It's Fall!

MY BEAUTIFUL HORSE
20 1/2 YEARS OLD HERE

MY HUSBAND AND JACKSON AT
THE UNIT FORMAL

THE KIDDOS ON HOPE
FRIEND SARAH, ABBIE, SHELDON
AND ZANE THROWING GRASS! :)
HOPE IS SO SWEET TO THEM!

FRIEND SARAH, ABBIE AND SHELDON

JAMES AND RACHELLE AT THE 2009 FORMAL

BEFORE THE FORMAL, LOOKING SASSY!

"I DON'T WANNA DO SCHOOL"....LOL!






~IT'S FALL ~

Holy Cow, September went by so fast that I barely remember what happened this month! I figure it's school that is making it go by so fast! :)

I feel so bad that I haven't been able to blog but once a month, but I just haven't felt the desire to pour out my heart online much these days. Mostly, that is because my husband is home now and I can pour out my heart to him when I need to! :) Still, I wish I could post more often and not just my monthly report, but something with more depth and feeling...hmm...maybe this winter!

What a glorious season Fall is, especially in Washington! :) It's warm during the day and cool at night. I love it! Mostly I love it because I don't have to worry so much about surviving horrid winters, here, like I had to in Idaho.

Well, we've been doing school, doing the church thing and we started AWANA this month. I am now the Sparks Director and it's a hefty job, so please pray for me as I go about this endeavor and ministry! I am NOT a good speaker and like Moses, I feel inadequate. Maybe you all could pray about that when you think of me. It's a very big responsibility and there is a lot of weekly preparation, so it takes time and much studying and prayer, on my part. I need it though. I love children's ministry, so it should be even better for me than when I was a Color leader for Sparks. I need to grow in the Lord and this is a way for me to come out of my shy shell (shy when it comes to presenting the Gospel, anyway). I have SO many color leaders, though! I am so blessed with their willingness to serve God and to help me. Our Sparks team lacks organization, so I am definitely thankful for these willing members of our church, in this whole thing! I have more than enough leaders, so I think we'll have a great year!

Church is going well...we are SO INCREDIBLY blessed at McKenna Community Church!!! I cannot say it enough. Each Sunday I am blessed, filled to overflowing, taught, drawn out, and just happy! I love our church. I'm so glad and thankful to God that he has led us to this particular one. What a LOVING, KIND, CARING and ALL-KNOWING God we serve! WOW! I have made so many good friends, too, many of which who have become dear to my heart already.

School is going smoothly! :) Zane is doing very well and I get better each day it seems. Homeschooling takes practice and I know it will be a few years before I reach my potential, at this whole thing!

Our Unit Formal went well! I will post pictures of that! We had a great time. The food was wonderful and the ceremony meaningful ( especially so soon after Terry's death). We enjoyed watching the drunk people. It was hilarious. We will probably go again next year. I had fun and felt like a Princess!

Oh, the first week in September my husband's Grandfather and Step-Grandmother came for a visit, while on their RV trip across the US. It was great to see them and give them a nice home-cooked meal! The kids enjoyed seeing them and they enjoyed meeting Sheldon for the first time.

This past weekend I got to meet a facebook friend that I've known for a little over a year but never got to meet. Amy and Sean and their little girl, Sarah came over for dinner and we saddled up Hope for them. They seemed to enjoy it and I just loved meeting their family. They are an Army family, too, and just got stationed here at Lewis.

My Ladies Bible Study group starts tomorrow night! I am so excited to have some one on one time with my girlfriends without the children around. :) I think James might be doing the Men's Bible Study (at the same time) but they have child-care at the church, so that will be great.

Really not much else going on to report about. I stay super busy doing all the things I do around here! :) I do want all of you to know that I think of you often, love you and care about what is going on in your lives! Let's keep in touch! <3

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us".

If you are a believer, never forget what Christ did for you....where he pulled you up out of....that he saved you when you were still in sin! If you aren't a believer and have never been converted, know that God cares, that He loves and that he saves the lowliest of sinners along with the little child who has hardly sinned yet in his/her lifetime...we have ALL sinned and we have all fallen short of His Glory.

Rachelle

August

Terry...a follower of Christ, a soldier, a husband, a father, a friend...loved,
respected and honored by the many who knew him. Missed by all.
r

Abbie riding Hope

Me leading cousin Carson on Hope

Us Girls in the kitchen! Left to right: Ashley, Me, Cierra

Playing in the hot tub

At the Seattle Aquarium: Left to right Zane and I, James and Sheldon
Cierra, Clayton with Abbie, Ashley and Emma

Sheldon, Emma, Abbie and Zane

Abbie and Sheldon (with a blackberry face)

Daddy and Sheldon

Stair step kids! Sheldon looks to be catching up to my petite
Abbie

abbie and I

Wow, what a month! It's been exciting, but also hard. So much has happened that I don't even want to write about it...but post, I must...it's been too long.

The first week in August brought much of James's side of the family for a small family reunion. We had my mother in law Sherri, my father in law Jim, my SIL Ashley and her two children as well as one on the way :), my BIL Clayton and his wife Cierra. It was a great time! We visited the Seattle Aquarium, the Pacific Science Center, The Space Needle, and The Museum of Flight. The guys all went Golfing twice and one of the times, Zane went along with his own Junior Golf set and apparently he has a great swing! :) Us Girls (and Clayton) all went to the Pike Market and had a glorious shopping experience! I bought, some very nice Lavender, Egyptian Geranium and Vanilla Bath oil, some Organic Muscle Rub for James, many things to taste :), candy for the kids and a few other things! :) Sherri surprised me with some AMAZING raw Blackberry Honey! I love honey! My dad was a bee-keeper when I was a baby. Once he joined the Army, he had to let that go, but he always had MANY flavors of honey in the house! :) It was hard seeing everyone leave and knowing that it will be awhile before we see them all again!

I have many pictures to share from the reunion so I'll get those posted as soon as I can.

The next two weeks in August I spent being very down with Migraines that were so bad that it felt like I had the flu, plus a cold that was mostly a cough, and other "things" to complicate the matters. Then a bad eye infection. I was perfectly miserable and became very behind in my housework.

On the 20th I got a phone call early in the morning from LaNette. She's a good friend of mine that I knew before I was married, and got to know even better while James and I were stationed at Campbell. Her husband is retired Army. At the church we went to, we got to know Gina, an Army wife who's husband worked with my husband. She is LaNette's best friend and a good friend of mine. Anyway, LaNette called to tell me that Terry, Gina's husband had been killed during a training exercise in Colorado, when his Blackhawk crashed. It was a very, very sad day/week/two weeks for everyone who knows them. It was just so untimely, so unthought of, so horrible....and so unexpected. It was Terry's last trip before retirement, having served for over 22 years (I think). He left Gina, their son, Braden (8) and their daughter Emma (5). His children are so young and they had already sold their home and were planning to move to Kansas. Terry had, had his retirement party as well. He always dreamed of owning his own ranch and Gina was looking forward to their new life outside the Army. They were more than able, financially to make his and her dreams come true and all came to a screaching halt. Three other soldiers were killed, as well. Prayer is appreciated for all of them. James knew all of them. Very sad...

Terry and Gina were members at the church we attended, while stationed at Campbell. Terry was devoted to Christ, his family and to the Army. He was honored with two memorials and his funeral. He was one of the best pilots in the Army, and will be greatly missed by the whole Grace Bible Church family and his affiliated Unit in the Army. If you would like to listen to the message that Pastor Mark Totten gave at church, the following Sunday go to: www.gbctn.org Go to Messages and search for "When Life Throws You a Curve". It was AWESOME! It is a great sermon for anyone. It will help you learn how to deal with the unexpected or just with things that don't make sense. I encourage you to listen!

So, I think we all had a hard time functioning, initially. I imagine it will take a very long time for Gina to.

We bought all of our hay for the winter. A load off of our minds. Hope is nice and fat this fall, so I'm sure she will do especially well this winter.

The children are doing well in school, so far. Zane started his first grade and reading is about 1/2-way clicking! I cannot wait until it fully clicks for him, so he can enjoy it more. Abbie is doing preschool again, this year. She turns 5 in April, so she will start K next fall. In some subjects (Math, Phonics, Science) she'd be ready right now for K, but in others (Reading and Writing, she isn't ready. I think waiting until next fall will be best and I bet she will fly easily through K! :) She is very, very intelligent and a very fast learner! :) Sheldon is doing a little preschool. I am working mostly on colors, shapes, numbers and letters. He has a very short attention span and causes a little disruption and distraction for Zane so, we are working on a play schedule for him and Abbie. What I have been doing this week, is he and Abbie have a playtime in their rooms alone, and then later in the day they have a play time together in Abbie's room. I use these times to help Zane with Reading and Math, when he needs the quiet. I am still not too fond of Art, and am doing it once a week again but plan on doing it twice a week in a little while. I just don't have the patience for Art. I love the idea of it, but when it comes down to it....ugh....I just don't enjoy it. At least they are getting it once a week and the projects are meaningful! :)

My friend Amy is getting stationed here and will be here in the middle of September, which is very exciting! :) She has a three year old little girl who doesn't talk well, so I think she and Sheldon will really hit it off, since he doesn't talk either! LOL!

Oh.... :) My friends at church! I am so happy with our church and the wonderful women I have met there! They are all treasures and I am learning from them each time I am with them! :) We are all starting our Ladies Bible Study on Sept 29th! It's a Beth Moore on Esther! I am SUPER excited! I love that book of the Bible, so I am excited to get started. I always become a lot closer to the women in our churches when I participate in the studies! :)

We have a lot of Blackberries this year, so I made some Jam and some homemade Icecream with them! Yummy! :) Our garden has done really well, although I am sick of cucumber, and no one likes the summer squash but me. We got about 12 gallon freezer bags full of corn. I blanched it all and it is super good! I also blanched a lot of green beans and the other day I saw lots of new beans starting, so I should get a lot more!

My little sister, Naomi (who was pregnant at the same time as my middle sister Sarah) miscarried this month. She was 6 weeks pregnant, I think. Everyone was so excited and looking forward to the double baby showers and just the fact that both sisters were pregnant at the same time. It was so sad for her, since it was her first pregnancy and everyone was so thrilled. I talked to her a few times on the phone to give her some support. I know how hard that type of thing is and people forget very quickly how hard it really is. :(

Naomi did say that she wants to try again, so Lord-willing she might be pregnant with Sarah again, after-all! :) A new pregnancy is always a healing balm after miscarriage, so I hope it is God's will!

I have a feeling that Sarah will be having a girl! :) I hope I am right! She wants a girl really bad since she already has a boy and only wants two children! Keep your fingers crossed!

Well, I don't think I have much else to report on. James is doing fine at work. He's trying to get ready for his Board in October and Lord-willing again, maybe he will be promoted to e-6. He already does the job of one and really deserves it, so we are praying for that!

Have a glorious fall, everyone! And I'm sure all of you can understand how happy I am for winter to come! I'm sure it will be an easy one here in Washington! I feel so much better about it! God Bless!

~January News~

A WESTERN BLUEBIRD...THIS COULD POSSIBLY BE
A NUTHATCH. THEY HAVE BLUE BACKS AS WELL.

NORTHERN FLICKER...NOT SURE IF THIS IS A MALE
OR FEMALE...THEY ARE VERY SIMILAR

A FLICKER, AGAIN!

HOPE AT THE BARN!

OUR COLLAPSED BARN....

YOU GUYS WON'T BE ABLE TO TELL WHAT THIS IS...ZANE
FOUND A RACCOON HIBERNATING IN A DEN OF BRANCHES
AND THAT IS THE FUR YOU SEE...I TRIED AND TRIED TO
GET A GOOD PICTURE AND THIS WAS THE BEST!

HERE IS A WILD TURKEY...NOT A VERY GOOD
PICTURE, THOUGH! WE HAVE A FLOCK OF ABOUT
TEN HERE, NORMALLY...I NEED TO GET A BETTER
PICTURE OF THEM!

A MALE BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE...THEY ARE
IMPOSSIBLE TO PHOTGRAPH...THEY DO NOT HOLD
STILL FOR ANYTHING! THIS WAS THE BEST I GOT!

THESE ARE THREE MALE DOWNY WOODPECKERS...
THEY ARE EASY TO PHOTOGRAPH BECAUSE
THEY ARE SUCH PIGS AND DON'T FLUTTER
AROUND ALL OVER! THEY ARE EATING OFF
PINECONES THAT WE COVERED WITH PEANUT
BUTTER AND BIRDSEED....IT'S MOSTLY GONE NOW!

HERE IS AN ART PROJECT THAT WE RECENTLY DID...
BREAD SCULPTURES (THESE WERE NOT BAKED YET)...
THERE WAS ALSO A SECOND TEDDY BEAR, A DUCK
AND 2 SNAKES... THEY WERE REALLY YUMMY, AND I KEPT
SOME OF THE BREAD IN THE FREEZER TO MAKE BREAD
PUDDING WITH, LATER! :)

FINGERPAINTING!

THE KIDS ON THE PORCH MEASURING THE
SNOW...IT MEASURED 36 INCHES, BUT THIS
WAS VERY PACKED DOWN....I HAD NEVER
SHOVELED THIS SECTION, SO IT HAD WEEKS
TO PACK DOWN!

CASH RESTING!

Most of the month of January was so warm! It was so spring-like and gave me such a needed break from shoveling snow! We didn't use a lot of firewood, either. Last night, though, it was negative 10 degrees, but I made it a point to get both wood stoves blazing hot the day before and we didn't wake up to a freezing cold house! We also got a lot of rain on the 6th of January, which melted 2 feet of snow, leaving us with about 18-24 inches left! Glory! :) It will melt fast, once spring arrives. We are supposed to get snow later this week, but we'll see!

My mother-in-law was here the first week of January and we had a lot of fun, and mostly relaxed. I still had snow shoveling to do and wood-splitting to do, while she was here, but we still had fun. She bought us a new TV which was much needed! :) Ours was an old 1987 Radio Shack tv, and we found a 1997 one at a thrift shop...it skips a little bit at times, but I think I may be able to fix it, if I tinker with it.

On the 7th of January our barn collapsed from the weight of the snow and rain. It was really disappointing because all my hay was underneath, but luckily I am able to get to it and Hope wasn't hurt in the process.

AWANA started back up on the 15th, and has been enjoyable! Zane has 5 more sections, which will only take him two more weeks, and he will be done with his book! He has really begun to memorize scripture pretty well. He still needs reference helps, a lot, but otherwise he has greatly improved! :) Abigail memorizes his verses a lot, too. She is not allowed to go ahead in her book, so she helps Zane with his! So funny! Sheldon stays in the nursery while I am leading, and has finally stopped screaming when I leave him in there! :) Such a sweet little boy....ha has really grown up!

The other night I wrote my whole fruit of the spirit study on my live-journal, and was like two sentences away from finishing it and lost the whole thing! I cried! So, I'm sorry, but I will have to re-type the whole thing later this week! James says it will be ten times better than my first one! My fruit of the spirit for 2009 is Gentleness, and my word study revealed so much to me and I was very convicted! I can't wait to get it on my live-journal and here! This time, though, I will write it on Word, and copy and paste! :( What a waste of my precious time!

Homeschooling is going SO well! Zane is reading now, and has finished his history, science, numbers and letters drill book, and is two weeks away from finishing his Studying God's Word book, and his handwriting book! I am so excited! His math book will be done by March 31st and his Phonics book, I am afraid will have to be finished after we move. It will probably be done by June, sometime! We also have a few projects left in the Art book and we will be finished with that. After we finish it, I have several art projects of my own that we might try.

James will be home in 72 days! I will be so glad when we are 60 days out! I have so much work to get done in the basement, though! I just have to sort through all the boxes again and get rid of anything that we really don't need, and start re-packing it all for moving! We are on the list for housing (actually we have been on it since James got to Korea) and we are thinking of possibly moving on post, but we need to hear back from a friend who has a horse, and see if she would like to board Hope. She has a rental with horse property and one older horse that would probably like some company! :) We'll see!

I am so thankful that my life is changing! As I said in a recent post...I never dared hope that my life would ever be the same again, and now within 60 days it will be. I know everything will not be the same, and I am not so naieve to expect that, but still...it will be very similar to the life I knew before! Praise the Lord! I will sorely miss my friends and church, here! I have moved a lot of times and it is never easy, but I am happy to say that I can go ANYWHERE! I have nothing that ties me down mentally, to a certain place, anymore! It is so naieve to let things like that hold you back from the life God wants for you! I love my friends...I would not have made it through without Lori Lynch, Donna Neale, and LeeAnne Bonds! :) I love you, you guys! But, it is time to move forward, and I will see you all again...we are only going to be 6 hours away! :) When we moved from KY, I left LaNette Chittenden there, and God knows that I would not have made it without her phone calls and encouragement...her mentorship....through 2006 and 2007. Even though she wasn't here, she by-far, aside from the Good Lord, was the only person who even made sense to me!!! :) So, thanks you guys! :) You are the best!

As you can see, we have had a fair share of bird watching....a huge waste of time, but something I dearly love! :) And I was SO happy to get the pictures of the Northern Flicker! He/she is so beautiful!!! They are so shy and will actually hide behind tree trunks if you are watching them from the window....they will peak out from behind the trunk and dart their heads back behind it if they see you! So cute! They are a huge bird, actually! :) Compared to others, anyway! All those pictures were from inside the house, through the kitchen window, so I'm sorry about the glare on most of them... Sheldon loves to bird-watch, and sits forever on the counter and watches them! :)

Kid updates.... Sheldon is out of his portable crib and has moved on to Abbie's Toddler bed! :) He is so proud of himself! He is getting the rest of his teeth and has been very disagreeable, but understandably! No more sippy cups, either....not even in the car. He quit using them at the house like 9 months ago, but still used them in the car. Now he has a water bottle! :) He peed on the toilet the other day, too! It is so hard to remember to put your later children on the toilet, which is the only thing holding me back from him being potty trained! He still isn't saying many words...he, like Zane, has his own language, which only I and the kids understand. Sometimes the kids understand him better and have to translate for me! Funny! He turns two on February 10th! I know that James will be so happy to actually get to see him grow, from here on out! He has missed out on pretty much everything Sheldon has done, and it's so sad! Sheldon has also figured out that he likes to watch movies now! He will sit and watch about 3/4 of one and loves Thomas the Train movies! Thomas is really clean and very moral (the stories are written by a Reverand, for those of you who don't know and have little kids, and are searching for clean entertainment). Even girls love Thomas! :)

Abigail is still pretty much in the middle of everything all the time, sort of lost in the sauce...poor girl! I have to carve out time for her....I am really hoping that the challenge of having a middle girl child goes away slightly as they get older.... It really is hard to make time for one on one with her. I have had Donna watch the boys for me recently so her and I could go grocery shopping together and that was really nice! :) She has been so helpful and obedient, lately, and her and I do a lot of cooking and cleaning together. I read a lot to her, as well as do preschool stuff with her! She loves Barbies and her and I dress the barbies and do their hair a lot, which is fun. Our favorite thing to do is paint our fingernails and do our hair the same way! Sometimes we try to dress the same for church, too! :) I love having a girl!

I talked about Zane up there quite a bit already, so there isn't much else to report on. He has been quite bored, lately with not being able to go outside much! My brother comes over sometimes and plays with him....otherwise he spends his days doing school, playing with his army guys, watching movies and playing around on the computer...he does help me so much with anything at all that needs doing...bringing up wood from the basement, getting things for me or the others, cooking and some cleaning, etc. Basically, very bored right now and waiting for Daddy to come home! They run around the house A LOT and ride their bikes in the house sometimes, too. They burn off a lot of energy that way!

I am reading Emma, by Jane Austen, right now and really loving it! I also watched the movie Emma, as well as Pride and Prejudice (the newer one and the A&E ones). I like both versions! :)
I have also been reading my Bible, everyday! I made my own 2-year schedule....this year I will be covering Matthew through Revelation, Psalms and Proverbs, and Genesis through 1 Kings. Next year will be the remainder of the books! A one year plan is just too much for me, so I came up with my own schedule, and worked out perfectly to two chapters a day! That is a reading amount that I can handle! James decided to do the smae schedule I am doing but has some catching up to do! :) It will be nice to both be in the same place once he gets home! :) I love reading my Bible, and it is so much easier to remember to read it when you have the schedule on the calender days! :)

Well, nothing else is really going on! We are just anxiously awaiting spring and enjoying our new year! We will get our tax return in a few days and we are so excited to announce that we are paying off and canceling our last credit card! We still have our emergency fund, as well, so we are definitely feeling like we are on our way to becoming debt free! :)

Blessings to you all! Have a good rest of winter! :P

Winter Wallowing

The Sparkie's cars...Zane's is the blue with gold stripes
number 64!

Zane with his 4th place trophy and participation
ribbon!

The little ones, wanting to be a part of it!

Well, winter isn't quite here, and actually noticeably late, compared to other years! The kids are so funny...we HAVE had snow three different mornings, and they never fail to say, "Winter is here, Mommy". Only to find, that winter has left! It hasn't been staying, like it normally does, and boy was I dead wrong about snow timing! I predicted the end of October...but now they are saying not til the middle of December!

It is pretty cold though, and Hope has the water trough heater in her water tank all the time. We burn about 12 pieces of wood a day and we have been wearing a lot of extra clothing! Just waiting on the snow to insulate everything, so it will be warmer. Snow really does make winter more bearable, in my opinion. When it piles up around the house it is noticeably warmer...plus, I detest mud, and snow puts an end to that problem.

Gosh, I have not blogged for a month...of course James was home for ten days during November and it took us awhile to catch up on Zane's schoolwork after James left. When I had planned the schoolyear, I didn't know James would be coming home, and if he did, I didn't know when it would be, so I scheduled accordingly. And I really want to be done with Kindergarten by the end of March, so we can welcome Daddy home, and move to Ft. Lewis in April. Otherwise, we will have to do school, through the summer of 2009. So, anyway, we had to catch up.

Ahh.....having my love home was a breath of fresh air and totally what I needed to re-fuel and realize that I can make it until April! Days are starting to fly by again. It ALWAYS takes me a full two weeks to recover from my husband leaving, before I get back in the groove of things. I didn't think just ten days would require that transition again, but it did. At first the days were just crawling by and now I feel like they are starting to fly by again, which is so nice!

Our visit with Daddy was so nice, but we were all sick the whole time...everyone of us got the flu and was throwing up. Seems like all I did was wash puked on Laundry. It sucked...but at least when I was sick, he was not and vice-versa, so we could help each other through it all. Unfortunately, I lost the treasured 3 pounds I had gained prior to him coming, and i weighed myself the other day and I am back down to 95. UGH! You guys do not know how frustrating this is! Stupid flu...you suck!

So, starting tomorrow I am back to cereal with whole milk everynight before bed and heavy cream in EVERY cup of coffee or tea that I drink, and I am going to up the butter and meat in my diet. I hate to eat a lot of meat, but I just need to. I already eat a lot of eggs and beans, but compared to the amount of protein in meat, I don't think it is enough! Any other ideas, you all? I think that my diet is so healthy that it makes it hard for me to gain weight. Plus, I run around all day long, too.

While James was here, we worked on an oval-shaped puzzle...he couldn't sleep at night because of the time change, so he would be down here working on it at night. We also did make it to AWANA...thankfully no one was sick that day....or Sunday, either! Because we were all miserable we did not get one picture of any of us! Oh, well, we had so much to do, and we all felt lousy so we forgot to do quite a few things, or at least remembered but didn't have the motivation to do them. It was a quiet time for us. We didn't have many people over and we didn't go many places, so it was nice, and relaxing!

Oh, I so bawled like a baby at the airport when James came home and we were in each others arms (with the kids, too) for several minutes before baggage started moving in. I cried a little bit while he was here, but totally had a complete mental breakdown, about a week after he left, which I so needed. Now, I can get on with my life. There was just so much bottled up emotion, frustration, heartache, etc, that Thanksgiving night, I collapsed in a heap on my bed and erupted! That is just how I am...I only wish it had happened while James was home, because I desperately needed comforted. I feel so much better now and ready to take on the world, now! Lady Nightstalkers Don't Quit, right???

Yes, and we are officially going back to Ft. Lewis, WA, so I can officially say I am a Lady Nightstalker again! YAY! We will be moving over there in the middle of April. I am starting to contact and keep in touch with relocation people I have found, and have found good websites to keep up on in case we find something on one of them to rent. There are SO MANY rental homes, it is unbelievable! Really! There are almost just as many to rent as buy, so we won't have any problem finding something. It's just that we really want to find a rental property with an acre or so, for Hope. I found one on Craigslist that would have been perfect, but wrong timing obviously...so if you wonder what you can pray for us...maybe just pray that something like that comes up again. My horse is 20 years old and I really want her with me! <3

Eventually, ...well as soon as we sell our KY home, we want to buy, so if i have to board Hope out until we buy, I will.

Ok, so basic family news....My neighbor, Lori (you can view her blog from my bloglists) and I started a weekly playgroup, where we meet at either hers or my house to let the kids play. It is really nice to have a more scheduled time for them to see each other. We have been doing an art project most weeks, and it makes art fun for me! :) We also have tea and something yummy and try to socialize as moms...but it is hard with 5 kids...sometimes more, if our friend May, comes with her 2 kids.

Lori's husband got a deer this fall and she so willingly shared several pounds of the meat with me! Yummy!

Zane and I cut down a Christmas tree while Abbie and Sheldon were napping on Friday, after Thanksgiving. Outside it didn't look so big, but we got it in and up and it was past the open beams in our living room, so we had to take it down and cut 2 feet off of it, so we could see the star! I don't think I have ever had such a gorgeous tree! :) I will take some pictures tomorrow and upload them on here!....plus whatever else is on my camera right now! :)

We decorated with every decoration we have and this cabin is beautiful! For two Christmas's our holiday things were packed away so, I was totally itching to get it all out and beautify this house, for the holidays. I have all most of my Christmas shopping done already too, which is a burden off my shoulders! I still have the kids to buy for, though. I can't tell what we are making for everyone for Christmas, so you all will have to wait to find out. We are on a hugely tight budget right now...we havn't been getting much COLA (if any at all) most months. That is cost of living allowance for Korea, and it is so sucking...plus I have medical bills as well, for my Ovarian Cyst, from September, that I am trying to slowly pay. Stupid tricare standard...NEVER again! I will be so happy when I am in a Prime zone, again!

Really though, we are completely lucky....there are tons of people in our area who cannot even pay any of their bills. A lot of mill workers were laid off a few months back and there are virtually no lobs available and people are really hurting...some are being forced to move to find work. It is very sad and I am thankful we can pay our bills, and we have a small amount budgeted for our groceries, and we are making it! And gas prices have been slashed less than half, so instead of costing 100.00 or more to fill up it has been 50.00, which helps.......and you can see the small town business folks in Priest River, walking with just a bit more spring in their step! :)

The kids are doing well. Sheldon is so full of life and getting into anything he can. He is talking a bit more, and just as his brother is, he is finding his love for Army Helicopters! :) He tries to say Copter an Blackhawk. Pretty cute!

Abbie, has been busy playing with her dollies and Barbies. She makes pretend food and just entertains herself. She cooks a lot with me, too.

Zane has been doing well in school. He is done with his Science book. He loved it, so we went quick through that and now he just learns about things pertaining to science through other books and through things that happen during the day, or something that interests him, like bugs. He is almost done with 2 of his other books, so we just have 3 books to finish this winter. Zane raced a car in AWANA on the 22nd of Nov and came in 4th in his division and got a trophy! You wanna talk about excited! He and James put it together and painted it, so it was extra special!

All the kids are in the Christmas play, at church, too. Zane is a Shepherd and Abbie and Sheldon are sheep! :) I'll have to get pics of that, too!

Well, not much else is going on! :) Or at least I cannot remember it! I stayed up way too late making a gift for my husband and now I am dragging and had to force myself to post tonight! I bought a calender and wrote a reason that I love my husband on each day...so 365 reasons! It was much easier than I thought it would be and the reasons were just flowing out on top of each other! I encourage you all to do it! It is such a wonderful reminder of all the many reasons you love someone, that you tend to forget in the day to day, grind! Naomi (my sister), gave me the idea...I don't know where she heard it! :) But I liked it and had to do it! :) I finished it in one night, because I was on such a roll, and the thing about it that was cool...is that I was totally honest....I didn't butter it up. These were 365 real life reasons why I love that man! So cool! :P

Well, goodnight you all and get ready to wallow, especially if you are in the west! :)

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!

Goings Ons

PAINTING WITH WATERCOLOR!

SHELDON FINALLY UNDERSTANDS THAT YOU DO
NOT EAT THE PAINT! :)

TWO OF THE JUICE LID SUN-CATCHERS
A SUN AND A BUTTERFLY

OUR LITTLE GRASS GARDEN FOR KATIE
THIS IS ON TOP OF OUR WOOD COOKING STOVE

Well, we have been busy here in the Phipps home. James went to the field (in Korea) for two weeks, so no phone calls for me or the kids to look forward to. Actually, this is the first time my husband has been to the field...they didn't do that stuff in the 160th... In case someone doesn't know what I am talking about...going to the field is where you go out and play war, paint your face up in cammo, and do other stuff like that...eat MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), and get stinky and muddy...

The kids started AWANA (Approved Workman are Not Ashamed). It's a Bible club that is pretty popular here out West. They have it in the East but it doesn't seem to be much of a focus there. Kids around here love it, and my kids really seem to be enjoying it. They learn verses and play competitive games, etc. I bought each of my kids canvas totes for their books and decorated them with names in glitter pen, and appliques. On the backs I sewed on patches and name tags from my husband's old uniforms. The Army went to a new uniform design in 2007, so I had a lot of old uniforms down in the basement, to get the patches off of. I also put different Army pins on them. WAY cute!!! I will put a picture on here of them all.

In art, the kids planted some grass in an adorable pot that I got at a garage sale, and decorated the inside of the pot with fake cat-tails, silk flowers and two fake robins on sticks. The grass has come up...it will be nice to see it in the winter when we have 3 feet of snow! It is also for our cat, Katie, to eat/munch on in the winter, as she likes fresh grass. I know that sounds weird/gross, but she really is a super clean cat! :) We just put the pot up by her cat-food! :)

We also made juice-lid sun-catchers. You take old tin lids off of concentrated juice cans, place a pattern on top (we got the patterns out of the Art book we got from Christian Liberty), and then pound a little nail in all around it, wherever the pattern says to, with a little hammer. Then you put them on strings and hang them in the window! Cute, cute!

We are still doing well on our schedule. We have found that some chores do not need done weekly, but instead, by-weekly...such as dusting, and mopping (we take our shoes off, so it takes awhile for our floors to get mop-worthy).

I went into the ER last week with pain on my left side (which I have been having at certain times of the month now, for 6 months). I thought it was an Ovarian Cyst from the very beginning, and each month the pain got worse. I had read that cysts will go away on their own, so I waited. Well, this month, the pain was unbearable, and making me very tired and feverish. They ultra sounded it, and said that I had a cyst that had just ruptured, so hopefully I will no longer have pain when I ovulate. So, to say the least, I have not been getting up at 6:00am, like I like to. It's been 7 o'clock recently, when I get up, which isn't bad, but forces me to do my Bible Study, devotions and prayer some other time. I am really hungering for that time with my Lord, in the morning. Maybe now that I feel better, I can be better about getting up.

My neighbor, Leeah Davis, started a Bible Study. She lives just down the road. We are good friends already. We are doing a Beth Moore study called "Believing God." It is a real eye-opener and very thought provoking. She wants us not only to believe in God, but to BELIEVE Him. To believe that what He says in His Word is true...that He will and can do what He says He can do. It's a really good study, so far. There are five main points right now that she is trying to ingrain in our brain... 1) God is who He says He is 2) God can do what He says He can do. 3) I am who God says I am. 4) I can do all things through Christ. 5) God's Word is alive and active in me! I recommend this study if you have trouble believing that God loves you and cares for you, and has good plans for your life. I think sometimes that God's definition of "good" is sometimes not ours, and so, sometimes when we think something bad is happening in our life....to God, it is good, and is happening for His reasons and for His plans. I know, that is so hard...and I struggle with seeing the good in bad situations, too..........sometimes, I see NO good in the situation! I know God does, and He has higher plans than we do! See my post titled God's Plans, from June, for more on this subject. This study has been good for rounding out my faith. I sometimes feel that my faith is like a circle....and that sometimes it looks like a moon that you think is full at first, casual glance and then when you really look, you see that it is missing a large sliver...making it not full, after all. Sometimes my faith feels like a half moon....I think I am past crescent-moon stage, though! :)

Abbie is doing well in preschool. She likes to cut and paste, especially. I have a 12 inch stack of worksheets that we got from a preschool that was going out of business. Last week, I stapled them together in little stacks of 4 sheets. Each stack has a cutting and pasting sheet on it, a sheet to color, a sheet with number practice and a sheet with letter practice. She does these everyday, plus Bible with us and Art on Mondays (sometimes more). I am still not very good about loving art....so that's why we do it on Mondays....I'd like to start doing it Mon/Wed/Fri, so we'll see! :)

Sheldon spends his day getting into stuff, and I have been having a hard time making a time in the day to do something productive with him. He gets bored easy, and makes raids in the fridge, or the pantry, writes on Zane's school when no one is looking, or gets into stuff in the bathroom. He likes to find my eye-liner and write on the mirror with it. Yesterday, he found my eye-liner sharpener and found out what happens when you stick your fingers in there! I had three bloody fingers and you know how babies don't like band aids. It was a mess! I need prayer for finding things for him to do, and carving out time for one-on-one with him, since he is no longer nursing!

Well, that's our most recent news, I think! :) The weather is getting cold fast, and I know this week will be our last of warm weather. I am thinking that we will have snow by the end of October. Just a hunch. Well, take care and God Bless! Rachelle