Ode to Jamin or Jamin is 28

Jamin - the son that caused us to question the parenting philosophies of our time; and made us better parents in the process.  Much of the spiritual transformation in my life came about as being the mother of Jamin as a toddler and pre-schooler. LOL

Jamin never learned to walk - he learned to run....and he hasn't stopped. He's raced through school, college (setting track/cross country records there), 2 master's programs, and now he lives in Alaska, where he is a budding realtor.

Jamin has a well-honed sense of adventure. Some in our family refuse to accompany him on his death marches - mountain hikes.

Nolan, Jamin, Jared, Josiah

He's gone places I dream of going....and gone there in style. 

The obnoxious American abroad

Ted Dekker and Jamin at the 2016 ACFW writers conference 

Today - Jamin is 28. My how time flies. He had an appointment at a house here in the valley this afternoon. We were able to catch dinner with him tonight - and tomorrow he closes on a house and then flies to Texas for a visit.  We look forward to watching God lead Jamin to new adventures and always closer to His side. 

For those wondering - Fancy Feathers is still in prison. The others have shown no new injuries and we haven't lost any more hens.....we will keep watching. 

Alaska's Perks

The best perk of living in Alaska is not the wonderful weather, spectacular scenery, the annual PFDs, or the wildlife. The best perk Alaska offers is being close to family. I am still amazed  how God worked this out for our Air Force family, which was dropping children, one by one,  around the lower 48.

Monday, Stacia and I went to BreZaak's to watch Gideon and Bella. Bre had a dental appointment and then they went out for lunch. Josiah was visiting at the house - he, Michael and Alex dropped by as well. Josiah helped Stacia and Gideon make an awesome fort. The kids spent the rest of our time together playing in the fort!

Arielle has a great job working for a post-partum specialist. She works 3 days a week and can take Benny. They have discovered he does well for 2 days, but 3 days in a row is a bit much. Cory has been promoted to management at Freddies and is no longer able to keep Benny on Tuesdays. I get to watch him. We come upstairs in the afternoon and find other people to play with too.

Benny does his best to help Auntie with Hiragana.

He is Grandpa's shadow....

Monday, Michael and Alex had completely cleaned out the coop. They checked for holes, rats nests - anything to explain what happened to Trusty on Saturday. No answers. 

Tuesday morning I noted several of our chickens now have missing feathers - not just Rosie. Tuesday afternoon, Michael found two hens DEAD in the coop. Various parts of them had been eaten. It was gross and they didn't tell me until AFTER Bible Study that evening.  They did another complete sweep and search of the coop.  There are no prints in the snow (there have been in the past), no hair in the coop, no signs of a predator. They noted an aggressive Easter Egger hen had no missing feathers or wounds.....they isolated her. She is now living in a cage on top of my freezer in the garage.  We have lost 3 hens in 3 days. 

Our research shows this sort of injury (sparing you the graphic details and photos) is caused by weasels, mink, ermine or CANNIBALISM.  We suspect this hen has turned on her flock mates. We are watching to see what happens in the next couple of days. 

Yuuki is happy one of the humans have finally discovered the joys of resting in the sun. LOL 

For those who have asked....Yuuki is nearing 14 years old according to the vet. There have been several times we've thought the end was imminent - but she continues to rally. I do make all her food for her now - she can't handle the processed food from the vet or pet stores.

Sad Saturday - Sedate Sunday

Saturday evening was sad around here. We lost our first hen. I'll spare you the photo. We took a photo of her insides hanging out to see if one of my chicken loving friends had an idea of how to save her. She didn't. We cried; Michael and Cory butchered Trusty. Trusty followed us around. She was gentle and sweet.

We set about trying to find the problem. No firm conclusions yet.

Sunday is filled with work for Nolan, church and family for the rest of us. In the evening, we gathered around for a few games of Farkle. 

 We "hear" Nolan's work schedule will be changing soon and he will "probably" have weekends off.

Grandpa Teaches Benny a New Trick

Benny loves to come upstairs to visit "his people."  There is a gate at the bottom of the stairs, but he takes advantage of any opportunity to come up.

Unfortunately, his technique for climbing down this flight and a second longer flight leaves much to be desired.

Grandpa decided to teach Benny a safer way to get down the stairs. 

He was happy to go down with Michael, but he's determined, when left on his own, to walk down like all the other humans. 

We are blessed to have the grandblessings close by. 

Thirty-Five Years

Michael has great confidence in the resurrection of my green thumb. This winter has been HARD on our inside plants. I put them by the windows so they could get what little light we have....and they got too cold. I moved them to a rocker and they got too hot and dry.....but he bought me orchids. I've never had orchids. Thy DID grow in our yard in the Philippines. Mom loved them; orchids were her favorite plant. The directions say I need to put 3 ice cubes every week at the base of each plant.....we shall see about this. Thy ARE beautiful and a wonderful touch of my childhood. 

Happy Valentine's day to all and a Happy 35th Anniversary to us. I should say something very profound - but I'm not feeling particularly profound....Doing life with Michael these past 35 years has been an adventure I wouldn't trade for the world. Fifteen moves, 2 years living full-time in an RV, 2 countries (as a family), 4 (or 5?) deployments, civilian ministry, military ministry, one cancer scare, 5 surgeries,  9 children, 5 grand-children, ...oh the places we've gone and the things we have seen.

There have been highs and lows, expected and unexpected twists and turns, great joy and great sorrow. There were quite a few who cautioned against our marriage.  We were simply "too different" to survive. We learned a secret, early on, which I credit with our marriage's survival thriving. Through it all has been the choice to love.  To love God at the center of all relationships, and to specifically love this other - my gift from God. Michael has loved me well and that has shown me how to love well - imperfectly, but we have years to grow. LOL

I broke my lens our first day out of Beale AFB in the RV.  I put my camera in a top cupboard thinking it would have a safe ride. It was tossed and jostled all day. The lens was wobbly, wouldn't focus, and was simply kaput. That was four years ago. Michael began to look for a replacement. The telephoto lens is great for moose photos, but awkward inside. He discovered, "for a bit more," he could get a camera like mine with lots of lenses and extras on Craig's List.  Now you know why we found ourselves sitting in the Fred Myers parking lot, with a laptop (to get a shutter count on the camera), waiting for a little black Nissan.  It turns out this camera was given to this gal by her ex. It has EVERYTHING -  but she no longer wants it. In fact, she used it very little. It's got the 18-55 lens I wanted, 2 telephoto lenses (one a macro), 4 converters (fish eye being one), 4 or 5 wallets of filters, an external flash and reflector set up, a cool bag, 3 tri-pods, a rubber cover to protect the camera, several photography books....and she just didn't want it anymore. The 18-55 lens doesn't auto focus - everything else is in good working order.

We bought it anyway. This is another ANNIVERSARY present.  It's perfect for the kids. I will take the bag.  The lenses  all interchange....THEY will have their OWN camera to use and MINE will be back on my desk, where it longs to wait for me. Their camera is lighter than mine (though it's the same model). I thought of switching - but I LIKE MY RED CAMERA BODY.  The 18-55 lens takes good shots...it just doesn't auto focus. Stacia likes playing with all the manual settings anyway. We'll keep our eyes open for a couple of smaller lenses.

For VALENTINES DAY Michael got me this lovely arrangement and a warm fuzzy blanket.

We had an early dinner and dessert at home with the kids. They all seemed to like this (even with the almond milk topping). ::wink::  BTW this was a totally cholesterol free dessert.

"I take thee, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge myself to you."

Happy Birthday to my brother, Will. Happy 5th Anniversary to BreZaak and 38th to John and Mary K. Shoot - we meant to call them when we got home. We got busy with the kids and forgot. Oops...

Channeling Electricity

Long time friends and blog readers know  I have difficulties with science experiments...the kids love to remember the exploding eggs and I will never forget strange things found floating in the back of our closet on our pack out from Great Falls, MT.

Alex, Michael, Stacia

Michael is retired now. HE does the science experiments with the kids and I watch in amazement AS THEY WORK. I think it's a combination of a great hands-on science program and the teacher - but they are doing great with it. I make sure the "book learnin" is done, the tests taken, the work documented....he makes sure the experiments do what they are supposed to do. ::snort::  We are using the Advanced Physical Science course from Exploration Education. I love that the text is online and interactive, and the kit comes with EVERYTHING we need to build all the things we are building.

Today, they built a circuit and channeled electricity to light up bulbs. 

The text is online

 THEY WORKED! 

They also began building miniature houses. I asked if they are going to have electricity....no one knows at this point.

The Charm of Benny

Reminds me of the time Jamin did the same sitting at a new church in Great Falls, MT. He pulled out a big one, looked it over, shrugged his shoulders, and ATE IT.  The usher laughed out loud. This is one pastor's family who knew how to make lasting impressions at new churches! ::snort::

Thrilled with his exploits! 

Uncle Nolan is skeptical