Newest Homeschooler on the Block...{G}
Got a call last night at 11:50. Becky and Ian have a brand new son. It was too soon after birth for me to have any other details to share with you. She was able to have him at home. It was "beautiful" and Michaela sounded totally excited that "Jesus gave us a baby brother".
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Doctors, Floods, Long Distance, Babies and New Friends
I’m finding it very hard to be motivated. I’m not sure why – I simply want to laze around. That being said:
Lying in bed last night I realized I’d broken my cardinal rule. I’d allowed myself to be talked into thinking that I had no options. I have options. A person always has options. This whole tri-care thing: I didn’t HAVE to accept their lame answer that Krista couldn’t be seen while living here. If she couldn’t be seen on base – I would take her off base. I called the walk-in clinic that they send us to if we get sick on off duty hours. They wanted $125 - $350 for an appointment. I called the clinic a mile down the road by the grocery store. Their walk in appointments would be $50. I took Krista in. In less than an hour we had driven over there, been seen, gotten a prescription that has enough refills to last a year and we were out of there. I told Krista, “See, this is what civilian medicine is like. An appointment within the day, 5 min wait in the office and no hassle”. We headed to Walgreens. They assured us that she can pick up refills in WA. However – it was $80 for meds today because none of it is covered by Tri-care – but we had OPTIONS. I am going to try on FRIDAY to call Fairchild for an appointment so that she can get refills covered by Tri-care. I’m also going to write a nice letter to Tri-care national, the local tri-care service center, our patient advocate and the commander of the med group. The brochure they gave us yesterday said college students CAN be seen at school or home….so why the hassle. The doc said that I should have just made the appointment, taken her in, shown her ID card and not even mentioned where she was enrolled. Hmmm….
I came home to discover that my living room was flooding. A bit of investigating led me to discover a surprise. Mike had told two of the kids (nameless to protect their reputations) to defrost the freezer for me. I always boil water and “pester it” and Mike’s theory is “unplug it and let it defrost”. Well they did. And the water ran across the garage and seeped under the baseboards into the living room. LOL BUT the freezer looks great and I do appreciate that.
Bre called Verizon and found out that the $15 plan I added for unlimited long distance when they left home…covers GUAM. This means she can call Amanda, her best friend, at no cost. She is excited. I’m excited to get my $15 worth out of Verizon. :::snort:::
I’ve been thinking of Babies all day…praying for Becky to have her baby and for Cecile as she is on bed rest.
Bre MOWED THE LAWN TODAY…this was amazing to see. It’s a first for her.
I baked bread and Jamin baked soft pretzels….
Tonight I went to meet an online friend who’s dh has just moved her and family here to be the newest chaplain on base. They have 4 children. The poor man has to hit the ground running as Mike leaves on Tuesday and needs to brief him before he leaves….then he’ll be taking over a service next Sunday because that chaplain is going to school…..never dull around here.
That’s it for today…
I’m finding it very hard to be motivated. I’m not sure why – I simply want to laze around. That being said:
Lying in bed last night I realized I’d broken my cardinal rule. I’d allowed myself to be talked into thinking that I had no options. I have options. A person always has options. This whole tri-care thing: I didn’t HAVE to accept their lame answer that Krista couldn’t be seen while living here. If she couldn’t be seen on base – I would take her off base. I called the walk-in clinic that they send us to if we get sick on off duty hours. They wanted $125 - $350 for an appointment. I called the clinic a mile down the road by the grocery store. Their walk in appointments would be $50. I took Krista in. In less than an hour we had driven over there, been seen, gotten a prescription that has enough refills to last a year and we were out of there. I told Krista, “See, this is what civilian medicine is like. An appointment within the day, 5 min wait in the office and no hassle”. We headed to Walgreens. They assured us that she can pick up refills in WA. However – it was $80 for meds today because none of it is covered by Tri-care – but we had OPTIONS. I am going to try on FRIDAY to call Fairchild for an appointment so that she can get refills covered by Tri-care. I’m also going to write a nice letter to Tri-care national, the local tri-care service center, our patient advocate and the commander of the med group. The brochure they gave us yesterday said college students CAN be seen at school or home….so why the hassle. The doc said that I should have just made the appointment, taken her in, shown her ID card and not even mentioned where she was enrolled. Hmmm….
I came home to discover that my living room was flooding. A bit of investigating led me to discover a surprise. Mike had told two of the kids (nameless to protect their reputations) to defrost the freezer for me. I always boil water and “pester it” and Mike’s theory is “unplug it and let it defrost”. Well they did. And the water ran across the garage and seeped under the baseboards into the living room. LOL BUT the freezer looks great and I do appreciate that.
Bre called Verizon and found out that the $15 plan I added for unlimited long distance when they left home…covers GUAM. This means she can call Amanda, her best friend, at no cost. She is excited. I’m excited to get my $15 worth out of Verizon. :::snort:::
I’ve been thinking of Babies all day…praying for Becky to have her baby and for Cecile as she is on bed rest.
Bre MOWED THE LAWN TODAY…this was amazing to see. It’s a first for her.
I baked bread and Jamin baked soft pretzels….
Tonight I went to meet an online friend who’s dh has just moved her and family here to be the newest chaplain on base. They have 4 children. The poor man has to hit the ground running as Mike leaves on Tuesday and needs to brief him before he leaves….then he’ll be taking over a service next Sunday because that chaplain is going to school…..never dull around here.
That’s it for today…
PRAY - NOW - this is from Becky (Our Family Fun) - a local friend who comments on here from time to time. Because of Tri-care (and I won't go into that) but Becky needs to have this baby by Saturday or Tri-care won't pay. We've been praying. She has had two c-sections and one vbac at home and is laboring at home. BTW my phone is busy because I'm exploring options to Tri-care. :::snort:::
Hi DeEtta. I went into labor last night. Typical for me I went extremely slowly from 0 to 3. I'm now at 3 and my water hasn't broken which is a miracle. Anyway, I was up all night with very strong contractions, but I was exhausted and fell asleep around 6:00 this morning. Since then, my contractions have kinda petered out getting shorter and weaker. I'm pretty thin and effaced; Asher is engaged and facing the right direction. I've had quite a bit of bloody show and lost my plug. Everything looks like it's ready, but I've stalled. Please pray that we have baby Asher today- we are praying he'll be born before sundown. Ian and I are both tired, and Carol (my midwife) has another patient overdue, so she may not be able to stay with us.Please pass this along to anyone who prays.I tried to call, but your phone is busy.
Hi DeEtta. I went into labor last night. Typical for me I went extremely slowly from 0 to 3. I'm now at 3 and my water hasn't broken which is a miracle. Anyway, I was up all night with very strong contractions, but I was exhausted and fell asleep around 6:00 this morning. Since then, my contractions have kinda petered out getting shorter and weaker. I'm pretty thin and effaced; Asher is engaged and facing the right direction. I've had quite a bit of bloody show and lost my plug. Everything looks like it's ready, but I've stalled. Please pray that we have baby Asher today- we are praying he'll be born before sundown. Ian and I are both tired, and Carol (my midwife) has another patient overdue, so she may not be able to stay with us.Please pass this along to anyone who prays.I tried to call, but your phone is busy.
(OK - I'll have to get better at this photo program before I ruin all the promotion pictures from tomorrow LOL).
Can you see the "newsies" hat? The cross is the most important "rank" on the uniform...
Here Mike demos an auto-injector while Stacia tries to help.
Can you see the "newsies" hat? The cross is the most important "rank" on the uniform...
But...I'd be fudging if I didn't admit that we were all a bit excited to see that new rank on the newly issued uniform. {G}
Thanks to Jared for taking the photos. Others will have to wait until I learn how to blur without creating yellow blobs on the photos. LOL
TUESDAY EVENING
In addition to our family meeting (where we discussed the post below and TRIED to explain to little ones how long 6 -8 months is and that the girls would be leaving too)......
We examined Mike's bag of deployment meds. The young boys thought it was cool to hear what each one was for - I wasn't so thrilled with this recitation. {sigh} In the process we noticed that some serum seems to have expired in 2000. :::snort:::
Mike also received FOUR desert BDU's yesterday. He modeled for us. One of our quick witted daughters remarked that it made him look like an old fashioned newspaper boy. I think she meant the cut of the hat....it is sort of vintage.
At the conclusion of all our attempts to explain time and family leaving but coming back etc. Zander concluded, "Let's go buy the airplane". In his mind if we bought the airplane - no one would be able to leave.
We decided the night demanded us to lighten up by splurging and having ice cream more than once this week. :::snort:::
If I can figure out how to blur the name on the uniform, I'll upload a picture or two.
In addition to our family meeting (where we discussed the post below and TRIED to explain to little ones how long 6 -8 months is and that the girls would be leaving too)......
We examined Mike's bag of deployment meds. The young boys thought it was cool to hear what each one was for - I wasn't so thrilled with this recitation. {sigh} In the process we noticed that some serum seems to have expired in 2000. :::snort:::
Mike also received FOUR desert BDU's yesterday. He modeled for us. One of our quick witted daughters remarked that it made him look like an old fashioned newspaper boy. I think she meant the cut of the hat....it is sort of vintage.
At the conclusion of all our attempts to explain time and family leaving but coming back etc. Zander concluded, "Let's go buy the airplane". In his mind if we bought the airplane - no one would be able to leave.
We decided the night demanded us to lighten up by splurging and having ice cream more than once this week. :::snort:::
If I can figure out how to blur the name on the uniform, I'll upload a picture or two.
If it's Worth Living For - or Current Events
Current events (Fox journalists captured and released after converting to Islam) have led to interesting discussions in our home. I told Mike that if I did not have a vital relationship with Jesus, I may well have "converted" to avoid death. It is not my intent to criticize the choice made by captives....however, I do cringe when I think that the gihadists may now think all Americans will convert if given the right motivation. I suppose being raised as a missionary kid where we knew that if captured we would not be ransomed...sort of colors my view of these events. If we had been ransomed it would have been "open season on American missionaries". Most mission agencies had policies stating they would not pay ransom for their missionaries. My parents signed a statement to that affect before going overseas.
Mike discussed with the children that our society has become one where we live for TODAY and we don't think much about the future or eternity. 9-11 brought us face to face with a culture that doesn't give much thought to today but lives for the future and eternity. This leads to inshallah (it is written).....we don't get too upset about today because "ah well - it's meant to be". If I kill 3000 innoncent civilians well - inshallah. If I torture an innocent relief worker on video - inshallah.
We have discussed that God calls us, as his children and passionate followers of Christ, to live in today but to LIVE FOR the future and eternity. We discussed that Jesus has each of us in His care. We can trust and rest in His care.
In short, if something is worth living for it should also be worth dying for. Evaluating life, relationships and circumstances in that light tends to quickly weed out what is truly worth living for. We have a list....Christ, family, freedom, country...
Current events (Fox journalists captured and released after converting to Islam) have led to interesting discussions in our home. I told Mike that if I did not have a vital relationship with Jesus, I may well have "converted" to avoid death. It is not my intent to criticize the choice made by captives....however, I do cringe when I think that the gihadists may now think all Americans will convert if given the right motivation. I suppose being raised as a missionary kid where we knew that if captured we would not be ransomed...sort of colors my view of these events. If we had been ransomed it would have been "open season on American missionaries". Most mission agencies had policies stating they would not pay ransom for their missionaries. My parents signed a statement to that affect before going overseas.
Mike discussed with the children that our society has become one where we live for TODAY and we don't think much about the future or eternity. 9-11 brought us face to face with a culture that doesn't give much thought to today but lives for the future and eternity. This leads to inshallah (it is written).....we don't get too upset about today because "ah well - it's meant to be". If I kill 3000 innoncent civilians well - inshallah. If I torture an innocent relief worker on video - inshallah.
We have discussed that God calls us, as his children and passionate followers of Christ, to live in today but to LIVE FOR the future and eternity. We discussed that Jesus has each of us in His care. We can trust and rest in His care.
In short, if something is worth living for it should also be worth dying for. Evaluating life, relationships and circumstances in that light tends to quickly weed out what is truly worth living for. We have a list....Christ, family, freedom, country...
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
There are only *3* days left of free bowling. The summer is truly drawing to a close. Today I took Bre, Krista, Arielle, Nolan and Zander bowling. Jamin and Jared had their orientation at House of Faith. All had a good time.
After a bit of bowling we headed to the park for an hour because I didn’t want to rush home and then back across town to get the boys. While at the bowling ally (we were quite a crowd with Adrienne’s Family, Tricia’s family, Kelley’s family and my family) we were asked if we homeschool by a mom who was there alone with her children. It was fun to visit with her and give her info about homeschooling in the community.
I went up to the clinic TWICE today. The first time to check on getting care for Krista while she is home. It appears that this simply isn’t going to happen. THEN I was called back to the base because they had decided to refill Josiah’s meds instead of giving us an appointment. It was funny that I ran into Mike at the pharmacy. He was getting a huge bag of meds to take with him. By the way, I kept my attitude and tongue firmly in check today while dealing with Tri-care….
I think we are going to have leftovers tonight. We have extra food from Sunday, I made potato cheese soup last night and that will make for an easy evening. The kids have started a game of monopoly.
After a bit of bowling we headed to the park for an hour because I didn’t want to rush home and then back across town to get the boys. While at the bowling ally (we were quite a crowd with Adrienne’s Family, Tricia’s family, Kelley’s family and my family) we were asked if we homeschool by a mom who was there alone with her children. It was fun to visit with her and give her info about homeschooling in the community.
I went up to the clinic TWICE today. The first time to check on getting care for Krista while she is home. It appears that this simply isn’t going to happen. THEN I was called back to the base because they had decided to refill Josiah’s meds instead of giving us an appointment. It was funny that I ran into Mike at the pharmacy. He was getting a huge bag of meds to take with him. By the way, I kept my attitude and tongue firmly in check today while dealing with Tri-care….
I think we are going to have leftovers tonight. We have extra food from Sunday, I made potato cheese soup last night and that will make for an easy evening. The kids have started a game of monopoly.
Freebies
I forgot to say that at Mom's Night Out they had a freebie table. What a great idea. I now can put things THERE when we move instead of sending them to Goodwill.
I picked up a set of an economics course from BJU (complete with 3 workbooks, teacher manual and tests), a book called "Webbing with Literature" that looks like it will easily integrate with TOG and two copies of Zoobook.
One of my greatest finds was a copy of *The Old Schoolhouse*. Being a visual- show me type person I have been wanting to see a copy of this magazine to decide if I want to subscribe. The last homeschool magazines I received were years and years ago. I quit getting them because they were ALWAYS late and saying "forgive us we're a homeschool family". I always wanted to write back and say "Money's short - we're a homeschool family - don't worry if my payment is 6 months late". :::snort::: That's sort of my pet peeve. I'm always willing to extend grace when situations are out of a persons control but these were two well-known business names, they took my money, and I felt that they should publish on time instead of sending little notes explaining why they never published on time. Both magazines were also from a very definite theological background - and it didn't really match mine. LOL This was so LONG ago that the internet was JUST getting popular and I decided that the internet would have support that I needed in a timely fashion. However, this magazine looks like it may be a fun one to have and at least it LOOKS very professional. If any of you have done business with them - feel free to warn me if they are late each month. LOL I'm excited to sit and wait somewhere and read this. Sitting and waiting time will not be hard to find....I still have to deal with Tri-care today in an attempt to make two appointments. LOL
My greatest find is another program I've been wanting to SEE. Jodi, I picked up the Yellow Book of Learning Language Arts through Literature for FREE. The lady who had it on the table said she's had it for free at three meetings and no one ever picked it up. She said that she didn't think people realized what it was. I agree. LOL I'm excited to check it out - but I'm not sure the level is one that "fits" for us this year.
I forgot to say that at Mom's Night Out they had a freebie table. What a great idea. I now can put things THERE when we move instead of sending them to Goodwill.
I picked up a set of an economics course from BJU (complete with 3 workbooks, teacher manual and tests), a book called "Webbing with Literature" that looks like it will easily integrate with TOG and two copies of Zoobook.
One of my greatest finds was a copy of *The Old Schoolhouse*. Being a visual- show me type person I have been wanting to see a copy of this magazine to decide if I want to subscribe. The last homeschool magazines I received were years and years ago. I quit getting them because they were ALWAYS late and saying "forgive us we're a homeschool family". I always wanted to write back and say "Money's short - we're a homeschool family - don't worry if my payment is 6 months late". :::snort::: That's sort of my pet peeve. I'm always willing to extend grace when situations are out of a persons control but these were two well-known business names, they took my money, and I felt that they should publish on time instead of sending little notes explaining why they never published on time. Both magazines were also from a very definite theological background - and it didn't really match mine. LOL This was so LONG ago that the internet was JUST getting popular and I decided that the internet would have support that I needed in a timely fashion. However, this magazine looks like it may be a fun one to have and at least it LOOKS very professional. If any of you have done business with them - feel free to warn me if they are late each month. LOL I'm excited to sit and wait somewhere and read this. Sitting and waiting time will not be hard to find....I still have to deal with Tri-care today in an attempt to make two appointments. LOL
My greatest find is another program I've been wanting to SEE. Jodi, I picked up the Yellow Book of Learning Language Arts through Literature for FREE. The lady who had it on the table said she's had it for free at three meetings and no one ever picked it up. She said that she didn't think people realized what it was. I agree. LOL I'm excited to check it out - but I'm not sure the level is one that "fits" for us this year.
Monday, August 28, 2006
A better Monday than last week!
God really loves Mike…it has been raining all day….in fact….there had to be 2 rescue attempts for cars on the main road that connects our street to others… Of course, I know that God loves us even when we don’t see tangible results to our prayers…but I can’t help taking all this rain as a sign. We were 4 days away from having NO rain in the entire month of August. It would have been a record for this area. I felt sort of “unscriptural” for letting the rain remind me that God loves Mike….but then I realized…hey God likes to give us SIGNS. Remember the rainbow to remind us that he’ll never flood the earth again? And all the feasts to remind the Israelites of His might work among them? And The Lords Supper? I guess He won’t mind if the rain from here on out reminds me that He cares about the things we care about and that He loves us. {G}
I moved the antique hope chest from the foot of our bed and moved Stacia’s crib from the middle of the room to the foot of the bed. Now I realize that it is directly under the ceiling fan – so this may not work. I wish I was the type that could visualize WITHOUT moving furniture. LOL
I spent quite a bit of time on the phone today. Anytime I have to call tri-care (handle medical appointments and such), I cringe. I had hoped to get an appointment for Josiah to get his acne meds refilled….but oh no….that is not to be. I’m not sure WHY but the girl didn’t want to give us an appointment. She then decided that she would talk to the doctor about simply refilling the med. That would be fine. I’m not sure what they decided!
We then called Walgreen’s to make sure that if we got Krista a prescription she would be able to have it refilled in Spokane. She had meds when she lived here but they had to be refilled at a base – and the base was 45 min across town. This doesn’t seem like too long of a drive every few months – but with their incredible schedule – it was. Walgreen’s is less than a block from the church where they host Master’s Commission. I figure they’ll give her time to walk a block. She is trying Proactive but seem to need the meds as well. Since Walgreen’s can do this, ALL that remained was getting an appointment for her to get the script. Locally the appointment line told me to call national. National they told me to call local. National was snippy and totally unhelpful – she couldn’t even give me the number of the local service center. I called the chapel and got a machine. I asked Mike to let me know if he had a number for the local tri-care service center. I hung up – BUT evidently our phone doesn’t’ always hang up. I mean you could hear the click on the machine. . . but then you could hear me turn to Bre and say, “every time you have to deal with tri-care it’s a pain in the butt” and I went on to detail my frustration. ::::blush::: I hesitated to share that – but I’ve asked God to forgive me and well…it was sort of funny and should remind you all that I don’t claim to be perfect...of course the fact that my tirade was caught on the chapel answering machine only made it more ironic. One of the chaplains did preach yesterday on humility and pride…I guess I was humbled. I called the patient advocate and left a message that I needed to talk to someone that would let me know if I could have my college-age dd who was home seen about moles and acne. I’ve not heard back on either Josiah or Krista’s appointments…which means tomorrow will be another day of dealing with tri-care.
We DID manage to get an appointment set up with our neighbor to go get facials and makeovers on Friday.
While Stacia napped, Krista and I ran to Sam’s club. I bought MILK (we are ALWAYS OUT!!!) and formula. I also ordered a cake, and lots of deli trays for Mike’s promotion reception on Thursday. Any of you local folks are welcome to attend in the base Fellowship Hall at 1:00 p.m.
Tonight was the first Mom’s Night Out of our homeschool support group. The night has been changed to Monday this year (last year it was on Tuesday and which is Ladies Bible Study night at the chapel).I look forward to attending. (Did you read that Adrienne? A is the director of MNO :::snort::J.) Tricia picked me up and it was fun to drive over with a friend. I enjoyed myself. Adrienne didn’t warn us that those who had been schooling a while would be leading small groups – and we’ll have to give her a hard time about that, but it was all fun.
Now – I’m ready to draw the day to a close.
God really loves Mike…it has been raining all day….in fact….there had to be 2 rescue attempts for cars on the main road that connects our street to others… Of course, I know that God loves us even when we don’t see tangible results to our prayers…but I can’t help taking all this rain as a sign. We were 4 days away from having NO rain in the entire month of August. It would have been a record for this area. I felt sort of “unscriptural” for letting the rain remind me that God loves Mike….but then I realized…hey God likes to give us SIGNS. Remember the rainbow to remind us that he’ll never flood the earth again? And all the feasts to remind the Israelites of His might work among them? And The Lords Supper? I guess He won’t mind if the rain from here on out reminds me that He cares about the things we care about and that He loves us. {G}
I moved the antique hope chest from the foot of our bed and moved Stacia’s crib from the middle of the room to the foot of the bed. Now I realize that it is directly under the ceiling fan – so this may not work. I wish I was the type that could visualize WITHOUT moving furniture. LOL
I spent quite a bit of time on the phone today. Anytime I have to call tri-care (handle medical appointments and such), I cringe. I had hoped to get an appointment for Josiah to get his acne meds refilled….but oh no….that is not to be. I’m not sure WHY but the girl didn’t want to give us an appointment. She then decided that she would talk to the doctor about simply refilling the med. That would be fine. I’m not sure what they decided!
We then called Walgreen’s to make sure that if we got Krista a prescription she would be able to have it refilled in Spokane. She had meds when she lived here but they had to be refilled at a base – and the base was 45 min across town. This doesn’t seem like too long of a drive every few months – but with their incredible schedule – it was. Walgreen’s is less than a block from the church where they host Master’s Commission. I figure they’ll give her time to walk a block. She is trying Proactive but seem to need the meds as well. Since Walgreen’s can do this, ALL that remained was getting an appointment for her to get the script. Locally the appointment line told me to call national. National they told me to call local. National was snippy and totally unhelpful – she couldn’t even give me the number of the local service center. I called the chapel and got a machine. I asked Mike to let me know if he had a number for the local tri-care service center. I hung up – BUT evidently our phone doesn’t’ always hang up. I mean you could hear the click on the machine. . . but then you could hear me turn to Bre and say, “every time you have to deal with tri-care it’s a pain in the butt” and I went on to detail my frustration. ::::blush::: I hesitated to share that – but I’ve asked God to forgive me and well…it was sort of funny and should remind you all that I don’t claim to be perfect...of course the fact that my tirade was caught on the chapel answering machine only made it more ironic. One of the chaplains did preach yesterday on humility and pride…I guess I was humbled. I called the patient advocate and left a message that I needed to talk to someone that would let me know if I could have my college-age dd who was home seen about moles and acne. I’ve not heard back on either Josiah or Krista’s appointments…which means tomorrow will be another day of dealing with tri-care.
We DID manage to get an appointment set up with our neighbor to go get facials and makeovers on Friday.
While Stacia napped, Krista and I ran to Sam’s club. I bought MILK (we are ALWAYS OUT!!!) and formula. I also ordered a cake, and lots of deli trays for Mike’s promotion reception on Thursday. Any of you local folks are welcome to attend in the base Fellowship Hall at 1:00 p.m.
Tonight was the first Mom’s Night Out of our homeschool support group. The night has been changed to Monday this year (last year it was on Tuesday and which is Ladies Bible Study night at the chapel).I look forward to attending. (Did you read that Adrienne? A is the director of MNO :::snort::J.) Tricia picked me up and it was fun to drive over with a friend. I enjoyed myself. Adrienne didn’t warn us that those who had been schooling a while would be leading small groups – and we’ll have to give her a hard time about that, but it was all fun.
Now – I’m ready to draw the day to a close.
Our BIG Project for the Day
This was our big project for the day: getting Tapestry of Grace manuals into page protectors. I thought we may get all 4 years into protectors…but decided to leave year 1 in 5 2” notebooks for the time being and to leave Year 2 still tightly shrink wrapped in it’s SMALL box. Here you see the kids as they started the project, shortly before noon.
Bre helped out of the goodness of her heart. She worked on year 4. She got the intro, unit one and unit two into protectors. Arielle completed unit 2. Nolan did about ½ of unit 3. Jared helped him finish. Jared slit all the protectors to allow the tabbed pages to fit inside. He did this for year 3 and 4. It took over 4 ½ hours. We decided to work on the rest later. This was much quicker than me trying to do both years alone. I paid the three children. They earned a penny a page and .15 for each tabbed page.
To think I thought I could fit it all in 2 3 inch notebooks. Here is all of year 3 in protected binders. Bre was impressed to see that each year plan has 12 years of school included in it. Maybe she was thinking I’ll pass it down to grandkids when I’m done…..
This was our big project for the day: getting Tapestry of Grace manuals into page protectors. I thought we may get all 4 years into protectors…but decided to leave year 1 in 5 2” notebooks for the time being and to leave Year 2 still tightly shrink wrapped in it’s SMALL box. Here you see the kids as they started the project, shortly before noon.
Bre helped out of the goodness of her heart. She worked on year 4. She got the intro, unit one and unit two into protectors. Arielle completed unit 2. Nolan did about ½ of unit 3. Jared helped him finish. Jared slit all the protectors to allow the tabbed pages to fit inside. He did this for year 3 and 4. It took over 4 ½ hours. We decided to work on the rest later. This was much quicker than me trying to do both years alone. I paid the three children. They earned a penny a page and .15 for each tabbed page.
To think I thought I could fit it all in 2 3 inch notebooks. Here is all of year 3 in protected binders. Bre was impressed to see that each year plan has 12 years of school included in it. Maybe she was thinking I’ll pass it down to grandkids when I’m done…..
I’ve been trying to post this all day. Some days things simply don’t go as planned.
I awoke to discover that a cookie bandit had struck. You can’t really see the cookies well but this WAS full last night when I went to bed. This a.m. it was opened, ½ full, and there were two little cars parked next to cookie and brownie crumbs.
Nope – they don’t seem to feel to deprived with the rapadura and honey baking…..not if they still raid the cookie jar.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Krista, Mike and I went to the traditional service this a.m.
Krista and I zipped home right after service. Mike stayed to visit with a few folks who needed to talk to him.
I got many comments on my new dress – I’m starting to look the part I suppose. ::snort::: I still prefer the jeans and tanks that I wore to the contemporary service tonight! BTW I figured out that if I wear the tanks that are to low BACKWARDS they are classy and modest. LOL
When we got home I was totally impressed at what the other kids had accomplished in the hour we were gone. Salads were made, living room was picked up….I made hamburger patties, roasted some veggies and made a sauce for fruit salad…..
Steve and Debby and their two boys (Steven and Michael) came over for the afternoon. The adults had a good time “fellowshipping” while the boys and our older ones Bre – Jared played monopoly. The storm began during the afternoon and Jared and Krista ran out to play in the rain! LOL
Service was great tonight. Things are really, really gelling in the service and it is awesome. Now here’s a funny…..Mike has been wondering who to assign to the service for the time he is deployed. They had requested a man be sent here who could do the student service....and got a wonderful new chaplain. The thing that made assigning services so challenging, however, is that the new chaplain is an Episcopalian priest. I told Mike that we’d prayed and to wait and see. Would you believe that the new chaplain was formerly Church of God before becoming Episcopalian and is comfortable in contemporary? He is going to be just fine in the service for 6 months…God has such a sense of humor because Mike was raised Episcopalian and is now Pentecostal. :::snort:::
Krista and I zipped home right after service. Mike stayed to visit with a few folks who needed to talk to him.
I got many comments on my new dress – I’m starting to look the part I suppose. ::snort::: I still prefer the jeans and tanks that I wore to the contemporary service tonight! BTW I figured out that if I wear the tanks that are to low BACKWARDS they are classy and modest. LOL
When we got home I was totally impressed at what the other kids had accomplished in the hour we were gone. Salads were made, living room was picked up….I made hamburger patties, roasted some veggies and made a sauce for fruit salad…..
Steve and Debby and their two boys (Steven and Michael) came over for the afternoon. The adults had a good time “fellowshipping” while the boys and our older ones Bre – Jared played monopoly. The storm began during the afternoon and Jared and Krista ran out to play in the rain! LOL
Service was great tonight. Things are really, really gelling in the service and it is awesome. Now here’s a funny…..Mike has been wondering who to assign to the service for the time he is deployed. They had requested a man be sent here who could do the student service....and got a wonderful new chaplain. The thing that made assigning services so challenging, however, is that the new chaplain is an Episcopalian priest. I told Mike that we’d prayed and to wait and see. Would you believe that the new chaplain was formerly Church of God before becoming Episcopalian and is comfortable in contemporary? He is going to be just fine in the service for 6 months…God has such a sense of humor because Mike was raised Episcopalian and is now Pentecostal. :::snort:::
Background: We’ve had no rain in the month of August. We’ve had very little rain in July. Mike loves big thunder storms. He has been asking God to let him see rain before he deploys to the desert.
Today it rained. It poured all afternoon. The streets flooded. There was lightening and big gray clouds all around. There was rolling thunder. And God reminded Mike that He has Mike is His sight and that He has his back…He cares even for the little things….
Here Zander watches the rain storm from the porch.
Today it rained. It poured all afternoon. The streets flooded. There was lightening and big gray clouds all around. There was rolling thunder. And God reminded Mike that He has Mike is His sight and that He has his back…He cares even for the little things….
Here Zander watches the rain storm from the porch.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
SHOPPING SPREE
I finally got Stacia back to bed at about 5:30 this morning. I slept in until 8:30. When I got up Mike said, grab a shower and let’s go to J. C. Penney. Folks who know me, know that I HATE hanging out at the mall. I don’t shop at the mall. BUT there was a sale on luggage and running shoes and he wanted to check it out. We headed to the mall, and I must admit I was NOT happy at the prices of luggage – even on SALE. I was bored sitting around and watching Mike check the things out. I half-heartedly began to check out the other sales. I found a couple of shirts for the boys….but I was still bored….UNTIL….I noted the women’s department had some clearance racks. ::::snort:::
I have 3 denim jumpers. I have them because they are GREAT after you have a baby…..but the thing is that by this time I should be back into the right side of my closet…and I’m not. I really like vivid, rich colors…and the jumper thing is getting old. I tried to find a nice dress before we went to WA for the girl’s graduation; but I couldn’t find any that were bright and cheerful….and anything I found was more $ than I wanted to spend. It was with interest that I glimpsed a second sign that said “take an additional 50% off clearance…75% off”. This held promise. I told Mike I was going to check out the ladies department. I found 4 dresses that fit, that I like, that were $17 each…down from $80 each. HOOT HOOT! I also found a pant suit…that I may wear to something sort of “official” or not…..I really haven’t had to make any command performances at the spouses club on base….but if necessary; I’m set. {bg}
Mike came back from checking the entire mall for luggage and noted my good finds. He then suggested that we zip over to Sam’s to see what sort of luggage they had. I called the girls and told them to get over to Penneys and that we’d be back from Sam’s to pay for whatever they found. Bre needed more time to gussy up. Krista hopped in the car. We found nothing that would work for luggage at Sam’s. I did buy groceries for dinner tomorrow. We are having some friends over after chapel. Anyway, back at Penneys: Mike continued to check out the luggage at Penneys while Krista and I checked out the Jr dept this time. She found some really cute things…skirts, dresses, jeans, shirts…all on sale. She’s set for under $80. Mike surfaced with two 30” samsonites. He was a bit taken aback that we had another huge bag and were ready to move on.
After our mad shopping spree Mike wanted to take me to lunch. Krista took the van home and we took her car out for lunch. Eating out is always nice. Then we stopped at Office Depot so that Mike could buy a jump drive for the trip. I was very frustrated when the salesmen told me that I CANNOT buy the HP battery I need for my IPAQ. Less than a year ago THEY were the ones that told me if I had an IPAQ I could buy the battery right off the shelf. Not so – now they carry PALM! Which is what I had and the battery went out - I didn’t want to mess with sending it away for a new battery. ARGH. I’m not happy about this.
Steve and Debby dropped by. Steve fixed Krista’s laptop. Somehow her password got changed and she couldn’t get into it – but we all attended hacker 101 and learned how to get around such things. Steve also tried to figure out what is wrong with our network. He is doing some more studying on that and may try to fix it tomorrow at lunch.
I made brownies and home made ice cream for tomorrow. As soon as the ice cream started churning I headed BACK to the mall with Bre. Bre found some capris, jeans, skirts, tops and such…..also for about $80. All in all we saved :::drum roll please:::: $875 today at the mall (Mike’s suitcases were $129 off - each). I doubt that Mike will suggest taking me to the mall again anytime soon…but now the MONSTER has been reawakened. Last time I was a mall rat was when Karen and I would hang out there during the time we lived in San Antonio. She always said to wait for the sales and then the mall was just as cheap or cheaper than Wal-Mart…today proved that…so I’ll begin to pay more attention to the sales flyers…but really I need to probably stay out of the mall….unless…like today, I have specific things I’m looking for. I know I need to find some pants for the boys that have the adjustable waists…..
I finally got Stacia back to bed at about 5:30 this morning. I slept in until 8:30. When I got up Mike said, grab a shower and let’s go to J. C. Penney. Folks who know me, know that I HATE hanging out at the mall. I don’t shop at the mall. BUT there was a sale on luggage and running shoes and he wanted to check it out. We headed to the mall, and I must admit I was NOT happy at the prices of luggage – even on SALE. I was bored sitting around and watching Mike check the things out. I half-heartedly began to check out the other sales. I found a couple of shirts for the boys….but I was still bored….UNTIL….I noted the women’s department had some clearance racks. ::::snort:::
I have 3 denim jumpers. I have them because they are GREAT after you have a baby…..but the thing is that by this time I should be back into the right side of my closet…and I’m not. I really like vivid, rich colors…and the jumper thing is getting old. I tried to find a nice dress before we went to WA for the girl’s graduation; but I couldn’t find any that were bright and cheerful….and anything I found was more $ than I wanted to spend. It was with interest that I glimpsed a second sign that said “take an additional 50% off clearance…75% off”. This held promise. I told Mike I was going to check out the ladies department. I found 4 dresses that fit, that I like, that were $17 each…down from $80 each. HOOT HOOT! I also found a pant suit…that I may wear to something sort of “official” or not…..I really haven’t had to make any command performances at the spouses club on base….but if necessary; I’m set. {bg}
Mike came back from checking the entire mall for luggage and noted my good finds. He then suggested that we zip over to Sam’s to see what sort of luggage they had. I called the girls and told them to get over to Penneys and that we’d be back from Sam’s to pay for whatever they found. Bre needed more time to gussy up. Krista hopped in the car. We found nothing that would work for luggage at Sam’s. I did buy groceries for dinner tomorrow. We are having some friends over after chapel. Anyway, back at Penneys: Mike continued to check out the luggage at Penneys while Krista and I checked out the Jr dept this time. She found some really cute things…skirts, dresses, jeans, shirts…all on sale. She’s set for under $80. Mike surfaced with two 30” samsonites. He was a bit taken aback that we had another huge bag and were ready to move on.
After our mad shopping spree Mike wanted to take me to lunch. Krista took the van home and we took her car out for lunch. Eating out is always nice. Then we stopped at Office Depot so that Mike could buy a jump drive for the trip. I was very frustrated when the salesmen told me that I CANNOT buy the HP battery I need for my IPAQ. Less than a year ago THEY were the ones that told me if I had an IPAQ I could buy the battery right off the shelf. Not so – now they carry PALM! Which is what I had and the battery went out - I didn’t want to mess with sending it away for a new battery. ARGH. I’m not happy about this.
Steve and Debby dropped by. Steve fixed Krista’s laptop. Somehow her password got changed and she couldn’t get into it – but we all attended hacker 101 and learned how to get around such things. Steve also tried to figure out what is wrong with our network. He is doing some more studying on that and may try to fix it tomorrow at lunch.
I made brownies and home made ice cream for tomorrow. As soon as the ice cream started churning I headed BACK to the mall with Bre. Bre found some capris, jeans, skirts, tops and such…..also for about $80. All in all we saved :::drum roll please:::: $875 today at the mall (Mike’s suitcases were $129 off - each). I doubt that Mike will suggest taking me to the mall again anytime soon…but now the MONSTER has been reawakened. Last time I was a mall rat was when Karen and I would hang out there during the time we lived in San Antonio. She always said to wait for the sales and then the mall was just as cheap or cheaper than Wal-Mart…today proved that…so I’ll begin to pay more attention to the sales flyers…but really I need to probably stay out of the mall….unless…like today, I have specific things I’m looking for. I know I need to find some pants for the boys that have the adjustable waists…..
FRIDAY
We planned Friday to be a stay home and get things done day...though it didn't really work out that way.
It is Mike's day off - but he went in to the office.
Josiah worked an a.m. shift. He has been hoping for a shift change so he could be home for Friday Family night.
Krista and I went to pick up her bike and the stopped by Baker's Street to chat and such. I'm totally enjoying catching up with the girls and exploring all the new aspects of their character.
Arielle went to play with a friend most the afternoon.
Jamin made pizza for dinner.
Bre, Krista and I went on a PWOC outing. We ate at a restaurant that we'd heard a lot about - Peasant Village. It was good. Turn out was, as always, less than I'd like to see....but I'm realizing that this is the way things will be on this base - due to lack of base housing, make up of the base population etc. We'll have fun with the few who do participate.
The family that was "left behind" watched *Shaggy Dog*. We came home just as Hogan's Heroes began. I went to bed before midnight - which was good as Stacia has been up since 3 a.m.
We planned Friday to be a stay home and get things done day...though it didn't really work out that way.
It is Mike's day off - but he went in to the office.
Josiah worked an a.m. shift. He has been hoping for a shift change so he could be home for Friday Family night.
Krista and I went to pick up her bike and the stopped by Baker's Street to chat and such. I'm totally enjoying catching up with the girls and exploring all the new aspects of their character.
Arielle went to play with a friend most the afternoon.
Jamin made pizza for dinner.
Bre, Krista and I went on a PWOC outing. We ate at a restaurant that we'd heard a lot about - Peasant Village. It was good. Turn out was, as always, less than I'd like to see....but I'm realizing that this is the way things will be on this base - due to lack of base housing, make up of the base population etc. We'll have fun with the few who do participate.
The family that was "left behind" watched *Shaggy Dog*. We came home just as Hogan's Heroes began. I went to bed before midnight - which was good as Stacia has been up since 3 a.m.
Friday, August 25, 2006
CLARIFICATION
The other night I mentioned the girls' passions and didn't choose my words carefully. See what happens when I compose at blogger and don't spell check or grammar check????
Bre's passion is NOT to hurt people. ::::snort::: She has a passion to see hurting people healed and to see authentic and vital revival/worship in the church. After her second year at Master's Commission she is thinking of studying for a Bachelor of Social Work to be able to help some of life's most hurting (children).
Krista's passion is not for airmen per se ::::snort::: :::hiccup::: but to see godly ministers and ministries impacting the lives of airmen so that they become a mobile force of missionaries reaching throughout the world with the love of Christ. Krista is still praying about where she goes after 2nd year Master's Commission. Her plan is to pursue being an Air Force chaplain - but she is very open to "marrying in" (I've not found any suitable single AF chaplains to date) or to being involved in some of the parachurch ministries that routinely minister in the military setting ie MCYM (Miliatary Christian Youth Ministries - I think), Navigators.....
My passion is to raise children who have a wholehearted love for God and to mentor women into having a wholehearted love of God....but then that's in my profile.
Josiah is passionate about finishing high schoool, Jamin is passionate about weights, writing, nutrition and missions, Jared is passionate about "the Academy", reading and writing, Arielle is passionate about avoiding teasing by her brothers, and Nolan is passionate about playing. Zander has a passion for dinosaurs and Stacia is very passionate about unplugging computer modems and Brown Cow Yogurt.
I think that covers it. Hmm....Mike would have to tell you his passion in his own words. I suspect a combination of Krista and my wordings.
Back to regular programming.
The other night I mentioned the girls' passions and didn't choose my words carefully. See what happens when I compose at blogger and don't spell check or grammar check????
Bre's passion is NOT to hurt people. ::::snort::: She has a passion to see hurting people healed and to see authentic and vital revival/worship in the church. After her second year at Master's Commission she is thinking of studying for a Bachelor of Social Work to be able to help some of life's most hurting (children).
Krista's passion is not for airmen per se ::::snort::: :::hiccup::: but to see godly ministers and ministries impacting the lives of airmen so that they become a mobile force of missionaries reaching throughout the world with the love of Christ. Krista is still praying about where she goes after 2nd year Master's Commission. Her plan is to pursue being an Air Force chaplain - but she is very open to "marrying in" (I've not found any suitable single AF chaplains to date) or to being involved in some of the parachurch ministries that routinely minister in the military setting ie MCYM (Miliatary Christian Youth Ministries - I think), Navigators.....
My passion is to raise children who have a wholehearted love for God and to mentor women into having a wholehearted love of God....but then that's in my profile.
Josiah is passionate about finishing high schoool, Jamin is passionate about weights, writing, nutrition and missions, Jared is passionate about "the Academy", reading and writing, Arielle is passionate about avoiding teasing by her brothers, and Nolan is passionate about playing. Zander has a passion for dinosaurs and Stacia is very passionate about unplugging computer modems and Brown Cow Yogurt.
I think that covers it. Hmm....Mike would have to tell you his passion in his own words. I suspect a combination of Krista and my wordings.
Back to regular programming.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
The day is over….and I’m relieved. Tomorrow will be a much more relaxed day.
I attended our monthly Parish Advisory Committee meeting today. I think this is roughly like a deacon or elder board in a civilian church…..though it’s members and reps from 3 very distinct “churches” that all work together…well anyway…today was that meeting. I had just enough time to run home, pick up kids and head out to the homeschool kick off – IFFFF everything went as planned. It didn’t. The meeting was 15 minutes late breaking up. {vbg}
I zipped out of the meeting and ran home. The children were ready to go. Bre and Krista opted not to swim today and asked me to leave Stacia home. I did. Krista ran out and bought Mike a shirt for tonight and they did “things” while the rest of us went to the kick off.
SACSHA homeschool kick off was at Brown’s pool. It was fun. The pool has several slides, diving boards and such. All in all it was a good day. Josiah and Jamin were able to come to. We all had fun.
We rushed home at 4 and had time to steam shirts, take showers, and get gussied up for our “photo shoot”. Colin of Matchless Photography took our photos at the Visitor Center. I think they are going to be nice. A few of our members were surprised at his dreadlocks but hey I told them they wanted me to get a My Space and be cool. At least *I* wasn’t wearing dreadlocks…though come to think of it that may take care of my terrible brittle over-processed hair problem. I’m counting down the days now until me get to get my hair colored again.
Dressed as the Von Trapp Family Singers, we made our way to Scholtskys for dinner and then out to the bat bridge to show the girls the nightly bat exodus.
Quickly in other news, because everyone is waiting for Bre (on the phone to a friend) and me…..Mike was NOT given the small pox shot today. They said that it would be dangerous with our “factors”. He’ll get the shot in theater. He DID get a typhoid shot – ouch I remember those. He DID come home with a new uniform that he can wear next Thursday afternoon – it has the major rank on it. Jared seemed a bit disappointed. He said, “Don’t you get stripes on your shoulder with this promotion?” LOL I guess we should explain the whole military hierarchy thing to him one of these days – he is 12 and he does want to go to the Academy….
I attended our monthly Parish Advisory Committee meeting today. I think this is roughly like a deacon or elder board in a civilian church…..though it’s members and reps from 3 very distinct “churches” that all work together…well anyway…today was that meeting. I had just enough time to run home, pick up kids and head out to the homeschool kick off – IFFFF everything went as planned. It didn’t. The meeting was 15 minutes late breaking up. {vbg}
I zipped out of the meeting and ran home. The children were ready to go. Bre and Krista opted not to swim today and asked me to leave Stacia home. I did. Krista ran out and bought Mike a shirt for tonight and they did “things” while the rest of us went to the kick off.
SACSHA homeschool kick off was at Brown’s pool. It was fun. The pool has several slides, diving boards and such. All in all it was a good day. Josiah and Jamin were able to come to. We all had fun.
We rushed home at 4 and had time to steam shirts, take showers, and get gussied up for our “photo shoot”. Colin of Matchless Photography took our photos at the Visitor Center. I think they are going to be nice. A few of our members were surprised at his dreadlocks but hey I told them they wanted me to get a My Space and be cool. At least *I* wasn’t wearing dreadlocks…though come to think of it that may take care of my terrible brittle over-processed hair problem. I’m counting down the days now until me get to get my hair colored again.
Dressed as the Von Trapp Family Singers, we made our way to Scholtskys for dinner and then out to the bat bridge to show the girls the nightly bat exodus.
Quickly in other news, because everyone is waiting for Bre (on the phone to a friend) and me…..Mike was NOT given the small pox shot today. They said that it would be dangerous with our “factors”. He’ll get the shot in theater. He DID get a typhoid shot – ouch I remember those. He DID come home with a new uniform that he can wear next Thursday afternoon – it has the major rank on it. Jared seemed a bit disappointed. He said, “Don’t you get stripes on your shoulder with this promotion?” LOL I guess we should explain the whole military hierarchy thing to him one of these days – he is 12 and he does want to go to the Academy….
BUZZZZZZZ
Nolan and Zander both have the G family cowlick.....well they wanted skater hair.....yesterday Zander was quite taken aback by Andrew's spikes when we met to bowl. He kept telling Andrew, "Your hair is sticking up but mine isn't". This was quite funny because his WAS sticking up despite water, gel, and hair spray. He had a major "Alfalfa" going on!
Today he exclaimed, "Mom, my HAIRS sticking up".
"Yep, it is", I told him.
"Well...hmmm...let's cut it!", he replied...and so we did.
Nolan and Zander both have the G family cowlick.....well they wanted skater hair.....yesterday Zander was quite taken aback by Andrew's spikes when we met to bowl. He kept telling Andrew, "Your hair is sticking up but mine isn't". This was quite funny because his WAS sticking up despite water, gel, and hair spray. He had a major "Alfalfa" going on!
Today he exclaimed, "Mom, my HAIRS sticking up".
"Yep, it is", I told him.
"Well...hmmm...let's cut it!", he replied...and so we did.
BEFORE
AFTER
BLOG COMMENTS
Ok - I would love to hear from everyone. How do YOU handle blog comments? Or how do you think they should be handled.
On My Space the comments are all left on a front page and everyone reads them and it is great fun.
I have my name so that when I leave a comment folks can click on it and see who I am and evidently get my email address because several send me personal emails when I comment on their blogs (not folks who would KNOW my email address).
Sometimes I leave comments after their comments - but as some mention - you never know if folks go back and READ your reply. I always do. {bg}
I've copied and pasted comments into a new blog entry and responded to several at once....
What do those of you who blog do? If you don't blog I'd still like to know which way seems best to you for answering your comments.
The question of the day.....
Ok - I would love to hear from everyone. How do YOU handle blog comments? Or how do you think they should be handled.
On My Space the comments are all left on a front page and everyone reads them and it is great fun.
I have my name so that when I leave a comment folks can click on it and see who I am and evidently get my email address because several send me personal emails when I comment on their blogs (not folks who would KNOW my email address).
Sometimes I leave comments after their comments - but as some mention - you never know if folks go back and READ your reply. I always do. {bg}
I've copied and pasted comments into a new blog entry and responded to several at once....
What do those of you who blog do? If you don't blog I'd still like to know which way seems best to you for answering your comments.
The question of the day.....
BREAKFAST
Jamin has been telling me that I should open a restaurant with all the new "healthy" things I've learned and recipes I've adapted. We've joked about it. We are kicking around a retreat center for worn out pastors and women and such.....and think a bed/breakfast may play in there.....
Over the trip he told me he'd like to own a restaurant some day. I think he could do this. Last night he and I had talked about an idea he had. Sunday he tried some doughnuts that didn't work as well as we'd hoped. The whole grains just don't work the same way. AND we don't much care for a lot of deep frying. Monday or Tuesday he used the same dough and baked them and they were really wonderful, flakey bisquits....something I've been trying to achieve since leaving white flour behind. Last night, we discussed how to fill them. I woke up this a.m. to wonderfully filled bisquit squares......apple pie filling in some and butter, cinamon and pecans in the others. They were yummy.
If you think of us today and read this early - PRAY for us. We've got an impossible schedule - many appointments chapel, homeschool and personal AND Mike has to get a small pox vacine unless he can talk them out of it. It does seem he had one when he was a child - but this only means they want to give him MORE of the vacinne.
Jamin has been telling me that I should open a restaurant with all the new "healthy" things I've learned and recipes I've adapted. We've joked about it. We are kicking around a retreat center for worn out pastors and women and such.....and think a bed/breakfast may play in there.....
Over the trip he told me he'd like to own a restaurant some day. I think he could do this. Last night he and I had talked about an idea he had. Sunday he tried some doughnuts that didn't work as well as we'd hoped. The whole grains just don't work the same way. AND we don't much care for a lot of deep frying. Monday or Tuesday he used the same dough and baked them and they were really wonderful, flakey bisquits....something I've been trying to achieve since leaving white flour behind. Last night, we discussed how to fill them. I woke up this a.m. to wonderfully filled bisquit squares......apple pie filling in some and butter, cinamon and pecans in the others. They were yummy.
If you think of us today and read this early - PRAY for us. We've got an impossible schedule - many appointments chapel, homeschool and personal AND Mike has to get a small pox vacine unless he can talk them out of it. It does seem he had one when he was a child - but this only means they want to give him MORE of the vacinne.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
I have the best intentions of getting things DONE but the list is so very long, and the days are so very short….LOL Today we got a few things done here and then we all went to Mr. Gatti’s. We met up with friends and had a great time visiting and playing. This is a pizza/salad/pasta buffet with games and bumper cars etc….a lot like Chuck E Cheese.
THEN we met up at the bowling ally for a game with Adrienne and her kids and Tricia and her kids. It was fun to have all the older kids with us today. Josiah is working fewer hours this week as school is back in session and the mall traffic has decreased.
Back at home I put a roast and carrots in the oven, made Jodi’s Potato casserole recipe (I’ll post the recipe) and then ran to Wal-mart and Sam’s with Bre. We had a milk crisis. I was out of whole milk and Zander cannot have any more off program foods for about a year! LOL As a result of a kitchen mishap I threw out the mismatched – put-together- food processor. Jamin made some great sourdough bread earlier in the day that was wonderful with dinner.
I THOUGHT Stacia was down for the night but she is up. Mike came home with the news that he will be leaving here one day earlier than we expected. We watched the girl’s power point presentation of their “purpose plan”. They are awesome. Bre’s passion is hurting people and the church and Krista’s is the Air Force.
THEN we met up at the bowling ally for a game with Adrienne and her kids and Tricia and her kids. It was fun to have all the older kids with us today. Josiah is working fewer hours this week as school is back in session and the mall traffic has decreased.
Back at home I put a roast and carrots in the oven, made Jodi’s Potato casserole recipe (I’ll post the recipe) and then ran to Wal-mart and Sam’s with Bre. We had a milk crisis. I was out of whole milk and Zander cannot have any more off program foods for about a year! LOL As a result of a kitchen mishap I threw out the mismatched – put-together- food processor. Jamin made some great sourdough bread earlier in the day that was wonderful with dinner.
I THOUGHT Stacia was down for the night but she is up. Mike came home with the news that he will be leaving here one day earlier than we expected. We watched the girl’s power point presentation of their “purpose plan”. They are awesome. Bre’s passion is hurting people and the church and Krista’s is the Air Force.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Tuesday - 30 minutes left of the day and I believe all is finally quiet at home.
Mike is working late hours - both trying to catch up from leave time and getting things at the office/chapel prepared for his upcoming extended absence.
Josiah didn't have to work today. We all voted to eat left overs and have an extra movie night this week. We had three movies waiting from Netflix when we got home. We watched *The Rookie* - a great baseball tale set among other places...right here in W TX. Shoot - the try outs were even set in THIS town. {G}
Earlier in the day the girls (all of em! Yippee) and I went in search of matching shirts for our family photo - scheduled for Thursday. I was all for WHITE but Mike wanted light blue polos. We looked. We ended up with some light blue and some darker blue to break it up. Everyone is set except for Stacia. I may dress her in a light blue dress. When Arielle modeled her new blue shirt we all decided it was time to take her shopping for her first training bra. Poor thing. She was blushing and Bre said, "Well Mom USED to hold them up to us like this to see if they fit" and proceeded to demonstrate on Krista. I insisted that I remember no such thing!! We cracked up. Without thinking, about 30 seconds later I said, "Arielle, turn around and lets see if these are the right width for you". Of course back at home the fun continued as Bre and I wanted to see if the thing fit her. I told Bre that poor Arielle is going to have a room full of Mom and sisters the day after she gives birth wanting to know if all is well. LOL BTW I am very careful what I share about the kids so that I dont' invade their privacy and Arielle said I could share the story about shopping.
We had planned to spend today with Debby and her son Michael...somehow we missed each other.
Jamin and Jared put togehter another big bookshelf for me. ARGH. I may have to start ditching books. We moved the smaller one that was in the library into the younger boy's room. All the children books are now in their room. I still need to organize the rest of the books. More than straightening the shelves I really need to finally get them all entered into a data base....I think that may be my "deployment project"...we'll see....there are so many good ones lining up.
Mike is working late hours - both trying to catch up from leave time and getting things at the office/chapel prepared for his upcoming extended absence.
Josiah didn't have to work today. We all voted to eat left overs and have an extra movie night this week. We had three movies waiting from Netflix when we got home. We watched *The Rookie* - a great baseball tale set among other places...right here in W TX. Shoot - the try outs were even set in THIS town. {G}
Earlier in the day the girls (all of em! Yippee) and I went in search of matching shirts for our family photo - scheduled for Thursday. I was all for WHITE but Mike wanted light blue polos. We looked. We ended up with some light blue and some darker blue to break it up. Everyone is set except for Stacia. I may dress her in a light blue dress. When Arielle modeled her new blue shirt we all decided it was time to take her shopping for her first training bra. Poor thing. She was blushing and Bre said, "Well Mom USED to hold them up to us like this to see if they fit" and proceeded to demonstrate on Krista. I insisted that I remember no such thing!! We cracked up. Without thinking, about 30 seconds later I said, "Arielle, turn around and lets see if these are the right width for you". Of course back at home the fun continued as Bre and I wanted to see if the thing fit her. I told Bre that poor Arielle is going to have a room full of Mom and sisters the day after she gives birth wanting to know if all is well. LOL BTW I am very careful what I share about the kids so that I dont' invade their privacy and Arielle said I could share the story about shopping.
We had planned to spend today with Debby and her son Michael...somehow we missed each other.
Jamin and Jared put togehter another big bookshelf for me. ARGH. I may have to start ditching books. We moved the smaller one that was in the library into the younger boy's room. All the children books are now in their room. I still need to organize the rest of the books. More than straightening the shelves I really need to finally get them all entered into a data base....I think that may be my "deployment project"...we'll see....there are so many good ones lining up.
I've been Tagged!!
By Jen at oki'mlosingit, here are my answers....
This is a FIRST - but I have time this afternoon....and it was fun. LOL So do I just list my five at the bottom and wait to see how long it takes them to notice? {smirk}
5 things in my freezer:
1. Bananas
2. Red Peppers
3. Homemade Ice cream
4. Strawberries
5. Homemade organic bread {G}
5 things in my closet:
1. Shoes/clothes
2. Zag full of meds
3. A projector
4. Adrienne's son's birthday gift
5. Two Cameras
5 things in my car:
1. Assorted water bottles
2. Car seat
3. Co-op Catalogs
4. Spare container of diaper wipes
5. TX Backroads - guide
*usually better things in there but Mike and the kids cleaned it out thoroughly when we got home.
5 things in my purse:
1. Wallet
2. Checkbook
3. Cell phone
4. PDA
5. Bowling Punch cards x 6
5 things in my wallet:
1. Visa Card
2. Drivers License
3. Sam's Card
4. Receipts
5. Military ID
5 people I tag: (do this only if you want to; I had a hard time thinking of 5 folks who wouldn't care if other visited their blogs or what not. LOL )
anothernaturewalk - Learning all the Time - Jodi
paxworld
Jen G
Lisa's Homeschool Circus
Life with Boys
By Jen at oki'mlosingit, here are my answers....
This is a FIRST - but I have time this afternoon....and it was fun. LOL So do I just list my five at the bottom and wait to see how long it takes them to notice? {smirk}
5 things in my freezer:
1. Bananas
2. Red Peppers
3. Homemade Ice cream
4. Strawberries
5. Homemade organic bread {G}
5 things in my closet:
1. Shoes/clothes
2. Zag full of meds
3. A projector
4. Adrienne's son's birthday gift
5. Two Cameras
5 things in my car:
1. Assorted water bottles
2. Car seat
3. Co-op Catalogs
4. Spare container of diaper wipes
5. TX Backroads - guide
*usually better things in there but Mike and the kids cleaned it out thoroughly when we got home.
5 things in my purse:
1. Wallet
2. Checkbook
3. Cell phone
4. PDA
5. Bowling Punch cards x 6
5 things in my wallet:
1. Visa Card
2. Drivers License
3. Sam's Card
4. Receipts
5. Military ID
5 people I tag: (do this only if you want to; I had a hard time thinking of 5 folks who wouldn't care if other visited their blogs or what not. LOL )
anothernaturewalk - Learning all the Time - Jodi
paxworld
Jen G
Lisa's Homeschool Circus
Life with Boys
Monday, August 21, 2006
Mondays! I suppose there HAS to be a first day of the work week. I suppose there must be a first day back to WORK after every vacation. I’ll be content. Today was our MONDAY with a capital M.
TO DO – TO DO….. my TO DO list has about 300 items on it. It hasn’t been this bad since AK. It helps me to renew my commitment to keeping some MARGIN in life. NO, I’ve not read the book but it sure sounds like a great idea.
I got the Kirby picked up. It’s “good as new” – again. I took Krista’s bike tire in to get it fixed. We went to the Family Christian Bookstore and picked up a Bible cover Mike had ordered…..I also picked up a Bible that assures me it can be read in 3 months. We’ll see. I’m valiantly studying through the Word this year but not making the progress I had hoped. I seem to be a hopeless “crawler”, though I’m trying to “power-walk”. I’ve missed reading the whole Bible. I’d also remembered a project I wanted to have done by Christmas of each of my children's senior year and well – it hit me…..I have a senior and Christmas is 4 months away! I have no clue how feasible it is to read the Bible in 3 months….it will certainly be a “race” and should balance out my current “crawl” pace so maybe I can count it as having met my original “power-walk” goal. LOL I got a split email finished for co-op. I fielded several calls. I called my Mom and Dad. Dad is home from rehab – still in a wheel chair – but HOME. Thanks for your continued prayers on their behalf.
We watched “The Great Escape” from Netflix yesterday. I got that returned and we are crossing our fingers that we get one of the “newer” movies we’ve been waiting for by Friday night. I mailed a PBS book off today too. Unfortunately, I still didn’t mail the package to my DAD….I’m going to have to play with the online features of mailing packages.
In the midst of all my work Krista told me she’d like to take the little ones swimming. I was thinking, “Oh yeah – I FORGOT to put PLAY on the list again”. I put play on the list, told her that would be fine and began to make plans. It became apparent that SHE wanted to take them – not US taking them. I’d gotten so used to taking little ones with me everywhere that I’d not even thought of THAT interpretation. Before she left home last fall I was on bed-rest for eclampsia and she was taking the kids out every afternoon to play. She misses that. We made plans for HER to take them to the pool while Jared, Bre and I went shopping for shirts for our family photo and went to the commissary. I also needed to pick up my strawberries that I somehow sent to Adrienne’s house. Well…..the plan went well until I realized the commissary was closed on Mondays. LOL Bre, Jared, Stacia and I went and had a nice visit with Adrienne and her children. At least Porshe has now met ONE of my daughters.
A funny at the base’s front gate today. This cool dude security guy came out. I handed him all of our IDs. He stopped and looked around and then said, “I don’t get your license plate”. I explained that I have nine children and people were always saying “Don’t you think you have too many children” and I would always say “Ah no, there’s not 2 many” so we put it on the plate. You could have blown me over when this prompted an oral history of he and his wife’s entire reproductive history. I pulled away; looked at the kids; broke the tension by saying “Do I LOOK like I care about your entire reproductive history?” with that now attitude thing…..and we all had a great laugh. This was a first. Usually they ask questions or comment on MY repro history. I suppose it’s a welcome trend?
Highlight of the day: Jamin fixed dinner…spaghetti, penne, Kelly’s homemade FRENCH BREAD, great salad, fruit…..I can’t wait for some gal to start singing my praises when she catches this one!
Having decided not to start school until life settles down around here , I now find myself READY to start school. I came home and Jamin had begun reading “All's Quiet on the Western Front”. I’m planning on working through the Financial Peace University dvd’s, workbook and book with the boys and giving them a “personal finance” math credit. Jamin would like to do a science credit in physiology…any ideas? Weights are his life, and diet and such.
Poor Mike got into our faithful workhorse of a Honda this a.m. and it wouldn’t start! It’s been a MMMMMMonday.
TO DO – TO DO….. my TO DO list has about 300 items on it. It hasn’t been this bad since AK. It helps me to renew my commitment to keeping some MARGIN in life. NO, I’ve not read the book but it sure sounds like a great idea.
I got the Kirby picked up. It’s “good as new” – again. I took Krista’s bike tire in to get it fixed. We went to the Family Christian Bookstore and picked up a Bible cover Mike had ordered…..I also picked up a Bible that assures me it can be read in 3 months. We’ll see. I’m valiantly studying through the Word this year but not making the progress I had hoped. I seem to be a hopeless “crawler”, though I’m trying to “power-walk”. I’ve missed reading the whole Bible. I’d also remembered a project I wanted to have done by Christmas of each of my children's senior year and well – it hit me…..I have a senior and Christmas is 4 months away! I have no clue how feasible it is to read the Bible in 3 months….it will certainly be a “race” and should balance out my current “crawl” pace so maybe I can count it as having met my original “power-walk” goal. LOL I got a split email finished for co-op. I fielded several calls. I called my Mom and Dad. Dad is home from rehab – still in a wheel chair – but HOME. Thanks for your continued prayers on their behalf.
We watched “The Great Escape” from Netflix yesterday. I got that returned and we are crossing our fingers that we get one of the “newer” movies we’ve been waiting for by Friday night. I mailed a PBS book off today too. Unfortunately, I still didn’t mail the package to my DAD….I’m going to have to play with the online features of mailing packages.
In the midst of all my work Krista told me she’d like to take the little ones swimming. I was thinking, “Oh yeah – I FORGOT to put PLAY on the list again”. I put play on the list, told her that would be fine and began to make plans. It became apparent that SHE wanted to take them – not US taking them. I’d gotten so used to taking little ones with me everywhere that I’d not even thought of THAT interpretation. Before she left home last fall I was on bed-rest for eclampsia and she was taking the kids out every afternoon to play. She misses that. We made plans for HER to take them to the pool while Jared, Bre and I went shopping for shirts for our family photo and went to the commissary. I also needed to pick up my strawberries that I somehow sent to Adrienne’s house. Well…..the plan went well until I realized the commissary was closed on Mondays. LOL Bre, Jared, Stacia and I went and had a nice visit with Adrienne and her children. At least Porshe has now met ONE of my daughters.
A funny at the base’s front gate today. This cool dude security guy came out. I handed him all of our IDs. He stopped and looked around and then said, “I don’t get your license plate”. I explained that I have nine children and people were always saying “Don’t you think you have too many children” and I would always say “Ah no, there’s not 2 many” so we put it on the plate. You could have blown me over when this prompted an oral history of he and his wife’s entire reproductive history. I pulled away; looked at the kids; broke the tension by saying “Do I LOOK like I care about your entire reproductive history?” with that now attitude thing…..and we all had a great laugh. This was a first. Usually they ask questions or comment on MY repro history. I suppose it’s a welcome trend?
Highlight of the day: Jamin fixed dinner…spaghetti, penne, Kelly’s homemade FRENCH BREAD, great salad, fruit…..I can’t wait for some gal to start singing my praises when she catches this one!
Having decided not to start school until life settles down around here , I now find myself READY to start school. I came home and Jamin had begun reading “All's Quiet on the Western Front”. I’m planning on working through the Financial Peace University dvd’s, workbook and book with the boys and giving them a “personal finance” math credit. Jamin would like to do a science credit in physiology…any ideas? Weights are his life, and diet and such.
Poor Mike got into our faithful workhorse of a Honda this a.m. and it wouldn’t start! It’s been a MMMMMMonday.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Sunday – 20 August
Wow – this month is zooming by.
I finally have decided – well about 90% decided - not to begin school with the little ones until the end of September. I for sure won’t begin before Mike deploys (first week in September). The girls will be leaving two weeks after that – and waiting those final two weeks is the part I’m 90% sure about.
Mike visited all services today. I went to two. Arielle and Stacia went to two. Arielle has a friend who is moving this week that she wanted to say goodbye to in the traditional service. All of us went to “our” service – the contemporary service. What a hoot this group is. Mike mentioned he’d be leaving in 3 weeks for the desert and the keyboardist piped applause through the chapel. :::snort::: I managed to sit through the entire service with Zander and Stacia….nice to hear a sermon…I love to hear Mike preach. It was also fun to have the girls there. For some reason having the girls there made everyone think we were a huge family….I guess before we were slightly above average. LOL
Yesterday I made homemade ice cream….vanilla and almond chocolate. Cy was getting out the go-withs. Zander LOVES Neman O’s (organic Oreos) and only gets them once a week. Cy told him, “Only two cookies Zander” and he said, “Cy, my life is WRECKED!” Remember when your life could be wrecked by such a thing as not enough Oreos? {G}
Wow – this month is zooming by.
I finally have decided – well about 90% decided - not to begin school with the little ones until the end of September. I for sure won’t begin before Mike deploys (first week in September). The girls will be leaving two weeks after that – and waiting those final two weeks is the part I’m 90% sure about.
Mike visited all services today. I went to two. Arielle and Stacia went to two. Arielle has a friend who is moving this week that she wanted to say goodbye to in the traditional service. All of us went to “our” service – the contemporary service. What a hoot this group is. Mike mentioned he’d be leaving in 3 weeks for the desert and the keyboardist piped applause through the chapel. :::snort::: I managed to sit through the entire service with Zander and Stacia….nice to hear a sermon…I love to hear Mike preach. It was also fun to have the girls there. For some reason having the girls there made everyone think we were a huge family….I guess before we were slightly above average. LOL
Yesterday I made homemade ice cream….vanilla and almond chocolate. Cy was getting out the go-withs. Zander LOVES Neman O’s (organic Oreos) and only gets them once a week. Cy told him, “Only two cookies Zander” and he said, “Cy, my life is WRECKED!” Remember when your life could be wrecked by such a thing as not enough Oreos? {G}
ODE TO THE GASOLINE PUMP
If I weren't so tired I would write a poem worthy of these final pictures. I want to get all the photos uploaded as I'm hearing horrors of bloggers upgrades. I have no clue what they are upgrading but want these photos UP before they do whatever they are about to do. {g}
As I shared at the start of the trip, I decided to try to take photos at each gas pump we filled up at. I suspected it would be the most "important" highlight of our trip. I didn't get them all - but here's quite a few....and we found gas to be cheapest right here in West TX.
New Deal, TX - first gas stop of the road trip
Raton, NM
CO Springs, CO (where I THOUGHT I lost a child)
Billings, MT
Spokane, WA
Livingston, MT
Mike even cooperated
Getting good at catching models on the fly...Jamin
10 people in the car and not ONE of them will pose any longer....the last day before we arrived home...Santa Fe, NM
ROAD TRIP PHOTOS - 15 AUGUST - BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT
This park was way cool! It followed the "people of the beans" - literal meaning of the Spanish words I can't remember...and YES...we did talk like characters from Lord of the Beans most of the day! LOL
Cliff Dwellings
Arielle climbs into a cliff dwelling
Krista makes BIG inroads in her mission to win over Staica....she slings her when I was gulping for air on this high elevation climb.
The Gang
Cy helps Zander into a cliff dwelling
Isn't this strange? Does it prove aliens existed centuries ago?
petrogliphs
See the green blob with the bad roots on the left? That's me suffering from elevation sickness - migraine - while the rest cheese for the camera. {bg}
ROAD TRIP PHOTOS - 14 AUGUST CONTINUED - LORETTO CHAPEL
The stairs are 22 feet high, there are 33 stairs, they make two 360* turns, have no center supporting beam, really no support except where they attach at top and bottom. Originally there were no banisters but the sisters asked for those to be added. Oh - and it is all built with wooden pegs instead of nails.
This chapel is famous. It seems that the Sisters had a chapel and choir loft built in the late 1800's based on a chapel in France. Near the end of the building it was realized that they had neglected to build stairs. They had a beautiful chapel and a beautiful loft but no way to get from one to another. They prayed a novena to St. Joseph and on the last day, as legend goes, a man with a donkey showed up. He built the stairs and left without being paid.
The stairs are 22 feet high, there are 33 stairs, they make two 360* turns, have no center supporting beam, really no support except where they attach at top and bottom. Originally there were no banisters but the sisters asked for those to be added. Oh - and it is all built with wooden pegs instead of nails. 
ROAD TRIP PHOTOS – 12 AUGUST – MARBLE CAVE – WESTCLIFFE, CO
The main reason for our route home was THIS adventure. Mike’s father Earl and his older brother Earl had discovered this cave over 40 years ago. Mike had taken me up to it once – over 20 years ago. He had talked for years of taking the kids up there and THIS was the time to do it. We drove home by back roads so we could visit all these old spots. I couldn’t find a motel in Westcliffe so we stayed in Canon City for two nights to make this adventure possible.
I’ll let Krista tell this in her words – and pictures will follow.
“So the trip down to TX was a lot of fun. My favorite part was Marble Caves. GPa G and Uncle Earl found the cave a long time ago (they are Conquistador caves). GPa G would take Dad up to it when Dad was little. Dad and Uncle Earl discovered Marble Hall on one of these trips. The last time Dad went was about twenty years ago. Dad decided to take us kids up to see Marble Caves. Pretty much as soon as I heard we were going to hike up to the caves I had flashbacks of Boston and said it was going to rain when we got up there. At 1st I heard that it was a 20 miles hike, then 18, and then it settled on 12. I’m not sure how long it was, in truth I think it was more like 9 or 10 miles. We took the Honda instead of the van (the van has a V-10 engine and lots of clearance) because only five of us were going (Dad, Josiah, Jamin, Jared and I). We came to a dirt road that said,”privately owned don’t park on this road 1.5 miles”. The road looked pretty bad so we decided just to walk the 1.5 miles instead attempting to take the Honda. We had gone about ¼ mile when Dad managed to get a hold of Uncle Earl and they were on their way. They had a pickup. Uncle Earl, cousins Crystal, Jerome, and Dominique, drove their pickup up the road and Cy, Jamin, Jared, and I stood in the back and held onto the metal rack to carry stuff on top (I’m unsure of what there called).It was a lot of fun and once again it reminded me of Boston - only this time of the subway. The road ended up being much longer than 1.5 miles, it was more like 3or4. We were very appreciative of Ford Pickups. The 1st 2 miles of the hike were pretty easy but the next 2.25 miles were real killers for me. I blame it on the altitude we were at - 11000 feet at this point (the caves were at 11,800 ft). We finally broke timberline and ate lunch!!! Dad and Crystal saw a bear. After lunch we started heading up some more WOHOO. On the way up Crystal and I were to the side in the rocks instead of the loose dirt when the boys above started yelling wolverine. I wasn’t really paying attention (I was singing I Believe I Can Fly in memory of P. Nate). Earl called up and told us to move to the center - Now. We did, just a little sad at having to give up the solid groundL. But then the Dads below saw the animal and said it was a marmot and we could go back overJ. We arrived at a cave and climbed through it which was really fun. Cy and I crawled/wiggled to the very back of the cave (once again being short came in handy). We then went over to Marble Hall and there was writing on the outside that said, “400 feet to the white marble hall ß 8/11/1897”. Jerome, Dominique, Cy, and I climbed to the back of Marble Hall. The ground was covered in bat scat at one level and the other level was all crumbly. We were all covered in mud - I loved it. We got out of the Hall and some storm clouds that the Dads had been watching but figured would miss us did miss us. However, some more came up over the ridge behind us. :o We tried to go ahead and make our way across the side of the mountain to Marble Cave where there is a Maltese cross painted on the wall. But the storm hit and it was one nice thunderstorm with hail. It was decided, with no discussion, that staying above timberline in a thunderstorm was Stupid. So down we came; I was laughing inside all the way about the irony of it. We made it down to the truck soaking wet and thanking God for Ford Pickups.”
The main reason for our route home was THIS adventure. Mike’s father Earl and his older brother Earl had discovered this cave over 40 years ago. Mike had taken me up to it once – over 20 years ago. He had talked for years of taking the kids up there and THIS was the time to do it. We drove home by back roads so we could visit all these old spots. I couldn’t find a motel in Westcliffe so we stayed in Canon City for two nights to make this adventure possible.
I’ll let Krista tell this in her words – and pictures will follow.
“So the trip down to TX was a lot of fun. My favorite part was Marble Caves. GPa G and Uncle Earl found the cave a long time ago (they are Conquistador caves). GPa G would take Dad up to it when Dad was little. Dad and Uncle Earl discovered Marble Hall on one of these trips. The last time Dad went was about twenty years ago. Dad decided to take us kids up to see Marble Caves. Pretty much as soon as I heard we were going to hike up to the caves I had flashbacks of Boston and said it was going to rain when we got up there. At 1st I heard that it was a 20 miles hike, then 18, and then it settled on 12. I’m not sure how long it was, in truth I think it was more like 9 or 10 miles. We took the Honda instead of the van (the van has a V-10 engine and lots of clearance) because only five of us were going (Dad, Josiah, Jamin, Jared and I). We came to a dirt road that said,”privately owned don’t park on this road 1.5 miles”. The road looked pretty bad so we decided just to walk the 1.5 miles instead attempting to take the Honda. We had gone about ¼ mile when Dad managed to get a hold of Uncle Earl and they were on their way. They had a pickup. Uncle Earl, cousins Crystal, Jerome, and Dominique, drove their pickup up the road and Cy, Jamin, Jared, and I stood in the back and held onto the metal rack to carry stuff on top (I’m unsure of what there called).It was a lot of fun and once again it reminded me of Boston - only this time of the subway. The road ended up being much longer than 1.5 miles, it was more like 3or4. We were very appreciative of Ford Pickups. The 1st 2 miles of the hike were pretty easy but the next 2.25 miles were real killers for me. I blame it on the altitude we were at - 11000 feet at this point (the caves were at 11,800 ft). We finally broke timberline and ate lunch!!! Dad and Crystal saw a bear. After lunch we started heading up some more WOHOO. On the way up Crystal and I were to the side in the rocks instead of the loose dirt when the boys above started yelling wolverine. I wasn’t really paying attention (I was singing I Believe I Can Fly in memory of P. Nate). Earl called up and told us to move to the center - Now. We did, just a little sad at having to give up the solid groundL. But then the Dads below saw the animal and said it was a marmot and we could go back overJ. We arrived at a cave and climbed through it which was really fun. Cy and I crawled/wiggled to the very back of the cave (once again being short came in handy). We then went over to Marble Hall and there was writing on the outside that said, “400 feet to the white marble hall ß 8/11/1897”. Jerome, Dominique, Cy, and I climbed to the back of Marble Hall. The ground was covered in bat scat at one level and the other level was all crumbly. We were all covered in mud - I loved it. We got out of the Hall and some storm clouds that the Dads had been watching but figured would miss us did miss us. However, some more came up over the ridge behind us. :o We tried to go ahead and make our way across the side of the mountain to Marble Cave where there is a Maltese cross painted on the wall. But the storm hit and it was one nice thunderstorm with hail. It was decided, with no discussion, that staying above timberline in a thunderstorm was Stupid. So down we came; I was laughing inside all the way about the irony of it. We made it down to the truck soaking wet and thanking God for Ford Pickups.”
On the top of the world!
Krista climbing back into marble hall
Jared at mouth of marble cave
Cy at mouth of cave
Mike's brother Earl, son Jerome, daughter Cyrstal and her son Dominque
Mike & children at the entrance to the marble hall
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