You Don't See That Every Day

In my corner of the world, life goes on despite the illness in the house: --the basketball team from my high school is playing against our son's high school basketball team this weekend. I really wanted to go watch, but due to health-money-travel-time-commitments, we won't be going this year. It's not like our son is playing .. if he was we would definitely be there! Maybe next year. --My husband started a new job! For years we were praying for a change, and we thought we had a chance at a job last summer, only to lose it at the last minute. Looking back, we see what a good thing that was, because this job the Mr. has now is exactly what he needs and what he wanted. It's pretty exciting when he comes home at night in a good mood, looking forward to actually going to work the next day. --Our girl Dot was in Awana Bible Quiz this past weekend. She didn't place this year, but she actually stood up and answered a question - which itself I find hard, because you ...

There were many different options to title this post. The title is such an important piece of the writing. Get the wrong title, and nobody reads it. Most English teachers might tell you the opening sentence needs to be the grabber, but I think the title needs to grab you first. And this is why I didn't put one on this post. Because there are so many I could have used! Here's a few for you to pick from: Transitions; Ch-ch-ch-changes; Wonder twins - activate ! Transformers! A New Life Goodbye 15 And there was much rejoicing . So can you tell we're going through something big around here? Did the titles tell you anything? For two years or so, we have been praying for a change in job for the Mr. His weeks and weeks of traveling for work were getting really old; along with some other headaches that his job brought. We had a taste of a possible new job last summer, but that one fell through and we really wrestled with accepting God's will at that point. But we kep...

Even homeschool kids have their days... I mentioned to my girls on Sunday night that "tomorrow school starts up again!" in my happy, yeehaw voice. They were not so impressed. My 8 year old said, "I hate school." I almost argued with her. But then I decided, let's try something here. I told her instead of doing school for the day, she would work all day. My mind gleefully rubbed its hands together in anticipation of all the cleaning I need done around this house. (I know, a mixed metaphor, but go there with me.) So on Monday I had my girls wash dishes, all the floors got mopped, the laundry folded, the craft drawer cleaned, the play room cleaned, leaves raked, and bedrooms straightened up. I had plenty more chores left for them to get to, but we actually ran out of time. Was the experiment worth it? I guess I will find out this morning when I get the school books out.When my child gets into the school work she actually really likes it. But she has heard the l...

Today was a work day at the farm. We joined a number of my siblings out there to cut and split and stack wood along with other farm chores. I think my dad sure liked having all the extra hands helping today. He even got my brother and husband up on the barn roof for some repairs and addition. The older two kids got to do some driving, one on the tractor, the other on the forklift. The Boy also got a tutorial in running a chainsaw.   Meanwhile the other girls helped harvest 2 rows of carrots; they filled the back of the pickup, and then we cut the tops off, washed them up, dried them, and stored them in the cellar. Then, since the back of the pickup was empty, we filled it up with firewood to take home. And this last photo ... it just struck me - all the pickups that were at the farm. I don't think they all show in the photo, but there were 6 of them in this little area at the time I took this.  

I had hoped today would be the day I could write about an exciting change in our lives. We had hoped for something new to be coming. Well, the word came to our house yesterday that there would be no change in our schedules. No change in the day to day grind. My husband will be continuing his work just like he has for the past 14 years. He'll travel when he has too, which seems like a lot, but overall it's less than a soldier does. He'll deal with frustrating administration. He'll enjoy talking with his customers. About 2 months ago, in the middle of travel season, he had had enough; not just with the traveling, but also with other aspects of his job. He asked some specific people to pray for him, and a new job. Less than a week later a friend came to him with a job opportunity and encouraged G to apply for it. So we went through the roller coaster of resumes, application, and interviews. 3 interviews! with this company. We were optimistic. We were hopeful. We prayed, t...

In one of my favorite books (Cheaper by the Dozen - the original , by the Galbraiths) there is a story about the conversations the family has around the dinner table. The father got to decide whether the talk was of general interest or not - basically, whether it was something he wanted to discuss or not. I highly recommend that book; our large family was nothing like the one in the book, but it is still fun to read about a real life family. And please don't go and watch the movie made a couple of years ago. Please, please, don't ruin the story by doing that. I digress. Our family actually had supper tonight. As. A. Family. There was no child away at practice. There were no meetings for us to be at. There was no game to get to, or come home from. All 7 of us ate together and talked. I have missed this! The Boy's football has taken a lot of time away from family time; and then the girls' swimming adds to it. So a night all together is one I cherish. Our conversation t...

I think the guys have been keeping a secret from me all of my life. And I think I might have just discovered a key to it. Power Tools. > howl < They are So much fun! Seriously, why didn't I ever get to play with these before? OK, I have used a power-screwdriver  before  ... that was some small fun. (**update, it was a power-drill, my mistake. I couldn't even think of the right word!) But today I decided to try and get a little bit cleaned up outside in between rain showers. The side yard is kind of messy b/c of the remodel. I didn't want to get all muddy and wet by pulling the weeds out by hand, so I grabbed the weed-eater. The battery powered, very mighty, powerful Tool. And after figuring out how it works - which is pretty easy - I got to work. I had such fun whacking down those weeds and tall grass I looked for more places to use that Power Tool. Ooh - the raspberries! Earlier in the spring we took out one row of our raspberries. It had just become too crazy, ...

I used to wonder who in their right mind would want to be a dentist. What little boy or girl dreams of filling teeth as their lifetime career? There was that little boy/elf on the Rudolph cartoon (Hermey) but that's all I can think of. But today my own dentist unknowingly shined some light on the subject for me. Yes, I had to go to the dentist today. Thankfully I have never dreaded dental visits. My childhood dentist, Dr. Ware, was wonderful! And I am so thankful to have a really kind dentist these days too. So off I went to find out why, oh why, I have pain in my tooth when I drink cold drinks (which is a lot; ever try to brush your teeth with warm water? Doesn't feel as 'fresh'.) I had visions of cavities upon cavities, or else root canals - which my older sister has just gone through, and no thank you I don't care to! But after x-rays and examining my teeth and gums, the kind doctor said, there's nothing wrong here. What? No holes? No problems. Nope - most ...

I have an admission to make. Not a confession, because this is a good thing, and no shame here. I like ironing. I Like it. I LIKE it. (I still remember ironing for my brother when I stayed with his family one summer. It was that wonderful.) So this weekend I ironed the pile of clothes that had built up over the past week. I turned on the radio and went to town. I find ironing relaxing. And it gives me a great time to just think. For some people, the shower is The Place to come up with ideas. For me, ironing is when I get some good thoughts. A song came on the radio - Small Town USA - by Justin Moore. I started thinking of growing up in a small town in southern Oregon. At the time I wanted out (like he sings in the song) but now I look back with fondness. I had a great home, land to run around on, mud pies to make, cow pies (dried!) to throw, mud to squish in between my toes. Of course, there was a lot of work to be done, but I remember getting dirty. And I began to think of my own chil...

It's classic movie week at our house. And because it takes more than one night to view a movie around here, it's been going on most of the week. First run was "Never Cry Wolf", a lovely walk down memory lane for G and I. The kids all enjoyed the movie too - except for the littlest M. She didn't like the main character eating the mice, or when he falls through the ice. (I never liked that part either.) So she opted out of watching the movie and went to bed instead. The other kids had a good laugh at the rabbit who watches the proceedings of this man falling through the ice. They have a strange sense of humor. Next up wasn't a movie - but G's boss/supervisor came to dinner here. There's a first time for everything. Actually he works in California and was visiting the area for meetings. Knowing how G gets sick of restaurant food while traveling, we deciding to ask The Boss to eat with us one night and give him a break from traveling food. I think he liked...