We enjoyed Christmas eve service at our church and then following our tradition we all slept in the great room under the tree for Christmas eve. However Timmer decided that a mattress would make the experience all the better so within a few minutes we had mattresses all over the great room, hall and into the dining room. I love those slumber parties with my children. I will miss them dreadfully as they start to leave our home. Can't think about that today......
Mark and Lynde shared Christmas with us which is always nice. It is such a pleasure to have some family near :)
Two days after Christmas we celebrated Josiah's 16th birthday. Even with all the holiday hull-a-baloo people that loved him came and spoke into his life. We had a Mexican themed dinner together at Josiah's request. He received his sword and a charge from Timmer to defend and protect and to press into the Lord. Stepping stones.....and I watch another one of our children step into the cusp of adulthood.
New Years was celebrated with friends and family and a game night New Year's eve at the church :) Love those memories. The winter has flow by with my home-projects. I will shamefully admit I had been so busy in the last couple of years with other things that my sheds had not had a good cleaning in two years! How embarrassing! They sorely needed a purging and a reorganization. I also started tackling some other home projects getting things arranged, organized and cleaned. How I love to do this!!! I always feel better when things are tidy.
Our latest house project started in January with Tim remodeling my "shop" which doubles as our mud-room/entry room. Tim built me shelves; Elijah took a piece of iron fencing which he cut apart and welded into a lovely bench for sitting down. We taped, textured and painted. It came out very nicely. It isn't completely finished -- still no trim and Tim is going to put up a door between the main house and my shop but marvelous none-the-less.
I am in high-gear preparing for summer craft shows, Farmer's Market (started last Saturday) and other miscellaneous events in attempt to get my product line really moving this year.
Tim keeps working at his design job at the DOT; he also serves at the church as Scoutmaster for the HNC Scout troop which started in late December under Tim's vision and direction. He helps friends as he has time and is currently helping a friend build a garage shed. He continues to work on our home as we have time and money. Seems like those two never meet doesn't it?!?! You either have one or the other but never both! :) Mark found a great deal for us on hardee board siding -- a return order, so we didn't get to choose the color but it is very workable. We got the bundle for a 1/3 of the normal cost and it was plenty to side the entire house so Tim has a summer project pretty well lined out.
Elijah is working for Land Escapes again this year but has registered to go to school starting in August. He tried to start in January and thought he had his ducks-in-a-row to do that but unfortunately the school was a little less than cooperative since he was "atypical". He didn't come in the door with an OPI certified transcript so they ran him through some hoops. He had taken the Compass testing (placement testing) and totally smoked it. The lady told him she personally had never seen such a high score. They then required him to take a GED test which he also smoked. It was scheduled to take him eight hours -- he finished in two and a half. Again maximum scores :) I was super proud of him. He registered for their welding program, following in the footsteps of his Uncle and Papa. Uncle Mike got him started welding a couple of years ago and Elijah really loved it. This spring while he was laid off he welded me a beautiful and very unique pot hanger from horseshoes and is currently finishing up gates for the property. He's getting pretty handy to have around :) The school offers a machinist degree as well which he can attain for one extra semester of work so he is looking at finishing both of those degrees in two and a half years. He is pretty excited about where the Lord might lead.
Gabby is also working for Land Escapes this year and was promoted to "maintenance foreman". She is pretty excited about the additional responsibilities but does miss the camaraderie of the regular work crew. Her boss wants her to have some continuing education in this field so he has paid for her to attend classes in Bozeman on pruning as well as enrolling her in the Master Gardener program through the State Extension Office, and he wants her to get her "Certified Plant Professional" status so she is taking some night classes and then attended a couple of weekend workshops as well. She got her driver's licence in February and has use of a company truck now. She is pretty well finished up with her home-school career and looking forward to her graduation. Does not seem possible we are graduating our SECOND! She still loves music and is pursuing a basic knowledge of piano, voice and guitar.
Josiah is plugging away at school. Academics have never thrilled him but he presses through. He is taking Koinonia House Classes in addition to his regular subjects. He also just started (yesterday - YIKES!) at Land Escapes working for Gabrielle doing maintenance chores. He will just work part-time this summer and see where the Lord leads in the future. He is still learning drums and plays with the youth worship team. He is becoming. It is an interesting stage because all through childhood you know that you are growing and teaching a child for adulthood. You watch as the Lord shapes their character and you try not to get in His way but there is a definite mark where you see the Lord step in between you and your child. He deals with them more directly and you watch as it seems almost overnight they start to "become". It is a long process of a few years where God chips and calls and sculpts their life and it leads to their adult relationship with the Lord and with their family. Josiah is there. It is hard and yet beautiful to watch God do this work. Very bittersweet.....
Zach-o-roni -- he is still my main man :) He still loves his mamma and isn't embarrassed to tell me so. He works with me at market weekly and all my shows. He is excited about learning/working more this summer tying balloons. Almost 13 -- who said he could join the ranks of the TEENAGERS! I will very soon (within a couple of months) have more teenagers in the house than not. AAGH! He is learning bass and is just mellow and steady at everything he does. I do so love that boy. He is enjoying the scout troop and got his first rank as well as his first frost award -- you accumulate points for every degree that you sleep outside when it is below freezing. So for example an overnight outside when it is 20 degrees gives him 12 points. You garner 100 points and you get a frost points award. He and his best friend Nevan both got their frost awards for this year. They are gearing up and working hard to earn the money to go to summer camp. It should be a great year for him in scouts.
Judah -- oh my goodness! That child is busy still! and a little mischievous. Constantly thinking, constantly DOING. He gained a new friend when a family moved in across the street. The two of them together are Dennis the Menace and Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes). They have managed not to cause any property damage or personal injury yet but require a great deal of supervision as their "ideas" are usually dangerous :) Very sharp guy and a natural flair in art. He draws some amazing shaped things (think cars, tanks, motorcycles, etc) Keeps me on my toes. We just celebrated his ninth birthday with a spaghetti cake -- Judah of course thought it was fabulous that he could gross everyone out with a dinner dessert :)
Bekah-boo is growing like a weed. LOVES music and is constantly singing, writing music, and dancing. We are still calling her Thumbellina; she is so petite. Her best friend and our neighbor is probably 6" taller than her and wears 5 shoe sizes bigger than her. Girlie to the enth-degree she still holds her own among all the boys in this house. She is loving learning to cook and wants to learn how to sew and CROCHET. Wow -- how am I going to pull that off? Sewing is not my strongest skill but I will try. I should be able to pass on a basic knowledge anyway. However, crochet?!?!? Not going to happen. Wish Auntie Marilynn lived closer. She tried desperately with me but since I am ambidextrous I kept switching directions. Auntie Marilynn helped me finish one potholder I gave to mom at Christmas and then encouraged me to find my strengths (obviously NOT crochet!) We just celebrated her seventh birthday in March. Can I slow time down, PLEASE?!?!? Not ready for my girlie to grow up!
Koliah -- oh my goodness. He is changing so fast. Not my little guy anymore. He is quick to tell me that he is a "big guy" now. Here are a couple of my favorite excerpts from our conversations this last week.
"Mom -- guess how much I love you?"
"humm.... how much?"
"I love you 1,2,3, FIVE!!!"
"Wow! 1, 2, 3, 5?
Yes! and that is a SUPER lot!!!
Well, guess how much I love you?
How much Momma?
I love you as BIG AS THE SKY (as I smother his head in kisses)
Humm..... how much is that exactly?
Guess I had better work on my delineations. Apparently the sky is not big enough. :) Tim listening to this conversation from the other room said, babe, he's got you beat. He gave you as much love as he could count. Apparently KJ is going to be very exact and very analytical.
Here is another one of our deep discussions this week. The girls (Bekah and Joy) were asking me in great concern if we would have to be naked in heaven. I explained to them that I thought we would be clothed in white raiment made of light like Adam and Eve in the garden before they fell. It is a little deep for seven year old girls so I said I think they will be kind-of like the most beautiful dresses made out of rainbows. The girls left ecstatic that God would make them such lovely clothes. A few minutes later Koliah comes to me in great seriousness. Mom, I am not wearing a dress of rainbows. I stop and look at him. He says I am a BOY! I said Buddy, I think God will make you boy clothes in rainbows, like a shirt. He looks at me with great relief. Yes, I could wear a rainbow shirt and then after a pause and MAYBE I will wear rainbow pants. This is especially hilarious because he always takes his pants off. Don't ask me why. Don't know. Just doesn't like them but the rainbow pants? MAYBE :)
Here is another tid-bit of news from the home front. We have a new addition to our family. A PUPPY! We have not had a dog in the house for 18 months. The Pyrs were just too old when we got them a couple of years ago and they could not abide the sounds of shooting in the hunting area around us. We tried everything. Terribly sad deal but we ended up finding them a marvelous home with 200 acres around them and no hunting as it is full of wheat fields. Another home-school family with goats and lots of kids. A great match. It was super hard but we knew it was the right thing to do. We had talked on and off about getting another dog but had always shut the book on that idea at this point. However, we had a dog show up in March that decided to adopt us. She quite literally ran in the house when I opened the door. We walked her to the road and told her to leave. We yelled and waved our arms but she kept coming back to the kids. We finally tied her in the front yard thinking someone would come by and claim her. No one came. I called the pound and left a "found" report. No one called. Posted it on the Internet. No one responded. So she got a lot of attention and love from our family. We had her about three days with no response from anyone and then got a call in the evening. "I think you have my dog". Hearts broken in pieces of course. So sad. Tim said well, guess it is time. Let's find a puppy.
So I started a search. The Lord opened doors -- flew them open. And we found ourselves a few days later looking at a litter of 1/2 yellow lab 1/2 German shorthair puppies. We chose a roly-poly female with three white feet and a white splash on her chest. My friend calls her a "German chocolate" which seems to fit. After MUCH discussion (almost a week) we finally decided on calling her "Mulan" -- Mulan Pass is one of our favorite places here and Mulan is of course a princess so Bekah was completely in favor. The boys had favored calling her "Bayo-nette" since she looks sort-of like a hound (which bays) and is a girl (don't you just add "nette" to a boy's name) but I couldn't get over the image of an impaling device. Their word play is good though, do have to give them that :) She has been a perfect addition to our family and seems like a great dog. Lots of work -- a baby would have been easier I think BUT she is learning and it is a lot of fun to have a dog again.
Well.... I think that brings us up to date with everyone. I will try to do better about keeping up AND.... I will try to get some pictures loaded (tomorrow). Hope your day is blessed.
