the race. Until he started racing against kids his own age, I am sure he was frustrated at how slow he was in spite of my attempts to explain that longer legs give a person an advantage in running.


At the beginning of the season, the games usually involved more offense than defense, with the kids still trying to figure out where to throw the ball and how to throw the ball and how to catch the ball. In fact, on our team, some of the kids figured it was safer trying to outrun the runner to the base rather than risk the other kid dropping the ball. Sometime around the beginning of May, however, the practices and games paid off as the baseball instinct kicked in and you could see kids taking their time before throwing the ball to a base to make sure that it actually would be catchable and know that they could still be able to get the runner out. We have seen kids on all teams make awesome catches of fly balls, and awesome throws to a baseman to get a runner out. We have also witnessed some absolutely crazy plays, like the time one of our kids scored a run by running from third base when the ball was barely nicked into play and the catcher was holding the ball a foot from home plate as he ran behind her. That "miracle run" created momentum in last Saturday's game for us to be able to come from behind to win against the team who entered the tournament in first place, and, like us, lost their opening tournament game.


Last night, we witnessed a wonderful (for us), if not miraculous, come-from-behind victory. It was the last game before the championship game. We had lost the first round of a double elimination tournament because our bats went cold and our defense was a little on the sloppy side. This game, the third since our last loss, started out okay. It was pretty obvious, however, that the team we were playing was incredibly savvy at base running. In one inning, they had a guy on second base stay when the ball was hit to the third baseman and then run to third after the third baseman threw it to first to get the runner out. The first baseman made a beautiful catch, his feet just barely touching home plate, his arm and body stretched out as far as they could to catch the ball right before the runner's feet touched the base. There were a couple of other plays in favor of the other team during the game that seemed to be questionable, but the Little League commissioner was there and, of course, if he didn't object, we shouldn't either. The kids were getting frustrated and starting to miss plays. Our coaches who are really great at being laid back or even joking to break up any tension from a bad play or strike out, just kept encouraging the kids to play their best and not worry about being down. At the bottom of the third inning, as our team came up to bat, the other team was winning 14 to 3.


Most of the parents on our team were shouting encouraging things to our kids but secretly, most of them were thinking, like me, that it had been a good season and that finishing third was very respectable. Somehow, in spite of racking up two outs with no one on a base, we managed to get six runs, bringing the score to 14 to 9. The fourth inning passed with the score 16 to 15. Once again, we had scored six runs with two outs. We were really close to the time limit for ending the game. If it had taken a minute longer to end the inning, the game would have ended and we would have lost. However, we had one more minute and our team took advantage of the rule. The other team tried to protest, but the commissioner upheld the ruling and told them to get ready to bat. So far, neither team had been able to consistently make defensive plays to prevent the other team from racking up points. However, we managed to get the first batter out with a beautiful throw by the pitcher to first base. They put two or three runners on the base. The next batter hit a line drive that our short stop caught in mid-air. After taking a second or two to realize that he did indeed have it, he ran to second base to get the third out. No runs had been scored in the inning. All we had to do was make two runs to win the game.

At this point, all the parents on our team were beside themselves with renewed hope, jangled nerves, and a rush of adrenaline. I couldn't sit still. I had brought knitting with me, like I did almost every game because it helps me stay calm, but my hands were shaking too much to be able to knit. I suddenly realized that this was probably exactly how Eric felt each time the nurses told him that our baby was ready to exit the birth canal. He would get so excited and agitated that they would make him sit down for fear of him fainting with excitement. The first batter managed to get on base. The second hitter struck out. Kyle was next. As he was waiting for the first pitch, Eric called out, "Hit it and then run as if Elizabeth was trying to catch you." He hit the ball to first base and ran as fast as he could, even though he would most likely get an out. However, the first baseman bobbled the ball, causing it to bounce off the outfielder's glove and roll close to the fence. Kyle made it to first with no problem and then, because the fielder still had not gained control over the ball near the fence at first, ran to second base. Someone in on the opposing team threw it wildly, causing the ball to go over the third baseman's head, which allowed Kyle to advance to third automatically (one of the league rules). The runner on second had already scored and we had tied the game. The next batter hit a beautiful, uncaught line drive into the outfield, bringing Kyle home for the game-winning run. The parents were on their feet, jumping up and down, laughing and crying. The kids on the bench and on the bases were at first confused when their coaches told them to stop playing until they explained that they had just won the game. Then their excitement and joy matched that of their parents. So tonight, we get to go the the same ballfield, at the same time as last night and play the team that beat us in the first game of the championship series. If we win tomorrow night, we have to play them one more time on Wednesday night to be able to claim the championship. If we lose tomorrow, we will still be number two and the other team, who started out the championship series in last place, will be first.


I am so proud of how all the boys, especially my son, have grown in confidence, skills, and grace as the season has progressed. I have learned a lot from the coaches about how to stay cool and graceful under pressure. They rarely pester the kids, like some of the other coaches and when a kid makes a mistake, they gently give guidance, sometimes making it humorous, to help the kid learn from their mistake. Whatever happens tonight or even possibly, Wednesday night, everyone on our team can walk away proud of what they have accomplished.