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!