Arm be broken...Job 31:22

S will be in 8th grade this year. He is also growing! He measured 60 3/4" inches this morning. His weight is 95 1/2 pounds, which he wants you to know includes his clothing. 

He fell on July 11 and injured his wrist. After a weekend backpack trip with The Man, I took him in for an x-ray on the following Monday morning. He is thankful that he is still young, growing, and flexible. His injury was "just" a greenstick fracture (If you don't know what that is--I didn't--go ahead and look it up.  I'll be blogging about it again in a few days.) and was given a wrist splint to wear for three weeks. As proof that time flies when you're having fun, we just now realized that he actually wore the splint for 4 weeks! 

Now that he's all better,  he's regaining his strength in his arm by mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, and all the activities that he couldn't do with the wrist splint.

(psst.  *I* know that you're reading, but I don't tell the kids unless you leave a comment.  I know it is a lot easier to give feedback on fb, but since I'm trying to get back into the blogging habit, please indulge us for a few weeks.  Let us all know that you're there. Thank you!)

Bring forth frogs abundantly...Exodus 8:3

Now for an update on the next son! J will be in 10th grade this year. He will be taking Algebra II, Chemistry Botany/Zoology (I knew that, but was confused when writing this post), History (medieval), English, music lessons (most likely trumpet this year), foreign language TBD, p.e., and other various activities. It will be after Labor Day before we start our school year, so we still have time to figure out a few things. I think he will be interested in starting driver training, but that will probably be in January or later.

J rolled his eyes when I asked him to go weigh himself and measure his height. Hey, I need this information for the baby book, right? His height measures 67 3/4", which is about 5 inches taller than my height. His weight is 118 pounds (he hasn't passed me up there :P ). With a shoe size of 10 or 11, he passed up M's shoe size.

He has grown a lot this year and is dealing with the problems that can come with that, including, but not limited to, knee joints locking at inopportune times and pants that resemble tattered capris. I'm only sort of kidding about that last part.  We do have him properly clothed most of the time. He is just about at the point that he can no longer receive M's other hand-me-downs, and he does like to wear his familiar, comfortable clothes no matter how small or worn out they get. I usually don't mind what he wears here around the ranch, as long as he is presentable when we "go to town." 

The Man told J to just be careful how he bends and twists his knees since his problems usually occur when he is kneeling on the couch and shifts around. Yesterday he came in the living room to sit down on the couch beside me and I told him to be careful with his legs. "I should probably just cut them off," he said. I raised my eyebrows in surprise at that declaration. Then he realized that I was more concerned about his knees than the gaping holes in the knees of his pants!

We have so many tree frogs this year. In the evenings we can sit on the front step and watch the frogs hopping all over the yard. We've even had quite a few make their way into the house (ick!) which we've never had issues with before. 

I'll end this post with a picture I took in our front yard this past week. I'm sure the tree frog was very thankful for his long legs as he was able to escape the jaws of baby garter snake. 

As I said on facebook, maybe the snake will have better success next time. If you only go after the ones you're sure you can get, you'll never know your potential!

That he understandeth and knoweth me...Jeremiah 9:24

I'm ending my blogging hiatus and I hope I'm back for a while!  There is so much to update on, but I think I'll start with the oldest and spread out the kid updates over the next few weeks.

This little kid is at college.

That picture was taken in the fall of 1995 when we lived in Berrien Springs, Michigan. M has returned there, and is now an official freshman at Andrews University majoring in Engineering. How did he grow up so fast?

I'm not missing him as much as some folks think I should be. Probably because he was gone for 4 months this spring to AFCOE, and I've had no less than 14 phone conversations and 1 Skype session with him since I dropped him off at the airport last Thursday. He's also living with his grandparents near the university, so I'm not worried about him not being taken care of. We spent 18 years training him up in the Lord, and we'll let Him guide M the rest of the way.

He told me today that his final piece of luggage was delivered, so he has some of his Legos with which to study.

Thy word have I hid in mine heart...Psalm 119:11

I've added a new link to the sidebar. For over the past month, my morning computer time has been monopolized by a website that helps a person memorize scripture. This is the first software I have found that works well for me. Since I don't always have access to the same computer, it is helpful for me to have a web-based application.

Right now, I am polishing up a few passages that I've learned in the past:
Genesis 1
Deuteronomy 8
Psalm 1
Psalm 19
Psalm 40
Psalm 119 (learning...if I can learn the longest chapter in the Bible, I can learn anything! Right?)
Matthew 5
Acts 1 (learning)

I'm also "learning" several smaller passages such as John 3:16 & 17. These have helped me "learn" verses quickly according to the algorithm and are giving me the momentum to keep going.

Go have a look and feel free to tell them Tree River sent you!

Some new thing...Acts 17:24

Still crazy busy. Too crazy. Too busy. We're trying to remedy that situation. I've been recording most of the little things the babies are doing on facebook and not here. I really need to change that since the blog is much easier to find things later.

"Mommy, did you know M used to have TWO lizards????" G had heard this juicy bit of news from S and that was very exciting.

"Yes, G, I knew that." I was tickled that he thought it would be news to me, but then I recalled that the last one had died over six months before G was born. No wonder he doesn't remember them!

M has been gone from home for the last few months. We'll be seeing him this weekend for his last few days of childhood. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with an 18 year old baby.

Poison...James 3:8 (part IV)

Yes, again. Since I had to look back at my blog posts to see when the last time this happened and for med dosages, I thought it would be a good time to update the blog. Eh. We do still have some meds on hand from the last episode a few years ago, but we're contemplating what to do when they run out. Our vet is (surprise!) out of town for the weekend. The Man just got in touch with someone at the hospital who agreed to give him the needed meds, so he is off to get those.

So, update on us: New dog was added to our family the end of June. Weird story since I wasn't even looking to add another responsibility to our full-to-overflowing plates, but I clicked on a link late on a Friday afternoon, and then surfed, and somehow ended up on Petfinder.com. I punched in our zip just for kicks and a dog showed up that I knew needed a home. Any home. Not ours, because, of course, we didn't need another dog. I sent out a plea on facebook for someone to go get the dog. The Man thought it looked like a good dog and told me it was up to me if we got it.
First thing the following Monday morning I called the pound to get more information on the dog. Tuesday afternoon the kids and I went up there just to look. I took the Dog along, too, just in case I wanted to see how they got along. I still wasn't thrilled about getting another pet, but this puppy needed a home.

The lady at the pound said he was a stray that had been there 2 months! She said everyone that came to see him said he was too big, but he was a sweetheart that needed a home. He was a bit bigger than I'd anticipated. I was agreeable to taking him for a trial and the lady said she would waive the adoption fee since she wanted him to get out of the pound.

Since we got him for "free," it didn't hurt quite so bad to stop on our way home to buy a crate, dog dish, leash, collar, and harness. I told myself that even if we didn't end up keeping him, the Dog's 15 year old crate needed to be replaced anyway, so it would be too much of a waste.

The Man laughed at me when we got home. He seemed to recall me telling him in the not so distant past that I didn't want a big dog. OK, so this dog is pretty big. He tipped the scales at nearly 90 pounds. But he is a sweetheart...that runs like a horse...and should have been named something like "Houdini." Instead we named him Painter. No special reason other than it was a name that nobody especially hated, and when he wags his tail (often) he looks like a black dog that dipped his tail in some white paint and spattered it around. J also mentioned something about the amount of drool that comes out of his mouth, but that's kind of gross.

The vet has no clue as to what breed of dog he is. He was advertised as McNab x Hound, but the vet, we, and everyone else agrees that he doesn't have hound in him. The vet said he definitely isn't Chihuahua (hee-hee). The vet guessed that maybe he was McNab x Pyrenees. Possible, but he has short hair. The vet guessed he is probably between 2-3 years old.

I was hoping that he and the Dog would be pals. The Dog is nearly 8 years old, and with all of his poisonings, I don't want to think about his lifespan. The Dog tolerates Painter, but he was quite offended that we didn't ask his opinion before we brought him home. The Dog stayed under the van moping for the first two days after we brought Painter home.

So, a little over a week after we brought Painter home, we left on a 3-week trip. I know...getting a new dog right before a long trip was NOT one of my smarter moments. I marveled at my own stupidity. He did have an excellent dog-sitter while we were gone, and I know he was better off than being caged (or worse!) while we were gone. I don't know how much longer the pound would have kept him!

Our 3-week trip involved leaving home at 7 pm on a Thursday night, driving straight through to arrive in Walla Walla for an 8 am appointment at the college, visiting friends and the Whitman Mission, taking M & J to summer camp, visiting The Man's aunt and uncle, camping in Idaho, back to pick up M & J, camping under the stars in Montana, Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug, Andrews University in Michigan (and visits with Grandma & Grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends), Indiana (another Grandma, Grandpa, aunt, uncles, cousins, and friends), more family in Kentucky, college visit in Tennessee and then we were ready to go home! We left Tennessee on Wednesday morning and drove straight through to the Grand Canyon. We arrived there about 3 pm on Thursday, left at 5, slept about 2 hours at some dinky rest stop between Las Vegas and Reno, and arrived home about 2 pm on Friday. Whew. That last paragraph deserves several blog posts of its own, but considering my blogging habits lately, that will have to do!

Life is too crazy right now to even sort out more blog posts.

I took this video of S yesterday. I dare you to watch it and not smile.

A strong wind...Job 8:2

I'm in the middle of overseeing an SAT practice session for M, so I have a few minutes and a few pictures to blog!

We've had beautiful weather the past few days. The boys and Sacagawea have enjoyed relaxing in their hammocks. Three hammocks. One hammock stand. Sometimes they have hung up all 3 at the same time, but usually it is just one or two at a time.

Yesterday I was outside soaking up some sunshine and talking to S when a huge gust of wind whipped through our yard. Someone's hammock, which wasn't connected to the stand, got caught up in the wind. I thought it was pretty cool. S didn't. He might have thought it was cool if it had been J's or Sacagawea's, but it wasn't.

Fortunately The Man was at home, otherwise S would have had to wait for another gust of wind to loosen his hammock from the tree.

That tree definitely isn't strong enough to climb.This tree is strong enough, and S and J decided they wanted a tree house.

Originally, I heard that Sacagawea wouldn't be allowed, but since I saw her carrying boards up the hill yesterday while J & S nailed, I think she has struck a deal. I heard that even G and Baby S were up there yesterday with The Man, so I'm pretty sure it is safe.

We (not me) tilled the entire garden area (~150' x 150') a few weeks ago. So far we've planted potatoes, peas (actually planted a few weeks prior), onions, spinach, radishes, and turnips. Strawberry plants were put in yesterday.

We tried planting strawberries a few years ago, but something ate all the plants. The day The Man and boys tilled the garden, the Dog eradicated about a dozen moles from the garden area. We also just purchased one of these to try to get rid of more of the bigger rodents quickly. Hopefully it will be worth it and we'll get more than a dozen potatoes this year!

G and Sacagawea helped me plant some seeds and we have lots of baby seedlings soaking up sun during the day. We'll continue to have frosts through the beginning of next month so we'll be doing the daily seedling transport for a few more weeks.
Don't you just love his giraffe hat? It was made/given to him last winter by a friend and he adores it!

Here is a "just because" picture I took a few weeks ago. Have a great day!