Alabama Times

Trip north – part 3 and final!

2012-01-11T12:41:00.001-06:00

We decided to change plans and switch our day in NYC to an extra day in DC on the way home. That worked out very well because the weather in DC was incredibly nice and it was supposed to rain all day in NYC. Also, there were very few people in DC – so no crowds. Whoo hoo!

This time, we took the metro system in to avoid trying to decipher the parking sign codes of DC. I may be the only one, but they make NO sense to me! On a previous trip years ago, my car got “towed” because I was parked in the wrong spot at the wrong hour.

We took a tour of the capitol building where they do a nice job of including all of the states in the presentation. Here are the kids near a Helen Keller statue (she was from Alabama).

John at the Supreme Court building. John and kids taking a little break from walking. It was so warm that John and Savannah wore short sleeves all day!

The sky was gorgeous again this day – the next few pictures are some of my favorites! Especially the tree – my fb friends may recognize it already. This was a tree near the capitol building.

Most of the museums in DC are free, but the National Building Museum is not. We went into the courtyard area and enjoyed lunch instead. It was very pretty in there and we were feeling like it has been part of a movie – anybody know?

Lion statue outside of the police museum. Outside Ford’s Theatre where Lincoln was assassinated.

Outside the FBI building. I like the row of flags. At dusk, the Washington Monument looked cool against the sky.

And the National “Holiday” tree. Very funny because it was dinky this year. I know different states have the honor of sending in the tree, but I was surprised at how small it was. So small, that a foreign, Asian-looking man stopped us to inquire where the tree was … and we were only about 1/2 block away. It was “hiding” behind a small tent that was also part of their display!

On the final leg of our trip home, we stopped in at Liberty University where John did his undergraduate studies. It was fun to see where he went to college and also for him to see the changes. We stayed the night in Knoxville, TN the last night and I have always loved seeing Historic Knoxville High from the freeway. It wasn’t far from our hotel, so we drove past to get a picture.

We arrived home on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a pretty quiet rest of the year at home. Loved all of the neat places and people that we saw, but it is also nice to be home.

Trip north – part 2

2012-01-10T09:00:00.000-06:00

After spending a few days with family and friends in PA, we decided to visit NYC. We both LOVE NYC and have missed our annual visits in to the city. This time was an exception, however. We both were feeling a little like we were coming down with something and our normal “tricks” of parking in the city weren’t working. We drove around for 2 hours without finding a parking spot. We decided to backtrack to our hotel and take the bus in instead. That worked very well, but the weather was kind of drizzly, damp and cold, so it was less than ideal. Also – there were SO many people everywhere – it was crazy! I guess everyone wanted to go to NYC over Christmas. Seriously, busy. Around Times Square, the police blocked off some of the vehicle lanes in order to accommodate the people traffic! We had the kids with us, so we were very conscious of keeping track of them, too.

Why would I put a blurry picture in of the Brooklyn Bridge? Because it sums up our morning in NYC! The Freedom Tower is progressing.

John and the kids in Times Square. Kids in the M&M store :)

Pretty Christmas tree in the lobby of an office building. Tree at Rockefeller Plaza.
Loads of people – the police were directing people traffic. Countdown projected on the side of a building – it didn’t really seem to do anything, so we weren’t sure what it was for.

These lights were beautiful!! The kids and me in front of the huge ornaments. I saw them on tv a couple of days later :)
We still love NYC, but this was not our favorite trip in.

Trip north – part 1

2012-01-09T14:03:00.001-06:00

After our trip west, we stayed home about 8 whole days before embarking on a 10-day trip up to PA to visit John’s side of the family. We left on Dec 14, the day before Savannah’s birthday. We drove as far as Washington, DC and stayed overnight. The next day, we went to Arlington National Cemetery – you know, to celebrate Savannah’s birthday :) It’s just what worked for us that day – we did go to the Native American Museum later in the day and she enjoyed that, too.

I don't think we can express enough gratitude to the men and women who serve and have served in the military. Our freedoms are only possible because of what they have given. Thank you!

JFK’s grave and memorial
Memorial amphitheater – the sky was beautiful that day.

We toured the Robert E. Lee home. A memorial to the Columbia space shuttle. Love that the big cross is right there.

Tomb of the unknown soldier. We caught the changing of the guard.

One of my favorite pictures. I just love how the sky looks and the lines created with the tombstones. Also the scraggly trees on the horizon add to the beauty.

This is cool – at the Native American Museum, they have this beautiful flag on display. It is made entirely of tiny beads.

We spent the next few days in PA visiting family and friends. This time, we caught up with some that we haven’t seen in a few visits, but unfortunately missed out on seeing some others. There is simply never enough time.

Thanks to John’s side of the family for the wonderful hospitality and fun. They have always welcomed me with open arms and they instantly became my family, too. Much love to all of you!

Road trip 2011 – part 11

2012-01-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 27-30 12/3-12/6 – Headed home! Stops in Santa Fe, NM, Shamrock, TX and Little Rock, AR.

LOVE Santa Fe!! SO CUTE!!! We went to the Loretto Chapel to see the “Miracle staircase”. On the right is the San Miguel Church – the oldest church structure in the US ca. 1610.

The left is a parking structure!! I would live there – I love the southwestern architecture and the warm look of adobe.

Beautiful hotel in downtown Santa Fe. Native Americans set up their crafts near the square.
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Shamrock, TX was a gem of a little town. Cute water tower and even cuter “gas pumps”.
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Oklahoma City, OK – we stopped for a break in our travelling to visit the OK City memorial and the capital building.

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Last night on the road, we spent at Little Rock, AR. The next morning, we toured the capital building before heading home.

WHEW!!! Wonderful trip with many spectacular memories. We are so incredible thankful to the Lord for watching over us in so many ways. We didn’t have any car troubles, only one spot of scary driving (on snow), one somewhat close call (freaky kind of accident), beautiful weather, great health, good attitudes (well, the other 3 did – ha! I did most of the time!), great visits with family and friends, a ton of pictures and a lifetime of memories that we were able to share as a family! Priceless, truly!
We stayed home and rested for about 8 days before we headed out for another 10 day trip to visit John’s side of the family. Oh don’t worry – I’ll show you some of those pictures, too! HA!

Road trip 2011 – part 10

2012-01-04T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 26 12/2 – Day in Grand Canyon, AZ – stayed the night in Flagstaff, AZ.
A picture is worth a 1000 words – even a 1000 words wouldn’t begin to describe this! So, here are some pictures.

Road trip 2011 – part 9

2012-01-03T09:00:00.000-06:00

Are you sick of me yet? HA!
Day 24-25 (11/30-12/1) – Las Vegas, NV. Not my favorite place, but I did enjoy some aspects of it.

I pretended these were 3 crosses :) The water show at the Bellagio is spectacular – we cheered after they played the Hallelujah Chorus!! :)
During the day, we drove out to Hoover Dam and Lake Meade. We walked on the walkway on the new bridge and then we also walked on the dam. It’s massive, too! Amazing to imagine all of the work and engineering that goes into something like this.

Somewhere on the trip, Hadden started wanting to take pictures, so some shots are his handiwork.

More colors – even a purplish one! Amazing number of different colors in this one area on the drive by Lake Meade.
We came across Red Rock State Park – WHAT FUN!!! It’s like a bunch of big boulders that we could climb on.

Next up: Grand Canyon!!!

Road trip 2011 – part 8

2012-01-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 23 11/29 – We drove from Bryce Canyon to Springdale, UT and stayed in a local hotel there. It was dark on the drive there and we didn’t know if we would find anything open in Springdale, so we stopped in a small town along the way at a grocery store and got some snacks. The cashier warned John about watching out for deer along the way. So glad that she did, because we saw probably 8 deer along the side of the road!
While driving, we could also tell that we were passing some very large mountains along the side of the road, but we couldn’t see them very clearly. One part of the road has a VERY long tunnel – so long that I was starting to get concerned that it would never end! Inside the tunnel, we saw a strange critter – looked kind of like a cat with a raccoon, fluffy tail. Later, we asked a park ranger what it was and they told us that it was a ringtail and that it was very rare for people to see them.
I know it will be hard to believe, but I really did weed out a lot of pictures! These are just some of my favorites. We really liked Zion National Park – absolutely beautiful and different than Bryce Canyon in its own way. At Bryce, the main viewing points are at the rim. At Zion, the main viewing points are down in the bottom, so both offer a very unique, beautiful view of God’s creation.

Just look at the colors of the rocks!! And the sky!!!

It’s hard to grasp the scale, but these are VERY large. Did I mention the colors? :)

We drove to the end of the road first and worked our way back out. We took a very easy hike along the river.

Just a bunch of shots of the fam and the canyon during the morning hike. It was cold!!

On the return, we saw a small group of deer eating along the path. We watched them as they crossed over the river.

We also took another hiking trail – this one a little less groomed and we hiked to the emerald pools – small waterfalls with pools below them. Much more enjoyable hike, as it had warmed up a bit. There was a narrow pathway, so we spent some time goofing off.

Words and pictures just don’t do it justice – it is incredibly beautiful! We already want to go back and spend more time there doing some of the longer hikes.

To try to give you a sense of perspective … we spied some climbers scaling the face of one of the mountains. The above series shows them up close (far left), a little further away (look very closely at the dark stripe in the center) and finally zoomed out all of the way (the dark stripe is right about the center of the frame). Can you spy them in the last one? We watched them for a few minutes – long enough for the bottom climber to catch up the the upper one. I have no idea how high they were planning on going, but WOW!!

Road trip 2011 – part 7

2012-01-01T09:00:00.001-06:00

Whew – I did warn you that we took a LOT of pictures!
Day 22 (11/28) – Drove to Provo, UT and stayed the night. Continued on to Bryce Canyon in UT. Pictures don’t do it justice as to how beautiful it really is.

A smaller formation on the drive in. That is a person a little left of center in the picture. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the beautiful colors in the rocks.

It had recently snowed, so there was lingering patches here and there. Just enough to make it extra beautiful.

Hoodoos – beautiful colors!

The ravens were very cute. Here is one on the sign at the highest elevation point.

To kind of grasp the scale … those are pine trees at the top of the picture.

Natural bridge.

This was my favorite spot – I think they called it the amphitheater. Breathtaking views looking down into a huge bowl area. We didn’t do a lot of hiking here because it was cold, later in the day, and there were some icy spots on the trails. We mostly enjoyed this canyon from the rim.

At the end of the day, we were at a lookout point where a nice trail went down a little distance. Hadden and I decided to hike down for a bit. That’s us in the picture above.

Aren’t we little? :)
Next up: Zion National Park

Road trip 2011 – part 6

2011-12-31T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 18-21 (11/24-11/27) We headed to Idaho for some extended rest with my sister, Teresa, and her family in their new home. After travelling so many miles each day, it was nice to rest for a few days and relax.

Thanksgiving meal with Rob, Teresa, Joshua, John, Luke, and Ethan – fun times!
Saturday, most of us went to Boise, ID to visit the state capital and the zoo. We also found an Idaho Black History Museum that we enjoyed spending some time at.

Bald eagle and zebra at the zoo.

Beautiful tiger and the 4 kiddos in a nest. They are all fairly close in age, so that have hours of fun together!

Inside the capital building looking down – there was a beautiful tree made out of potted poinsettias on the bottom floor. We discovered that the ceiling in the elevator was a mirror, so we took a quirky shot of us all looking up. Ha – sorry, Rob, you are hidden by a light – must mean that you are the brightest of us all :)

We took a timed photo of all of us together. Also, one of just the cousins.
This was our last group of family or friends to visit on this trip. We were SO thrilled to spend time with each of you, but there is never enough time. Thank you ALL for your hospitality! It’s so nice that my family are also my friends – it’s a blessing to be with each one.
So, I guess it would now be each of your turns to visit us!!! Tag – you’re it!

Road trip 2011 – part 5

2011-12-30T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 13 (11/19) – We stayed in Cannon Beach, OR to visit my sister, Debbie, and her husband, Troy. After taking a very large detour getting to their house, we had a very nice time together. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed a little more time at the Pacific Ocean when we arrived.

Ecola State Park. Debbie and me at a lookout spot.

Our boy and some rocks. Beautiful sunset on the beach.
Family photo on the beach.

Uncle Troy shared his enjoyment of guns and even blessed Hadden with one to keep! He also took some time to do some target practice and they all had fun shooting. I stood inside by the very warm fire :)
Thanks Deb and Troy for your warm hospitality – we had a great time seeing you!
Day 14-16 (11/20-11/22) We arrived into Portland later in the evening, so we went straight to the hotel in Wilsonville to rest up. We stayed at the same hotel where our wedding reception was located almost 12 years ago.
While John took the kids to OMSI and a day out at the mall, I got to spend time with my 1/2 brain and bff, Heidi. She and her husband, Rob were blessed with little Maximus last February and this is the first time I got to meet him in person. So much fun catching up with Heidi and playing with the little man.

Heidi and Maximus. We were training him early to enjoy some Star*bucks! (Don’t worry, it was the clean, extra cup they put on for insulation.)

So sweet to spend time with them! Thanks Heidi for a great time visiting!
Day 17 (11/23) – On to Pendleton to visit my sister, Linda, and her family.

Carl (and his puppy, Spot :), Linda, Jordan, Hope and Carl and Girl.

I had to sneak a shot of Caleb before he left for work. Hope, Savannah and Girl. Hadden and Carl.
Thanks Carl, Linda, Caleb, Jordan, Hope and Carl for the nice visit, good food, and fun cousins game of Pictio*nary!
Next up: Idaho

Road trip 2011 – part 4

2011-12-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 9-11 (11/14-11/17) – Stayed the night in Los Angeles, CA then drove the coastal highway up to San Francisco. Along the way, we were able to meet up with a good friend from college, Dave C., in Monterey. I can’t believe that I forgot to get pictures when we were with him!

We also stopped for a few minutes to get our feet in the Pacific Ocean. Clear instructions were given to “not get soaked”!

Guess who didn’t listen and got soaked? HA – he got knocked over by a wave. Savannah was wet enough to need to change clothes, too.

San Francisco is a beautiful city. We enjoyed Lombard Street, the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, COIT Tower, Chinatown and many other hilly streets :)

Look for John up the hill a little on Lombard Street. This is Coit Tower on the right – it was a beautiful day.

We walked to Chinatown and enjoyed the culture their. We ate lunch at a family restaurant, then walked through the streets and found a little park where there were tables of people set up all over. We wondered what gambling card game they were playing. Does anyone know?

John and kids near the Coit tower. Mail deliverers in San Francisco are fit and trim!

Street trolley car – we didn’t ride on this time. Alcatraz from the parkway.

The second day, we walked almost 8 miles. We parked along Marina Blvd and walked along the water to the Golden Gate Bridge and went as far as they would allow on the pedestrian walkway. They have the walkway blocked off near the middle of the bridge, so that was the furthest we could go. For fun, to join other tourists, we dropped a nickel onto the bridge. We told the kids that when they return with their kids, they should look for our nickel.

Next we went to Fisherman’s Wharf and specifically to Pier 39 to see the sea lions. The kids enjoyed their fussing and bellowing at each other. Although there were many empty piers, they all seemed to need to be together on just a few.

On the way back to the car, the kids each got a stuffed sea lion to remember the fun time we had here.

COFFEE!! This is the car that we rented waiting in line at the nice little coffee shop. I can be a bit like the sea lions when I haven’t had my coffee soon enough!

The Golden Gate Bridge is reportedly “the most photographed bridge in the world”. John definitely did his part to keep that tradition going. We have at least 75 pictures that include the bridge in some way. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Leaving San Francisco, we saw a beautiful double rainbow right next to the highway. I can’t say that I have ever seen one that “close” before. Sure seemed like the pot of gold should be there somewhere. We took a little detour off of the main road to enjoy the drive-thru redwood tree. We missed seeing the majority of redwood trees because it had gotten too dark by the time we went through that area, but you could see glimpses in the headlights and they are magnificent, I’m sure.

Day 12 (11/18) - Overnight in Medford, OR and then on to Cannon Beach to visit my sister, Debbie.

Road trip 2011 – part 3

2011-12-28T09:00:00.000-06:00

Having fun yet? We sure were! Day 6-8 (11/12-11/14) Yuma, AZ with my parents. My parents actually live in OR, but they travel to Yuma for the winters where it’s warm and sunny most of the time! They both are very active and enjoy golfing several times per week.

They took us to a couple of flea markets where we enjoyed looking at all of the items for sale. I thought the signs for the oranges were so cute! The sample orange that he gave us was pretty good, but I must not have picked the right ones, because the ones that I bought weren’t all that great.
They spoiled us immensely with fabulous steak and crab that they had caught themselves on the OR coast. YUM!!! Savannah and Hadden had never tried crab and both loved it.
On our last day visiting, they took us to Al Godones, Mexico. Boy, was that a cultural experience! Immediately after crossing the border, visitors are bombarded with people trying to tempt them into their store or to buy their items.

My Dad walking through the shops. Savannah found another horse.

The vendors are very aggressive at trying to sell items and one of their tricks is to hand you the merchandise to keep you from walking away. I had several "pure silver" bracelets in my hand at one point when one caught my eye. I really didn't need a bracelet and he wanted $30 for it. HA! I offered him $5 and we bartered back and forth, him saying a value less each time and me saying $5. I ended up buying it for $5 :)

Savannah thought she might like to try bartering, too, and she was looking for a horse pendant for a necklace. After searching for a while, she finally found a little burro that was very cute. He also wanted $30 and she offered $5. Again, the bartering started. She kept saying $5 until he agreed. She might be pretty good at this bartering stuff!

Slug-bug is a favorite game of ours. This one was exceptionally cute. With my parents in Al Godones, MX.

Street vendors – one drew us in with his spray painting art. Before long, we had bought 2 paintings as a souvenir.

Big red truck at the border. Street vendor getting prepared for the day.

Back to Yuma for some lunch at Lutes Casino. Do you recognize this Yuma criminal?

The sign in the background says “Dick and Jane’s Lunchbox” – my parents go by Dick and Jane :)
Finally, we had to say our good-byes and head to Los Angeles, CA.
A million thanks to my parents for a wonderful time!

Road trip 2011 – part 2

2011-12-27T09:00:00.000-06:00

Day 3 (11/9) – Driving through West Texas to Las Cruces, NM. Another very long drive with flat landscape and an occasional oil pump. Very glad to see 80 mph sign! Stayed in Las Cruces, NM at Holiday Inn Express (using points).
Day 4 (11/10) – Toured Old Town Mesilla and then stayed in Green Valley at Holiday Inn Express.

Old Town Mesilla is CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!!! I really love southwestern architecture, so we enjoyed wandering around the square. This is also where Billy the Kid was tried and hung.

Beautiful adobe structures with adorable red pepper garland. An old truck for sale.

Oldest brick building in New Mexico.

Savannah in front of one of the quirky, cultural, artsy shops. New Mexico seems abundant in artists. Quaint shops on every corner – just cute!

This was a pottery shop that John came across – the shop owner was very sweet and taught the kids a little about pottery making. We bought a bowl with red peppers in it as a keepsake.

Some exposed adobe brick.

Church in Mesilla. Had this headstone as a dedication to the unborn that are silenced.

Mountains and rock formations along the road.

Saguaro cactus were plentiful and HUGE!! Ha – we took the “scenic” drive through part of AZ. We got a good chuckle at the amount of scenic cactus that we got to see. The cactus block the view of the backdrop of mountains.

We stayed in room 111 and woke up there on 11/11/11 :) The picture on the right was taken very near 11:11 on 11/11/11
Day 5 (11/11) – Driving through Tucson, AZ over to Yuma, AZ to visit my parents. We stopped for a break and stretch and enjoyed some of the cactus skeletons.

In 2000, John made a trip out to Phoenix and Tucson to check out some rammed earth construction. Here is a before (2000), and after (2011). He looks even better now :)
These rammed earth pieces are in Tucson, AZ.

A couple of other additions, as well! Here are the kiddos with Daddy! Outside a rammed earth architect’s home.

Loved this exposed adobe brick structure.

Quaint little street with all kinds of beautiful adobe/stucco homes. Cute little old car makes it feel like time is standing still.
Next up: Yuma, AZ and Mexico with my parents

Road trip 2011 - part 1

2011-12-26T12:30:00.001-06:00

Nov. 7th, 2011, we began a 30-day road trip west to visit my side of the family and to tour some sights. John has been working in the prison for 4 years, and We Care Program allowed him an 8-week sabbatical. We are grateful for this opportunity for him to rest and to be rejuvenated. We are continually thankful for all of you who support us through prayers, words of encouragement, sharing of your lives and financial support.

Be warned – we took a LOT of pictures. Day 1 (11/7) – driving to Dallas. Day 2 (11/8) – touring Dallas and Fort Worth.

We rented a car because we didn’t feel confident in either of our vehicles. The cost savings of better gas mileage offset the cost of the rental, so we felt that it was worth it. Our first stop was Dallas/Fort Worth, TX area where we stayed 2 nights. Driving the first day, we went through Jackson, MS, so we took a short walk at the capitol. We spent some time praying for the personhood amendment that was on the MS ballot, as the next day was election day. We drove about 11 hours and stayed in the Intercontinental Hotel north of Dallas using our accumulated hotel points. Most of our hotel stays were using redeemed hotel points, so we were able to stay for free a lot of places.

The next morning, we drove into downtown Dallas to see some of the sights. This is a new bridge under construction. We enjoyed the large sculptures of long-horn cattle in the midst of a cattle drive through Dallas.

This is the area where John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Notable sign on the Dallas Morning News building – I wonder how many that work in the building read and adhere to this sign. The other picture is of a tall, observation tower that you can pay to go up in. We just enjoyed it from the sidewalk.

Fun opportunity for a family picture – using the reflection of the glass :)

Visitor’s museum in Dallas. The picture on the right is the Convention Center in Los Calinas. It has a very unique architecture and use of materials. We parked there and walked to see the mustang sculptures.

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed hanging out with the mustangs. Savannah loves horses, so she sat and sketched the outlines of all of the horses.

On to the Stockyards in Fort Worth. It was later in the day, so there weren’t a lot of people around. We enjoyed meandering through the shops and talking to the shop owners.

We decided that a fun, inexpensive souvenir would be crushed pennies from different places. The kids had fun looking for the machines, and also crushing them at each place they found them along our journey.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T14:57:00.001-06:00

May you truly know the love of Jesus this Christmas season!

Field trips

2011-09-29T21:18:00.001-05:00

Boy, it’s been a while since I posted. No excuses, really. I did want to show you some pictures from our recent field trips. First, we went to the Ave Marie Grotto in Cullman, AL. Here’s a little piece from their website:

Known throughout the world as "Jerusalem in Miniature," is a beautifully landscaped, four-acre park designed to provide a natural setting for the 125 miniature reproductions of some of the most famous historic buildings and shrines of the world. The masterpieces of stone and concrete are the lifetime work of Brother Joseph Zoettl, a Benedictine monk of St. Bernard Abbey. Begun as a hobby, with various materials he could find, and infinite patience and a remarkable sense of symmetry and proportion, Brother Joseph re-created some of the greatest edifices of all time.

Kids enjoyed pointing out things they could find. Friendly cat gives you a size perspective.

This one is the actual grotto – it was interesting. Again, some kids in front to give perspective of the size.

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This past week, we went to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, TN. Lots of fun! They have a “river journey” and an “ocean journey”. I really enjoy aquariums and this was very nice. It is also nice that the kids are a little older and can enjoy it more.

New “fish” were added to the tank! And the penguins – oh, the penguins! It was homeschool day at the aquarium, so they had planned feedings and taught us about the penguins. They also had divers in the super huge tank talking about the animals.

And, the rays!!! How cool are these? They were HUGE! This is a silhouette of Hadden with the ray behind him. Then, I was able to catch two of them at once.

Some fun, goofy pictures mixed in :)

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Finally, we ended our day on the Chattanooga “Duck” tour. Here is a piece from their website:

The DUKW (Presently known as ''Duck'') was developed by the National Defense Research Committee and the Office of Scientific Research and Development, it was initially rejected by the armed services. When a United States Coast Guard patrol craft ran aground on a sandbar near Provincetown, Massachusetts, an experimental DUKW happened to be in the area for a demonstration. Winds up to 60 knots (110 km/h), rain, and heavy surf prevented conventional craft from rescuing the seven stranded Coast Guardsmen, but the DUKW had no trouble, and the military opposition melted. The DUKW would later prove its seaworthiness by crossing the English Channel.

It rained! We got pretty soaked, but it was really fun. During the time on the water, the guide gave a lot of historical information about Chattanooga. While he was speaking, he gave the kids an opportunity to “man” the boat. I took some pictures with my phone, but I think you get the idea :)

How are you doing? What’s going on in your life?

Birthday boy and Braves/Dodgers

2011-09-06T11:58:00.002-05:00

Last week, we celebrated Hadden’s 9th birthday! We are so thankful for the fine young man that God has blessed us with! Savannah was very helpful, also. She really enjoys making birthdays special, so she secretly made something for him (so she could surprise him), then proceeded to create an adventure. She made a scavenger hunt with clues that he had to find and then once he found all of the clues, he had to put the puzzle together to make a map. The map showed the location of the present.

Hadden has found all of the clues and is putting the pieces together. I am so thrilled that our kids ask to wrap their presents in newspaper! A couple of years ago, during the middle of building our house, it was someone’s birthday and I had NO IDEA where wrapping paper might be. Rather than buy more, I just decided to wrap their presents in newspaper. Now, it has become a favorite – love that!

Here is the finished puzzle – and LEGOS!! The boy loves legos! Bonus that we found this on clearance a couple of months ago :)

Then, on Friday, we traveled over to Atlanta for a Braves/Dodgers game. John has been a Dodgers fan for a long time and Hadden likes both the Braves and the Dodgers, so he would have been happy either way the game went. John’s Mom loved the Braves as well. It was a pretty good game and the Dodgers even pulled out the win.

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We are also at the beginning of fall soccer and baseball. Someone commented on how Hadden seems to play baseball year around, and Savannah plays soccer all the time, too. For now, since those are the only sports that they are playing, they are doing both the normal and the off-season for those sports. The normal season for soccer is fall, but there is an off-season in the spring. Spring is baseball season, with fall being the off-season. Hadden also had the privilege of playing all-stars which is in the summer. All that to say … yes, they do play a lot!! :)

We're heading to a Braves game!!!

2011-09-02T13:33:00.002-05:00

We are very excited to head to Atlanta for a Braves game - they are playing the Dodgers. Whoo hoo!

Hearer and whisperer …

2011-08-22T17:41:00.001-05:00

I think it is safe to call John the “hearer of snakes”. He is still working on the whisperer part! Seriously – he has super-sonic ears, I’m telling you. We all went for a walk the other day doing our usual snake check. Disappointed that we didn’t see one, we turned to head home when John heard a sound and said “that’s a snake!” Although, I was initially doubtful, he was right – it was a snake!! (I have been known to dismiss snake rattling sounds for leaves, cicadas, etc.) This time, it was hiding under a dead log – the same place we have seen one before. Yuck! I have left the picture small for you squeamish types, but here is the proof :) It’s another crotalus horridus.

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Now, for the whisperer part – the kids and I went and watched Paul Daily break a horse to ride. It was really fascinating and we all enjoyed it. Throughout the approximate 2 hours, he weaves his testimony and faith in God through the training of the horse and how it relates to each of us. Check out their website for more information.

Just getting started – the horse initially just ran around and around the pen.

Persistent “helper”

After calming and working with the horse, his daughter went for a ride.

He was kind enough to allow a picture with our kiddos.

Sugar cookie recipe

2011-08-19T12:33:00.004-05:00

I don't normally share recipes, but this one is SO good I can't help myself. I found it a couple of years ago on allrecipes.com and have made it a few times. It is super easy and the cookies are really good. (note: this recipe makes a lot of cookies)

Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

If you know me well, you know I love icing and these cookies are just as good without icing. Enjoy! And if you make them, let me know what you think.

And the answer is ...

2011-08-17T16:03:00.002-05:00

Yep - the letter 'e'.

Sorry, Don, no cd :)

**update** - I didn't get this one, but my husband did (thought I could stump him). Our friend, Don did also and was hoping for a prize.

Brain teaser ...

2011-08-16T11:50:00.002-05:00

Here is a fun brain teaser from our school today - can you guess it? (I didn't :)

What is the beginning of eternity, The end of time and space; The beginning of every end, And the end of every race?

Random

2011-08-12T10:07:00.001-05:00

Can you guess what this is? I just absolutely love it. We finally watched “How to train your dragon”, and the next day, Savannah sewed her very own dragon. If you haven’t seen the movie, I’ll explain just a little bit. The main character, Hiccup, is supposed to be a ferocious Viking and kill dragons. In an attempt to kill one, he wounds it, but doesn’t have the heart to kill it. He helps it by creating an artificial tail and befriends it. That’s all I’m going to tell you, I don’t want to spoil anymore of the movie :) Savannah’s version is a hurt wing, so she built an artificial wing for it. It also has the little “saddle” to hold on. Just very cute and creative, in my opinion.

She was kind enough to share her sewing machine so I could finish up the valances for the master bath. I like how they turned out (if they look uneven, it’s because I had to shoot at a funny angle because of the shower :). The countertop in this bathroom is called African something or other, so I thought the cheetah print was appropriate. It finally looks complete in there. There is only one room left to finish the valances, but I don’t have the fabric for that room yet.

Random question – why do we consider the plants that grow well weeds? And the plants that we spend money on, that don’t grow so well … somehow those are special? This little vine is growing in a little pine tree and just looks so pretty, I think. The bumblebee doesn’t mind that it is a weed, either.

Itty bitty snaky

2011-08-11T10:29:00.001-05:00

John and I went for a walk this morning and when we got back to the house, here was a little friend waiting for us by the car! It was a baby – really hoping it doesn’t have siblings!! We think it might have been a copperhead.

Stairs and more …

2011-08-09T14:52:00.001-05:00

These are the stairs that John built! Don’t they look nice? Please don’t overlook the staining job, either – that was my contribution. Please disregard all of the extra building supplies under the deck … John does not have a shop yet. Everyone with me now – awwww, poor John. :) I do feel badly for him and hope that someday, we will be able to build him a kickin’ shop!

Part of the encouragement for Savannah to agree to sell the camper was that we could afford to get a pool. It was later in the season when we actually purchased it, so we got it for less money – whoo hoo! Our biggest problem was filling it – we have an adequate well, but at the time of filling, we had not had a lot of rain. So, we just kind of trickled water into it every day and filled it very slowly. I conveniently am not showing you the water because it doesn’t “look” all that great – we have a lot of iron in our water that reacts with the chlorine. It is kind of like looking at lake water, but the water tests good for chlorine and pH :) The kids have finally gotten more confident in the water, so it has been worth every effort. It is also nice for us big kids to cool off.

Don’t you just love this picture? We had a fun, family evening. John dug a fire pit and built a stand for the pot to sit on. Then, he (with just a little help for me) made campfire stew, using onions and tomatoes from our garden. It was a fun memory-making kind of night and I’m so glad that my hubby persisted in pursuing it :)

Kind of a fun story about the dutch oven – we had looked for a sturdy pot at Wally World, but didn’t find anything suitable. Saturday, we still didn’t have a pot, so Savannah and I went into the Antique mall nearby and they had exactly what I was looking for – now, how often does that happen? I was so excited!

Thought this was a cute picture :)

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On a completely different note – I have been really enjoying reading through the Bible chronologically. I am currently in Isaiah and all kinds of verses are just jumping out at me – I love that. This recently struck a note with me:

Isaiah 32:16-17 The LORD’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.

What’s been happening at our house …

2011-07-21T12:06:00.001-05:00

Final baseball tally: They had a record of 25-9. We are already looking forward to next year!

Another bobcat sighting – this time, we have tracks. The bottom print is one of our dogs, the top is the bobcat. The kids and I went for a jog to the hunting cabin on an overcast day and on the return trip, we spotted it running ahead of us in the road. Hadden and I both saw it this time.

Birds, birds, and more birds. There are 7 in this picture, but this morning, there were 8 on the feeder at one time. They are eating us out of all of the sugar in the house :)

Projects:

John recently built stairs down from the deck. This was the truck with the supplies! Only in Alabama :)

I finished staining the deck – at least the top face of everything. I still need to finish the outside edges and will need scaffolding to reach it. I was on the hummingbird superhighway while working on the deck.

While John and the kids were away at church camp at Shocco Springs, I had some indoor projects to tackle. One of the reasons John finished the stairs down from the deck was so that I could work on the entryway and still get in/out of the house.

Before – plain door and bare concrete floor.

These turned into nightmare projects for me. The first thing I did was attempt to stain the door – this picture doesn’t look that bad, but believe me, it looks awful. I really don’t like using gel stain and that is what the person at HD gave me to do the fiberglass door. I obviously am not good at it, because some spots started to dry too quickly and the finish looks uneven. I bought some stuff to take off the old and I will try again later. I also found some tips online on how to handle gel stain, so hopefully it will turn out better.

And … the floor. Oh, the floor! I actually lost sleep over this one. I was going for the nice look of mottled colored concrete that you sometimes see in restaurants. Not sure exactly what happened, but it didn’t turn out at all. Above is the intermediate – lovely, huh? Looks like smeared, dirty concrete – nothing close to what I was going for.

So, back to the paint store for a different approach. Unfortunately, I couldn’t put the new one over the old one, so I had to sand off this layer before putting on the new one. John and the kids got home somewhere in the process of sanding. :(

Here it is after the first coat of solid stain color – much better, in my opinion. I have one more coat of clear to put on and the floor will be finished. And, then, back to the doors. We have decided it would be best to take it off the hinges, so we will have to plan that carefully with the heat and weather.

So – what have you been up to?

... and they're done.

2011-07-15T09:10:00.001-05:00

They made it to 4th place in state - way to go, boys!

Still going!!!

2011-07-13T17:14:00.001-05:00

They are now top 4!!! Such exciting games, too. They won two games last night to advance, but tonight’s games were cancelled because of storms. We all think it is a big blessing that we get a night off to rest and recover. It’s exhausting yelling at every game :)

Hadden running from 2nd to 3rd in last night’s game. Picture courtesy of Rhonda Hindman – our amazingly awesome team Mom!

To Him be all glory!

Baseball update

2011-07-12T12:01:00.001-05:00

Hadden's team is in the State playoff tournament - they are currently in the top 8 teams. They have had one loss in a double elimination tournament, so they need to win to keep playing. They will have 2 games tonight (if they win the first). Please pray that Hadden would just do his best and have fun. He has been playing really well in this tournament (which obviously makes it more fun :).

Some exciting times at the ballpark - and not necessarily the good kind. The level of competition has increased significantly and with that everyone is stepping up a notch.However, coach and fan tempers are also flaring up some and the police were called to the ballpark the other night and a coach was ejected! Unfortunately, he deserved it, and he cost his team a very important win. They are now out of the tournament as we dealt them their second loss. The only one to feel bad for is the boys who played a great baseball game.

Praying for just some good, old-fashioned, clean, fun baseball from here on out!

Crotalus horridus was a little too close-us

2011-07-06T10:37:00.003-05:00

Very appropriate scientific name, don't you think?

Photo courtesy of Outdoor Alabama - by Mark Bailey.

First a little background info. About a month ago, we had spied a timber rattler several feet below us in a rock cliff by our neighbor's hunting cabin. It was very cool to observe the snake from that nice, safe distance. So, now when we go on walks out there, we routinely check to see if it might have returned to that same spot so we can see it again.

Yesterday morning when I took the dogs for a walk, I went to do a "snake-check", peered over the edge of the cliff and discovered the snake had not yet returned to that spot. I paused for just a second to enjoy the view, turned around to retrace my steps and head home when I spied crotalus horridus just a tiny few feet from me! Maybe one whole stride away, just a rattling away at me. I froze in my tracks because I didn't want to startle it any further. I did have a chance to observe that it wasn't coiled and was starting to slither away underneath a rock. Mother-may-I sized GIANT step sideways and then another and somewhere in there, my heart started beating again. Whew - what an adrenaline rush that was!

Yes, crotalus horridus was wayyy too close-us for me! I have no idea if it was the same snake, or its buddy, but I didn't stick around long enough to find out. John and I were going to walk out and try to find it this morning, but the owner of the cabin went past before we had a chance, so John called him and warned him that the snake may still be there.

Life in the country is full of all sorts of surprises!

Happy 50th Anniversary, Dad and Mom!

2011-06-17T16:45:00.003-05:00

Wishing my parents a Happy 50th Anniversary! That is quite an accomplishment!

This picture is from the last time we were out in Oregon. By the size of the kids, it has obviously been way too long!! We are hoping to make a trip out this fall to visit.

This is a recent picture of Mom with the kids when she visited with my sister, Teresa.

Much love to both of you!

ps - they didn't want a big to-do or a party, but I think it is very blog worthy, just the same :)

She’s creative, funny, loving and giving

2011-06-10T10:27:00.002-05:00

Although life has currently been all about Hadden’s baseball, I don’t want to overlook our girl. To her credit, she has very patiently endured many hours at the practice field and game field watching her brother play! She does have soccer camp coming up in a couple of weeks, so she will have something fun to do, also. She is also looking forward to summer camp next month.

She does very well in school – we just got her standard test results back and were very pleased with the results. She’s kind and giving to her friends and even occasionally to her brother :) She is very bossy towards him – something we are working on. I’m pretty sure that someday he will outgrow her and the bossiness just might wear a little thin for him – ha!

She’s very adventurous, crafty and creative. She always wants to find and take the “hidden trail” when we hike. She’s definitely daddy’s girl. She loves to pretend – here they are playing pirates. She love, love, loves animals and is very good with them.

I missed showing you this shot – this past spring, Savannah’s number was 42, Hadden’s was 4 and John’s was 46 (he was 1st base coach). Someone math-minded in our house saw the math problem in their numbers :)

Psalm 34:3 Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.

All-star baseball season

2011-06-09T12:25:00.002-05:00

We are in the midst of all-star baseball season and having a blast. Hadden’s team is playing very well and we are hoping they do well in the district and area tournaments to get to play at state. The state tournament is on our home field this year, so it would be great fun to play in it and to also move on to the world series. One game at a time.

Doesn’t he look sharp and grown up!! This is my favorite uniform that they wear.

They took 1st place at a tournament last weekend – great job, boys! I just have to say that these are the sweetest group of 8-year old boys that I have seen in a long time. I love that Hadden is part of a team where the boys are encouraging each other so well.

Hadden was in a bit of a hitting slump on Saturday and Sunday, so on Monday, we encouraged him to memorize 2 Timothy 1:7 “God didn't give us a spirit that makes us weak and fearful. He gave us a spirit that gives us power and love. It helps us control ourselves.”

Monday night were the final games for the tournament, and with God’s help, Hadden pulled himself out of the slump and was hitting well again. He earned the game ball for the first game and we are very proud of him! We are praying that he continues to lean on God’s strength and do his very best and bring God the glory.

The camper is SOLD!!!!

2011-06-03T11:17:00.003-05:00

I am so thrilled to announce that the camping trailer has been sold and delivered to a very sweet couple that have a piece of property along a river. Yesterday was exceptionally busy with the sales transaction, clean-up and prep for delivery. John did a great job delivering it last night and helping them get all set up.

I cannot tell you how nice it is to look outside and NOT see it there! :)

Visit from my sister and Mom

2011-05-26T11:48:00.001-05:00

One of my sisters, Teresa, had planned a visit to come and see me. Her dear boys had given her a trip to come visit as her Christmas present (thanks, boys!!!). I was delighted as it was also a gift to me! What I didn’t know, or even have the slightest idea, was that they were plotting to surprise me by having my Mom come along! Well, they pulled it off – I was very surprised and so excited! I’m pretty sure everyone in the B’ham airport heard my excitement :)

We toured some sights in downtown B’ham – 16th street Baptist church, Sloss Furnace, Botanical Gardens as well as just driving around some.

On the “Freedom Walk”. At the 16th St Baptist Church.

Thought it was kind of neat that the kids’ shirts blended into the carpet. At the Botanical Gardens.

Rainy, drizzly day at the Sloss Furnaces.

Noccalula Falls stop. These big pipes have been at the campground since we were staying there. Not sure what the plan is for them. We also toured tornado damaged areas and John put his name in for volunteering for the rebuilding phase.

We spent an afternoon at the Christian Service Mission sorting and boxing cleaning supplies for disaster relief. It was absolutely amazing to see the amount of items being donated and going out in the day that we were there – even two weeks after the storm had hit.

Trying to get a wider shot of the warehouse.

We also went on a hike to our other ridge to see the fallen trees and damage.

John balancing on a log. We also managed to fit in some ping-pong playing and a mini-tournament. Teresa won, but I'm ready for a rematch :) Hadden won second and they both received prizes that Savannah had made.

Congrats to Teresa and Hadden! Thanks for the visit, Aunt Teresa and Grandma! Come again soon! The rest of our family and friends are also VERY welcome to visit us, too :)

A little bit of baseball business ...

2011-05-22T16:14:00.005-05:00

We are so thrilled that Hadden is privileged to be playing on an 8-year old all-star baseball team. We met two of the coaches last fall when he played fall ball and they have done an exceptional job of encouraging Hadden and bringing out the best in him. He still has a lot to learn, but we are certain he will grow leaps and bounds this all-star season.

This is an excerpt from an article that John wrote recently:

My son has a new set of coaches on an “all-star” team. These men have the knowledge and wisdom to take the boys to a new level. While working with each child and correcting their bad habits, they speak life into the boys by encouraging them when they follow instructions. They are watching for “coachableness”, which in essence is the main characteristic of a good son. They are providing clear expectations and consequences for missing the mark. The coaches give good words to each boy. They brag about the boys and talk them up. They show love to the boys.

So, the coaches are definitely doing their part - now we have to do ours. We need to raise money to sponsor the team for uniforms, helmets, tournament fees, etc. and we need your help. If you are willing to sponsor his team, please send me a comment or email me at shirleykurtz at gmail dot com. We would greatly appreciate it!

I’ve got some catching up to do …

2011-05-19T11:44:00.001-05:00

Had a wonderful visit with my Mom and sister last week – lots to show and tell about that, but for now I got a little catching up to do.

For Mother’s Day, the kids went and dug up a little wildflower for me, put it in a pot, prettied it up and added a card. It was so sweet!

Another birdie “visited” us. We heard another loud thunk – this time from the front of the house. Very concerned that the hovering dog was going to have it for lunch, I snatched it up and took it to the deck to recover. I set it on a flower pot to rest, after I snapped a couple of pictures. We were not sure if it was the same bird (duh!) or two different birds, but we think that it is a Tennessee Warbler.

The kids named it “Crash” :)

What is going on?

2011-05-08T15:57:00.001-05:00

First of all – any guesses to what John is doing? He appears to be driving our house – what is going on? This was his birthday project. Happy Birthday, honey!

Next – a little bird flew into some of our glass and was stunned for a few minutes - long enough to let Hadden get close to him and for me to snap a few pictures. He recovered enough to fly off and in the process, collided with a bumblebee :) Should have snapped a picture of that little fella in his stunned state, too. Rough day for the poor bird.

So … here is what he was up to … still confused? Well, he modified the tv mount to be able to turn the tv vertically – isn’t that cool? Then, he can hook up his laptop and voila! He used the mechanics for a lazy susan, two pieces of wood, 8 bolts, washers and nuts to turn the articulating arm into a rotating articulating arm. I think he’s pretty smart - he was also kind enough to wear one of his work shirts while he was working :)

Gaining perspective

2011-05-04T12:42:00.002-05:00

So this past week has been a roller coaster kind of week - I think for all of us.

Our power was restored last Sunday evening and we are thankful for that. It has been amazing to watch the amount of help and support shown to the tornado relief efforts - I truly hope that all of those affected are able to feel that support and that no one feels isolated.

Please continue to pray for those who lost so much.

We're safe

2011-04-29T20:25:00.002-05:00

Thanks for your prayers - we are safe from the tornado damage in Alabama. We had minor damage and feel very grateful to the Lord for safety. We are without power and they anticipate it being back on by at least next Wednesday - HA! We're getting very creative for our showers.

Thanks for your prayers and please continue to pray for those who did have severe damage - it is truly mind boggling the amount of devastation.

Faith - what does it mean to you?

2011-04-18T14:52:00.003-05:00

Just to clarify - I don't mean the belief of God kind of faith as in "I put my faith in God", but the practical, active kind of "belief IN God" kind of faith.

Would love to hear your comments - if you don't have your own blog, you can always leave a comment under "Anonymous" and then leave your name in the comment :)

This and that

2011-04-13T13:28:00.002-05:00

We’ve been doing a LOT of this and that – baseball and soccer! But I LOVE it and would prefer to be running to practices and games than just sitting at home :)

Note the kid at bat – that’s our guy!! Note the man at 1st – that’s MY man! Note the kid running at 1st base – he’s likely to be famous someday. Seriously, he’s a super athlete and a sweet kid. We are trying to sneak an autograph so we can say “we knew him when …”! Hadden’s team is starting to put it all together and have won their last 2 games.

Savannah is doing very well in soccer – she seems to have turned the corner and is much more aggressive and into the game. She has a new coach and the whole team is playing very well. They had to play up a level this spring in order to allow everyone to play, but they have learned a lot and have even won a few games.

Happy. I guess he has decided to adopt us. We found out that he does not belong to the neighbors after all, and he was a stray. I felt sorry for him and started feeding him then. He is a sweet dog, so I guess we can’t complain too much. His only flaw is barking at all hours of the night :)

Behind Happy is our start of a garden. John built me some raised beds and we hauled some top soil from down the hill. I planted sweet potatoes, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, peppers, and onions so far. I bought a lot of plants that were already started because I was kind of late getting the garden in.

Our hunting cabin “neighbors” offered to rent the equipment if John would work on the road! Man, he drives a hard bargain! John worked VERY hard and put many hours in moving dirt around and the road is a LOT better. Way to go, honey!

Savannah had testing last week, so one of the days Hadden and I went to Turkey Creek Falls. This is a tubing and swimming spot in the summertime. Right now, I think it would be a little bit of a wild ride!

And, just for funny …

Lilly thinks she is a lap dog still :) Flashback to a few years ago when they both were a lot smaller!

Hadden is forever putting his shirts on backwards, but he was a good sport and let me take a picture of it. Big mistake, son!

Busy, busy, busy!!!

2011-04-09T08:35:00.001-05:00

I love it - soccer and baseball galore! Love it all, except for the gas prices - yikes!

Catch ya soon!

11 years!

2011-03-19T11:29:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was our 11th anniversary and we enjoyed a beautiful spring day together. We went to the Botanical Gardens and walked the many trails winding through all kinds of plants, trees and shrubs.

Mini-me and Dad. “Can we reach around this tree?”

Just barely!

Appropriately, Savannah was wearing a shirt with 11 on it! :) And, just today, I thought how it would have been cute if we would have made a heart with our hands.

We also went to the Birmingham Art Museum and enjoyed looking at the exhibits. We will have to go back another day because we were all pretty hungry by then :)

We ate an early supper at Red Robin before Hadden had baseball practice (chicken pesto pasta – YUM!). We all really like the American flag made from baseballs, so we snapped a shot of it before leaving. Finally, we played for a little while at Learning Express Toys. The kids made a chain from “zoobs”.

The weather was absolutely beautiful and it was a very fun day. My dear hubby even watched “Ever After” with me at the end of the day. Ah, bliss! :)

Loving this spring weather!!

2011-03-17T16:21:00.002-05:00

We are enjoying some incredible spring weather here in Alabama and it is a nice break from the rain. Baseball and soccer are in full swing, so we are hopping getting kids to their various practices and games. This past winter was very quiet - I didn't have any painting to do or other tasks to keep me busy, so I was really looking forward to spring sports starting to fill some of that down time. Boy, did that down time get filled! But I really do love it. Savannah has had 2 soccer games, and Hadden has his first game next Thursday.

----------------------
Neli was fixed last Monday - whew! She now is feeling better, however, and would really like to be outside enjoying the sunshine. Unfortunately, we have to try to keep her calm and quiet for about 4-6 more days.

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Savannah will be doing the standard testing next month, so we are doing practice tests right now. Any suggestions for spelling? She is a very avid reader, but can't spell for beans! I used to do spelling lists and tests, but have not been doing those for a while. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

----------------------
Homeschooling is going pretty well. Having our week scheduled out in advance has been a major improvement for all of us. This week, we have taken a bit of a break because the public schools are on spring break. We decided to take a break from a big load and enjoy some of the nice weather, too. 43 days to go :)

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I started making my own granola and it is so yummy! I saw a couple of recipes for crackers, so I think I will try that next. I need to get some of the ingredients first.

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John went to PA with We Care for 5 whole nights! The kids and I stayed home because of sports, but then most of the events were rained out. 5 whole nights is a really long time!!!

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Planning on putting a garden in - John made me some raised boxes and now I just need to clean them out and put some dirt in. Later tonight (after it cools down some), I am hoping to get working on that.

I will try really hard ...

2011-03-04T16:12:00.002-06:00

From now on, when John is working on a project, I will try really hard:

1. to not laugh when he asks me where his pencil is after he just had it 2 seconds ago.

2. to be more quick to help him find tools, get something, etc.

3. to be more quick to listen to him think things through.

4. to run for the charged battery for the power tool.

5. to not complain that he doesn't feel up to putting all of the tools away immediately.

Today, while John was gone, I had to rig up two temporary caps for the camper. Yesterday I found one of the little vent caps on the ground, completely destroyed. The kids then told me that there was another one missing, and sure enough, there was. I really wanted to blame the dogs because they are normally not innocent in these kinds of things, but there was really no way they could get on top of the camper.

After investigating this morning, it seems that the Alabama sun was too much for the hard plastic and they had basically disintegrated.

Since there is rain forecast for tonight and tomorrow, the gaping holes in the top of the camper really needed something over them. And, boy, do I appreciate John all the more - he makes this stuff look so easy!

After coming up with a game plan,
hunting tools and supplies,
3 separate phone calls to John,
a splinter,
sawdust in my eyes,
a broken bit (seriously? HOW did that happen?),
a dead and then replaced battery,
screws the wrong length,
hunting for more screws,
whew - found some,
assembling,
putting the first cap on,
running into "issues",
rethinking,
sawing more off of the bottom board,
praying,
coercing,
whew - it worked,
repeat most steps for second cap,
oh, good, this one was much easier,
tightening down,
exhausted,
still had to put all the tools away (ladder is still waiting),
I am DONE!

Now, off to put that ladder away before it blows away :)

Personhood

2011-02-18T13:12:00.016-06:00

Guest post by John Kline Kurtz (my dear hubby)

Person (n): A human being
What makes you a human being? Your honest educated answer will reveal your world-view. At the core of your answer is whether or not you believe that God's final creative acts during the creation were to make man and woman, breathing into them His breath of life. He granted them the means to reproduce after their kind, human beings. Only mankind was created in God's image. Man is special among all the creatures. The Psalmist declares the relationship of the pre-born with God:

For You are He who took Me out of the womb, causing Me to trust while on My mother's breasts. I was cast on You from the womb; You are My God from My mother's belly.
(Psalms 22:9-10 MKJV)

He also declares:

For You have possessed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well.
(Psalms 139:13-14 MKJV)

Now what God has covered is precious! The same Hebrew word for “cover” is used to describe the protection of important objects and principles, as well as His protection and defense of his people. God holds the pre-born children in a very special place of protection. We should too!

From the time that you were conceived, all of the necessary information to form you was present to begin the development of your body. Recently, in one of my classes at St. Clair Correctional Facility, a student referred to the child at an early stage as a “blob of cells”. I interrupted my student to address that phrase. If he thinks that the baby is just a “blob of cells” then the student himself is still just a “blob of cells”. If the baby is just a blob of cells, then he/she is equivalent to any other growth within the body of the mother. This is an argument which has permitted the “Pro-Choice” folks to choose to eradicate those cells, even if the next day, those cells would have been born a “baby”.

Redefining “Pro-Choice”
The real choice is made before intercourse. “Pro-Choice” should be defined as the “choice” to proceed with intercourse knowing it may produce another person. In other words, make your “choice” before the life of another person is involved.

Moral Laws
From a recent online article, there was a picture of a woman holding a sign declaring “Keep your laws off ..." presumably "my body”. Does she really mean that? Without laws to protect her, she could more easily become the victim of rape, abuse, and murder. Moral laws are good. The moral laws of protecting a baby's rights are meant to protect mother as well. She will be protected from the mental anguish and guilt of an abortion, and she will be protected from the eternal consequences of choosing to destroy her own child.

The same picture showed another woman holding a sign, “I regret my abortion”. This is a deeply moving picture.

(Dueling South Dakota protesters after the 2006 abortion ban passed: AP.)

The horrible cases of rape and incest are usually brought up at this point. But following up one atrocity with another is not the right solution. The mother will be reminded of the tragedy that took place throughout the pregnancy, birth, and subsequent life of the child. But in reality, would the mother be any less tortured by the rape or incest while also feeling the guilt of having aborted the child? We must understand “forgiveness” and “hope” in order to proceed. But our culture has come to ignore these God-given entities. Rather some prefer to hold on to the hatred and bitterness. Some seek to find healing in death and destruction (abortion), rather than in forgiveness and hope. We can change as we look to Jesus’ example of forgiveness and follow Him.

We are not looking to place blame or cause guilt on persons for deeds from the past. Rather, we offer life-giving hope that will produce great rewards for individuals and our land.

Conflicting Laws
An inmate at St. Clair Correctional Facility handed me the laws of our land demonstrating a dual standard about the pre-born child. Currently, if a pregnant mother is murdered, the murderer can be charged with a double homicide, one for mother and one for pre-born child. At the same time, two people, mother and abortionist can plot and execute the murder of the unborn child via an abortion, legally. Premeditated murder is more severe an offense than one that is not. How is abortion different from a woman and her lover plotting to kill her husband? He is an inconvenience as well! This is despicable. The reader should be bothered severely at this contradiction. We need moral laws that are consistent in protecting the life of the pre-born child.

Illegal Abortions
In a recent discussion a person lamented that in the removal of legal abortion people would resort back to dangerous and illegal ways of ending their pregnancy. The laws would again indicate that such activity is on par with murder - abortion would be a criminal act. So we see that there is an urgent need to teach God's word concerning the value of human life. Without the mindset of the people being turned toward life, abortions will continue. Personhood is not just about ending abortion, but is also about educating people of God's promotion of life.

Alabama v. “Roe v. Wade”
The recorded words of the judges and lawyers in the 1973 Supreme Court decision known as “Roe v. Wade” indicate that if the unborn child was protected as a ‘Person’, then the case for legal abortion would have been very difficult to defend. We have gone nearly 40 years and have aborted over 50 million babies, making very little progress towards defending the lives of the pre-born. But now there is more hope. If we return to the pursuit of establishing these children as 'Persons' with the unalienable rights that you and I enjoy, we can protect them from destruction.

Such a pursuit is beginning in Alabama. The Constitution Party of Alabama hosted a small meeting in Birmingham in 2010 to share what was going on in other states in the “Personhood USA” movement. Then in February 2011, The Foundation for Moral Law (Honorable Roy S. Moore, President) hosted a meeting to ignite the effort in Alabama. I attended both meetings and met some wonderful people who are determined to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from person to person by means of promoting a proper knowledge of the preciousness of life in the pre-born. Cal Zastrow and others shared the vision of the 'Personhood USA' organization to help each state make law for the protection of the unborn as 'Persons' from the point of fertilization forward. This drive has two key elements. First, design and submit the correct wording for the Bill to account for the nuances of each state's existing laws. Second, gather the people's signed opinions (in other states, known as petitioning) to submit to the government leaders of the state, reinforcing the public opinion about the importance of protecting the pre-born children’s right to life.

This understanding of personhood needs to be taught in our homes, churches, schools and media. This country was established by the preaching of righteousness throughout America’s churches to the people, who then fought and gave their lives for our freedom. It is now our turn to fight for the freedom of our children.

Wake up Alabama! The South will rise again, but this time it will be in the humility and righteousness of calling our state, country, and world to acknowledge and protect the rights of the pre-born child.

Learn more at www.personhoodusa.com and sign the petition for your state!

Weekend waterfall hike

2011-02-07T15:46:00.001-06:00

Our church started an early service yesterday, so we had all afternoon to hike before the super bowl :) The weather was just about perfect, so we enjoyed a nice hike following the little streams on our property and then later on the wildlife management area.

These two waterfalls are on our property. They are seasonal and run in, around, and through the hillside.

We also have a little bamboo “forest” growing on our land. We walked to “the rock that Mommy took a nap on”! One time while hiking, I really just needed to lay down and rest, so this place now has this unique name :)

Beautiful blue sky. Little tree growing out of a crag in a rock.

We spent some rest time up on a rock plateau. John’s a thinker. Me … not so much. He was kind enough to shorten his thinking time when I started to get cold from not moving.

There were more waterfalls to see, you know. John heard this one from up on the plateau rock, so we went and found it. We have been here before, but the water was not running quite as much then. Love how the water was shooting off the end of the rock. OH – and the sound!!! I took a couple of little videos just for the sound.

Another rest stop – look closely to see Hadden – he’s camouflaged :) Neli LOVED the waterfalls! She was all over them – I half worried that she was going to slip and get stuck somewhere! Crazy dog!

Same section of waterfall in these two shots – one is just a little closer in.

This is actually the same rest stop :) By this time, we had hiked 3+ miles and hadn’t brought any snacks besides water.

This is my favorite little waterfall.

Oh, I like this one, too.

Really like this one – my handsome hubby! :) And here’s proof that I was actually along!

Our weekend

2011-02-01T15:23:00.001-06:00

The weather was beautiful this past weekend, so we enjoyed some time outdoors. We had talked about going for a long hike, but until yesterday, 1/31, it was still hunting season here in Alabama. Part of our long hike is on wildlife management land, so we thought we should go with plan b instead. Savannah really wants to go camping – as in tenting – on our property. While I am all for enjoying the great outdoors, tent camping is not real high on my bucket list (I am still recovering from living in the camping trailer :), but it did seem like a good idea to clear some underbrush. John has been forging ahead clearing trails around and through our property and we join him sometimes. Hadden LOVES to “whack” with a machete.

So, clear we did. Then we gathered rocks for a fire pit. Then on Sunday, John enjoyed cooking burgers on the fire. (have to give him credit here – he took care of all of the fixin’s for the outdoor cooking party!) Later, we had s’mores … it is just not a campfire without s’mores!

John tending the burgers. Savannah enjoying a burger. She worked hard clearing brush and hauling rocks for the fire pit. She has all kinds of plans for using the camping site now :)

Lilly and Savannah. A decent picture of Mercy – she normally doesn’t cooperate for pictures.

This shows why we call him “Happy” – he looks like he is smiling! He belongs to a neighbor, but he spends a lot of time with us. He’s a very sweet dog, so we don’t really mind. Very convenient to have a dog that you don’t have to feed or take care of :)

Neli is growing up! So is Hadden! Like I said, he loves doing this. He is careful – trust me! If this overly protective mom doesn’t cringe with him using a machete, he is able to handle it :)

Here, he is taking down a tree. Baseball season is starting soon, so I think he is trying to build up some strength :)

Finally, we finished burning up the brush. John then tends the fire until it is burned down enough to be safe while the kids and I head back to the warm house for a shower! Don’t worry, I think he actually likes it ;)

Annual We Care Crusade

2011-01-31T11:43:00.004-06:00

Last week was the annual We Care Crusade - the yearly event where men and women from all over come to Alabama and minister to the men and women in prison.

Somehow, I didn't get any pictures! We were blessed to have several men join John at St Clair and I am so grateful for all who come. John really gets a boost during this week and even though the hours are long, in the end, it is all worth it.

The kids and I joined them one day for breakfast and one night for supper. In past years, they have also made a short trip up to the house. Our road is SO bad this year, that we didn't feel it was wise to have them bring their vehicles up. In fact, one night, John wasn't even able to get the car up the last portion of the hill and had to walk in the dark! :)

MANY thanks to those who came this week and encouraged my man! It means a lot to all of us!

Proverbs 25:25 Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.

Sometimes the hassle is worth it …

2011-01-29T22:05:00.002-06:00

Back track with me to last summer when my sister and her family were visiting. We took a mini-vacation to Gatlingburg, TN for a few days and enjoyed a nice stay in a cabin in Pigeon Forge. To make the trip less expensive, we decided to eat all of our meals in – with just easy things to make. With that, I took my hand mixer to make an easy pudding dessert. What I didn’t realize until we got home was that I had left the most important part of the mixer in the cabin!

I was actually sad because the mixer belonged to my maternal grandmother and the mixer portion still works great. Strangely enough, I found a brand-new hand mixer at Good Will that very next week! I assumed I would just be able to interchange parts to the mixers and I didn’t really need the old parts to use the old mixer. That was not the case. For some reason (which is actually quite unlike me), I kept the hand mixer anyway.

This past weekend, some women from our church went to Pigeon Forge for a women’s retreat. Knowing that I was going, I contacted the rental company from the cabin that we had stayed in last June to see if they might still have the extra beaters in the drawer in the cabin. I was pretty sure that no one would bother throwing away parts to a mixer. The people at Kimble rentals were SO incredibly kind to send someone to go and look and then contacted me by email to let me know that they had found them!

Now, the only obstacle was asking the person who drove our carpool to take me by the rental office. I have to admit that I was just slightly embarrassed to bother someone about this, but I did ask and they were very gracious to agree to go. So, Saturday, I went shopping with a group that was driving right past the rental office, so we stopped in. I had this funny feeling that it wasn’t going to just be that easy :) When I explained who I was and what I was there for, she handed me a set of beaters … but they weren’t mine! The cabin also had a hand mixer and the man had brought the beaters to the cabin’s hand mixer instead of mine.

Long story short – they went even the extra, extra mile (as did my friends) to get the right ones to me. We returned on Sunday morning and picked up the right set before coming home.

See – sometimes the hassle is worth it!

ps - If you ever do rent from them, tell them that I sent you. :) (You may have to mention the hand mixer for them to know who I am - ha!)

Too good to miss

2011-01-20T12:22:00.003-06:00

Copied with permission from Jennifer Walker at Smelling Coffee

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This list was was written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the local newspaper "The Plain Dealer", Cleveland, Ohio. Hope it makes you think and re-think a few things~

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written."

“My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

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Special visitors

2011-01-17T19:13:00.001-06:00

We were blessed to have John's sisters visiting last week! They are both very special to all of us and it was great to have a chance to catch up with them. We still had pretty slippery roads, so we were thankful that they arrived safely. The weather did keep us from touring around too much, but we enjoyed wonderful conversation and I had some chick-flick buddies :)

They treated us to Jim & Nick’s BBQ – that was tasty!

We also had our usual stop at Noccalula Falls – very beautiful with the snow and ice all around.

They were here for my birthday and brought some delicious red velvet cake! They also brought shoo-fly pie. Oh my - yummers!

And, here’s a picture of Neli in the snow – she just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

Thanks again, Becky and Kathy! We already look forward to the next time you are able to come :)

Strange weather here in the south

2011-01-10T20:20:00.001-06:00

We had another snow storm last night and into this morning. Snow and ice intermixed – really made quite a mess, but a very beautiful mess. Because snow and ice are so rare in the south, the equipment to manage bad roads is virtually non-existent, so the south really just shuts down.

The week before the big predicted event occurs, grocery stores have to scramble to keep their shelves stocked. To me, it is really funny, but then again, I am also out there trying to do some shopping myself. Let’s just say that I will be baking bread if we need any to eat because Winn-Dixie had NO bread … none. Not even hamburger buns, hot dog buns, dinner rolls. Nothing. Well, unless you count those adorable little finger-food decorative breads and even then, there were only 2 lonely loaves of those. What cracks me up is that some people must have bought this type of bread in a desperation attempt to have some bread in the house! Although milk is also normally gone, this time I was able to get milk.

I will be the first to come to their defense, though. This stuff is slippery!!!! We didn’t attempt to drive in it, either. We ended up with about 3”+ of snow with ice mixed in, so it was exceptionally slippery. Even the dogs had trouble! At the risk of my sounding mean, I did have to laugh at our 3-legged dog, Mercy, (our neighbor calls her tri-pod :) – she was having a little extra trouble. The ice didn’t deter her from going on a walk with us, though, and she is as happy as can be curled up on her blanket in the warm house now.

This isn’t a great quality picture, but I was quickly trying to snap a picture of John with 4 dogs – our 3 plus a visitor. They were all excitedly jumping around on the ice. Would have made a funny video. This is a friendly visiting dog who belongs to someone else, but spends a lot of time up with us. I have named him “Happy” because he looks like he is always smiling.

Four years ago, this was my birthday present - Lilly. John was out of town on business and the kids and I went to the animal shelter to visit our other dog, Mercy, who was not able to be released yet. There was a fluffy, white, adorable little puppy that I could take home that very day. It was my birthday, so John agreed to my request over the phone. She was a mess of a puppy – in fact, she had already been returned to the shelter by one owner. Although she still is a mess, she is my favorite. She has me wrapped around her paw pretty tightly, too, and she knows it :)

Back of the house with the snow and ice. Incidentally, the trampoline support net is frozen solid!

This is a cute little bush on the ground shot at different angles. I like the picture on the right because of some of the detail of the ice. Can I tell you how impossible it is to take macro pictures of little bushes on the ground with a very friendly 9-month old puppy “helping” me??

“Who me? I was smelling your camera and pushing my nose under your arm because I love you!” We watched the movie “UP” over Christmas!! This is a modified reference to Dug from that movie :)

Oh, how I love these dogs. And I’m showing them to you because I like you. (If you haven’t seen UP, you must – these will make more sense, I promise.)

Life would be way less interesting …

2011-01-06T20:10:00.001-06:00

So, after supper tonight, John decided to grab some chips and salsa. I was still sitting with the kids at the supper table, so I wasn’t really paying close attention to which cup he grabbed out of the cupboard.

I had just carried my dish to the kitchen when I glanced over at what he was doing. Then, JUST as he had finished pouring the salsa, and was grabbing the bag of chips in one hand and reaching for the salsa with the other hand … I shrieked “John – what are you doing????” The cup he had chosen is not a cup – it is an old (likely antique) canning funnel that was my grandmother’s! My dear husband had filled a bottomless cup with salsa and it was now sitting on the counter. We (although the term is used rather loosely here) slid it off the counter and onto a plate and then laughed at what could have been! (He’s not feeling 100%, so I’ll give him a break :)

Here he is – I’ll bet if I just had originally showed you the pictures, you would have not thought anything was wrong.

Here’s the after :) Oh, how I love a good laugh!

I love you, honey! I’m glad God chose you for me :)

btw: I was playing with some different settings on my point and shoot camera – that is why the pictures are of such different coloring. I don’t like how the flash washes everything out in the first shot, but then the second doesn’t have enough light and is grainy.

Is it too late to do gingerbread houses?

2011-01-05T16:50:00.001-06:00

We don’t think so! Or, maybe we’re just ahead of the game for next year :)

1-1-11

2011-01-01T16:26:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to post on 1-1-11 :) I also saw 11:11 on the digital clock on 1-1-11. Should I stop now?

Happy New Year!

Cracking some NUTS

2010-12-30T15:26:00.003-06:00

I heard someone once use NUTS as an acronym for Nagging Unfinished TaskS - as in, those are the things driving us NUTS! I liked it and it has stuck with me.

So, this week (between naps to try to get rid of this crud), I am tackling some NUTS and boy, does it feel great!

I know Miss Manners would NOT approve, but I finally did official written thank-you notes to the amazing brick crew that helped us out ... in May of 2009. We thanked them verbally and also here on the blog, but I also wanted to write them a quick thank you. (completely blew it on the quick part) I do have one more to write to the company thanking them for their extreme generosity, so that one is still on my to-do list.

I have caught up on my home school records for this year - whew! I know it is easier to just keep them up as I go along, so hopefully I will have the discipline to do so. I also have a goal of laying out the first couple of weeks of school for the new year, so the kids have an idea of what is coming. I know what I plan to do, but I think it will be very helpful for all of us to know.

This week, I also want/need to clean out the basement bathroom area. It has kind of become a catch-all for stuff that we don't know where to put and it is a disaster. We have guests coming to visit and it is time to clean it up.

So, now I am a little less nuts :) Hee!

White Christmas 2010!

2010-12-29T10:48:00.001-06:00

How was your Christmas? We had a WHITE Christmas this year – which is very amazing for Alabama. Absolutely loved watching it fall. I even had to force myself to not include a video of the snow falling (since most people have seen snow fall)! You’re welcome.

The downside of our Christmas day was that 3 out of 4 of us were sick. John has managed to keep fighting it and has not come down with anything … yet.

The kids managed enough energy to open presents, but were then wiped out for the afternoon. Poor things. Savannah’s sickness was particularly frustrating because it kept coming and going. Just when I thought it was bad enough to take her to the doctor, she would be fine only to relapse again the next day. Finally, she seems to be good for 2 whole days in a row.

Here are some shots of our pretty snow.

The snow is normally very wet in Alabama, so it sticks to the pine trees. It looks like a winter wonderland and is absolutely beautiful. After it snowed, it turned pretty cold, so we still have snow on the ground in some places. It is supposed to warm up and then rain tomorrow morning, so I am sure that will be the end of it. LOVED it while it lasted.

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

Wise men still seek Him ...

2010-12-24T10:22:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas to each of you! May He be glorified in our hearts!

Some funnies

2010-12-23T09:40:00.006-06:00

Lilly's behavior cracks me up every time. Now that we have 3 dogs vying for food, she has started carrying off her "dish" so she doesn't have to share. yes, that is a coffee container - our cute matching ceramic dog dishes didn't stand a chance up here :)

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On our walk the other morning, I found this HUGE leaf! I had the kids pose with it - if you look closely, you can see their eyes peeping through the holes.

What I'm pondering ...

2010-12-20T17:26:00.003-06:00

I have seen this verse twice within a weeks time and it is one of those 'jumpers'.

Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

I have been bugged this Christmas at what Christmas has become in America. Commercials on tv drive me absolutely crazy. It's not enough that they bombard us with stuff to buy, but it is the "manner" in which they try to sell this stuff to us. The commercials are stupid, downright racy, and annoying. And, please don't get me started on the drug commercials because we could get stuck there a while.

Also, I went shopping last Saturday and that didn't help matters :) Because of the tremendous amount of traffic in and around the stores, I couldn't get to where I needed to go. Yes, I realize that the last Saturday before Christmas is probably about the worst day to try shopping, but I had anticipated the worst so I was prepared. Or so I thought.

I also saw where someone wrote (and I'm paraphrasing) "Christmas is not just about Jesus - it's about the kids, too. Kids should have a happy Christmas and that's all I'm trying to give them."

Really? I don't agree. Isn't Christmas about what we have already received? Isn't it about what God has done for us through sending Jesus? Isn't it ALL about Jesus, or if not, shouldn't it be?

This verse gets a lot more interesting when I looked at the prior couple of verses:

Jeremiah 2:11-13
11 Has a nation ever changed its gods?
(Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious God
for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, you heavens,
and shudder with great horror,”
declares the LORD.
13 “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Read those again, paying attention to what these verses are saying. "my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols."

I have to ask myself - where I am exchanging God for worthless idols? Where am I digging my own cistern and not receiving from the spring of living water?

I am not trying to be Scrooge or the Grinch, but I am trying to readjust my thinking to what Christmas really is and why we celebrate. I want us to train our children well. I want to enjoy this glorious season and remember the true reason that He came.

Birthday fun

2010-12-16T13:33:00.001-06:00

We had a birthday celebration in our house yesterday – Savannah turned 10!!! She had a fun day starting with presents and ending with cake and ice cream!

Believe it or not, we do actually have wrapping paper – she chose newspaper because Hadden had newspaper :) Daddy did all of the legwork and research for her present and she LOVES it!

She loves to do anything crafty or creative, so he thought a sewing machine would be a good choice for her. I agreed! She has been using it at every spare opportunity since yesterday :)

Daddy then cut a cute heart in the cake and served it to her. Wisely, she split it with her brother.

Ok – now we can start shopping for Christmas.

Honey Dids!

2010-12-11T17:20:00.001-06:00

As in, my honey did these! I must say, however, that I don’t have to make honey-do lists. If anything, he needs to make them for me :)

Vertical blinds!!! These have actually been completed for quite some time and I’ve got to brag on my hubby a little – he saved us a LOT of money on these. None of the stores had the exact dimensions for our openings, so in order to get them “boxed” to fit, we would have to order them custom and that would have been expensive (think $70+ per opening). John found these at Wally Mart for about $20/box. And he modified them to fit our openings!! I was and am very impressed. He made how-to videos here and here in case you have a need to do something similar.

Also, this week, he has been installing horizontal blinds on the windows. As the sun has moved lower in the sky during the winter, we have areas in the house where it is difficult to work during the day because of the glare. The office and the home school area are the most affected, so he went ahead and did blinds. Although we would have preferred something more updated with a nicer design, the budget doesn’t allow it at this time. In fact, we were able to get gift cards for the big box store with the credit card points we had acquired while building the house, so these really didn’t cost us anything extra :)

Any idea what this is? John recently made 2 of them (because more must be better :). This is our tv antenna! John found the design on the internet and decided to try it and it works! We don’t watch a lot of tv, but it is fun to have some options when we do :)

He has also been working on the cap for the well head.

He has also been doing prep work to finish up the top edge of the house.

Christmas tree update

2010-12-06T19:22:00.006-06:00

A couple of people asked questions about the tree, so I thought I would just write a quick post.

How did we get it back home?
It was actually pretty easy. The cedar trees that we have on our property grow fairly tall and thin and the trunk is pretty slim. The trunk on ours is probably about 4" diameter. We cut it down fairly close to the house and close to the trails, so we just carried it. The trickiest part was trying not to step on the branches!

How many lights did you use?
Well - I like a LOT of lights, but most of my strings of lights are still in the box. Stringing them was pretty challenging - I just kind of walked around the tree going up and down stairs. If you look at this picture, you can kind of tell that the lights are spiraling and I didn't want the tree to look like a giant candy cane!

I did add white lights to the garland on the stair railing in order to bring in more lights.

Thanks for all of your fun comments (both here and other places). We are enjoying the tree and it is so nice that it is not in the way. I don't know about you, but as much as I love Christmas and the decorations, I am ready to have them out on Dec 26th - I think a lot of that has to do with the tree being in the way. We'll see how I am this year :)

As random as it gets

2010-12-05T22:07:00.001-06:00

We will be soon heading down south for our annual We Care Christmas banquet. Needless to say, Savannah is very excited. A couple of weeks ago (yes, weeks), the kids kept running out of clothes to wear – strangest thing. I knew I had just done laundry, so it wasn’t possible to already be out. When I questioned them about it, they said that they were already packed for the Christmas party trip! I think I drive them crazy because I pack (at the very earliest), the day before we go. So, as a workable solution, I had them make detailed lists of what they wanted to take. I also told them that they weren’t allowed to pack clothing until 2-3 days ahead of time.

So, this sign on the chalkboard cracked me up – T-5 countdown and packing schedule!!

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I wanted to make monster cookies the other night (oatmeal, peanut butter, choc chips and M&M’s!), so I asked John to grab some at the store while he was there getting milk. He wanted to open them when he got home, but I protested that they would not make it to the cookies, then. (because I would eat them). His solution?

He gave me a not-so-subtle reminder! Yes, him. (don’t let the innocent look fool you)

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And, at long last … our little Christmas village! My Mom bought these little unpainted houses for me *several* years ago – I loved them so much, I bought little lights, people, road, trees, etc to go with them. Well, it turns out that these little houses are harder to paint than it might seem, so I did parts of two until this year. (One year, I put the unpainted houses up anyway!) This year, the kids helped me to paint most of the remaining houses (one is still not completely finished). We had a blast. John got us set up with the power for the lights and voila! Now, I need to send a picture to my Mom :)

First is with the flash, but it floods out the little lights. The street lights are all battery-powered. The next picture is without a flash, so you can see the “street” lights.

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We have also been inspired by several different sources to do a “Jesse tree” during the Advent season. Each day, we read Bible verses about specific people in the lineage of Jesus. It has been really neat. For some of the days, I have coloring squares for them to color and other days, I just have the one from the material that I found online. We are all enjoying it.

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Bloglines is back! I like it better than Feed Reader, so I have switched back.

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Psalm 33:13-15 From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all humankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth— he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.

One year ago today ...

2010-12-01T10:32:00.001-06:00

We woke up in the house!!!!

19’ foot tree and other happenings

2010-11-30T15:57:00.001-06:00

We selfishly enjoyed Thanksgiving at home this year since it was the first time we had a real kitchen in 3 years. Boy, was it tasty!

Some lego creating happened. They sort and organize all of the different sizes and colors – isn’t that cute? :)

And, then, we set out to find the Christmas tree. Fun stuff – WAY better than going to Lowe’s! So, as we were heading out, John asked me where I wanted to go (he meant “which way”), so I said, “Lowe’s” and we had a good laugh. I was only half kidding – hahaha (see previous post for that to make any sense). Fairly quickly after setting out, we discovered a cedar tree that would work, but I suggested that we head down towards the deer stand to see if there were any other options. Turns out that instead of just a tree hunting expedition, we were now in for an adventure. We hiked and discovered whole new areas of our property that I have never seen, in fact. Although I was not altogether thrilled to be side-tracked from our original mission (and also that I really no longer believed that we would actually be *getting* a tree from this far away), I have to admit that it was fun.

You see, I’m all about the expectation – I was expecting to go find and get a tree. John, on the other hand, is all about the adventure of getting a tree. So, after traversing the entire property, we ended up going back to the original tree, cutting it down and bringing it in. And, I really like it!

It’s IN the stairwell – it’s 19’’ tall. I think that is pretty cool, indeed. However, the only thing harder than photographing a 19’ tree in your stairwell … is decorating it! Hee! There are whole areas that were just kind of hard to get to, so they aren’t as ornamented as the areas easier to reach. The kids helped me decorate it yesterday and we had a blast going through all of the ornaments – some that we haven’t even seen in 3 years!

(ps – our tree topper star is way too heavy for this cedar, so we are thinking of a plan b)

View from the top landing – where the rug is is the main level.

Oh, and John, I’ll be happy to adventure with you anytime. Your extra effort always pays off and this tree is more than I could have imagined. You da best!

Christmas tree

2010-11-27T11:00:00.003-06:00

***Update*** - My honey does it right! We now have a 19' Christmas tree in our stairwell - whoo hoo!!! ***

Now back to the previously posted message ...

Later today, we are hoping to go find a Christmas tree. For the past 3 years, we have been just sort of "winging it" with Christmas trees. The first 2 years, we were in the camper, and just had a teeny one. Last year, we were SO incredibly busy with the house, we didn't have a tree at all (except for a last minute effort at having some little ones).

I really enjoy Christmas decorations and especially a nice, full tree. I think it has something to do with opening up the box(es) of ornaments and remembering something about each one. Just the nostalgia and tradition of decorating the tree both enjoying time with my current family and remembering times with my family growing up. Good times.

Anyway - I have been looking forward to having a "real" tree for a while now. So we were out hiking recently and were talking about Christmas trees. I threw out the idea of wanting a nice, full one since the house is finished, but in order to get a really full tree, we would have to buy one. John responded with "we have over 100,000 pine trees and you want to *buy* a Christmas tree?" We had a good laugh. Obviously, he is right, but the trees that we have on our property make Charlie Brown's tree shine :) So, now we have a challenge to be realistic (ie - not buy one) *and* make it look nice.

I have some ideas ... I'll let you know how it goes :)

Before and After

2010-11-23T14:35:00.001-06:00

Here is my latest little project.

I don’t like clutter – stuff just out in the open and visible. Drives me batty. (At times, you would never be able to tell because our clutter does get out of hand!) So, ever since we moved into the upstairs, the stereo “system” bugged me. We had looked and looked for a right piece to go there, but never really found what we were looking for.

Fast forward to two weeks ago … this old cabinet of John’s (shown only in part below), was kind of an odd, yellowish stain color. Not only did it not match, but it wasn’t being fully utilized. I wanted to paint it black and finally found the time to do it. When John saw that I was improving it, he suggested we use it for the stereo cabinet (its original purpose). Great idea!

So – here are the before pictures. Stereo cabinet with components, wires, remotes and “stuff” visible. Yuck! Here is the cabinet waiting to be primed – I lightly sanded it all over before applying primer. This is just the base, it also has front and back doors and a lid. After priming, I rolled on 2 coats of black paint. (btw: the black was the darkest I could find, but it does appear slightly gray/black instead of a true black)

Voila – here’s the after. Same stuff, but now behind a door. Yippee!

MUCH better – I still need to figure out something better to sit on the sub woofer (where the candle is sitting), but at least the wires and remotes are concealed.

Next … I have an old armoire that I want to transform. The office is in desperate need of some attention, and since the armoire is currently concealing my computer and printer, it should help to have it refinished.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Random

2010-11-16T12:14:00.001-06:00

We are still enjoying an extended fall with beautiful weather (although yesterday and today were rainy), which makes getting work done challenging. We would rather just play outside and enjoy the weather!

Our cover school (for homeschooling) recently had a missions fair project. We chose to study Tanzania (where our Compassion children live). Here is our display board. Please ignore the background mess :) The children were able to do a presentation in front of the group, also, but ours declined for this year. If we do it again next year, they will be “required” by their teacher to present :)

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Last Thursday, we went to downtown Birmingham for the Veteran’s Day parade with some friends. After the parade, we were walking the streets (in desperate search of coffee for the Moms :), when a man carrying 2 big bunches of balloons approached us and gave them to the children. We had fun untangling the ribbons and also trying to transport them – on the elevator and in the vehicles. Good memories!

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This morning, there was a faint rainbow across our valley – beautiful!

Happy hikers and a rant …

2010-11-03T09:31:00.001-05:00

We are thoroughly enjoying the beautiful fall weather here – so much so that it is hard to get any work done :) Last Sunday after church, we went for a favorite hike through our property and onto Chimney Rock. Such fun!

Happy John on the lion head rock. Kids having fun searching for treasures.

Neli is getting SO big! Mercy’s first time to flattop rock – she was exceptionally happy. (Lilly was along, too, but she was busy on an adventure).

The sun was at just the right spot and made the rocks and shadows so vibrant. And, me on the lion head rock.

We love this time of year – with the weather cooler, at least the threat of snakes seems less. Looking forward to many more hikes this fall.

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And, for my rant … I think my frustration peaked with the political ad phone calls, both receiving them myself and hearing how many other people were also receiving. At one point, both of our cell phones were ringing simultaneously with a political ad. Ugh!

But even before those phone calls, I have noticed an increased “demanding” of people wanting to get my money from me in one shape or another. Here are some examples and see if you have also experienced them:

- Walking through a mall (any mall) and someone constantly jumping in my face with a perfume sample, hand lotion sample, whatever. Politely saying ‘no thank you’ to the first one doesn’t give the second, third or fourth a clue that I may not be interested. Drives me crazy!

- On every Saturday at Wal Mart, some group is stationed outside every.single.door soliciting for money. One week, it’s the cheerleader tots group raising money for uniforms, the next it is the fire department. This last week, it was another group selling tootsie rolls for kids. Honestly, I am going to stop going to Wal Mart on Saturday because it’s just TOO much! (I don’t normally carry cash, so I usually have an out)

- The other day, in the grocery store, I ran in to buy dishwasher soap – a $5 item. I had intended this to be a very quick, in and out, trip. The clerk asked if I wanted to donate $5 to feed the homeless this Christmas. (How convenient – now you can just add it on to my order. They have caught on to my “no cash” gig)

- The phone calls from police and fire wanting donations. I like to support the police and fire, but these calls are often for something obscure and strange like “college fund for their children” (ok, I’m exaggerating, but it is never just directly for the police or fire company).

Please don’t misunderstand, I desire to be a giving person and not a scrooge or a grinch, but I like the opportunity to give where I want to give. I like to know that I am truly giving to an organization that has credibility (I’m not saying that none of the above do, it’s just that I would like the opportunity to investigate). I like to be able to freely walk and/or shop at a business and not be BOMBARDED at every step. It’s frustrating!

Where is the “Do Not Bother Me” list and how can I sign up? :)

However the key, for me, is to be gracious and kind even though I am frustrated:

Psalm 19:14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Mums

2010-10-22T13:25:00.001-05:00

Do you notice anything wrong with these mums?

Here’s another look …

Anything?

Me either. I think they are beautiful. However, when I bought them, I got a $5 discount! I find the story cute – the lady selling the mums quoted us one price and when I started to pay her, she said “ope no – I think the one side is white flowers, so I’ll give it to you for less”. Now, that’s driving a hard bargain, right there! I did appreciate her honesty and integrity, however, as the flowers weren’t as she thought they should be.

I like them just the way they are and actually like the variety that the white adds :)

Visit

2010-10-14T13:16:00.001-05:00

We had a wonderful visit from John’s Dad and wife, Beulah. The weather was a little hot at times, but overall beautiful.

We ran them ragged with soccer and baseball, but they didn’t complain. Savannah had a soccer tournament over the weekend, so we had 2 extra games in addition to her regular season game. Savannah played very well her last game, even though they lost. Hadden had 2 practices and a game while they were here. He played a very good game and even got a home run and received a game ball.

During the week, we drove up toLake Guntersville to see replicas of the Nina and the Piñta that are here for a short stop. The kids even got to meet Columbus while we toured the ships. Let me just say that the ships are amazingly small and I would not have wanted to be out on the open ocean in one!

In front of the Nina; all of us at Lake Guntersville (not such of a great shot); emu at the water treatment plant.

For Luke – here is a plate from Alaska :) We saw it at Lake Guntersville while viewing the ships. :)

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A friend recommended a book for art – and I absolutely love it so far! The book introduces an artist, tells a little bit about them, and then the kids get to try doing a similar type of art. And it was fun!

Today our artist was Vincent van Gogh, and here they are hard at work.

Voila! Finished products. This is a really big step for Hadden, as he does not like to do art – at all. He even admitted that this was “kind of fun”. Savannah on the other hand absolutely loves art. They like to be as opposite as possible, at all times possible :)

Replacement for bloglines

2010-10-06T17:06:00.006-05:00

Since bloglines will no longer be in service after Nov 1, I searched to find an alternative. I tried one that I didn't like and today found one that I do (at least so far).

I found this - feed reader 3 (just click on the button to go to the home page):

If you are currently using bloglines, you are able to export the blogs that you read and then import them into this reader.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, this is just a one-stop way to check up on all the blogs that I follow.

Trips – field, day, friends …

2010-10-05T21:16:00.001-05:00

We have been doing a LOT of running around this fall – mostly for soccer and baseball. We have also been doing field trips, day trips, trips from friends, etc. Great fun!

Lake Martin – we recently had a We Care staff day there and it was a beautiful setting.

At the lake, there was a lookout (they called it a silo) with a spiral staircase leading up to it. Very beautiful view from the top.

Speaking of spirals – check out this awesome play structure at a local park! When our friends were visiting, the kids and I spent some time here while our friends were at a museum. I think it was a win-win all the way around.

Our friends spent about 2500 miles on this bike, covering 8 states (I think), 2 motorcycle rallies and visiting with friends along the way. We had a fun time catching up with them and are thankful they made it home safely :)

The kids and I have attended several field trips for school, as well. We went to the Greek festival, to a Botanical gardens and learned about George Washington Carver and to a local printing press. The weather has been beautiful, so it is nice to be able to do some things outside.

This struck me funny – a mobile ATM! I hadn’t seen one before, have you?

And lastly, we spent a couple of hours last Saturday at Trade Day! We have been hearing about the need to experience Trade Day almost since we have moved here, so we finally made it there. Last Saturday was our 3rd anniversary of arriving in Alabama, so what better way to celebrate? It is a cultural experience all its own :)

818

2010-10-01T16:21:00.003-05:00

This post is long overdue, but even despite delayed obedience, my hope is to bring glory to God through it. (** Interesting enough, this is now my third attempt at writing this – first, my pc crashed and I lost the draft; then, blogger crashed and didn’t allow me access)

First, some background information. While my parents were on their return trip from AZ this past spring, my Mom started experiencing dizzy and slight blackout spells. She went to the doctor to try to determine the cause and to hopefully find a solution. After several months, many doctor visits without a solution, some scary moments of “it might be …”, they finally diagnosed her with severe pulmonary hypertension. She was referred to a pulmonary specialist, and (as with most specialists) scheduled an appointment about 6 weeks out. During that time, she discovered ways to mostly avoid the spells, but still didn’t feel well and was limited in her activity (ie – no golfing :). We all researched pulmonary hypertension and discovered that it can be a very scary disease, much more than we originally thought. Several times, Mom said she really wasn’t sure she had pulmonary hypertension because the symptoms didn’t match what she was experiencing.

On another note, even before this occurred, I had been seeing the numbers 818 in an abundance - the store number for the local hardware store, addresses, time on the digital clock, etc. So much so, that it was hard to ignore. Knowing that God has to pretty much beat me over the head to get my attention at times, I wondered whether there was something significant about 818. I searched every single chapter 8, verse 18 in the Bible, but didn’t see anything obvious – nothing jumped out at me.

On a trip to PA in July, I was finishing up “So long, insecurity” by Beth Moore when the reference for Romans 8:18 literally jumped from the page. Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Aha – that must be it! Excited to narrow down the exact verse, I started to wonder who specifically it was for … me, family, friends, my Mom? I shared it with some dear people who were going through some “present sufferings” in hopes that they would be encouraged by His truth.

My Mom went to her initial appointment with the pulmonary specialist and was very pleased with his care. He scheduled a follow-up appointment with a cardiologist for a right heart catheterization, which is the only way to accurately measure the type and extent of the hypertension. In this, I had lost track of the exact date of her appointment. However, unknowingly, the night before as I lay down for bed I sensed the Lord nudging me to pray. I also sensed Him saying that I hadn’t prayed for healing for her, that I had only prayed for comfort, peace of mind, etc. It was true – I had only prayed for those things, and never for healing. I immediately prayed in faith for healing for her, fully knowing my Father knows best and that He has the power to heal her, but that He also is all-knowing and wise and that He could choose not to.

The next day after the test, which was August 18 (or 818), one of my sisters emailed the report to the rest of us that Mom did NOT have pulmonary hypertension! When the cardiologist ran the test, they determined that she did not have the disease at all. Praise the Lord!

Divine healing, or false-positive for pulmonary hypertension? Apparently, the only conclusive test for pulmonary hypertension is to go into the heart and measure with a catheter, so some may say that she never had it. Perhaps. She wasn’t even sure she had it, after all. Or, was she healed from it? Perhaps. God is certainly capable of healing and we did pray for it. I am not sure the question even really needs an answer, but in any case, I am praising the Lord for her health!

My hope is to be attentive to Him and where He is leading and speaking to me. I have felt like I needed to write this post for a while and am finally obeying. Glory to Him!

A.G.T.G. (All Glory to God – borrowed from one of John’s coworkers :)

Solution to shredded trampoline net

2010-09-15T12:05:00.001-05:00

You will probably laugh, because this is a little bit redneck :) Remember this post? Well, we needed a solution. We like the kids to have a safety net while jumping on the trampoline, so leaving it in the shredded state wasn’t an option.

I looked online for a replacement net and found nothing. I did find places to buy the entire safety kit (including uprights), but the cost was between $90-$100!! Not too excited to pay for a complete kit … again. So thoughts turned to trying to fix it. At Lowe’s, I only found bird netting which didn’t have holes, so I was afraid the wind would grab it too much, or plastic webbing which would be pretty harsh on the skin. Still determined, I went to Wal Mart and their camping section to search for fly netting, net to catch fish, anything. Found … nothing. Somehow I happened on the household aisle with ironing boards, laundry gadgets, etc and I found …

… for $1.87!!! Mesh … good. Cheap … very good. If it works, a reasonable solution.

I brought the trampoline net into the basement and draped it over the ping-pong table so I could align a large section at one time. Then I cut down both sides of the laundry bag to make a long strip and then sewed it into the old net using heavy-duty thread. Thankfully, the bottom of the net was still intact, so I just attached the laundry bag to the bottom and then to the top. This project took 3 laundry bags and a LOT of time! 36”x2 (for one bag) x 3 (bags) = roughly 18 feet that had to be patched.

So, for roughly $6 in laundry bags and $3 in thread, voila!

Now the kids can play on the trampoline again! And the weather is gorgeous, so it is definitely time to play!! You can see where the patch ends right behind Hadden.

Likely, this patch won’t hold up very well in the Alabama sun and weather, but for now it was a very cheap solution. Since we live in the middle of nowhere, we don’t even have to worry about the neighbors thinking we are completely redneck :)

Don’t you even think about it!!!

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

Enjoying the fall

2010-09-14T13:20:00.001-05:00

We have been enjoying shooting Hadden’s bb/pellet gun when we have a break from baseball and soccer. Hadden really likes it and I have admitted several times that John was right :) He doesn’t mind hearing it multiple times – ha!

Hadden aiming at the target.

Savannah loves Neli. Neli has many nicknames – Neli Vader (she snores very loudly), Space Invader (she is always in your space), Barge (she barges everywhere she goes), and “the Nels”. She has grown a LOT and still has a lot of growing room in her skin!

A praying mantis landed on the hummingbird feeder. I watched him for a while and when a bird would land on the feeder, he would peek around the corner to see it. Not sure if he was trying to catch lunch or what!

And this adorable little lizard was on the deck the other morning – he was the tiniest little guy. The hole in the wood to the left of him is the size of a screw head. He is missing part of his tail (oops!). Thankful it will grow back. And, no, it wasn’t me :)

We are enjoying baseball and soccer games. Hadden’s team won their first game. Savannah’s team lost, but played very well. September and October are busy, but the weather is beautiful, so it is fun to be outside watching games.

Hope all is well on your end!

Here's an awesome giveaway!

2010-09-03T12:39:00.003-05:00

Charity at Life with the Hildebrands is doing a giveaway that you don't want to miss.

I want to tell you about a cool new way that you can be involved in helping those in less privileged nations. You really have to see it for yourself at Get Bridged.

Hint for those of you want to shop for me :), I absolutely LOVE anything in the pottery section of the store! Hee!

Happy 8th birthday, Hadden!

2010-09-01T12:45:00.001-05:00

What happened to my little baby boy? He is becoming so grown up!! We gave Hadden a bb gun for his birthday. While we were shopping, the momma in me had the hardest time thinking he is ready for a bb gun! I kept asking John - “can’t we just wait until he’s at least 12 or 20 or something?” :) I knew John was right, that Hadden is ready, but it was hard to realize he is growing up so fast! And, we both knew that Hadden needed another interest besides Lego’s Star Wars kits!

I want to show you Hadden’s pet spider – well, sort of. This spider lives on Hadden’s deck just outside the sliding glass door! He is HUGE!!! I kept the picture small-sized for you … you’re welcome. Hadden actually likes the spider living there, checks on him frequently and worries about him during storms :) We recently were driving on the wildlife management property and encountered 100’s (literally) of HUGE horseflies. He wanted to bring one home for his spider.

Looking forward to many more years together as a family, as long as the Lord allows!

Visit from turkeys

2010-08-29T17:18:00.001-05:00

No – these aren’t the turkeys! Last week, the We Care staff had a prison swap day and we enjoyed having this group of guys over for lunch after they spent time with John in the prison.

These are the turkeys – in our back yard! This morning, before going on a walk, we saw three idling through and then this afternoon after church, there were 9! I couldn’t get them all together – here are 5 of them.

Here are 3 more, and you’ll just have to trust me about the 9th :)

While I was shooting pictures of the turkeys, one of the little guys was patiently posing for a picture. We have had a steady stream of hummingbirds this year, usually at least 7-8 at one time. They are a joy to watch.

It is finally feeling a little like fall – cooler temperatures in the mornings make walking more enjoyable. We have been watching a rattlesnake staked out in a dead tree at our neighbor’s hunting cabin! John has been searching for a pistol to take on our hikes. Unfortunately, that particular snake seems to have finished his meal and moved out to find another, as we did not see him this morning.

Genesis 1:21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

This and that

2010-08-19T21:38:00.004-05:00

I am not feeling well (cold/flu bug), so please excuse the sporadic nature of this post :)

The net got revenge on Neli! I caught her up on the trampoline again (she gets up by using the big stone step that the kids use), but this time she was all wound up in the shreds that she created. She was so tangled that each attempt to free herself just resulted in her being bounced ... on the trampoline. It was truly a hilarious sight and I wish that I would have captured it on film. I have not seen her on the trampoline since = smart dog.

818 - it's a story in the making, a puzzle unraveling and I am beginning to see the significance ... I think. I'll have to save it for another time, but yesterday 8/18 - our family got great news - my Mom no longer has pulmonary hypertension! Glory to God!

We have started school and so far it has been going pretty well. I rearranged the homeschool area again and I like it better. I can sit between them now which helps when they need assistance. They are both doing pretty well at staying on task and I am doing a little better with organization.

I am taking a big, huge breath because fall soccer and baseball will be starting soon. I have trouble getting back into the groove when a new season starts - trying to get the whole schedule nailed down in my head of who needs to be where when. I am excited for both of them and look forward to watching some fun games.

Very excited to be involved in a Compassion Sunday event on Sept 26th at our church. I ordered the materials today and am praying for some neat things to come of it.

Ok - I need sleep. Good night!

Now known as naughty Neli

2010-08-06T11:03:00.001-05:00

I’m doing this for your own good – DON’T be fooled! They start out all cute and innocent looking like this …

Doesn’t she just look soooo sweet?" “What a cute little puppy!” “Aw – how sweet.”

Because, IF you fall for all of that innocence and sweetness, there will come a day when they grow up and then they may do something like this …

Yep – shredded!

Does she look even the least bit sorry to you?

I was hoping that it was just ripped and I could sew it back together, but she shredded it! BAD doggy!

How about this for “sorry”? Well, she does look sorry, doesn’t she? NO – I said DON’T fall for it!!! You’re doing it again!!

Aw man, it’s too late – you’re a lost cause. She has your number and she has it memorized!

If she keeps this up, I’m going to have to change her label from curious to naughty. :)

Finishing some things …

2010-08-05T12:29:00.001-05:00

Summer is almost over for the kids’ school break – we will be starting back next week. I’m excited, although the kids aren’t :)

We just finished up swimming lessons. Some major milestones were overcome. Hadden braved jumping off the low dive and even enjoyed it. Savannah finally got comfortable putting her face in the water during the last 2 lessons and even held her face in for 10 seconds! I hope they remember a few things by next summer.

These pictures aren’t that great – it’s hard to get good pictures with the sun blaring in, but I guess you can kind of get an idea. I have been working on valances for the windows. The upper left is the main floor –with the open floor plan, we decided on the same fabric everywhere. The middle is Hadden’s room – I hesitated even bothering to put the picture in because it is so bad. You’ll have to trust me that it does kind of pull the greens and blues together. The right is Savannah’s room and even though the picture is hard to tell, I think this one works very well to pull the turquoise and purple together. I still have the stair tower and the master bedroom to finish. I am using my grandmother’s sewing machine and I recently found the paperwork for it – it is older than I am :) How cool is that?

Neli is growing very quickly. Overall, she is a very sweet puppy and learns pretty quickly. Up until now, she has been afraid to go up or down stairs, so she lived in the entryway which we liked (fairly well contained, no messes, etc). Just this week, she has figured out how to come up stairs. Ughh. Going down is tricky for her, so now we have to keep a close eye on her.

Have a great day!

They won!!!

2010-08-02T20:16:00.001-05:00

Woot woot - they won the grill! Thanks to any and all who voted - I know they appreciated your kindness.

Update on grill ...

2010-08-01T07:50:00.001-05:00

Please vote for Eunice B. - NOT EUNICE B or eunice b.

Thank you!

Please vote for our friends to win a grill!

2010-07-29T14:07:00.002-05:00

This is the email I received from her - they are very sweet and are soon moving to Maine as part of a group doing a church plant. Please take a second and vote - thanks! Their names are Randy and Eunice Bruckhart.

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UGH! I'm like most people...I don't like to ask for things, but sometimes it's a good thing. This just might be one of those times. Our grill died. It's served us more than faithfully the past 8+ yrs, but now it's gone. We've been searching for several months, and just last week, we decided on one. After thinking about it some more, we were ready to place the order online last evening. We got as far as placing it in our cart, and then we stopped. I asked if we should wait a few more days. Not sure why, but sure no problem, we've been waiting this long. Fast forward to 4 hrs later....I'm browsing a few blogs and came across one that's giving away a grill...not just any grill, but the next step up from the cheaper version we were going to buy. There is a contest until Aug 2, 9:00 PM EST, and you can vote once per household. Anyway, here is my shameless plug...would you vote for us?

http://www.facebook.com/l/08cf1R-jGGqgWUD8OlrBH92d2hw;www.classymommy.com/giveaway_new/contest9/vote.php?contest=hotdogs&name=Eunice+B

Competition is stiff, and I don't like to beg, but this would be such a blessing....that's putting it mildly at this stage of our lives! For those of you that don't know us personally, we've been asked, along with 6 other families to move to Maine to help with a church plant next month. More than a few uncertainties, but God is faithful! Thanks for your support!
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“It’s easy to complain in America”

2010-07-22T14:49:00.001-05:00

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Savannah and I went to Kids Camp last weekend. What a wild, great and fun time. I left with a lot to process and think about – God has a way of speaking to us even while amongst the kid centered activities. The theme verse was Micah 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Each day focused on a different part of the last statement – act justly, love mercy and walk humbly. The main speaker and our leader both did an outstanding job of making this real and applicable to our lives. The worship songs were also good – my favorite one being this one:

However, after the weekend, I am left struggling with the concept of being “of the world but not of it”. I have difficulty when the kids scream louder at the mention of Jus tin Bie ber or their favorite Alabama or Auburn football team than they would or do for Jesus Christ. Where is that line of being part of the world in order to show them the love of Christ … and looking so much like the world that we just blend in?

On Saturday evening (and an optional session on Sunday), we had the opportunity to listen to Brooke’s testimony. Brooke is a Compassion International sponsored child, now in his senior year in college in Kenya studying social work. His passion is to start an orphanage in Kenya to help those who have no hope. What an amazing testimony. He shared what life would be like in Kenya living in poverty. Both of his parents are gone. All of his childhood friends are gone. A typical home is a 10x10 shanty that will hold from 4-6 people. IF they have any food, it is only one meal per day of vegetables and a maize flour mixture called ugali. He said that Africans are praying people – they pray night and day because they are totally and utterly dependant upon God. They pray and give thanks for a meal that isn’t even in front of them yet!! He didn’t have a pair of shoes until he was 9. On Sunday, he was wearing flip-flop style shoes made out of motorbike tires!!

The most profound thing that I took away from his talk was his comment about how easy it is to complain in America. We have SO much and we are SO comfortable and SO blessed, and yet we find things to complain about! He said that in Africa, they don’t complain – they are so thankful when they do receive a meal. Amazing!

Phillipans 2:14-16 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.