Latest installment

Here's a bulk e-mail Rebecca sent out recently. As usual, it's full of her wonderful sense of humor.

Hello everyone! It's great to talk to you! Steve left town this morning on a business trip, so now I CAN SAY WHATEVER I WANT. Ha ha! We have enjoyed hearing from some of you recently and I thought I'd send out a little note.

You have all probably heard, we made it safely to Texas. What a fun trip we had. I was surprised at the beauty of the southern states--Louisiana, Mississippi, etc. What a beautiful country we have!

Everyone warned us about the heat and humidity in Texas. They also warned us about fire ants. The heat and humidity haven't been too bad--it never got above 100 all summer. Plus we have a beautiful pool three blocks away. And so far the only family member adversely affected by the fire ants has been Baby John, who discovered that eating several pieces of watermelon while standing on a fire ant nest isn't such a wise plan. What surprised us (well, the kids and I anyway) was the COCKROACHES. Everything IS bigger in Texas!

We didn't know where we were going to live when we got here, but three days later they offered us a house on base. We love it. It was built in the 30s. We have about 2500 square feet, four bedrooms (three very large), and three baths. Our dining room is huge. We also have wood floors throughout the house. Our neighbors are very nice, the streets are quiet, and we are less than a mile from our groceries, gas, health clinic, and Steve's job. The good news is he comes home earlier and leaves later! The bad news is, he comes home for lunch almost every day....and while we love to see him of course, he doesn't care much for our lunches. Here is an example:

Steve: Hi, I'm home for lunch!
Me: (holding a screaming toddler and telling the 3rd grader to finish her math): Great! Today we have a choice of macaroni and cheese with the kids, or a chef salad with mom!
Steve: Um...did we get any mail?
Me: (after telling the 4-year-old to stop pounding on the piano): Just ads. It's in the hall. What would you like to eat?
Steve: Uh....I think I'll just make a peanut butter sandwich.

Now, on to more news. Steve's new job was a little difficult at first, because no one has every done it before. But after a few weeks, he figured it out, and now he's really enjoying it. He will get to travel a lot with this job, visiting different Air Force bases within in a 8 hour drive and checking up on their Environmental programs. This week he is in Montgomery, Alabama, doing an Environmental Review and watching cable in the evening. I will expect a full report on the the damage caused by hurricane Ivan and the McCain-Palin campaign upon his return. He will also be gone most of next week, doing a driving tour of north Texas and Oklahoma.

The kids are all doing well. Lauren recently got her fourth cavity filled. She thinks getting cavities filled is "fun." Looks like I shouldn't have taken her out for a milkshake afterwards to make her brave. Bad parenting technique--learn from my mistakes. Amy and Lauren got their hair cut short again yesterday, they were trying to grow it out, but mommy got tired of girls sneaking into the van with rat's nest in the back of their hair. They will have to wait until they are older for long hair, but it looks really cute. David is enjoying scouts and loved his first scout camp this year. Carolyn is growing up so fast, she is 5'3" (she and David look like twins). Baby John has made it all the way through ONE sacrament meeting in the last month so he's doing well. He is finally learning to talk and that has cut down on the screaming fits. His favorite phrase? "No, that's John's!" He also no longer screams bloody murder when we strap him into a shopping cart in a store--a delightful part of his personality the last 12 months. Now, there's progress! All three big kids started piano up again this week. Our new teacher is a member of our stake, is a mother of seven, and homeschools! I am excited and I hope the kids will make real progress.

At church, we are really enjoying our new ward. The ward is really small and seemed glad to see us. David is one of five young men. The Primary has about 35 kids, and they are all nice and super reverent--all except Bryan, the intrepid sunbeam. Steve is serving as scout master, which makes him wish he had bought a new, shiny Toyota Tundra, instead of the Camry he recently acquired; and I am serving in the Primary presidency.

Here's our big news! If you haven't heard, we have a surprise coming next April! For the uniniated of newsletters from our family, that means we're having another baby. We hope and pray all will go well. We had another miscarriage this last June. The good news this time is that I feel really terrible! That's also the bad news. I have discovered that wood floors look about the same (after 24 hours) whether you mop them every week or every four weeks. We're not sure how we will all survive the next month or two, but survive we must. Whew!

One more thing--yes, we are still homeschooling! I had another moment of indecision when we discovered the schools on base are not only small but some of the best in the area. But we continue to press on. And honestly, it really is fun. If only I didn't have to do laundry... This year I have five "schooling," as Bryan is reading now and was ready for kindergarten work. So I am managing three levels of history, literature, geography, language arts and science, five levels of math, and various extras--singing, art projects, second language, typing, piano practice. But the kids are great, they seem to love their school work and do it without complaint. And the older kids have really grown up, they take care of a lot of things by themselves. I just have to check it. I just wish I had trained them better how to clean the house before I started feeling so terrible...

Hopefully we'll send another installment soon!

Love to all
The Loertschers
67 Outer Octagon
Universal City, TX 78148
(210) 688-4766