Flexibility...

Flexibility...now who knew that the Lord would have me work on this. If you were to ask me if I was flexible I'd say "somewhat"...ha ha I can hear some of you chuckling as you know very well I'm not flexible at all... I didn't think it was such a huge deal to be flexible...but the Lord has shown me otherwise...

I am finding what a blessing it is to others when I'm joyful and content with change. Change is the story of my life these days...things are always changing or plans being changed. If you know me, you know how much I dislike change and usually have an attitude that isn't so sweet if change happens...but the Lord is showing me that I can be "flexible" and "joyful" at the same time...who knew...

My new motto: (do I dare print it?)..."Change is good"...I think the Lord needs my vessel clean and refined so He can give me more of His Joy...so I can give that joy to others as they come into my life...

Thank you for stopping by...

National Lampoon's Farming Vacation

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Howdy Pardner...

She is in heaven...just look at that smile!

Meet Houndo...named after a John Wayne movie.

The people we are staying with have two of the most beautiful horses I've ever seen. They often ride by our "camp" and pick up a child or two for a quick trip around the driveway. My children are so thankful for this and look forward to the ride...

The boys enjoying morning reading in our Knights bunk bed...which my husband creatively made. The beds fold up during the day to allow for more room for daily things...I am so thankful for that space!

Lessons along the way...

Things we are learning in this journey:
I can cook in a really really really small space
I don't actually need have a shower every single day...but oh, that is a luxury I will hopefully have one day again
I can home school in a really really really small space
I can eat store bought food for connivance and not "die" from it...tee-hee
I can go a week without chatting on the phone to anyone or emailing or blogging...although it is an adjustment
I can choose to wake up happy or grumpy...and most days I'm choosing to wake up happy which makes life for everyone so much better
I can do all of my laundry in two loads and well it's actually just fine...really!
We really aren't farmers...but are working on it!

I hope this post finds you all doing well and learning in your journey as well...
You are cherished and loved and missed...
Hugs from us -

New Address and some fun pictures

Finally a mailing address...1250 N. Hwy - PMB #201 Colville, Washington

This was an incredible storm that we were able to watch i roll across the valley.

Since the winters are so harsh we have to really stock up on feed for the girls...and so we thought the best place to find a good hay farmer was at the fair. We went to the little Colville fair and found a very helpful family that had what we needed. So we set up a time to pick up our first load of hay and here are some fun pictures of the "city slickers" as she teased us and the lady and her little guy...let me tell you she just picks those bales of hay up and throws them into the trailer like they were a piece of tissue...she helps her husband plant and harvest the hay and is the one who manages the customer side...she was so full of energy and told me "sweetie, I'll make a farm girl out of you yet..." - I loved it and my farm girl heart was delighted! She is willing to have our older son over whenever so he can learn the farm trade - meanwhile I'll be flinging hay and other things I'm sure...tee-hee - and we thought we were "real" farmers back in Yelm - what a hoot!

Thank you for stopping by...I'll chat next week!

A Breathtaking View

Just look at this snake that one of the children found...eeeek!

Able to ride and play and be children.

Just look at this view. This is just a stones throw away from our place - wonderful isn't it!

On a hike in the woods we found this rock...makes us think about the flood and proof for creation.

This is what we see everyday...isn't the Lord good to give us a beautiful view! Dave is still looking for work and becoming a bit frustrated.

Thank you for stopping by...I'm enjoying your comments and miss you all so very much. Please keep us in your prayers as it is a struggle to keep praising the Lord through all this...even with the glorious view!

Praise Him through it all...

Clay costumes...

Daring one another to jump into the deep...

What fun we have been having at Fort Spokane. It looks cold but it was actually 85 degrees and the water was so refreshing!

Best meal I've ever had...well except at Mrs. Taffy's of course! The meals were large and wonderful...and where else could you eat right next to the nail bin and hardware store....Good coffee also!

As you can see we are enjoying life and places around here. I will send more next week of the breathtaking views from our front window...

Hugs to all...we miss you tremendously and hope all is well with all of you!

We Have Arrived

Just a quick post here to let everyone know we are well and safe. We found a great lake to play at and will be spending lots of time there and posting lots of pictures.

My husband is still looking for work and we would appreciate all of your prayers.

Thank you for stopping by - I'll post next week...maybe even put in some pictures.

Hugs to all...

Gotta Love Berry Season...

Yummie! These are from our berry patch. We have salmon berries, raspberries and logan berries. This is my favorite way to eat waffles...piled with fresh berries, caramel sauce and topped with powder sugar...oh, yum!

Baker and Beetles...

This is a moment to put in our history books...well at least our family history books! Here our maiden has gone from needing my help to not needing me at all...it was a bit strange and I didn't really know what to do...I found myself wandering around the kitchen...but she was reading the directions, and following them...She even let her little brother "help" frost the cake....

See little man's finger...yep he's a helping...

She picked these raspberries to decorate her cake with - it was so wonderful to see her blossom in this area...amazing!

Buddies and Beetles...
Here is a great picture of our "cow"boy and little man...."cow" boy had found a large beetle and gave it to little man - squeals of delight and laughter could be heard...our oldest son is a wonderful young man and takes the time to enjoy his little brother - I'm so thankful for that!

Sheared like a sheep...

So the story goes like so...my older son told me that he could do a really good job cutting his hair! He kept pestering me about it...for several days! I thought hmmmmm I could use this "over confident" moment to teach him something, so I let him cut his own hair...the result was very funny! He came out sheepishly to show me his "very good" job...he had forgotten the fact that he would not be able to cut the back of his head...and well it produced a uneven mess...I should have taken a picture but instead got out the clippers and this is what I was able to do...almost a baldy for the rest of summer.

This whole "close" shave thing must have inspired my husband as he felt the need to shave his "goe-t" ( I have no idea how to spell that). We are all hoping that it grows back fast as it has been close to five years since he's had a clean shaven face and I rather like the goe-t look...and the children are having a really hard time taking him serious as he has such thin lips and doesn't look very intense without the goe-t...we've had a few moments of break-out laughter!

Good thing I didn't get inspired eh!

Do you recognize them?

Why it is Daniel Boone and his trusted friend Mingo.

We have been watching the Daniel Boone DVD series for about a month now. Our friends lent us the videos and we are loving them.

We highly recommend them - they are great for young men and do not have any "stuff" in them.

Enjoy!

Always Learning...Today it was a Bald Hornet lesson

Science doesn't stop just because we've closed the books for a few months. These nasty things have been taking up residence in our berry patch. We thought we got rid of the the two huge nests but alas today we discovered they were rebuilding....

Just look at the queen. She is twice as big as big as the sentry, who was guarding the build site. My husband had his bee attire on and sniped the newly constructed nest to put into the bag. We will be adding the nest, the sentry and the queen to our insect collection - what a great find for this science collection!

Happy Fourth of July 2009

Cowboy here thought it was magnificent that he was able to pilot the boat by himself. He was even allowed to take his siblings, one at a time, out for a private boat ride - great fun.

Fourth of July has become our favorite holiday, but this year was a bitter-sweet celebration. Bitter for the fact that our dear, dear friends, whom we have spent the past seven(I think) fourth of July's with, were moved out of state and there was no way to get together for this year's celebration. They are family and very dear to our hearts and we missed them so very much...missed the laughter...squeals of delight from all the children...missed the good food...missed the good company...missed the Godly fellowship that went on every Fourth of July! I gave this one up to the Lord and am asking Him to make it happen for next year.

Now to the sweetness of the celebration...my husband went out the day before to get us hot dogs(can I just say yuk and barf...rats on a stick is what I call them) but that wasn't the sweet part. He also came home with life jackets and a four man, blow up boat with paddles. We had so much fun at the lake on that boat.

Afterwards a dear friend, whose family was across the mountains working on a project, came bearing foods and gifts to celebrate the 4th with us. We enjoyed her company so much...she's a gem of a lady and so enjoyable to be around.

How was your Fourth of July? If you are wondering why we had the lake to ourselves...it's because we get there early - we left our house at 8:00 to arrive at the lake by 9:00. We had the lake to ourselves for most of the morning. It didn't start getting really busy until about 2:00 or so...very nice

.Ka-Boom...look at those grins...this is definitely the favored holiday in our house!

A Knight and A Princess

Sweet Isn't It...

A Morning To Remember...

We decided to go strawberry picking this morning. On our way we had an errand to do. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity. What fun we had eating fresh donuts with our fresh milk we brought along. The seagulls came so close to us hoping for a bit of a treat. We saw two bald eagles across the bay - they were beautiful!

After breakfast at the bay we headed to the strawberry picking patch...but the u-pick was closed. We were disappointed but still purchased three flats of berries to make jam and freeze...and of course to snack on.

All that sugar makes for a wonderful nap. I love sleeping pictures - they are so sweet and innocent.

Since we did not get to pick berries...my little buttons decided to pick from our own berry patch.