Country School

Monday update

My Monday has been nothing but breakneck speed!  I was up at 5 a.m. to help with an extra project for work and then I have been nothing but busy all day.  I'm preparing to teach another class in just a little bit here.  I thought I would take a small break and update you on the weekend!

We have a new family member - Charlie!  He is a 7 month old pug with a smattering of Boston Terrier.  He's a ball of lovefest is what he is.  Doug and I decided it was time for me to get my own doggie.  He's not just for loving though.  He's going to begin training to be a special needs service Charlie already has his basic obedience training and he's really laid back which is great.

Planning a trip

I forgot to mention that a few weeks ago I found my cousin (my mom's sister's daughter) on Facebook.  I had not seen her since my father's funeral in 98.  She is the only other person in my family that is  a believer.  It has been very encouraging to hear from her.  She lives back in Vermont near the rest of the side of my family.

I have not heard from my mom in over a year.  I am very concerned for her and honestly I feel like a burden has really been placed on my heart to try to repair a connection there.

I've really been giving it to the Lord in prayer.  I would like to return to New England to see my family.  I left home back in 1989 and returned a few years later when our two biological son's were 3 months old and 2 years old.  That was the one and only time my family saw any of my children.  I then returned by myself in the fall of 97 for Thanksgiving to see my father as he was gravely ill.  He then passed in February of 98 and I did return for the funeral, but again I was alone.  It's been over 10 years since I have seen my family and the more I talk to my cousin the more I really realize that I miss them all so much.

This is a picture of my father and my cousin, Jennifer:

This is a picture of me, my grandmother and my mom (holding my son Chris who is now almost 17) when I returned for a visit in 1992:

I have seen where Alaska airlines is having some really great prices on airfair out to Boston.  I could fly in to Boston and then get up to NH/VT where my family lives.  However, I would need to be able to stay somewhere that had internet so that I could work as I cannot afford to take any time off.  I'm thinking maybe I should wait until next spring or summer so that maybe one or more of my children could travel with me.

So that is what is going on in my mind right now.

Wednesday!

I'm not sure where the week or days go!  They seem to be on fast forward.

Today I think I got through 6 loads of laundry.  The laundry here is NEVER done.  It's continually going and every time I reboot I praise God for my washer and dryer.

Doug finished canning 27 pints of chili sauce today.  Then he took care of the green beans for freezing.  Right now I have him chopping the bin of ripe tomatoes so we can get the spag. sauce canned by tonight hopefully.

Anyone else a bit relieved to see the gas prices dropping a bit?  With a big 15 passenger van it really hurts to turn that key!

I've had a busy day with work as well.  I think I could work 24/7 and still not be finished with it.  I am thankful that I have it though!

Tonight two of our girls are at church for their Dunamis Theou "power of God" meeting tonight.  It started last week and they are really enjoying it. 

The countdown has started and we only have about 17 or so days left with our little girl before she is moved home.  Please keep us all in your prayers.

It's been a while.

Okay, my last two attempts have been erased by technical glitches.  Let me try this again. 

Thank you for all your letters of concern and support.  I am sorry I have not kept up.  Honestly, by the end of the day I am so emotionally and physically exhausted I can't even think of blogging any of it.

We did make it to Creation 08 this year.  We also took along some friends.  It was another great week.  It was bittersweet as we realized it was probably the last year we will all be there together.

Doug is still out of work.  We keep praying that something will open up.  Until then, we just do the best we can and I keep working (and clipping coupons).

The biggest change here has been that our oldest son, Jason, has left.  He moved to Moses Lake, Washington to attend Job Corp.  He's doing great.  I'm not doing so great.  I am so proud of him, he's really working hard.  Afew weeks ago Doug, Marissa (Jason' friend) and I drove up to see him.

This is me trying to say goodbye:

I don't know how you all do it.  I've nearly lost my mind with him being out of the house.   I miss him something terrible.  Everyone tells me it gets easier.  He's been gone almost 2 months!

Chris was also excepted in to the Running Start program at Clark College in Vancouver.  He has chosen to take online classes because of the gas prices.  He also obtained his drivers license and has been driving for a few months now.  It's nice to have another driver in the house.

I'm still self-employed and working hard.  I work more hours right now because Doug is not working.  I was also offered a Parent Mentoring position at the local Children's Services office.  This position works with birth families to help them successfully parent their children and prepare for reunification from foster care.  I'm very excited about this opportunity.

The saddest news is that the girls we have cared for the past 16 months are returning home in a few weeks.  We have bonded very deeply with them and we are all going to miss them greatly.  I'm just praying for God to protect them and guide my steps as we prepare them to transition back home.  We love them so much and I am sure this is going to be very difficult for our entire family.

On a more cheerful note, our garden was great this year.  We actually tore down one of the old goat barns and planted a garden in it's place.  Wow, goat make great compost naturally!  We just finished off picking the tomatoes.  We have 2 25lb bins of tomatoes to deal with.  Doug has made a few batches of chili sauce to can.  Tomorrow we are going to do another batch of chili sauce and a few batches of spaghetti sauce as well.  It's great to look at your cupboard and see them stocked full!

We were blessed to have a visit from our local "apple lady" yesterday.  When she was around last year she had suffered a stroke.  We had not seen her in quite a while and the kids were speculating that she may have passed away.  So we bought a few boxes of apples from her and Chris already made a huge batch of our favorite apple brownies.  After we have the tomatoes taken care of we will move on to canned apples and apple filling.

Speaking of canning.... I've begun to pray for a canning pressure cooker.  They are so expensive and there is no way it is in the budget right now but I figure if I start praying who knows what will happen about it??

It's begun to get cold and there is so much to do.  Jason was a big help to Doug outside so it's been hard to get a lot done out there.  We still need to build a woodshed and complete a bird barn for the chickens, ducks and turkeys for the winter.  I don't know how that is going to get done without Jason here. 

We had a great year for Muscovy Ducks.  We sold quite a few babies and then put 38 ducks in the freezer.  We have a few turkeys that we will butcher at the end of the month as well.  I miss not having pigs this year but again, without Jason we were unable to get the pig area ready.

It's late and I have an early morning meeting.  I wanted to catch everyone up so that is a quick overview of the past few months from our home.

Stay tuned

Happy Sunday everyone!

Well I'm not sure where to begin it has been so long!

My work is still so much fun.  As you may all remember that I am working for a company called Arise which allows me to work from home.  I am having a blast.  A few months ago I was offered a mentoring position for an electronics store client.  I LOVE being a mentor.  I am also doing trainings as well and I absolutely LOVE to teach.  This has been such a blessing to our family.  We are hoping to bring our children on with Arise as well.  Jason will be 18 next month and I would love to see him come aboard.

Tomorrow it's back to school work.  Although Jason and Chris having been doing school work all during the winter break pretty much.  The big news is that Mr. X will also begin homeschooling.  Thank you all for your prayers for him.  He is doing well.  He will take one class in the morning at the high school, after that all of his subjects will be taken through the internet academy online.  I think it it will be a good trade off for him.

Remodeling - I'll have to talk about this at another time.  However, we did have to remodel one bedroom and two bathrooms due to a flood.  My bathroom is almost complete.  The downstairs bathroom is about 50% done.  The bedroom just needs a few things here and there.

For Christmas I redid my bedroom and got a new bedroom set from IKEA.  We also finally painted our bedroom.  It's about 75% done.  So my poor house is in shambles!

I'm doing working for the night so I need to go and get everyone in the bed.  I'll try to post more tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was homemade spaghetti...oh yum!  :}  Tomorrow we are having a pot roast in the crock pot.

Happy New Year!

We survived in to 2008!

I have not blogged in soooo long.  I'm sorry!

Thank you to each and every one of you that has written and wondered where I went.  We have just been really busy and I needed to time to completely focus on my family and my growing business.

This is just a quick note for tonight.  I'll try to stop by tomorrow and catch up with everyone!

Is it really Tuesday?

Well the weather has turned cooler now.  Reminds me that fall is coming.  I'm not really ready for it though.  So much has happened over the past week...where to start....where to start....

4H

Well last Tuesday we hauled in to the Skamania County Fair.  Mr. X took a turkey and a pig...blue ribbons and then he sold them for a nice price.  Jason took  2 pigs and a turkey.  One pig was 10 lbs too light so we brought her home.  Oh well.  She's going to go to the butchers this weekend and will solve our problem of having about run out of pork.  Jason sold his pigs and turkey for a good price too and got blue ribbons.  He also took 3 chickens to show.  He got Grand Champion, Best of Breed, Best Opposite and also was Reserve Champion in Showmanship.  He was also awarded a special award for Herdsmanship.  Christopher took a pig for market, also got a blue and sold him nicely.  He also took our baby boer goat and got reserve champion in her breed.  The judge had a lot of nice things to say about her so that really was nice.  Mrs. X took a bantam chicken and got a blue ribbon.  She was very happy about that.  Our little Sarah cannot wait until next year when she can bring one of her animals to show.

Work

I've been doing my certification training for Apple.  My new Mac Mini arrived from work last week, it sure is different and sooo tiny!  I'm on a bit of a learning curve with the silly thing!  I've been in live training for 4 hours a day for the past few weeks and tomorrow starts my testing so I can certify.

Life

The boy began football practice yesterday.  Yes, all 3 have decided to play this year.  So that's a big chunk of time.

Jason finished his forest success program last week and really, really enjoyed it.  He's hoping to get a part time job this fall somewhere.

Jason and Christopher's laptops arrived for their schooling today.  Just one more reminder that summer is coming to an end.  On one hand I'm ready for the structure of the days but on the other hand I have really, really enjoyed the weather all though it was really cooler this summer.

I managed to clean up the house this morning, my poor house has been neglected for weeks with CreationFest, Missions, Fair, etc...  I stripped most of the beds and have them airing while I wash all the bedding.  Now I'd better get to finishing everything before it's time for bed!

For Parents and Teens

Parents...do you ever feel like it is a never ending battle to try to keep your kids on the right track??  We have 7 children now and caring for them isn't the issue...it's keeping the wolves away.  It seems like where ever you turn there is something tempting or trapping for them.  Especially for my 4 oldest that range from 15 to 22.  At what point do you just solidify your knees to the carpet and pray for the best??  I'm watching one of our children go down a road that is just scaring me to death.  As a mother I want to jump in and fix everything.  However, I cannot continue to do that for the rest of their life.  ARG!  Please tell me this gets better?

Teens, please tell me that you listen to what your parents have to say.  Does it really go in one ear and out the other?  Do you realize how much we have invested in you and that we only want the very best for you?  My teen years were awful..just terrible.  I want better for all of our children.  Do you just not believe us when we tell you how bad it could be or do you just have to learn for yourselves?  I know what it is like to want to have friends and have fun.  But there comes a point when fun crosses the line and you put yourselves in dangerous positions.  Do you want us to step in and rescue you?  Or do you just want us to turn a blind eye and silently pray for you constantly??

Inquiring minds really, really, really want to know!

What a week

Well it's been more than a week.

Dh's truck blew it's transmission.  So it now sits in the driveway.  This has left us with a big problem for the coming week.  We have NO way to transport 4 hogs to our fair on Tuesday.  This is not good.

We had to go find another car for dh to drive back and forth.  We found a Nissan Maxima for sale by a private owner and were able to just pay for it out right.  So at least its getting better gas mileage than the truck or my van.  I'm really trying to find a silver lining.

I've also been sick for over a week.  It started with my left tonsil and now encompasses my entire throat so it's hard to talk or eat.  I've been on antibiotics but they haven't seemed to help.  I'm praying I'm better tomorrow.  I'll have to return to the drs tomorrow if I'm not better.

On another note, we took our 4 year old daughter, Sarah, in for a check up at the drs.  She had not been feeling real well and i was concerned about a few things.  Before she was born the drs. found a hole in her heart but at her two month check up her birth mother told us that the dr had said it was closed.  Well this past week the dr heard something in her heart that made him concerned.  We'll be taken her down to Dorenbecher's Children's hospital on Wednesday for an ECHO on her heart.  It could be something as harmless as a murmur for whatever reason.  So we are jus trying to remain positive.

This coming week also starts 4H fair.  Our older children are all involved in that and we will be taking hogs (hopefully) and goats.

Well I've had enough computer time today and I need to go get some more rest.

It's Friday

I can't believe it's Friday.  This week has absolutely flown by.  We've been busy with housework and appointments.

Last night my son found that more muscovy ducks had hatched so I'll be taking them in to Portland today to our buyer.  We still have more ducks on more eggs.  It's also time to process some of our old chickens and our ducks that are ready for butcher now.  That will thin down the herd some.  Our new chickens will start laying now as we removed the 3rd year chickens.  We get a new batch of chickens every year and just remove the oldest ones that no longer lay.

The county fair is getting closer and closer.  We have to kick it in to high gear now and make sure everyone has their paperwork complete, clothing ready, poster and reports also need to be finished up.

It looks like today might be a little cooler which would be a nice change.  Except I'm not going to be home to enjoy it.  We have some things we need to take care of in Portland and Vancouver that will put me home late tonight. 

This weekend is thrift shop time.  Yesterday I took Jason to open his first checking account.  He wants to purchase a case for his bass guitar and also buy himself some clothes at our favorite thirft shop if we can get there this weekend. 

I'd better make sure everything is ready to go out the door as we are leaving in a few.

Saturday at Creation Fest

Saturday was great.  I got to meet Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales.  I know some of you don't like them, but at our home we like most of them.  There are a few videos that we don't really appreciate and think that they could have done a better job with. 

One of the radio stations there had this bear.  I so wanted to take it home...it was soo...sooo..me!

The bands that night were Leeland, David Crowder and Toby Mac.  I enjoyed them all but the David Crowder band was my favorite.  I was astonished to learn that Toby Mac is 42!  Oh my word, half the moves he did would have sent me straight to the ER!

David Crowder Band:

Toby Mac:

Chris dancing to Toby Mac (and what really got me was the older gentleman in the background):

Leeland (a fairly new band, he's all of maybe 18)

Friday at Creation Fest

Okay Friday.  Again, another hot day.

I was able to listen to Voice, Red and Zoro.  Not my style but I can appreciate what they were trying to do.

The big band fo the night was the Newsboys.  I had to work that shift so I didn't get to see them.  Jason took a picture for me though:

Thursday At CreationFest

I'm trying to update the blog before I forget everything in between laundry, dishes, diapers and what have you...this house needs some serious help.  I'm pacing myself so I can get some rest time in between the chores.

Thursday at Creation Fest was another awesome day of about 110 degrees.  Thank you, Lord, for no humidity there though!  We drank lots of water and we survived.

We went to listen to Justin Lookadoo (yep, his real name).  He is a former juvenile parole officer and he is hilarious.  I don't agree with everything he had to say, but for the most part I think he has the right ideas.  Later on we went to watch Chris Tomlin and SwitchFoot.  Both were really great.  I have to say the lead singer of Switchfoot came out into the audience and I was so disappointed with the teen girls in the audience.  You would have though it was God Himself.  I enjoy their music but this was over the top.  I think two girls fainted.  Get a grip!  ARG...okay maybe I'm getting too old for this.

Switchfoot:

More on CreationFest

We arrived on Wednesday just in time to set up quickly and get to our shifts.  We were able to go to CreationFest for free because we all volunteered to work 4 1/2 hours a day.  I worked in the box office selling tickets and handling any issues with people's tickets.

When we first arrived they put us about 4 miles away from the event in the campground.  Mind you I cannnot walk that far without the FM rearing it's ugly head.  It was about 110 degrees and I would have to walk this about 8 times every day.  By the end of the first day I was sooo sore, I had leg cramps and was feeling really ill.  Chris went to talk to the camp staff about it since we were staff and I thought we would be camping in a different location.  When we arrived the attendants (being volunteer teens) put us in the wrong spot without knowing it.  The camp staff found a place for us in staff parking that was soooo much closer to the event.  Like maybe 1/8 of a mile.  Yay for Chris!  We also were placed next to this wonderful man named, Robert.  Robert helped us set up camp, cooked food for the kids when I wasn't there such a really nice guy.  He was there camping with his family and they also were on staff too. 

The first night I went down to listen to Jars of Clay.  They were really great.  I had taken a picture of them but somehow, some of my first photos were deleted from the camera.

Here is a picture of Jason and his best friend Lee.  Lee is helping him take a camping "shower" by pouring ice cold water over him as he lather's up.

More from CreationFest

You can check out Monsterpod for some videos and highlights of the event:

http://www.monsterpod.org/creationnw07/

We are back!

I SURVIVED CREATION FEST NW 2007!

We really all had a great time.  We left home about 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning and arrived in George, WA about 11 a.m.  after two short scheduled stops.  Thank you for those that prayed for us.  The van was perfect all the way up and back.  That was my biggest concern.  It was so nice to have a smooth ride up there and back.  Our 15 year old foster son is now at a Christian Bible Camp for the week, we dropped him off on our way back from Creation.

We have so many stories to tell!  On the way there we were entering Yakima and I turned to the kids and said "If you were driving along and saw a hitchhiker with an axe in one hand, shovel in another and he was all dirty...would you pick him up?"  The kids all laughed "oh mom" and I said..look behind us.  And sure enough along the road they saw what I had seen.  We had a roar of a laugh over that.  I did threaten to pick him up and put him in the back seats with them.

The ampitheatre is absolutely stunning.  It was great to see faces that walked up to see their first glance at the setting.  Everyone had their "OH!" face on.  It's simply so expansive, the view of God's creation is absolutely stunning. 

I'll post more later!

CREATION FEST NORTHWEST

The time has come!

We'll be leaving at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning to drive to George,  Washington for Creation Fest Northwest.

Please pray for our safe journey and that we have a wonderful time focusing on God.

I'll be be taking 5 of our children and my oldest son's best friend with us.  It should be quite an adventure!

We'll return late Sunday night.

It's Hot!

Since our new arrivals are settling in we are finding that we need to rearrange our home a bit.  We've spent a lot of the last week moving and cleaning.  Our 10 year old is a lot like having a very tall 4 year old in the house so we had to rethink where we put things.

Today was so hot.  Even here, where it rarely gets that unbearable!  So this morning we finished up our cleaning and chores.  Then we had a social worker visit for a check up on our girls.  After that the girls had a drs appointment.  We then stopped at a local swimming spot for a quick swim before VBS.  We have VBS all this week in the evenings.  The children are all really enjoying it.

I'm looking for creative ways to keep 10 people cool without really spending any money!  The river is getting old and it's too dangerous for our two littlest girls.  Since the baby doesn't walk yet I need to be somewhere I can let her crawl, put her in a stroller or hold her (and since I have FM I can't hold her long before I lose the stamina to do so). 

Well I need to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow and get headed toward bed.  I'll probably be up for a while since it is still really sticky and hot tonight.

What a Week!

We are here still trying to get in to some sort of groove somewhere.  I've been feeling terribly ill so that makes things even harder to get done. 

I finally have my van fixed and we had a bunch of errands to do.  Monday we had a tea party hosted at our home.  That was so much fun to have friends over and the girls really had a good time. 

Chris will be returning home Thursday evening and that will be really wonderful.  We are preparing for Creation Fest from here on out.

Unfortunately, my only milk goat got in to something that didn't agree with her.  We think she will be fine, but as a result she completely dried up.  There went our source of milk until we breed again.  GREAT.  I've also decided to sell most of our herd of goats.  We are busy with the children and my health seems to be up and down.  The boys are out and doing their own things now so it seems to be the time to let some of that go.  At some point this week I need to get some ads up to try to sell them.  I'll really miss them, each one is special and so wonderful.  I'm sure they'll get wonderful homes.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!