Merry Christmas

We went to Gram and Pap's house in New Jersey for Christmas this year.

It's Snowing, Again, Still!

The Great Hope Diamond Chase

Thank you to the Pike Family for a fun Mystery Party!

Wet Snow is So Cool!

And possibly dangerous! This is our front porch. The snow here doesn't blow around and just melt away, it sticks to everything including itself!

I wish I had taken more pictures Saturday night. The snow collected on our clothes line until it looked like fluffy white funoodles. We ran to the store and you could tell which way the wind was blowing by which side of the tree trunks were covered with snow. It was dark on our way back and it was truly a winter wonderland with the tree branches hanging heavy with snow and Christmas lights reflecting off of it.

It's Still Coming Down!

The kids couldn't wait to go out and play as soon as they realized it was sticking. Thank goodness we had our snow clothes from storage! They took the dogs out (who also love the snow) and threw snowballs for them.

And then they threw snowballs at each other.

This looks bad for Noah. Maybe she's just making a snowman. Nah.

It's Snowing!

The weatherman said it was going to snow but we didn't really believe it because it still seemed to warm to us, but sure enough it's coming down.

This is the view of our neighbor's house from our back porch. I love the way houses are just kind of here and there in the east. First of all, all roads here are back roads to western standards and you can be driving down the road and see a house right up on the road then the next house is back in the woods then the next house is on a rise cleared of trees!

Our Stuff is Here!

Dave flew out to Utah Friday, loaded up the moving truck, with the help of his friend Jim, Saturday and arrived here in Pennsylvania today, Monday! He is a crazy, crazy man, but boy were we glad to see him and all our stuff! I know that sounds materialistic but I'll accept that label to have my own washer and dryer! The kids, of course, were glad to see their toys and other personal items and all of us were glad to have our fall and winter clothes (we've had a few chilly days).

So we had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: David arrived home safely, we had real dishes and cookware with which to prepare our Thanksgiving dinner, we had warm clothes to wear, a washer and dryer to keep them clean, and toys, movies, games, and books to keep us entertained all winter.

Noah was most happy to have his costumes!

Big Food

We have been getting our apples (Noah's favorite food) from Brown's Orchard just up the street from us and they are humongous! Katie had one that was almost as big as her head.

The kids like to eat at Arby's and order the two handed sandwich (medium) combo.

Big food for big boys.

AMEN!

I was sent this in an email recently and all I can say is AMEN!

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said: 'Let me see if I've got this right. 'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning. 'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride. 'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job. 'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams. 'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card. 'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps. 'You want me to do all this and then you tell me: I CAN'T PRAY?

Fall is Cool! (pun intended)

And weird! I love all the strange shapes squash can be.

We're in a farming community and just a couple doors up from us is a little farm stand and junk store. I love it! We've been up there several times already.

I'm Baking!

I used my oven to make some yummy treats!

Sirens and Birds!

We moved into the house we're renting yesterday, yeah! We're so glad to be out of the 5th wheel, but of course the house has it's own issues. Everything in the camper had a place and everything was in it's place otherwise we'd be falling all over ourselves, here there are no bookcases or shelving or built in end tables and tv stands so we have no place to put anything until Dave goes to get our stuff out of storage in Utah. He will be doing just that in 3 weeks but I'm not sure my sanity will last that long. I don't mind clutter, as a matter of fact having 3 children, 2 dogs, and a husband I've become quite good at ignoring it, but it must be up off the floor. I can't stand to walk over, through or (heaven forbid) in things! If my floor is clear and clean I can handle almost any other mess, but tracked in mud, discarded backpacks, coats, shoes and toys make me a raving lunatic. Right now almost everything we own is on the floor either loose or in cardboard boxes, UGH! As I'm writing this I'm desperately thinking of ways I can turn the boxes into sturdy furniture that will hold our TV, video games, books and board games, I already took a behind-the-toilet stand from the half bath that the last people left and set it up to hold my scrapbook stuff in the dining room for now, priorities you know.

On to other issues...

I have never lived in an area where the fire department was still volunteer, but apparently that's the case here because at 4:30 this morning we were awakened by an ear splitting siren, then again 10 or so minutes later, then it went off again around 10:30 this morning and again 10 or so minutes later! What the heck? You can be sure I'll be asking around.

Also, there are birds nesting in the gutters right outside our bedroom window, so as soon as the sun came up this morning (an hour earlier!) I started hearing bird song, okay, tweets, hmmm, pecking and rustling, ugh! I'm sure clogged gutters are a hazard! Those birds are getting evicted as soon as I can get a hold of the landlord.

All-in-all we are grateful to be in a real house, even one with fun house floors (it was built in the 1800's and added on to several times), and strange hidey holes. It's cozy and has character and I think will serve us well.

Not Me!

I would never let my children go play in the street..., barefoot..., in the rain. Not Me!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Resourcefulness

We've had to be creative with the supplies and equipment we have with us to do many things over the last few months. Our latest bit of resourcefulness, the boys wanted to reshape and sand their AWANA Grand Prix cars so we got some sand paper but it was slow going for reshaping, Katie suggested we try the PediPaws we brought for the dogs' nails. It worked great!

Young Entrepreneurs

Our kids earn an allowance for doing chores above and beyond what we feel is just contributing to being part of a family, we don't pay for cleaning their rooms. When they want money for something beyond the value of their allowance we encourage them to think of ways to earn it. Katie started making dog treats and selling them at Farmer's Markets when she was 8 years old. I can't remember now what she wanted money for, and it was a lot more work for me to get her organized, to the market and set up than it was for her to make the treats, but I believe she learned valuable lessons and each year since, she has taken on more of the responsibility.

The summer before we went to Disneyland Aaron really wanted more souvenir money so he started making marshmallow shooters and selling them at Farmer's Market with Katie. Noah wanted money too but he couldn't think of a product so he hired himself out to Aaron as the target for marshmallow shooter demonstrations.

Last year Noah started making foam noodle ninja weapons and did very well.

I hope the sense of self reliance they have learned lasts into their adulthood so they never have to be totally dependent on someone else for their livelihood like we are.

I Miss My Oven!

I'm not much of a baker, mostly because I don't like to clean up the mess baking creates, but just before Dave lost his job I was trying to learn how to bake bread. These were my first loaves, and my best, though I baked many more. There is a stove and oven in our 5th wheel but it needs a part, it takes a lot of propane to use and I don't have much counter space, so I've been cooking with one electric burner and a toaster oven for the past 4 months. I really want to bake something! I need the smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies! We went to look at rentals last weekend and put down a deposit on the first one we saw with a good size, clean kitchen! So hopefully by this time next week I'll have a counter full of homemade bread, cookies and cupcakes.

Maybe We're OK.

Wow, there are some messed up people out there! We've started watching daytime talk shows this last month; I know, I know, but we only get 3 channels and we're bored out of our gourds sitting in this tin can day after day! I have to tell you, watching those shows gives you new perspective on your life. First, our uncontrollable circumstances could be so much worse, our families may have their foibles but we love each other and don't hurt one another on purpose, we're all basically healthy and we have a roof over our head so far. Second, though we've made some bad choices for ourselves none of them have been irrevocable and we haven't hurt anyone by them.

There, but for the grace of God, go you or I.

Not Me!

I didn't wait until the last minute to help my son make his "Night at the Museum" costume for AWANA and have to pray for the last coat of spray paint to dry 10 minutes before he got picked up.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Don't Talk to Strangers

Who is this man sitting next to me? He sure is a talker. He looks familiar but the behavior is strange. The man I've been married to for 15 years doesn't talk to strangers! Dave is outgoing on stage when the audience is anonymous, but in person I usually have to elbow him just to get him to smile during social functions. Last night at Grace's Dessert Night he opened his mouth and out spilled information it took me 3 years of marriage to get and more general conversation than I've ever heard him have. I'm the talker in the family and generally even I don't share personal information with people I haven't scrapbooked with, but last night there were no pretenses. I think we are just so starved for personal relationships we want everyone to know the bad stuff right off, our character flaws, personality eccentricities, and faith struggles so we can just skip the get to know you stage and go straight to, you're a little off but I guess there's enough to like about you, friendship. Everyone at Grace just makes us feel so comfortable and we really appreciate you all! I kind of like chatty Dave I hope he sticks around a while.

You Did What!

Asking for help doesn't come naturally to us. I'm a little bit of a control freak (Dave is rolling on the floor laughing hysterically at the "little bit" part) and Dave just doesn't like awkwardness. However, I am close to my mom, she knows how hard things have been for us, and we have had to ask her for help in the last few months. My parents got divorced when I was 8, I am now 38, so needless to say she and my dad haven't really remained close over the last 30 years. I'm not really close to my dad, we haven't lived within 2000 miles of each other in 20 years, though we do keep in touch at holidays and such. So imagine my surprise when my mom calls me this afternoon and says she just called my dad's house and spoke with my stepmother! Apparently she told them we could use some financial help and the sooner the better. Neither of my parents have ever had any money to speak of, (could that be a genetic trait?) but they immediately transferred some money into our checking account and let me know they would be doing so for the next few weeks until we had enough to make rent and deposit on a house. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

It's Always Something.

AWANA Night at the Museum

Tuesday our van broke down as Dave was driving home from work, it's the motor, cringe. Wednesday Dave took the truck to work. We've started attending Grace Fellowship and Wednesday is our activity night at church. We don't get out much not knowing anyone in the area and not having any money, so we really look forward to Wednesday nights. They serve dinner, comfort food, cheap, and then the boys go to AWANA, Katie goes to Current (Jr. High youth group) and Dave and I just hang out. The boys had been working hard to finish their Start Zone pamphlets so they could earn their books and shirts. It was also a theme night and we needed to finish Aaron's costume. The plan had been to do it Tuesday night but you know how that turned out. So Dave was leaving work early and stopping at Home Depot to pick up spray paint, we were going to be cutting it really close. He comes out of the store, the truck won't start, it's the battery, alternator? Sigh, more money we don't have, a sober evening of worry ahead of us, Ugh. I was in tears but not to be beaten! Satan may try to keep me isolated but he will not stand in the way of my children while I have breath. Dave and I got on the phone and threw ourselves (and our children) on the mercy of strangers, church people, but still strangers to us. Faith, I had faith that that God would have the right people answer our call, that my children would be safe with them, that against my protective, controlling instincts this was the right thing to do. Thank you God for Ray and Brenda. The boys received their books and shirts and had a great time, and Katie made a new friend.

Never give in to despair!

Our Situation Sucks.

When Dave got laid off in May our whole life changed. Long story short, we lost our house and are living in our 5th wheel, our credit is in the tank and we feel tired and ashamed. We didn't have a church home in Utah and we felt really alone most of the time, so our first priority after Dave started his new job here was to find a church, we knew we needed to surround ourselves with like minded/spirited people, our faith needed a little jump start. We started attending Grace Fellowship with the intention of keeping our heads down and feeling things out. We have had some really wonderful church homes over the years and a couple of spiritually ho hum experiences. We knew we needed something really wonderful as soon as possible but we were leaving it up to God to provide the right place at the right time. We really felt uplifted our first Sunday at Grace, Pastor Ed spoke directly to us and helped us feel a little less ashamed of our situation. Then Satan threw us some doubt and we knew for sure we were in the right place! God is good. Each week Pastor Ed's message helps us release a little more shame and lets us remember we are more than our circumstances. Thanks God.

A-Maze-ing!

We found this really cool Adventure Maze Park!

They had the traditional corn maze though it was HUGE!

But they also had...

a Bamboo Maze,

a Boulder Rolling Maze,

a Plank Maze,

a Pirate Rope Maze,
a circular Stone Path Maze, a Hay Bale Maze and many more.