Are You Still There?

Hello?  Is anyone out there still?  I am not surprised if you are not.  I have been terrible about posting the details of our lives on this here blog for quite some time.  Things have been crazy since.…well a long time. 

But just to touch on a few things.  We FINALLY sold our home.  We have BOUGHT a new one, and are truly counting down the days when we can sign papers, move in, and get our family back into a routine and lifestyle that we have missed for quite awhile now. 

Once the papers are signed, I will share more about things. 

C. had her 10th birthday where I took her and a friend to get manicures and then to Panda Express for dinner.  They LOVED it!

We had a surprise birthday party for M. I think it was successful. 

We had a DJ and threw her a dance party.  We had a chocolate fountain with different items to dip in it, and that went over real well with everybody. 

J. had a quiet birthday because life was too crazy for another party, so she will be having friends over when we get moved and settled.

J. also has gone from wearing glasses to sporting contacts now.  We just got used to the glasses and now we are adjusting to her without them. 

C. had her first dance competition.  She did a great job. They got Excellent.  The reason there are no videos or pictures are because I have packed pretty much everything up for now. 

I was able to go on a field trip to the YMCA with K.  We had a fun time.  They did lots of activities. This was my favorite called “Drums Alive.”  I got to do it as well, and it was great exercise.

We are wrapping up the school year, which means that we will be spending time at school year productions and recitals. 

I have started a new job that is at nights.  I do my transcribing in the mornings.  I just signed up for a class in the fall to do phlebotomy, And I am still the young women’s president. 

T. is working four 10-hour days and helping me out wherever I need it.  We are such a great team.  T. and K. just went on their very first father/son campout.  I have never seen two boys so EXCITED to do this.  They had a great time. 

There is lots more to type about, but I am tired and have a big week ahead of me, so I will have to save it for another time.

Just Not Feeling It

 

We are into the second month of the year, and I really do have some fun things to blog about, but right now I am just not feeling it. 

I will not go into detail, but this blog has been my record for our family, so I will briefly mention my feelings here.

I am to a point where my hope is diminishing, but yet to type or think it makes me feel EXTREMELY guilty because of the tender mercies I and my family  have received over the last months. 

I keep wondering how much will be enough.  How much do we have to sacrifice before it is finally enough.  What more can I do but pray for mercy--for a miracle.  I endlessly search the scriptures for solace---for peace.   I’m trying so HARD to find any answer; but right now I believe I’m going through that fire, which hopefully will give me far more understanding and knowledge than I have right now, and I WILL be grateful for it. 

Just right now. I. am. not. feeling. it.

The New Year

The new year has begun, and we are hoping for good things to come. We are already starting with new jobs and new callings in church. We hope to no longer own a home in Kansas soon, but only the Lord knows the outcome of that.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

A FAMILY TRADITION

Well, I have taken the bull by the horn and was able to find time to blog about a family tradition we have greatly missed while living in Kansas.
This is the product of a hard day of work. There is something to be said for the satisfaction one receives for a day of hard productive work. We have not been able to get firewood for five years and that is one of the traditions we had while living in Idaho. So it was nice to be able to go up as a family and work together to get some wood and create some good memories together.

During this trip, T. found signs of bigfoot. He found this foot and some bigfoot hair, which solified to K. that indeed bigfoot was watching us cut firewood.

Uncle D. and T. had the job of lifting the really heavy logs.

Grandma and Chloe helped measure the length of the logs. Grandma, S., M., and J. helped carry the logs to the trucks.

We all cleared the brush into piles like this.

K. helped clear brush and searched for bigfoot signs. Thankfully he wore those red gloves, so we could tell where he was. His camo kepted him pretty well hidden when he would wander a ways from us.

Grandpa and T. did all the cutting. These two men are totally in their element with this job. They do a great job and we are grateful that they know what they are doing and do this for us, so we can enjoy heat for the winter.

The kiddos taking a break from the manual labor.

It was a beautiful drive on the way up. We got to see the changing of the leaves.

Our kids at our county fair.

We had some setbacks on this trip such as T's truck broke down and grandma and grandpa's Tahoe had to be jump started because the battery died, but we were blessed and able to get them running and returned back home safely.

It Has Been Awhile

 

It has been two months since the big move and things are plugging right along.  I sometimes miss the lazy days with my husband and kids, but I am glad to be back in Idaho involved in the things that I am.

I am now the Valiant 9 girls teacher and over the activity days for that age group.  I completed my CNA program and will be taking the semester off to get more money built up and just work.  It is so strange to not be on the computer anymore, which then keeps me from seeing the goings on in my family and friends’ lives.  I sometimes feel out of place without my own home, but I also feel very blessed to have the generosity of my in-laws to open their home to us to give us a place to stay until we can have our own home again.

M has passed driver’s education and is now driving with a licensed adult in the car with her.  I am not sure where the time has gone because I am not sure I feel old enough to have a driving child. She does pretty well.  She had the opportunity to go to EFY for a whole week and loved it.  When we heard her testimony in church, we knew that it was worth all the sacrifices made to get her there.

J went to girls’ camp and enjoyed herself.  She is not too excited for school to start, but we find with our little J that she gripes about things because she hates any kinds of change that takes her out of her comfort level and then once she has done it, she says she enjoys it.  She went rafting with the youth and loved it.  She had her first real babysitting job and did an excellent job.

C is excited to start school.  She loves that I am teaching her primary class. She has always been my little shadow, and so I enjoy this time I get to be with her.  She enjoyed having her cousin to play for two weeks. 

K is excited to begin school this year.  He has been able to play with boys and that has been the highlight of his summer.  He loves the mountains and was able to go up in them a few times. He loves all the room he gets to run and have fun outside.  Grandma’s sandbox was quite fun and now there is a trampoline, so life is good for the little man.

We finally were able to get up into the mountains.  They have been calling our names since we crossed the Idaho border.  We went to Redfish Lake and enjoyed playing in the water and the sand. 

The Lord continues to bless us.  We are thankful for the generosity of family and support and prayers said in our behalf.  We know the Lord answers our prayers through people in our lives and for this we are so blessed.

LIFE

I am hoping now that I have finished classes for the semester I will update this blog shortly.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

We Did Moving Clampett Style.

Okay, I am not sure how this picture looks I am blogging from my phone, so I cannot tell how good it is. This what we looked like going down the interstate on our way to Idaho. My father-in-law drove the 26 foot uhaul pulling a 6x12 uhaul trailer. My mother-in-law drove their pickup pulling a car trailer with our honda and four-wheeler. T drove his truck with dogs in the back, his fishing boat on top, pulling a truck bed trailer full and the boat trailer on top of it. I drove the expedition packed completely full. My brother-in-law drove our tahoe full of stuff for us.

What an experience. We are grateful to those who helped pack those trailers. We are grateful for family and their willingness to help us achieve our goals.

We did have T's clutch go out in York, Nebraska. The Lord blessed us by making sure it went out when he pulled into the gas station and not on the interstate. The chevy dealership was a mile away and so two and a half hours later, we were back on the road.

Stayed tuned for how I surprised my daddy.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5