And the bat...Leviticus 11:19

We spent four years at the seminary. Four years.The Man and I both received all kinds of instruction in how to handle situations in churches.  None of it prepared us for tonight.

The night was dark by the time The Man and the older children returned home from the midweek service at the church.  As the kids were tucked into bed, The Man told me that he was returning to the church and asked if I wanted to go with him.

I grabbed the camera and he grabbed his gear.

Tools every pastor needs:  fencing mask, head lamp, fish net, leather jacket and gloves.  The folks that had stayed after the meeting to clean the church confirmed that "it" was still in the fellowship hall.  Apparently doors left open to let cool breezes in can also let bats in.

Our church doesn't have a belfry, so it had to settle for a place high on the wall in the fellowship hall.

Caught!

The bat is now safely outside catching bugs.

Some pastors fish to get creatures into the church...some fish to get them out!  The Man does both.

Bear ye one another's burdens...Galatians 6:2

We are home! The weather was perfect for the church backpack trip.  G walked the entire two miles to the campsite.  Goldilocks was carried most of the way, but she did enjoy getting down and walking with The Man.

She chose her own outfit, by the way.  She convinced someone to put the orange one-piece romper on her when everyone else was getting dressed.  Before long she was back with the denim jumper on asking someone to button it for her.  A few minutes later she returned with a pair of jeans.  I drew the line there.  We are still potty training, and I didn't want too many layers to deal with!

The Man's pack weighed over 70 pounds, but that was before Goldilock's pack was tied on there (G had a backpack, so it was only fair that she also had one).

Not only did G walked the entire way, but he became an expert at pointing out the horse poop along the trail.  In case you are wondering, his pack contained a pillow, a blanket, Curious George, a toothbrush, two pairs of underwear, and a harmonica--all important wilderness essentials!

Don't feel too sorry for The Dog, he practically crawled from the vehicle to the trail head with his pack of dog food.  After showing off his puppy dog eyes, the pack was removed from him and put on Painter, with J carrying the chain for Painter.  The Dog is no dummy. 

Especially since once the dog food was eaten and we were ready to come home, the pockets on the doggie pack were the perfect size to hold the diapers and underwear of Goldilocks that didn't stay dry.

It was a beautiful trip, but I was glad to get home, and Goldilocks is happy to always be within a 10-second sprint of the bathroom.

His good promise...1 Kings 8:56

Goldilocks just reminded me of another word that she knows: moon!  We just came outside to wait on the rest of the family to get home. I'm so glad it cools off so well in the evenings.  She's picking a bouquet of tea roses, watching the birds, and scolding the dogs.  "Dogs! No, no, no!"  I'm not sure what they've done that she thinks is so terrible. They are just lying in the yard waiting for the van to drive by and into the driveway.

 

Tonight is the last installment in the 8 Steps to Wellness program our church has put on the last several months. This morning I thought I was well enough to go, but about lunchtime I figured out that I only wanted to spend time in bed or on the couch.  Right before they left I took some mediation so I could be upright and take care of Goldilocks while they were gone.  The Man is one of the presenters tonight, so I didn't think it would work out well for him to take her along.

We don't have as many helpers with this month's program so last night I was asked if I had any thoughts for a centerpiece.  The meal has a oriental theme, so this morning I got up and made these (yes, I'm fully aware that the origin of these is here in America).

They are "promise cookies" and each one has a Bible verse tucked inside. 

Since the food served at the wellness seminars is always vegan, I followed/adapted this recipe.  The instructions didn't say anything about them not being crisp!  After a few trials and temperature adjustments I got something that looked like a fortune cookie, but they had the texture of a crepe.  A gummy crepe. A few were crisp.  A few were too crisp. It was agreed that they need more experimentation, but considering I've probably only eaten a dozen fortune cookies in my life, I don't think we'll spend a lot of time on it. 

It's a good thing they are just for looking at.  They are edible and quite tasty.  However, with the broad range of textures, none of which resembled a fortune cookie, I told The Man to forewarn everyone that they may not wish to actually eat them.

"Are those for me?" asked G.  So, when I was finished with the ones for the centerpiece.  I threw together a gluten free/flax free/soy free version of the vegan fortune cookies for G and J to eat or not eat.

Sometimes we joke that we eat food with nothing in it. Heh.

The dogs tell us the rest of the family is home. Good night!

Deliver me out of the mire...Psalm 69:14

The county fair started last Wednesday and ended yesterday. For the fifth year in a row, our church staffed a booth at the fair. I always look forward to the fair starting, praying that we won't have the VeggieTales nearby. By Sunday, I'm glad it is almost over! So, that's where I've been the past week. As in the past few years, Grandma came to stay with kids while The Man and I were busy with the fair.

Yesterday morning after breakfast it was discovered the kitchen sink was clogged. Despite using drain opener, many tools, and a plumber's snake, it is still clogged. This morning The Man crawled under the house and discovered the clean-out pipe. He said he should be able to clean that out tonight.

While The Man was under the house I was in the bathroom with some improvised dishpans in the bathtub washing up all the dishes from yesterday. Those were put away right after breakfast and another load was washed (yes, we're using paper plates, but we still generate lots of dishes!). Then I tackled the stove top, kitchen counters, and sink. When those were clean (no easy feat without running water in the kitchen), I boxed up all the stuff from under the sink that was scattered on the floor and put that on the counter. Then, I mopped the floor in front of the sink so the kitchen looks a lot less scary and actually resembles a kitchen!

A sign is on the bathroom door reminding the children to use one of the other toilets in the house since I have a slight issue with them using a toilet with dishes drying a few feet away. Hopefully the kitchen will be put back together within the next day or so. I AM thankful that this happened on the last day of the fair instead of the first!

For school, M is finishing up a few things from last year. What needs to be ordered for this next school year has been decided and the orders will actually be placed in the next week or so. I'm tentatively planning on starting after Labor Day weekend.

J almost has the entryway back in order, Sacagawea is cleaning out the toy box in the living room, and I'm ready to go rescue some laundry from the dryer. The schoolroom was in the midst of a major overhaul when the fair started and it really needs to be finished this week. I have some green beans and peaches begging to be frozen, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow in hopes of having running water in the kitchen. Ahhh...don't be shocked if you don't see another update soon!

Eat the herb of the field...Genesis 3:18

A few days ago I mentioned that J took some interesting items to the church potluck last weekend. Can anyone identify these weeds specimens from our garden?

The first is purslane and the second is lambsquarters. They are definitely an aquired taste, in my opinion. Lambsquarters would make a pretty decent spinach substitute, and my internet research shows that some people actually prefer it to spinach. I think everyone at potluck at least gave them a try. It didn't hurt that those were the only things remotely resembling salad that showed up last week...and there was plenty of salad dressing. Ranch dressing covers a multitude of peculiar tastes! There was even a hint that there might be more wild edibles that show up to future potlucks!

Here are some of the other things growing in our garden that everyone should recognize...

Zucchini just starting to blossom:

Peppers:
(Sorry, M just informed me I should have rotated that photo. Oops! I think I need glasses, but that's a whole 'nother post!)

And an actual tomato:
I picked what I think was the last of our sugar snap peas last night. It was getting dark, so I'm not sure I got them all. I was astonished that they were still tender. We have had temperatures near or over 100 for about a week.

This morning when I got up it was 67 outside and 78 inside. I opened a few more windows and a few minutes later the temp outside was 69 and 76 inside! When I noticed the inside temp had crept back up to 77, I shut the house completely down. All the windows and shades were closed and I made sure the lights were off unless absolutely necessary. By mid-afternoon the outside thermometer said 102, but it was only 82 inside. We've opened up the house again now that it has cooled off for the evening.

Liberty...Galatians 5:1

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." ~Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

It was quite a week at our church. Last Tuesday evening a sweet couple made a public commitment to one another in marriage.
Yesterday they made a public commitment to their Lord and Savior through baptism.

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

Hope you have a happy 4th of July. Remember those that have lived and died for your freedom!

Family...Esther 9:28

Thought I should do a quick update of our family. We've been crazy-busy...really. You probably wouldn't believe half the stuff I could tell you, so I'll just hit the believable items.

G will be 15 months tomorrow. He is continuing to grow and develop as he ought. He's not saying many words except "Hot!" (complete with the spread-legged stance with outstretched arm toward the word stove), "dog," and the sign for "milk." He definitely understands what we say and can follow simple commands. He loves playing with Benjamin and Rachel, the dolls formerly known as Shue and Da, and all of Sacagawea's play dishes. She thinks that G is almost as good as a baby sister since he likes playing with all her stuff.

Sacagawea is my eager learner. She is days ahead and her school work. She is already planning the type of cake she wants for her birthday in April.

S celebrated Gerald's belated-birthday last week. Yep. Crazy stuff around here. He enjoys talking to relatives on the webcam. He is always checking to see who is available for him to call, and trying to do the math to figure out what time it is in their time zone.

J keeps checking the thermometer to tell us how many tenths of a degree the temperature is falling. He is hoping the intermittent snow and rain we're having this morning changes to just snow and we'll get some of that 20-40" of snow that we were promised by the weatherman last week.

M is continuing to improve his driving skills. I'm eager for him to be able to drive without me putting a death grip on the passenger door handle. I'm contemplating how much it would cost for us to have brakes installed on the passenger side of the van, especially since we'll have to do this a few more times after M. Speaking of the van, we are one of those families now. Yes, it is white (most of the time).

We just started another Depression Recovery Seminar at church. Another health series is due to start immediately after that.

That's about it for the believable stuff! Give us a call if you need to know the rest! I will make an effort to update here more often. Since I've gotten out of the daily/weekly habit, it's been hard to discipline myself to jump back in regularly.

Began to make excuse...Luke 14:18

I almost stole my last post title for this one...we have been busy...but four months? Yes, it has been nearly four months since my last post. Dreadful. Terrible. I am ashamed. I am so, so, so sorry. Please forgive me.

I really don't have any good excuses, other than my limited computer time has been spent over on Facebook. Most of that is while I'm feeding G, so I really can't type a blog post. I should be doing something else right now, so I'm just going to give really quick updates. Ready?

G: The sweetest baby. Really. He is so intense, and smart, also. No, I'm not biased a bit. Since I've last posted, he started rolling, crawling, got his 2 bottom teeth, standing on his own, and any day now he will start walking. Whew.

We are still waiting for the remainder of his second round of blood tests we had done for allergy testing. He's had a rash for several months, and after ruling out all other factors, we had the blood testing. It turns out he is allergic to a lot of the things that I eat. So, until he quits using me for his main source of nutrition, I'm not eating: soy, wheat, gluten, oats, eggs, cashews, almonds, and peanuts. That's a small list, but I quickly discovered that those items are in almost everything I (used to) eat.

I can have rice, corn, apples, oranges, potatoes, tomatoes, yeast, and cow's milk (although I'm slightly allergic to that!), and black beans. We just found out today about the black beans and we are still waiting for the results for other beans, seeds, and nuts.

Sacajawea has lost her two front teeth and has them mostly grown back in now. She has taken up crochet and will be happy to make a hat for you if you send her the size of your head. Color and style will be her choice!

S is thrilled that we actually TOLD him to dig in the front yard. We've spent the last 6 years telling him not to dig in the yard since he has 50+ other acres in which to dig! He helped dig out around some pipes that needed replacing. He also got braces in April.

J's mouth is now metal-free (for now), including his retainer, since some other teeth grew in. We'll re-evaluate his situation in six months.

The biggest news of our summer is that J made the decision to be baptized. The Man baptized him in the same pond in which M was baptized on July 11 surrounded by friends and family. It was a very special day as G was dedicated the same day.

M is growing taller. He's still working doing lawn care for the same place he worked last summer. I can't believe he'll be in 10th grade this year. We are in the midst of ordering all of our books for the new school year.

The Dog is now living outside. He got sent to the back porch when I was painting the inside of the house. Since then, G's blood test also showed he was allergic to dogs, so...sorry, Dog!

We're in the middle of Financial Peace University at our church. The county fair starts next week and our church will once again have a booth there.

I really hope to get photos up of our summer, but the battery in my camera is dead right now. Hope you all have had a good summer, thanks for being patient waiting for an update from us!

To every thing there is a season...Ecclesiates 3:1

We're busily getting ready for The Man, M and J to leave for a church mission project in Chile. This is the first time the boys will have used their passports for international travel, and they sure are excited. M bought a camera yesterday so they will bring back lots of pictures.

Out of all the exciting things they could be excited about, the conversation yesterday was all about the seasons. It will be winter when they leave here. They will arrive in Chile (in the southern hemisphere) in the summer. A few days later it will become fall, and then when they fly back here it will be spring. They will experience all four seasons in a span of 2 weeks. It doesn't take much to excite homeschoolers!

Reasons...Job 32:11

I know some funny people. Last Wednesday night I was awake for quite awhile with some pretty heavy contractions. I told The Man that if the baby was going to come early it would be on Wednesday night due to my somewhat strenuous excursion to the big city on Wednesday. Nope. Nothing significant happened.

On Thursday afternoon a friend stopped by with a newer infant car seat for us. She said she had prayed the night before that I wouldn't have my baby yet because the cover she had washed was still air drying. Ahhh. So that's why baby didn't come!

Today I see that Ann has been hoping that baby news waits on her keyboard!

Carseat? Check.
Ann has her keyboard? Check.
I think we're ready for a baby!

In addition to The Man's brother's family, we also had another couple for lunch today. The Man and his brother knew the man from the church they went to as youth. We were surprised when we first visited our current church to learn that he had re-married a lady here. We've enjoyed having them in our church the past five years, and we're sad that they have sold their house and are moving to Washington to be closer to her family. We all had a wonderful time singing after lunch as our sister-in-law played the piano, our niece played the violin, and M played the organ (given to us by this couple).

The couple went home, and everybody else (except me!) headed for a walk behind our property in the National Forest. A few minutes after they left, it occurred to me that I could hear the water running in the bathroom. Uh-oh. I shut off the water, grabbed some towels, and called The Man on his cell phone. I knew he couldn't have gotten very far. He ran back to the house and took care of the puddles over behind the toilet that I couldn't bend over to reach. I am so glad that I stayed behind, otherwise we all would have returned to a major flood!

We may head up to the hospital later this afternoon, evening, or perhaps tomorrow. The Man's assistant's wife was actually induced this morning, so we would like to go see that baby. Also, we found out that The Man's 2nd cousin and family are up here because his father had surgery yesterday. We want to get up to the hospital to see all of them also. Perhaps I may even need to go to the hospital to have this baby!

Rise up early...Exodus 8:20

These pictures were still hanging out on our computer, so I'll put them here. The Man took the children to the balloon fair a few weeks ago. I stayed home and rested went to the gym, fed the horse, fed the chickens, fed the dog, and cleaned the house.

******

M E M O

Date: October 8, 2008
To: Baby
From: Mother
Subject: Sleeping Arrangements

It has come to my attention that there are lots of other things you would rather do than sleep. At this point in your life, your non-sleeping activities have mainly consisted of rolling, kicking, and punching. That is fine. Actually, it is exactly what is expected of you, and you may continue for the duration of your time within the womb.

However, repeated abuse of these other activities at times in which your mother is supposed to be sleeping (as in the few weeks before you make your out-of-the-womb debut) is not appreciated and will be met with dire consequences. When these activities are alternated with whatever it is you do to make the uterus contract, it makes for a long and sleepless night for me, your mother. 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. is not a sufficient night's sleep for me. No longer will I lie in bed quietly until 3:00 a.m. waiting for you to settle down. I will get up earlier to call your bluff (some people refer to it as "nesting"). Yes, the kitchen floor DID need to be mopped. I'm so sorry if it disturbed YOUR sleep.

Tomorrow morning we can clean the bathrooms if you so desire. I'm sure the rest of the family would enjoy fresh homemade biscuits every morning (they gave me heartburn). Last, but not least, we could be at the gym when they open tomorrow morning also. That leisurely mile on the treadmill certainly kept you kicking and the uterus contracting. Oh, that "whump, whump" you felt was my legs hitting my abdomen while cycling. Either settle down, come on out, or learn to deal with it.

I love you.

Mom

*****

I did get a few minutes of dozing done between contractions after The Man and boys left for M's music lessons. Sacagawea and I will head up to the city after lunch to do a bit of shopping and go to my OB appointment.

Here are a few pictures from the baby shower at the church last Saturday night. We now have pretty much all that we need except newborn-sized diapers. We'll remedy that today.
Our baby and the almost 1 year old that just moved in with his grandma were the recipients of the gifts.

M took all of these pictures. Almost all of the family pictures were "headless." Maybe I should explain to him that I can crop them on the computer for the blog.A knitted blanket and little blue cap.
A pink and white crocheted blanket...with an assurance that a blue and white blanket is all ready for a trade in case Sacagawea doesn't get her wish of a baby sister.

Many, many other gifts plus a nursery monitor as a group gift from the church...
I think it is time for another nap.

Return unto his own family...Leviticus 25:41

The Man is gone. He left about 4:30 yesterday afternoon to drive to the airport with a couple from our church. They spent the night in the airport city and this afternoon they started on their journey. Right now they are probably* somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on their way to Chile. They are doing a "site visit" to get ready for the church mission project next February. The other man promised he would make sure The Man got back safely. He better.

After they left, the kids and I left the empty house and went to the local farmers' market. Yum! We have such a short growing season at our elevation so it is nice to at least see some of the potential of our area. We left with some melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, currants, and corn. From there, we went to the church and worked on organizing some of the materials left over from the fair booth. Soon it was time for the mid-week service. We received a lot of squash and some lemon cucumbers from one of our members.

Sacagawea & S usually color left-over children's bulletins or draw during the mid-week service. Last night Sacagawea traced her hand and wrote, "I love Mom and the Man" in it. I didn't realize she paid that much attention to this blog!

You may just be seeing more posts from me this week while The Man is gone. He took the camera with him, so I won't have the pressure of trying to upload pictures via our dial-up! I still have a lot of catch-up posts brewing, so I'll try to get them posted this week!

*I just tried tracking the flight on flightstats.com, but because it is an international flight, they can't track it. If anyone knows of an international friendly site, please let me know before next week!
Update: I should have G**gled a few minutes ago. I found the flight map on flytecomm.com. He IS currently over the Pacific traveling at a ground speed of 534 mph. The kids were happy to see that the flight status is "In Flight." Only another 6 1/2 hours to go!

The sound of the organ...Job 21:12

Are you a potential organ donor? Have you marked your driver's license so if in the unfortunate event something terrible happens to you, someone else can keep on living? Although it is a personal choice, I do think it is a nice thing to do. I thought I would get that PSA out of the way before I move on to the lighter side of organ donation.

If you haven't been to our house lately, you may be surprised to see how much more crowded it is than a few months ago. Last October one of our church members called us up and said that her cousin wanted to give away an organ (the musical kind!). Were we interested? Only if it worked. She said that her cousin said it worked.

I stopped by his place to see it and make sure it worked. Unfortunately due to the storage situation, we weren't able to try it out, but it looked nice! The Man stopped by a few days later and the cousin rolled the pickup that the organ was in out of the storage shed and they were able to transfer it from the back of his pickup into the back of The Man's pickup. The Man drove home with the monstrous organ and speaker/ amplifier/ whatever-it-is-called cabinet, and the bench.

We stood in the back of the pickup for awhile contemplating how we were going to get it down from the truck, up on the porch, up the steps, and into the living room. Old organs are heavy. Very, very, heavy. It took two strong guys to just scoot it a few feet from one pickup to another, we knew it should take more than just The Man and Wife to get it into the house. All the people we knew of that were available also had bad backs, so we didn't even ask. Finally, with the help of M, a furniture dolly, ramps, concrete blocks, and a lot of stuff I probably shouldn't admit to on the blog, we got it into the house and plugged it in. If we ever attempt something like that again, we should have at least 4 or 5 strong men to help out in the move. Those things are solid!

Some of the keys seemed to work, none of the pedals worked, and the speaker noise wasn't pleasant. We moved it to its present location until we could get someone to see if it was worth fixing.

We pulled the amplifier cabinet out from the wall for the service call, but this has basically been what one entire wall of my living room has looked like for the last few months...
With the piano, organ, guitar, violins, recorders, and whatever other musical instruments the kids drag in, this room has been referred to as the conservatory.
Meanwhile...a young man has been attending our church with his mother. A few months ago he inquired why no one ever played the organ at church. We told him that no one at church played, and the last time someone attempted to play, there were some weird noises and it probably needed to be serviced. It turns out that he plays the organ!

The Man called around to find a person to come and service both the organ at church and at our home. The only one The Man could find to service the organ was in the next state and didn't want to drive over the mountain pass due to weather. When the weather cleared he was going to be out of town, then he was sick, then he was still sick. Last week, another person who goes to our church called the manufacturer and got the list of qualified technicians in our area. One was dead, the other was the man we had been trying to get to come for the past few months! FINALLY! He came today!

After servicing the organ at church, he came to our house. He proclaimed that ours wasn't worth fixing. He said it would cost several hundred dollars for him to get it working, but he claims he could get us a nice, smaller one for a lot less. I told him to go ahead and take any parts he wanted since we're probably just going to junk it. He said he could use the amplifier and some cords. I'm not sure what all he took, but he didn't charge us for a separate service call. I'm so glad the organ donation didn't end up costing us anything.

The kids already have plans for the wood from the cabinets. I already have plans for rearranging the furniture. If you want any of the parts, put in your request now! Demolition will begin soon.

Whiter than snow...Psalm 51:7

We were supposed to have a blizzard on Friday. The whole state got socked and we were gearing up for it also. Since The Man was supposed to have the day off of work, we were going up to the city in the morning to run a few errands, hoping to be back home before the weather got too awful. His co-worker couldn't make it over the mountain from the big city due to high winds, so The Man was asked to go to the office and take care of the patients. I decided I didn't want to make the trip by myself, so the kids and I just stayed home and cleaned house, did laundry, and took pictures! I was going to record the blizzard for you folks, inch by inch!

I took this "before" picture from the front porch on Thursday night.
Those are the still-red posts that hopefully will be brown sometime in the next five years. It rained all night Thursday/Friday. I didn't sleep too well with the pitter-patter on the step outside our bedroom.

Friday morning right after The Man was asked to go to the office...
It is snowing, but you can see the water dripping off the porch roof.

A few hours later it was starting to stick...

This is the last picture I took on Friday...
So much for the blizzard! I slept well last night. There was no rain to keep me awake, but we did have quite a bit of quiet snow! I really like this picture. It is so blue and wintry.
We got about 10-12" of the stuff during the night. Some of our church members couldn't get to church this morning because they had 16-20".
We plan on leaving in the morning for some pastors' meetings. However, the place we're headed to is several hours away in the Sierra foothills. We'll call in the morning to make sure the back roads we need to take are actually open. If you don't "see" me around this next week, that's where we'll be! We are planning on taking all our snow gear and sleds since the forecast for that area is predicting about 20" of additional snow accumulation there over the next few days. We're taking the pickup with 4wd and studded snow tires. We'll also try to pick up some chains for the truck. The Man tells me he has never had to put on chains. J and I will show him how it's done!

Watch...day and night...Nehemiah 4:9

One of our church members handed a tithe and offering envelope to The Man last Sabbath. Usually tithe envelopes are dropped in the offering plate so he was a bit surprised, especially of the bulkiness of the envelope.

Inside he found one walnut. That was one-tenth of their walnut crop for the year. We pray they have a bigger crop next year ;-).
Sunday The Man worked in the ER. We had a fairly non-eventful day here at home until I decided to go to our local small-town market to pick up a few baking supplies. The kids were already in the van as I walked outside and saw that someone had left his bike on the lawn. I informed the children we weren't leaving until it was put away properly. S jumped out of the van and went to retrieve his bike. As he was heading to the shed with it, he decided to go straight there, rather than going around the hammock stand. Unfortunately, as he went over the metal tube bottom of the stand the bicycle bounced up and the metal part of the handlebar hit his eye...the same eye that he injured three weeks ago.

He cried. There was blood. The Man wasn't there.

It didn't look too bad to me, but since it looked like he split open his recent injury (and I didn't know how bad that was) I decided that we would visit the big supermarket in the city right after we went to the ER.

After examining S in the parking lot, The Man said at this point it will scar no matter what we do, so we just bandaged it. He was feeling just fine when we got home...and I did make him put away his bike. Carefully, please. Of course he wanted a picture taken of this owie also.

A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance...Proverbs 15:13

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures from the past week...

We were driving along on the way to a Sabbath afternoon hike when we saw this monstrosity hanging in the tree. It was about 12 inches in diameter. S was glad that its occupants were safe inside their home and he was safely in the truck with the door carefully shut. For some reason he has had great respect for stinging insects lately.
This pair of common "red shafted" flickers flew through an open screen door and spent the afternoon trying to get out of our screened-in back porch. I opened both of the screen doors and tried to encourage them out with a broom, but all that did was terrify them. They stayed until The Man came home. He caught them with his hands and took them outside. They were very pretty.

September 24 we started a depression recovery program at our church. We had 28 participants the first night. This included about 10 people from our church that were there to help, observe, or be a part of the program. Last Monday we had another 12 new people that either couldn't be there the first night or were invited by family or friends that attended the first night. Our fellowship hall was packed. We got amazing feedback from the attendees. We are so glad people in our community are being helped and blessed by this program. The program will continue every Monday night through November 12, so that's where we'll be spending Mondays for a few weeks.

While I was passing out the church newsletters last weekend one of our church members noted that I would be at the church 5 days next week. I truly hadn't noticed. You would think I would notice things like that since I had made up the calendar, but no, I hadn't. Upon closer examination I saw that on two of those days I will be there in the afternoon and evening. That makes seven times. I suppose I'll also have to find some time to do school, music lessons....

Music lessons are going well. The violin teacher will be pleased that the book he requested we get for M finally arrived. I don't think he will be impressed with its condition.
We think the markings on the envelope are tire tracks. However, we did get our passports. It only took 2 weeks, not the 8-10 the postmaster promised. Hooray! We're ready to travel.

So, if you don't hear from me again, it probably means we're hiding out on a remote island somewhere...or, we're just very busy.

Prosper and be in health...3 John 2

A quick update while I'm waiting for part of tomorrow's supper to come out of the oven.

We have had HOT weather this week considering we had a frost last week. It was up in the 90s. I hope it is safe to plant our garden now because it will be going in this week.

The killdeer eggs at the church hatched last Wednesday. Sorry, no pictures, but I hear they were cute. The day after I found the blackbirds hatched on the wheel line I went back to verify the number. There were five. A few days later there were four, and yesterday J and I went down there...only three. A wee bit sad until I remember that I'll be trying to keep them out of my garden in a few months!

We packed a picnic lunch and The Dog in the pickup this morning. After church we went and found a nice cool place up in the mountains to eat and play in some water. The kids all climbed up on this rock for a picture.

Sacagawea was in tears when it was over because she couldn't get down by herself. S helped her down. That's what big brothers are for.

Tomorrow morning the kids' music teacher is graduating from homeschool high school. Thursday night the local church school up in the city has its 8th grade graduation. Friday afternoon the local high school (including our neighbor) will have their graduation. I guess it is that time of year!

Tomorrow after the graduation we'll get ready for the Vegetarian Supper Club we've started at church. The Man gives a health talk, then we have an array of vegetarian dishes to sample provided by our members, and finally, "support group" meetings. This will only be the 2nd monthly meeting, so we're still figuring out exactly what we are doing.

Ok, the timer just went off. Time for bed!

Preach...Jonah 3:2

The Man is working in the ER today so I went down to the field this evening to move the irrigation wheel line. At first I couldn't see anything, but as soon as I lifted the cover many little blackbird beaks started waving in the air. Too bad I didn't take any regurgitated worms down there with me.

On the mover...


A close up...


I decided to leave the wheel line alone for the evening. I'll let The Man move it tomorrow.

Here's my oldest baby. He preached his first sermon yesterday. In the interest of fair reporting, this is not a picture of him preaching. I ran the video camera from the back of the church and didn't snap still pictures. After the service M got back up at the podium and posed for me.


He spoke about Jonah (how he ran from God) and Elijah (how he ran from Jezebel) and then about how Noah and Abram did what God wanted them to do even though others did not understand. It was a wonderful first-time sermon and nobody complained about getting out of church a few minutes early.

I was so busy running the video camera that I completely cut out the part of the service where S played "Holy, Holy, Holy" on the piano. I'm not sure how I managed that, but I did. Fortunately he performed an encore for me last night which I did get on video.

He was mildly annoyed with me. "We can't put the people singing in church on the video also." True. However, the people did enjoy the youth service yesterday.

Last week, in anticipation of the service, we pulled out old videos of The Man giving some sermons when he was in 9th or 10th grade...about 22 or 23 years ago we were guessing. The man that did the children's story for one of those church service decades ago is a member of our church up here. He's in his upper 80s now and he had signed up to tell the children's story yesterday. How appropriate and wonderful that was!

Seek, and you will find...Matt. 7:7

We’ve had an adventuresome time at the fair this week. Several fair-goers who are seeking a relationship with God have stopped by our booth to pick up some materials.

In the booth right next to ours is a very nice lady who is selling personalized VeggieTales books and CDs. CDs. CDs that play over…and over…and over…all…day…long. It could be a lot worse; that I will admit. The lady also sells personalized Barney CDs. Really, though, would you like to hear Larry sing: "Oh, where is my hairbrush? Oh where is my hairbrush? Oh, where, oh, where, oh, where, oh, where, oh, where, oh, where, oh, where, oh, where oh, where ... is my hairbrush?" about 250 times a day? Maybe it’s payback for my childhood renditions of “99 Bottles.”

I would like to tell Larry exactly what he can do with his hairbrush when he finds it...or at least give him another so he doesn’t have to share with the Peach. The Hairbrush Song

Since The Man didn’t have to go to work today, he is staffing the booth so I don’t need to be there. I’ll get to catch up on all the stuff that didn’t get done this week and prepare for the weekend.

I did get to venture out into the garden this morning. These are my kinds of tomatoes and cucumbers…and they don’t have names.

Stand still...2 Chron. 20:17

The county fair starts on Wednesday. Last year while strolling through the commercial building I mused that it would be nice if our church could have a booth at the fair this year. So we are.

Don't expect to see any more updates here until after next Sunday. We're going to be a bit busy the next several days. It shouldn't be too hard. I think most of the work will be paying attention to what we do so we'll be that much ahead next year...next year...