Saturday, October 25, 2008

Chilly Mornings and Nature


THE FROZEN BEAR PRINTS ON THE PORCH!




A VERY COLD MORNING, HERE IN IDAHO



Hello Everyone,

The mornings are getting quite chilly these days and it will not be long before the snow comes! The other morning I found frozen bear tracks on my front porch where a bear had gotten into the crate of old apples I had there. It had eaten the whole box. It is always such a delight when I see God's creatures, or even just the evidence of them. He created each one distinctly, just like you and I, and God's Word says that "Everything that He had made was very good". I wish I had gotten to actually see this bear. They, and tigers are one of my favorite wild animals, so it would have been such a delight!

The same day that we got pictures of the bear prints, we also saw a beautiful bird on the banister. We love birds, and this one happened to show herself just when we were eating lunch, right outside our big kitchen window. I am obsessed with Birds, too. I don't know a lot about them, but whenever we do see a beautiful one, we look it up. This one was a female Northern Flicker. They are from the woodpecker family. Of course, we didn't get a picture of her, because we didn't have time, but it at times like those, that I love being alive! :) She was gorgeous, and very plump...ready for winter. It has been awhile since I have seen a bird so plumb, and even the Blue Jays (which always stay the winter here), are very fat, too. I just have a feeling we will have a cold winter. Probably not as much snow as last year, but colder. Hopefully, I have enough fire wood! Anyway, I heard from a friend, that he had heard that it would be a record breaking cold year (yikes, if it's true), but didn't hear how much snow was predicted. I always get a Farmers Almanac, as they are almost always accurate. I need to grab one for this year, so I will be a bit more prepared for things.

James is coming home on leave on November 10th through the 20th. We are so very excited to see him! I have so missed my love! And the kids are anxious to just see their Daddy after all this time. It will have been 8 months since he left, when he gets here. He will be back for good in April, which by the time he leaves on the 20th, we will have about 4 months, 18 days, to get through and we will never have to worry about a Korea hardship tour again!

I bought a puzzle for James and I to do when he gets home. We love to snuggle close together and put puzzles together and talk, after the kids have gone to bed...a little tradition we started last year, I guess. I'm sure James will want to take each child on separate little icecream or milkshake trips to town (Abbie loves to have a little date with her Daddy) and I'm sure James and I will do something special, as well, though we haven't figured out what, yet! :) Zane has to whittle a little race car for the AWANA Grand Prix car race coming up. So, they will probably go together to buy the paint and finish, and what ever else they want to get for the car. I'm not sure what he and Sheldon could do yet. Maybe just icecream. He hardly even knows his Daddy but I think he's old enough to understand what it means, to go with his Daddy and do something special. We'll see! :)

I am loving being an AWANA leader! It has been so fulfilling! I thought I would be exhausted but it is actually very energizing! :) I think the kids on my team are really starting to like me, too. James will get to go with all of us to AWANA and see what it's all about! Zane is so excited! :)

The dance classes for Zane didn't go well, and he definitely didn't like it! I didn't mind....I don't want to force him to do something that he doesn't want to do and doesn't like.

Well, I just have a few little piddly things on my to do list for winter. I am excited that I will be able to relax and try to enjoy winter. It is my most hated season, but it will be nice to just hunker down and get cozy! One thing I really need to do, is burn some pictures of Abbie onto a CD so I can get her Birth to 1 year, scrapbook done. Maybe I can get Sheldon's done, as well, before James gets home in the spring. I have a table now, just for scrapbooking that is very child proof. You have to sit on a stool to reach it, so Sheldon can't get up there *yet*. Abbie and I did a page the other day and I really liked the table, and how I set it up!

Well, that's all for now! I hope you are all doing well! Blessings!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Autumn Happenings

THE KIDS AND I, IN DONNELLY, IDAHO
MY IN-LAWS JIM AND SHERRI AND US AMIDST
THE BEAUTIFUL FALL COLORS!


Happy Fall, Ya'll!


Fall is definitely here, for everyone. I don't know about you but I was not looking forward to it, at all. I hate cold weather but I do love the feeling of coziness that is creeping in. I sort of look forward to our yearly snow hibernation! We read tons of books, especially at night, make many trips to the library, go to bed early, and eat lots of richer foods. It would be REALLY nice if I had someone to keep me warm in my bed, at night, but 'til then I will have to settle for my Long Johns.


It froze last night and Hope had a somewhat thin layer of ice on her water trough. She is hanging around the barn area and not grazing much. She is acting paranoid, which she does when the weather changes, and also when we will get snow. I can usually tell by her behavior when a big snow storm is coming. For now, I think it is just the freezing nights that are making her anxious, and hopefully, I do not need to worry about snow. I do think we will have it in late October, or early November, though. We'll see I guess.


I am an AWANA leader now, for the little Sparks (Kindergarten-2nd grade). I am really enjoying it, and will be taking my friend Leeah's, kids to AWANA, since I can pick them up on my way. Conner is 5 and is friends with Zane. Tori is 8 or 9. Abbie is doing really well in Cubbies, and got her Hopper Patch last week. She is opening up to her leader and saying verses without much prompting. She is definitely opening up socially, as well. I use AWANA as part of our daily homeschooling. After we are done with our regular devotional time (Bible reading, prayer, singing, and a children's Bible story) we work on our verses, for the week and practice saying them to each other. I want to *possibly* be a certified AWANA Sparks leader, so I have certain verses I am trying to memorize,as well, for my certification. I admit, I am not as good as my own children at Bible verse memorization, and that has been a VERY weak point in my walk with God, my entire life. I especially forget references, so maybe AWANA will be a good thing for me. I desire SO much that God's Word be hidden in my heart and ingrained so deeply into my head that I can draw from it when needed. Zane loves the games at AWANA, and is very competitive, but a good sportsman, too. Some of the games he doesn't know very well yet (one in particular), so hopefully he can master that and get his team some points! :)


My awesome friend, Anne, called tonight to ask if Zane could be in her dance class. I guess they were short one boy, and Anne was having to dance with a little girl, who had no partner. Of course I jumped at it, so Wednesdays Zane will start learning .....yes, this is hilarious....Ballroom Dancing. They are starting the Waltz on Wed. I love dancing and Ballet, so I am looking forward to just watching it. Plus, what could be cuter than K-3rd graders doing ballroom dancing!? Zane could do any other sport, and I know he could do them well, but we are waiting until we get stationed to put him in Baseball or something else. For now, I think it's cool that he will learn to dance and possibly take an interest in it. I will get pictures of this, because I know it will be cute!


I have been getting sick of recipes calling for bread crumbs and then having to grate a piece of bread for it. I decided to save all my heels from store-bought bread. I do not like the heels from store bread and always throw them out. I do love the heels off my home-made bread, especially hot out of the oven, though. Anyway, for a few months I have been keeping a bread bag in my freezer and throwing all the heels in there, and some other pieces of home-made bread that got dried out. Yesterday, I had a whole bag full of bread and took it out of the freezer to thaw. When it was done, I tore them all into small pieces and ran them through a mini food chopper. It made wonderful bread crumbs, and now I will always have them on hand, and I can season them however I want. It worked really well, and will save time in dinner prep!
Our trip to Donnelly, Idaho went well. This is near McCall (two hours north of Boise) for those of you who don't know. My brother in law was supposed to get married but his fiance' decided to wait/bail out on him for the time being. So, he was left with a reserved, non-refundable beautiful town house on Tamarack resort. My in-laws had non-refundable plane tickets. So we all met at the honeymoon destination for a family reunion instead of honeymoon. It was interesting and Clayton did his best to not be depressed, I think. We went to the Hot Springs in Golden Fork or someplace, which I did not get pictures of. It was totally awesome and I will definitely go again, sometime. There were 6 pools all inlaid with stone. The water poured in from a spring and down over huge rocks. Beautiful! One pool was 108 degrees, and the rest of the pools cooler as they went down. There are all kinds of minerals in the water and it made our skin feel so great....it was the first time that I have ever felt my skin, truly moisturized! AWESOME! The kids loved it. I would love to go with my husband (alone) sometime. :)
My in-laws enjoyed seeing the kids and we all relaxed as best we could. My drive to and from was 6 hours and was very uneventful, which I was thankful and my Suburban did very well. It was our first long trip with it. We bought it in February, and had never taken it on a trip.
Zane is doing ok in Homeschooling. We have come to a sort of math book block right now. We had to stop totally in the book and work on some concepts that he was not getting. He can count to 100 perfectly fine, with a little help on the 30, 40, 50....etc. But when I ask him to show me a certain number or ask him what a certain number is, he cannot tell me. I repeatedly have to keep telling him. The number 20 is especially hard for him. I ask him what number it is, and then tell him....ask him two minutes later and he doesn't know again. Frustrating! And we cannot continue in the book until he knows them. So, who knows how long that will take. I am using flashcards, an Abacus, a hundreds chart, dot cards, etc. I know he will get it, eventually. I have decided to just work on something different, and drop it, because I am getting frustrated, and he is getting burned out. I will try again in a few weeks, and maybe his brain will be ready for it then. We are a little ahead of schedule in his math book, so it won't hurt to stop, but only for two weeks at the most, otherwise, we will be behind. Anyway, all his other subjects are wonderful. His handwriting is gorgeous, and I can almost say "perfect"! :) He does really well in that.
My Bible study is going well. I have learned a lot and it has actually been very painful at times. Faith is never painless! ....and Beth Moore is just so right! She said it might not be fun! It hasn't been but I am hopeful that it will be well worth it!
I am desperately missing my husband right now. We have talked about him coming home for R&R next month, but haven't made a decision yet. It might be worse for our finances than it would be worth, in the long run. I would so love to have him home, though. I would pay a thousand dollars to just see him and hold him for one day, I think! I am almost at the point that I cannot stand it, and I cannot sleep some nights. I think I will get over it, if we decide that he shouldn't come home. We'll see. Today is actually our 6 month point, and we have exactly 6 months left to go, until he is home and we can get on with our lives!... Won't that be nice, after 3 years of hell?
I can't think of much else that is going on, recently, so this will be it, for now! :) Get nice and cozy you guys....winter is coming, especially for us northern folks! Blessings!