Consider it all Joy

The Faith of a Child

2010-05-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

Abby had a dream that Jesus was talking to her (telling her to store up wheat for the Sabbath), so when I tucked her into bed the next evening I told her I hoped she dreamed about Jesus again. She told me it would be really great if she really saw Him and not just dream about it, and then she wanted to know if when He creates the new earth would He be in heaven or on earth with us. When I told her He would be with us she said, "Oh good! So when we see Him we can bow down and then jump up and give Him a hug and kiss!"

God's Glory

2010-04-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

I love this family's heart. Only God can do that in people, make them truly thankful for their child's disabilities.

One of Those Moments

2010-04-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

We have a saying that we often tell the kids: "If I could have any little boy/girl in the whole world, I would still choose you!"

This morning when his Daddy told him that, Ryan said with a smile, "It makes me feel cozy when you say that."

Awww! I didn't want to forget that precious interchange so I dusted off my blog with this quick post!

Abby and the Orthodontist

2010-02-03T14:27:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe it, but my six-year old now has some braces on her teeth. Abby has lots of dental issues to deal with, but I was hoping we could put it off for another year...or ten! Unfortunately, she has a permanent molar that is erupting sideways just enough that it is caught on a baby molar and it is damaging the baby molar which she needs for another five or six years.

We could have pulled the baby tooth and put in a spacer, but we would have had to straighten the permanent molar fairly soon anyway. So we decided it was best to go ahead and straighten it now and try to save her baby tooth.

After one consult with our local orthodontist, I decided to try the dental school at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland. I am so glad we did! It is saving us thousands of dollars (yes, thousands!) and making it possible for us to get her the treatment. She only has three brackets and a spring on her teeth, but without orthodontic insurance, it is still pretty costly. Also, even though there are only three teeth involved, it is enough to be a bit painful for Abby.

She was a trooper during the x-rays, impresssions, and photos during our first visit. And during the visit where they put the braces on, the student orthodontist said, "I was in two surgeries this morning with patients who were sleeping, and neither of them were as still as Abby!" She did fantastic, as usual.

Back when I had braces we didn't have any choice of colors, but now they have about 25 different colored bands to choose from. Abby chose hot pink, of course!

I think now a week later, she has mostly adjusted to the appliance. She has a callous on the inside of her cheek and the initial pain from the spring has dissipated. Hopefully we can get that molar "unstuck" soon. After we get this paid for, she will be having her four baby canines extracted to make room for her permanent incisors that have no place to go right now. That will buy us a couple years until those adult canines come in!

Christmas Creed

2009-12-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

I believe in Jesus Christ and in the beauty of the gospel begun in Bethlehem.

I believe in the one whose spirit glorified a little town; and whose spirit still brings music to persons all over the world, in towns both large and small.

I believe in the one for whom the crowded inn could find no room, and I confess that my heart still sometimes wants to exclude Christ from my life today.

I believe in the one who the rulers of the earth ignored and the proud could never understand; whose life was among common people, whose welcome came from persons of hungry hearts.

I believe in the one who proclaimed the love of God to be invincible.

I believe in the one whose cradle was a mother’s arms, whose modest home in Nazareth had love for its only wealth, who looked at persons and made them see what God’s love saw in them, who by love brought sinners back to purity, and lifted human weakness up to meet the strength of God.

I confess my ever-lasting need of God: The need of forgiveness for our selfishness and greed, the need of new life for empty souls, the need of love for hearts grown cold.

I believe in God who gives us the best of himself. I believe in Jesus, the son of the living God, born in Bethlehem this night, for me and for the world.

- Anonymous

Did You Miss Me At All?

2009-11-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I have let my blog go for so long. It's a combination of several things: I got behind and hated to skip over some posts I wanted to do which meant I didn't post anything, we started school back up in September and we're using a more Mommy/Teacher-intensive curriculum than before, and I have a new hobby that takes up my "spare" time.

But I am biting the bullet and skipping over a bunch of things I wanted to post and going right to the last excuse on my list: my new hobby. I am now a "sweeper." I enter sweepstakes and contests, and I enter a lot of them. Which brings me to the topic of my post: My biggest win so far was a four-night/five-day trip for two to Orlando, Florida, to go see the 2009 Dew Tour Finals. What? I know it doesn't sound like something I'd enter, but the odds were good and my hubby's dad lives near Orlando, so I figured it would be worth trying.

The Omni ChampionsGate Resort
It turned out to be an incredible trip! We flew first class to Orlando, had a car rental which wasn't listed as part of the prize, we stayed at an incredible resort and were given an upgraded room which gave us access to all kinds of things for free at the resort, we had breakfast at the hotel each day, four-day VIP passes to the Dew Tour, a meet and greet with one of the skateboard celebrities (Paul Rodriguez), and $500 cash!

The view from our room which shows one of my new
favorite things...the lazy river.

Another view from our room showing one pool,
jacuzzi, fountain, and golf course.
Once we arrived in Orlando and got our cute little rental car (Mazda 3), we picked up our VIP passes and grabbed some free food from the VIP lounge before heading to our hotel. We were duly impressed with our accomodations! The staff was incredibly friendly and did everything they could to make us comfortable.

We spent the next day relaxing and enjoying the resort, including a delicious breakfast. They had a Par 3 nine-hole golf course that was free, so I played golf for the very first time. I stink at it, but it was still enjoyable and pretty good exercise too.

After golf, we got into our swimsuits and played in the water. The lazy river was so much fun! I was talked into going down the water slide once, and hubby went down a couple of times. Mostly we just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company, which is something we don't get to do a whole lot. After the pool, we explored the resort a little before heading back up to our room to get cleaned up for dinner.

We aren't really into the whole skateboarding and BMX scene, but we decided to go to the Meet and Greet that was set up for us and to watch the Vert BMX finals that evening. We enjoyed the evening and were glad we went, but we were happy when we were able to sell our VIP passes on CraigsList for the remaining two days.

Us and Paul Rodriguez, who doesn't look much like his comedian dad.

Can you believe the height this guy is getting? These people are crazy!
Saturday after breakfast, Eddie went to play golf with his dad while I relaxed at the hotel. In fact, I ended up falling asleep for almost an hour while watching TV. I was fighting a cold, but we bought some Zicam and it did the trick. I had a special lunch and afternoon with a friend I haven't seen in over ten years! Bonnie drove 90 minutes to come visit with me, and we had a nice lunch and great afternoon chatting. After Bonnie left we played another nine holes of golf and went to dinner at the glamorous Waffle House. They have the best waffles and hash browns and our whole meal including dessert was $12!

Sunday we went to church at St. Andrews where R.C. Sproul preaches. They have just moved into their new church building, and it is huge but lovely. We spoke briefly with Dr. Sproul and even had a chance to say hi to Alan Keyes who was in town for a conference.

After church we met Ed's dad and his wife Irma for lunch at Mt. Dora. Irma is Cuban, and we actually ended up eating at a little Cuban restaurant, which was a first for Ed and me. Unfortunately, the golf game pretty much wore Ed's dad out the previous day, so he needed to go home after lunch. Ed and I walked around a park there in Mt. Dora for a few minutes before driving back to the hotel.

After making a stop at the hotel, we decided to drive to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We haven't been before, and it was a fun experience. After dinner we browsed some of the shops and found something to bring the kids home. I'm not much of a shopper and we only made it through a small fraction of the shops before I was ready to leave.

I took this picture just for my Disney-loving sister-in-law.
In case you can't tell, it's a power pole! Cute, huh?
Monday was our last day, but we requested a late check-out so we slept in, had breakfast, relaxed in the jacuzzi, went in the lazy river, went back in the jacuzzi and just generally enjoyed our last few hours at the resort. Finally we packed up, checked out, had lunch, turned in our rental car and made the long journey home.

One of the days maybe I'll remember to look at the lens and not the screen.
It was a totally unexpected vacation, but it was one of the best vacations my hubby and I have ever had. We missed the kids quite a bit, but it was just the break we both needed.

Not Forgotten

2009-09-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

Eight years later it is still fresh in my mind and emotions. My heart picks up the pace and feels like it is rising in my throat every time I see the images. If it is still painful for me after all this time, what must it be like for those who actually lived through the nightmare at ground zero or who lost loved ones? I am praying for them today.

I have not forgotten that America still has enemies in this world who are plotting more evil against us. I thank God we have men and women who are fighting that battle every day. I am praying for them today as well.

Blackberry Picking 101

2009-08-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

1. Locate ripe berries.

2. Carefully pick blackberries.

3. Eat some blackberries.

4. Eat some more blackberries.

5. Finally accumulate enough berries to bring home.

6. Wash hands and vainly try to remove the blackberry stains.

7. Wash and dry berries.

8. Make something yummy, in this case Blackberry Dumplings!

Bug Lover

2009-08-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

Abigail loves bugs. She loves to watch them, play with them, and study them. Thus far she doesn't show much fear of any kind of bug, which is a blessing for me since I now have two kids to kill spiders for me!

On this particular morning, she ran outside in her jammies to investigate the creature she saw on the screen. I wasn't sure what kind of bug it was, but Daddy said it was ~~bait~~ a mayfly.

Local Townhall

2009-08-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Our representative Congressman David Wu held a townhall in the little town right next to ours, so I thought I'd take the kids and see if I would get the opportunity to speak to him about my concerns. Not surprisingly, that didn't happen. Though we have a high school with a large gymnasium and several other venues he could have chosen that would have given many more people the ability to participate, there was only seating for 70 people inside the room where the townhall was held.

I'm still glad I went. Both kids were interested in the whole thing, and Ryan enjoyed reading all the signs and asking about what the meant. We had an impromptu civics and history lesson right there in the parking lot, and they got to see the democratic process at work. We didn't stay too long once we realized we wouldn't get in, but while we were there, it was pretty peaceful and respectful. It was frustrating to see (and hear) union employees who had their professionally made signs and who were bussed in from who knows where...but I digress.

The kids behaved very well and were patient with me as I lingered to listen to people talk and when I took the time to fill out a comment card, so afterward I surprised them and treated them to an ice cream cone at McDonald's. We ate ice cream and discussed the Constitution. I had a great time, and moments like those are what keeps me going with homeschooling, reminding me what a gift it is to be able to be there when the light bulb goes on.

Snail Mail

2009-08-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

I got a package in the mail today. Check out the postmark on it!

I had written this off over a year ago and had completely forgotten about it. I pointed out the date to my mail carrier...she apologized.

Blogging Memories

2009-08-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

Everytime I feel overwhelmed with all the tasks at hand and discouraged by the lack of time I can devote to my blog or other "me" things, I am tempted to give up blogging. But then I look back over the past years' posts (I've been at it for four years now), and I'm so glad I didn't quit. I was looking up a date for something on Abby's old blog this morning and ran across this little gem. I had completely forgotten about the event, but it was such a sweet moment and I am so happy I took the time to do a post about it.

I wish there was an easy way to turn my blogs into a book because that would be incredible! But for now, I'll just keep plodding along with my blogs and hopefully catching those special moments that will be forgotten if I don't write it out.

Have You Cried?

2009-08-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Chris Matthews once said, "You’re not an American if you don’t cry when you hear Obama speak." At first I was insulted because I consider myself to be very patriotic had never once felt the urge to cry upon hearing Obama, but since the inaugeration and his first 200 days in office, I've been crying just about every time President Obama opens his mouth or signs some new policy of his, so I guess I have to let that offense go.

First Job

2009-08-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

Some friends of ours from church live just a few doors down, and last month they asked Ryan to water their plants while they went away for the weekend. He was so excited to have his first job!

He had a great time and felt very grown up doing his job each day, and except for a few pointers I had to give him, he did a very nice job. Then he was overjoyed by their more than generous payment of $10!

A Survivor

2009-08-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

African Violets must be a sturdy breed of plant because I can't seem to kill them, at least not in the last couple of years. I am not usually very good with houseplants, but when we moved to our new house we have a window that plants seem to like. My favorite violet is about nine years old, and when a friend gave me another one back in March, I decided I should transplant my old one into a bigger pot and put the new one in the old pot.

Much to my dismay, while I was removing the old plant, I accidentally snapped off the entire root system leaving only a small stump! I thought for sure I had killed it, but I decided to stick it in the soil and see what happened. It wilted and stayed that way for about a month, but then it slowly began to perk up a bit!

Now, just four months later, my plant is absolutely covered in blossoms! They have lasted for over a month now, and it is just beautiful. I'm surprised by how happy this little plant makes me!

Scene from Up

2009-08-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

Darth Ryan

2009-08-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

All last week when the weather was incredibly hot (100+), this is what my son insisted on wearing! It's not just black pants and shirt, mind you, these are sweats! Now, we have air conditioning, but there is just something wrong about wearing black sweats when it's so hot outside. (I made him change whenever we did venture outdoors, by the way.)

Cooling Off

2009-07-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

It is currently 100 degrees, and that is very hot for our part of the country! We are mostly staying indoors, but the kids wanted to try splashing for a while to help them cool off.

I think they have long since outgrown this wading pool, but it still holds water so I can't bring myself to buy a new and bigger one yet.

Blueberries

2009-07-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

We missed berry picking last summer and we missed strawberries again this year (Oregon's strawberry season is only about two weeks long!), but I was not going to miss blueberries! Blueberries are among my kids' favorite berries, and they are the easiest ones to pick by far. I was surprised how well the kids did today too. They have really gotten better in the last two years. We had no complaining about the heat and they actually picked most of the time instead of playing!

We only picked for an hour this morning and got about six pounds. We came home, washed and dried them, then flash froze them before putting them into a gallon ziplock plastic bag for later.

I think we will go back later this week or maybe next and pick some more for jam and/or a pie as well as more for the freezer. I love having them on hand in the middle of winter to scoop out and put in muffins or pancakes or whatever might be enhanced by some blueberries!

Six-Year Checkup

2009-07-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to get Abigail into the University of Washington's fetal alcohol clinic, and we were recently accepted. However, we were told the wait for the initial assesment is five months to a year. Not the news we were wanting to hear. They did recommend a neurdevelopmental clinic at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) right here in Portland though.

So I made an appointment with our pediatrician to get Abby's six-year well-child exam and to discuss some things with him. Abby loves our pediatrician, Dr. Dean Moshofsky, and is always excited to go see him. We love him too. He never makes us feel rushed, he listens, and best of all, he is a believer too. She was an excellent patient as usual and the exam when quickly. She is 92 percentile in height and 74 in weight!

Dr. Moshofsky agreed that OHSU has a great program and said he will start the referral process, which apparently is a bit onerous. We will hopefully be able to get in there sometime this fall.

Picking Up the Prize

2009-07-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

My husband has been voicing his desire to go to the airshow this year, but I always hate to pay the $50 that it costs for our family to get in, not to mention it's always so hot that it seems like you can fry an egg on the tarmac. So the last time he mentioned going, I told him if he could win tickets then I would be happy to go!

He took me at my word and won tickets last Thursday! He also won a DVD, Tillamook ice cream and Crater Lake Root Beer. We went to pick up the prize at the radio station on Friday, and the kids thought it was kind of neat to see the recording booths and all the controls.

As a bonus, Abby found .45 in the cushions of the chair she sat down in momentarily! She is quite the treasure finder.

Through Abby's Eyes

2009-07-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

Abby gets a terrific kick out of living, so whatever we do or wherever we go she is always enthusiastic about it! She is such a joy and it's so fun to see life through her eyes (which I am working on doing more and more).

She loved the Oregon Caves and hiking the trails there. Ryan is kind of a plodder and complains along the way that he's getting tired or hungry or whatever, but Abby just goes and goes...until she hits a wall, and then she's done. She doesn't give any warning really, she just all of the sudden can't go any further and starts to cry and become almost hysterical. It's kind of comical now that we've seen it and know how to handle it better. Anyway, she did pretty well on our hike until the very end when she hit her wall, but thankfully we were almost done and seeing the van got her over the hump and stopped the meltdown.

The Great Cats tour was right up Abby's alley. She adores animals, and seeing these fantastic wild cats so close was very exciting for her. The tour was a little long, even for her, but she only mentioned once that she was tired of standing. I could tell she was dying to get right up to the cage and pet one of those big kitties! Thankfully she was able to control that impulse, and we left the compound with all fingers and hands intact!

Not all of the cages had this retaining fence to keep you away from the cage. Some just had a blue spray-painted line on the ground, and I was a little nervous about how well Abby would stay back and kept a close eye on her.
She was awed by the Redwoods and the elk and the ferns and the creek that ran beside our campsite. She made friends with the Stellers Jays and the chipmunks and couldn't keep her hands off the banana slugs!

She became attached to "Sammy" a Stellars Jay we saw at the Ladybird Johnson Grove, and every jay she saw thereafter she was sure was Sammy. At one point the jay was getting perilously close to stealing our dinner right off the grill and Daddy was chucking things at it to shoo it away. When the jay left for a time, she became almost hysterical that her "baby boy" was gone and she'd never see him again!

Meet Jimmy, the banana slug, who was about six inches long!

Abby loves her brother so much and is always telling him so, much to his chagrin. She can play by herself if she has to, but she would much rather play with Ryan. They spent lots of time having adventures in the bushes during the times we were at our campsite.

The beach, well, she loves that too! She loves tidepooling and is excellent at finding creatures the rest of us miss, she loves the feel of the sand and the water, she loves digging up sand crabs and digging trenches, she loves running through the waves and splashing about.

I think we found an excellent career path for Abigail. She would make an excellent Ranger! She loves the outdoors and learning about wildlife and plants, she isn't afraid of the bugs and slugs and animals, and she loves people and interacting with them. Watching the Rangers give their talks and lead us on hikes, I could totally see Abby doing that one day. We'll see what the Lord has in mind for her, but I am tucking away that small insight for some day in the future.

On one of our first hikes the ranger pointed out the oxalis growing prolifically on the forest floor and encouraged everyone to try tasting it. Once Abby found out it was edible, we couldn't keep her from chewing on the stuff for the rest of our time in the redwoods! Every time we turned around she had a sprig of it sticking out of her mouth.

We definitely have issues with Abby regarding her impulsivity and short attention span and other issues due to her FASD, but we are so thankful that she is part of our family. She brings a vibrancy and joy to our lives that we would sorely be missing without her!

Ryan's Perspective

2009-07-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I kind of miss having a separate blog for each of the children, so I decided to do an individual post for each of them about our trip to the Redwoods. They are two completely different personalities and temperaments, and they each approach life from opposite ends of the spectrum.

Ryan is not really a nature lover. Though he loves camping and the adventure of it, he doesn't have the appreciation for the wildlife and plantlife that the rest of us do. Still he does like seeing new things and playing outdoors, and he was so excited for our trip which we have been planning for a year!

Ryan enjoyed the cave tour, but he wasn't too enthused about hiking the trail to the top of the mountain until we told him he would get a button for completing it. He's a bit competitive, that boy.

He tolerated our hike through Ladybird Johnson Grove, but mostly because we had told him that they filmed Return of the Jedi in the Redwood forest. So every stick he found was a light saber (which is fairly typical for him anyway) and he fought his way through the forest. He gathered new light sabers at the beach and on each hike we took, building up quite a collection by the end of our stay.

The highlight of the vacation for Ryan was the day at the beach. We were celebrating Ryan's Day (anniversary of when we finalized his adoption) during our camping trip, and he asked to spend the day at the beach. He adores the beach, and he had a blast playing in the water and sand, digging and rolling around to his heart's content.

The only negative to his day at the beach was one that made Mommy's knees shake. I had just returned from getting snacks from the van when my hubby pointed to a very large log beached on the shore and informed me that Ryan had been hit by it when it was floating in the waves. My husband couldn't even lift it because it was so heavy! He seriously could have been killed by that log rolling over him, so we are so grateful that all he received were a couple of scratches. It was after the fact, but still my knees started shaking just thinking about how badly he could have been hurt.

Ryan was a brave boy (not a typical trait for him!) and didn't make a big deal out of his injury, but he was still shook up enough that he decided to take a break from the surf for a while and play in the sand a bit.

Ryan desperately wanted to find a friend at the campground, but since we were not at the site very often and we had an awesome site with lots of privacy, he never did get to meet any little boys to play with. Thankfully, he and his sister got along quite well most of the time and enjoyed exploring and playing together.

Camping at Prairie Creek

2009-07-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

We took almost 600 pictures on our recent trip, so even though there are a lot of pictures in this post, believe me when I say it was hard to narrow it down even this much!

We spent almost no time at our campsite this camping trip (good thing too since the mosquitoes were thick!) since we were either hiking or at the beach or going to campfire talks or fishing or just driving around exploring the area. We about walked our kids' feet off, I think. The first big hike we did was the Ladybird Johnson Grove, which was about 2.5 miles roundtrip. We went on a ranger-guided hike though so it took much longer than it normally would have, but we learned so much from Ranger Lowell that I was glad we decided to do that.

The next day we spent at the beach, which was freezing cold and foggy for the first few hours. Finally, between 1:30 and 2:00 the fog lifted and we saw what a gorgeous beach we were on! We spent a short amount of time tidepooling. We wanted to do more, but we missed low tide and didn't get to do too much before we were getting pushed ashore by the incoming water.

Both kids spent hours in the water despite how cold it was. Even when the fog lifted and the sun came out, the temperature was still relatively cool. They wanted Mom and Dad to join them, but there was no way I was going to get into that water! I enjoyed the day from the comfort of my blanket on the beach, reading a book or snapping pictures of the kids at play.

After the beach we drove around a little bit and did a couple of geocaches before going back to our campsite to have showers and make dinner. The next morning Daddy worked with the kids on some of their Junior Ranger projects while I got breakfast. Then we headed out to a freshwater lagoon for what we hoped would be a day of fishing. Unfortunately, the lagoon wasn't fishing well and hubby discovered his large reel for surf fishing managed to get broken somewhere during our trip so fishing the ocean was out.

We let the kids play a bit more at the beach and then went to the visitor's center to have the kids turn in the work they did to get their Junior Ranger badges. They promised to take care of nature and had their books checked, turned in the bag of trash they had picked up and then got their new patches and buttons!

Next we decided to drive around a little and see some of the sights. We did some more geocaching and then ended up at the Trees of Mystery where the kids were delighted to see Paul Bunyan and his sidekick Babe!

Our last full day in the redwoods was spent hiking Prairie Creek and the surrounding trails near the campground. The kids did their Junior Ranger program in the morning, then we had lunch, and then went on a ranger-guided hike in the early afternoon. It was my favorite hike of the trip! The trees are just spectacularly big and the forest is so quiet and peaceful (due in part to lack of birds which is due to lack of insects in the Redwoods).

The ranger took us as far as Big Tree, and then after a snack and short rest, we hiked back to the campground via another trail. I am disappointed in the pictures we took during our hikes. I guess I didn't realize how little light there really is in there, and most of our pictures are slightly blurry.

While I began packing up our camping gear the next morning, Daddy took the kids to the morning Junior Ranger program. The previous day's ranger was not the friendliest and not very good with kids, but my husband said this day's ranger made up for it! She was fantastic with the kids, and they had a great time learning about the life cycle of a Redwood.

After the program, we quickly finished packing up our gear and began our long drive home. Hubby had talked to a ranger who recommended taking a side road home through the Jedediah Smith Redwoods, and I'm so glad we did. It was so worth the extra time seeing more of the old growth Redwoods and driving right next to them, sometimes so close only one car can fit at a time.

We didn't get home till after 10:00 that evening, but we all agreed that our first long camping trip went very well and we will definitely be doing it again next year. We are already trying to decide where to go next!

Redwoods-The Facts

2009-07-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that these huge trees begin life with such a small way. This redwood cone contains approximately 10,000 redwood seeds. Simply amazing! However, only about one out of a million of the seeds is successful in becoming a tree. The most common way for a redwood to reproduce is by cloning itself. When a trees becomes stressed due to fire or wind damage, it will clone itself, sending up new shoots. Sometimes it will send up one and sometimes it will send up dozens!

The scientific name is sequoia sempervirens which means ever living. These trees truly do whatever it takes to keep living. They can be burned out shells and still survive.

Believe it or not, this tree is still fully alive and growing
despite being completely burned out from a fire long ago.
The trees are resistant to fungus and insects and does not easily rot due to the high level of tannic acid it contains. Walking through the forest we would see hemlock and tanoak trees covered in moss and other fungus, but the redwood trees' bark was completely pristine.

The tallest trees reach a height of 379 feet, and the oldest known tree is approximately 2,200 years old! This tree below is 1,500 years old and has a diameter of over 23 feet. At one time it was the tallest tree in the world, but some time ago it got it's top blown off, though it's still very impressive.

Great Cats World Park

2009-07-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning after breakfast, we did a few geocaches in Grants Pass. Let's just say, they have one of the oddest booster clubs I have ever heard of called The Cavemen.

Once we had done a couple caches we got in the van and headed toward the Redwoods, but we wanted to make one more stop in Oregon first. A friend had told me about the Great Cats World Park, and I wanted to see it for myself. We weren't too impressed when we first pulled up and walked around, but once the tour began, we really enjoyed it!

The man who owns the park has been training and working with large cats for about 30 years, and he started up this park about four years ago. The best thing about it is that you can stand within two or three feet of the cats! As they do the tour they educate you about the different large cats and they also entertain you with some of the things they have been taught to do. The owner even got into several of the cages to work with the cats, and that was truly impressive to see him hugging and scratching these huge and dangerous animals.

The tour was two hours long, which I did not expect. It's a small compound, but they give you a great show the whole time. They have 18 different species of cats, and many of them are used in movies and in wildlife photography.

I love seeing my kids holding hands, getting along beautifully. It doesn't
happen as often as I like, but I still manage to catch it from time to time.

I would recommend anyone traveling in this part of Oregon to take a couple of hours and go take the tour, especially if you like wild cats!

Oregon Caves

2009-07-18T17:49:00.001-07:00

This year we have really tried to explore parts of Oregon that we haven't seen before, and we've done a pretty good job, I think. We took a camping trip in May to central Oregon to see the John Day Fossil Beds, and then another one in June to see the fossil bed unit we missed the first time (blog post will be forthcoming...really, it will!). Then last weekend we went to the Oregon Caves and the Great Cats World Park in southern Oregon.

We had intended to leave first thing Saturday morning for our trip, but at the last minute Friday evening we decided to see if we could get the same Priceline deal for our hotel for one more night. When it was confirmed, we quickly finished packing up the van and arrived in Grants Pass late Friday evening. It turned out to be a great idea, and Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast at the hotel and made the 45-minute drive to the Oregon Caves.

I have to say, the rangers at this National Park have to be the friendliest rangers we have ever seen! I was joking with hubby about them being Stepford Rangers, but they went above and beyond the call the day we were there. We didn't know it at the time, but it turned out that they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Oregon Caves National Monument this weekend. I think they were hoping for a lot more people than actually showed up. The governor was there, and they had free ice cream and cookies!

We signed up for our guided tour of the caves, and while we waited, we listened to a talk about ravens. The ranger had great stories to tell and we learned a lot about corvids: ravens, crows, jays and magpies, which are all related.

The caves were very interesting, albeit not incredibly spectacular. It was about a 90-minute tour through the caves, and our ranger, though very friendly, had a very unique metaphysical slant to her spiel. Touchy-feely sentiments aside, it was an educational tour, and we all enjoyed seeing the formations.

After the cave tour we decided we'd better feed the kids before doing any more hiking. We headed back down the mountain and found out we hadn't missed the free ice cream and cookies. Plus Governor Kulongowski was glad-handing, so the kids got their picture taken with him. That makes the second time Ryan has met the governor! We don't care for his politics, but he sincerely seems like one friendly guy. The ice cream serving turned out to be the size of a dixie cup, so we ate lunch at the cafe there at the park (Tip: Don't eat at the cafe there at the park if you can avoid it.) before heading to the top of the mountain to see what was above all those caverns in the hillside below.

Ryan kind of had a bad attitude about doing more hiking, but once we told him he could get a badge for finishing the hike, he became very enthusiastic about it! There's nothing like a goal or a reward to get him motivated, that's for sure. The hike was lovely, and we got a breathtaking view of the Illinois Valley once we got to the summit.

It had been a long day, but after our hike we went back to the visitor center to finish up some tasks so the kids could get their Junior Ranger badges and the buttons for doing the hikes. The National Park system has a very nice Junior Ranger program, and if you have elementary-age children, you should definitely check it out when you visit any participating National Park!

We were pretty worn out after our long day of exploring, so just as the park was closing we headed back to our hotel room. The kids were dying to get into the pool, so we quickly changed into our swimsuits and went down to play in the pool for a while before bedtime. It was a nice end to a very pleasant day!

Independence Day

2009-07-05T15:57:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely evening this year for the 4th of July. It wasn't too hot nor too chilly (yes, sometimes it's actually chilly on the 4th here!), and the skies were clear. We opted to stay home and do fireworks instead of driving to see a big show, especially since some of the big ones were cancelled this year anyway due to budget constraints.

While we waited for the skies to get dark enough for fireworks (usually about 10:00pm), we had some family time in the backyard. We played a game of croquet, and the kids practiced their cartwheels.

We had airplane rides until Mommy was too dizzy to continue. The kids had races and practiced their bridges and somersaults.

We waited and waited. We made silly faces and were just generally acting goofy waiting for it to finally get dark...or at least dark enough to enjoy the fireworks.

Finally it was dusk. We had our fireworks all laid out and ready, and Daddy began his shows. It was short and sweet and even included some drama when a firework tipped over and caught the lawn on fire! But Ryan was ready with a bucket of water and quickly quenched the sparks.

The charred remains the next morning were quickly picked up and discarded, and the lawn doesn't look took badly damaged. It was a fun day!

x

What Happened to June?

2009-07-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am blown away by how fast this year is flying by. We have so busy with guests, parties, baseball, camping, VBS, and other things that June simply evaportated! So in keeping with my last few months' posts, I am going back and posting all of our June activities and putting a list of them here. I hope to finish our camping trip post today too, but I am not sure that will happen.

End of the Season
BFF
Outing with Daddy
They're Off!

Clarno Unit Camping

2009-06-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time exploring the fossil beds in May, that we decided to go back again and camp at the Clarno Unit this time so we can see parts of the National Monument that we didn't get to last visit.

On our drive there we passed hundreds of these huge windmills. I have never seen such big ones before, and when we rolled down the window to take the picture, we could actually hear the arms moving through the air!

We had a very nice site at the almost-abandoned campground. Ryan got right to work destroying a tree stump (ah, boys!) while Abby explored the local flora and fauna.

We took it easy the first afternoon, just settled into our campsite, made some Ziplock ice cream, stocked up on firewood, and explored the meadow and woods and campground.

Ryan was so excited because he found a knife while he was playing in the meadow! We decided he was old enough and responsible enough to keep and use it, and he spent quite a bit of time whittling.

Right after breakfast the first morning, we headed to Wheeler High School in hopes of being able to dig in their fossil bed. The weather was a bit drizzly, and we weren't sure we'd be able to dig or not.

However, when we arrived, we found the paleontologist was there, and she invited to come up by the dig. Because of the damp conditions, we weren't allowed to go into the dig itself, but we hunted for fossils on the hillside. The kids found fossils right away and were so excited.

The paleontologist brought a chunk of rock out of the dig and over to a tarp for us. She showed us how to break away the layers to expose the fossils. But before we could really get going, the rain picked up and she had to cover the dig and we had to leave. However, she was kind enough to give us several big chunks to take home, and the kids had a bucketful of fossils they had found on the hillside.

Since our digging was cut short and it was raining, we decided to tour the Wheeler Courthouse and hope the rain would let up. It was a beautiful old building, and we all enjoyed the tour, which included seeing the jail!

It was about lunch time, so we headed out to some hiking trails and had our lunch by some gorgeous rock formations. The hikes here were really neat because if you looked carefully, you could find fossils embedded in the rocks along the trail.

We tried to keep the hikes shorter than our last camping trip, and I think it was a good choice. The kids were happier with the shorter hikes, though they were still fairly strenuous since they went right up the side of the hill.

It was really neat to see this fossilized tree trunk just sticking out the side of the hill! It was just one of many fossils we saw on the trails.

On our way back to the campground, we did a couple of geocaches. One of them gave us an incredible view of the Clarno Valley.

The next day we explored the town of Wheeler a little bit more. We visited the museum and really enjoyed the schoolhouse portion. We ate our lunch at the picnic table by the schoolhouse before heading back to our campground.

When we got back to our campground we were dismayed to find that it was no longer quiet and empty. Instead a large boy scout troop had arrived, and we were sure it was going to be a long night. Ryan and Abby had fun army crawling through the meadow in order to sneak up on the boys as they were playing football.

Before long Ryan was dying to go play with the scouts. I was hesitant because they were so much older than he, but Daddy thought it would be okay so we told him he could to play. The scout leader graciously allowed him to join in (after getting our permission), and the boys completely altered their game just so Ryan could play.

I just can't tell you how incredible they all were with him! They included him and encouraged him and they were very gentle with him and each other while he was playing. After 20 minutes or so our dinner was ready and Ryan had to leave the game, which then got a lot rougher!

Abby wanted to play too, but she had to content herself with watching from the grass.

That evening I was sorry I had misjudged the scouts so much. At 9:00 it got quiet and we didn't hear a peep from them the whole evening! We found out the next day that the scout leader had made a deal with them that if they would settle down when they were told that he would allow them play football beforehand (which is apparently against the rules for the scouts these days). They were true to their promise, and we were very impressed!

The next morning we had to pack up and go home, but as we were having breakfast the scout leader came over to our camp and surprised each of the kids with a gift. Ryan was given a necklace with a Webelos medallion and they gave Abby a handmade cap, which she looked adorable in. It was such a thoughtful gesture, and we told them how impressed we were with the boys. It was a great way to end our camping trip!

They're Off!

2009-06-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

Abby has been asking for quite some time for us to take the training wheels off of her bike, but I have been putting her off. Well, her training wheels were starting to be more of a hindrance than a help recently, mostly because she has tweaked them so badly from all of her falls. So with trepidation last Sunday, I took them off.

After about 20 minutes of falling and frustration, I told her I thought that was enough for today. She looked at me with sad eyes and said, "It just didn't turn out like I imagined it." Poor baby. I gave her a hug and encouraged her as best I could. The next day we went out again, and she did MUCH better! She wasn't having much trouble just pedaling, but getting started was the biggest hurdle.

Well, after a few more days of practice, she is doing great. She is still a bit unsteady, but she's got it. She has had many bruises and scrapes already, and I hope and pray we can keep it the injuries minor.

End of the Season

2009-06-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

The assistant coach pointing out to Ryan that he
hit the ball all the way into the outfield!
Ryan's Little League season ended with a wimper last week. His last game got canceled due rain, and we were all disappointed about that. But he had a great time, learned a lot, and made huge progress in his skills this year!

In fact, as the manager was giving out the trophies at the end-of-season party, this is what he said about Ryan: "At the beginning of the season, this boy used to run screaming when the ball came to him, but he turned out to be one of the best hitters on the team! Good job, Ryan!"

The team's party was at our local bowling alley, and Ryan bowled his best game ever. Just check out that score!

Now, we have Daddy's softball team to root for during the summer before Ryan plays fall ball again in September. Apparently we've become a baseball/softball playing family when I wasn't looking!

A Brief Lull

2009-06-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, I don't really know how or why, but we have been incredibly busy the last several weeks (actually months). I can't seem to catch my breath from one thing before I'm on to the next thing, but today has been nice and relaxing. We got to sleep in a little bit before heading to church, and then we had a leisurely lunch afterwards. We did some work on the kids' bikes, raising seats and handlebars, pumping up tires, and taking off Abby's training wheels (look out Urgent Care!). We worked with Abby for a while learning to ride sans training wheels before coming in to just relax the rest of the day.

Ryan has a special "half sleepover" birthday party tonight (not spening the night, but staying up late playing video games), but the family is picking him up and dropping him back off this evening, so we have no commitments for the rest of the day! It feels great!

I have said this before, but I am again contemplating giving up my blog. I love to look back over it and see how my kids have grown and read about things I have totally forgotten about, but it's starting to feel like an added stress in my life to keep it updated (which I obviously am not doing very well). Maybe now that Ryan's baseball season is over I will feel differently, but it just seems like I am not able to do everything I want to do and my blog is one of the things that slips through the cracks.

Until I decide for certain though, I think I'll use some of my leisure time this afternoon to catch up on some blog posts I've been wanting to do.

Updated: Day One Camping, Day Two Camping, The Hobbit, Impromptu Zoo, Warm Days

Outing with Daddy

2009-06-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

It's been almost two years since the last time I was able to visit with my best friend Becky, and it's been six years since she's been able to visit us in Oregon. She came last week and stayed for almost a week. She and I visited the Rose Garden, then we all went to Mt. St. Helens for a day (I forgot my camera and am hoping she will send me the pictures she took), but the rest of the time was mostly spent at home just visiting and such.

However, my hubby planned to take one whole day off from work and take the kids to the zoo so Becky and I could have some more time to ourselves! So on Tuesday I packed the three of them a lunch, and off they headed to the zoo.

It wasn't long after Becky and I had eaten a late breakfast when we got a call from him asking me to look online to see what in the world was going on at the zoo. The line was ludicrously long, and he was debating whether to stay or not. Turned out it was $2 Tuesday, and everybody and his brother decided to take advantage of it! Thankfully, we have an annual pass and he didn't have to wait in that long line, which tipped the decision in the favor of staying.

I'm told that except for a grouchy little boy, they had a wonderful day. They took the zoo train over to the Rose Garden and had lunch there. They played at the big park near the Rose Garden, and then caught the train back to the zoo again.

It was a wonderful treat to have had two days of uninterrupted visiting and relaxing, and I'm grateful to my hubby for giving those days to me!

BFF

2009-06-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

This fall it will be 29 years since God in His sovereignty plucked this scared little girl out of the public school system and graciously filled a painfully empty desk at a local Christian school. As a clueless 14-year-old, I had no idea that the somewhat hostile and cold demeanor of the girl sitting in the seat next to me was due to the recent crushing heartache of losing her best friend to a drunk driver. Her friend happened to be the former occupant of my desk, in fact, of most of the desks I now sat in, as well as the books I carried and even the Bible I was given.

But God...don't you love those two words? But God in His grace and mercy brought us together and has kept our friendship throughout the years. Becky, I thank God for you and for your faithfulness to me. Thank you for driving all the way up here to visit me and my family. I truly enjoyed my time with you!

My sweet husband watched the kids on Saturday while
Becky was here so she and I could have a day to ourselves.
We went to the Rose Garden, out to lunch, and had a
wonderfully relaxing day of visiting.

Warm Days

2009-05-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

The rain has finally stopped and the temperature has risen enough for the kids to be able to get outside and play. It's even warm enough to play in the water, which Ryan has been begging to do for weeks now!

Impromptu Zoo

2009-05-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

Daddy called late yesterday morning to see if we wanted to pick him up from work early and head to the zoo. It was a beautiful day, and he was suffering from Spring Fever, apparently. Since we homeschool, plans are pretty flexible (if Mommy is) and we're able to do things spur of the moment.

We have missed the Lorakeets the last couple times to the zoo, so we went there first thing this trip. They weren't selling nectar because they said the birds weren't hungry but that there were lots of cups of it left behind and we could feel free to try to feed them with the leftover cups. It turned out to be one of the best experiences we had with the birds! Indeed most of the birds weren't coming for the nectar, but we were able to coax several of them down for us, and they stayed and ate several cupsful that we had.

Central Oregon Camping 2

2009-05-21T19:28:00.000-07:00

We had a warmer night for our second night of camping, which made for a much happier Mommy! After breakfast and cleanup, we drove towards the next unit of the John Day Fossil Beds, The Painted Hills.

First we stopped to do a couple of quick geocaches and to let Abby pick up some rocks to keep before we got inside the National Monument and she wasn't able to do that.

I've lived in Oregon for 10 years now, and I never even knew these gorgeous hills existed!

We kept our hikes much short and fewer on our second day, mostly to keep our little boy happy. He had a much better attitude the second day though and seemed to enjoy himself much more. Abby was dragging a little bit, probably due to the heat and wear and tear of the previous day.

We found a nice place to have a picnic lunch, but a church bus unloaded at the same time so we didn't get a chance to get any of the tables before they were all gone. So we made our lunch and ate it in the car on the way to our next hike. It was a fairly hot day and there is no shade to be found on the Painted Hills, but everyone agreed the hot walk was worth every minute!

Again, we took many pictures that it's hard to keep from posting too many, but since it's my blog and I love seeing my kids, I'll just go ahead and post some more anyway.

Abby resting in the only spot of shade to be found...smart girlie!
Next we drove to the Painted Cove Trail to look at some hills that were very strange and different from what we had been seeing thus far.

These hills looked like what I imagine the surface of the moon would look like. Absolutely nothing can grow on these hills, and we read that when it rains, they actually appear to be different colors (as with all the painted hills) due to the way they absorb and refract the light.

Happy Campers!

Our last short walk of the day was to see this big hill which is just one big fossil dump. They have pulled thousands of fossils off of this hill, and continue to find more all the time. It was so tempting to hop the fence and go looking for ourselves, but of course that isn't allowed.

This was Ryan's favorite thing of the whole day, Red Hill. It was one of the pretty hills we saw on our drive back to our campsite. We came back earlier than yesterday so the kids could spend some time around the camp playing and exploring.

Abby built her very own log cabin and is doing her Vanna White pose for me.

Abby found this bird's nest and just had to take it home (it was abandoned). It now sits in our ever-growing nature corner at home.

We finished off the day with S'mores...at least Abby did. I only ate the chocolate, Daddy only ate the toasted marshmallow, and Ryan ate what we call "Smoes" (from the movie Toy Story), just graham crackers sandwiching a chocolate bar and not toasted. Each to his own, I guess!

I had to get a picture of the sign that greeted us when we arrived warning about bears. This is the first time we've camped in bear country, and it was a little unnerving. We tried to cover the sign before Ryan saw it, but it was too late (man, that kid can read fast!). Thankfully, we were able to allay his fears. We noticed a barbed wire fence completely surrounding the campground as well as several cattle guards (don't know if they keep bears out or not, but it made him feel better). Thankfully, the most dangerous wild life we saw were a couple of pronghorn antelope who took off at the first sight of us.

Our final night was just the perfect temperature for camping, and in the morning we ate breakfast, packed up camp, and made the long journey home. We had a fantastic time! In fact, we've decided to come back next month to the third unit that we didn't get a chance to see this trip.

Central Oregon Camping

2009-05-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

We took our first family camping trip of the season last weekend, and it certainly wasn't boring, though we did see the offramp to go there.

Let's just say it started out with a bang. We stopped for a bathroom break at a gas station on the top of Mt. Hood and someone backed into our van.

No one was hurt (though Abby was pretty shaken up) thankfully, and the exchange of information went well and except for a terrible crunching and scraping noise when opening and closing the passenger-side door, we were still able to safely drive our van.

Aside from our small accident, this camping trip was our best so far! After leaving the gas station, we continued to drive several hours to the John Day Fossil Beds. We got to our free campground in plenty of time to get camp set up, cut up some firewood, and get dinner going before dark. We were almost completely alone at the campground, which was wonderful! The nearest campers were two sites away and though there was someone setting up camp each evening, they always left first thing in the morning.

After a frigid night (note to self: always bring the heater if you even remotely think you might need it!), we awoke, made breakfast and prepared for a day at the fossil beds.

Our first day was spent exploring the museum at the Sheeprock Unit. The scenery was incredible with tons of exposed strata, wildflowers, and small wildlife to see. Though many (dare I say most?) people who come through this area see Darwinian evolution at work, all I could see was a God who is more powerful and creative than I can possibly imagine.

We first went to the museum that houses the Thomas Condon Palentology Center. It was interesting to note that Thomas Condon was a Protestant minister who came out west to spread the gospel. He then was shown the fossil beds and began excavating them and sending the fossils back East, which created quite a lot of excitement among the scientists of the time.

Sadly, he chose to believe in evolution as God's method of working rather than the teaching of the Bible which says God made the animals after their own kind. While we saw hundreds of fossil specimens, I found it of particular importance (and pointed out to our children) that every single fossil was the same or incredibly similar to the species we currently have on our planet. There wasn't one transitional form among the thousands that have been found.

After leaving the palentology center, we drove just down the road to visit Thomas Condon's home which is now a museum which house the history of the people of the area during this time. We had a nice picnic lunch there on the grounds. The first picture is of his homestead cabin and the second is of the house he built later. Quite a difference, eh?

After lunch we visited the sheep barns and orchards and took a walk down to the John Day River. Then we decided to do some more hiking in the surrounding hills. It was beautiful, though a little warm for us Western Oregonians.

Ryan was rather grumpy due to the heat and all the walking we were doing, but the rest of us had a grand time! Abby thought it was a great hardship that she wasn't allowed to keep any of the rocks she kept finding everywhere as it's against the law to remove them.

We took hundreds of pictures, and I had a hard time narrowing them down for this blog post.

We usually incorporate some geocaching into our camping, and we did so this time too. Our last hike was actually to find the cache of a multi-cache we had been doing all day, and it gave us quite a view.

Finally we were out of time and energy and so we drove back to our campground for some dinner and rest. Stayed tuned for the day two post...

The Hobbit

2009-05-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

Our homeschool group got a great discount on the Northwest Children's Theatre production of the Hobbit, and since Ryan has just finished reading The Hobbit, I decided it would be a fun thing to go see.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the theater,
so we did our obligatory pose outside before going in.
I wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to be fabulous! They didn't have many props or much room on the small stage, but they did wonders with what they had to work with. It didn't hurt that we had front row center seats (literally) and had to move our feet out of the way for the actors when they came off the stage for parts of the performance. It was great to be so close and feel like we were part of the action! Both kids loved the show, and Mommy was duly impressed.

Life: Imagine the Potential!

2009-05-18T23:24:00.000-07:00

Quirky Kids

2009-05-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

I don't know if Mother's Day was on their mind or why they decided to bless me, but last Friday, they decided to do some things to "help me." First they cleaned my shoes. Yeah, you read that right...my shoes. Why, you wonder? Yeah, me too. When I asked why they decided to clean my shoes they said it was because they were dirty. Gee thanks, guys. It never occurred to me to clean the bottom of my shoes, but now I can walk knowing they are nice and clean!

Next they dusted and "cleaned" the living room. After they were through with that, they took turns cleaning the stove top. It didn't take them long to realize that was way more work than they wanted to do and not nearly as fun as cleaning shoes. So I spent the next half hour finishing up the stove and having them clean up all the water they spilled and splashed on the laundry room and kitchen floors.

The jobs weren't done very well, but the heart behind them was greatly appreciated!

Mommy/Daughter Weekend

2009-05-12T21:02:00.000-07:00

While Ryan and Daddy were off in eastern Oregon camping, Abby and I had some Mommy/Daughter time. We watched movies, played together and did a craft.

Abby made two popsicle boxes: One for Gramie for Mother's Day and one for herself. She did a great job, and couldn't wait for it to be dry enough for her to put all her small rocks into it.

While we were at the grocery store, Abigail saw the corn on the cob and asked if we could have some for dinner. I said sure and asked what else she'd like. She said, "Biscuits!" Okay, I can make biscuits, I said. What else would she like? "Steak!" Hmmm, I'm not sure about that one, I had to answer.

Hubby recently took a 15 percent pay cut and we're trying to keep the grocery bill down, but I told her I'd check and see what I could find. They had some small chuck steaks on special, and I had a $2 off coupon so I managed to buy two small steaks for just $1.39! I didn't know how the chuck steaks would taste since I'd never bought or cooked them before, but Abby and I both agreed they were delicious!

Daddy/Son Campout

2009-05-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

The first weekend of the month (sheesh, I've been so busy lately, I just can't seem to keep up on my blog!), Ryan and Ed went camping with Ed's boss and his daughter. Since I wasn't there, I don't have much to say, but I just want to post some pictures for posterity! I was told they had a good time and would like to do it again sometime.

They did some hiking...

...and some geocaching...

...and saw some interesting sights.

They call these the balancing rocks. Pretty cool, huh?

Catching Up

2009-05-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished some old posts I've been wanting to get published, but they are kind of old news. I wanted to get them on my blog because it's my online scrapbook and I posted them in date order. If you're still interested in reading about any of these outdated events, here are the links:

Easter at the Zoo
Surprise!
Abby's Sixth Birthday
Children's Museum
Gramie Visits
Baseball Season Again
Fundraising Champion
Sunshine!

Schools on Trains

2009-04-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

Amtrak has a program in our area called Schools on Trains, and for a discounted rate school groups can travel between Bellingham, Seattle, Portland, Eugene and all stations in between. Fortunately for us, Amtrak has included homeschool groups in the bargain, and yesterday for the first time we joined our local homeschool group on the trip!

We arrived a little early to the station and spent some time looking around. Little by little our group began arriving until finally the station was packed! We had the more than the maximum 72 people in our group since a half a dozen people had to pay full fare in order to bring their younger children along. For a short time we thought my hubby was going to have to leave us to take care of a crisis at work, but thankfully he got it worked out before the train left and was able to accompany us.

The kids (particularly Abby) were so excited! Our group took up more than two whole passenger cars, and I'm sure the rest of the travelers were glad we had the cars all to ourselves because it was a fairly loud and boisterous group of kids (and parents).

After exploring all the fascinating buttons and the curtains and things on the train, the kids settled down and looked out the window and played some games we brought and drew pictures for a couple of hours. We walked the length of the train so they could see all the different cars, and Ryan and I talked to the conductor for a short time.

About 45 minutes before arriving in Seattle, we got out the lunch we had packed and they kids loved eating in their seats with the tray tables down. It's amazing how just a change in location makes an ordinary PB&J so much more fun!

After almost three hours, we arrived in Seattle, and we were ready to get up and do some walking. In fact, we spent almost all of our four and a half hours there walking. We walked down to the Pike Place Market and went to our favorite places there (including a donut shop and the fish throwing place), then we walked through the hundreds of stalls and enjoyed seeing all the gorgeous flowers and fresh produce they have for sale every day of the year.

If you look closely you can see the Ryan is screaming
his head off because they scared him with the monk fish!
This is a favorite trick that lets bystanders laugh at other
people's expense. It truly is funny to watch though
when you know what's going to happen.
It would be so incredible to have access to that kind of farmer's market and fresh fish year round! I have never been to the market when they didn't have a fabulous selection.

Of course the market has all sorts of wares besides food and flowers. Artisans of all sorts sell their products, and then there's the usual "performance artists" that share their "talents" hoping for some spare change.

In all the times I've visited the Pike Place Market, I've never actually gone into the first Starbucks and bought anything, but today we changed that. It was totally packed, but they managed to get our drinks to us with impressive speed! So now I've been to the very first Starbucks...ah, I feel complete.

We were blessed with an absolutely gorgeous day! It was on the cool side, but the temp ended up being just perfect for walking around with a light jacket. We could see the snow-capped Olympia mountain range across the sound, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

After walking through the market, we looped around and walked back along the waterfront. We watched the ferries coming and going, gave the kids a ride on the carousel, and looked through some interesting shops, including the obligatory Ye Olde Curiosity Shop which has genuine shrunken heads and myriad other oddball things to look at.

Lastly, we went to Ivar's for some clam chowder. This is my all-time favorite chowder, and as I was browsing their website when planning our trip, I noticed that they have Happy Hour starting at 3:00pm every day. So we planned to make that our last stop of the day, and it worked out beautifully.

We got some yummy clam strips and chowder half off the regular price, and all of our drinks were free! The bonus was that we got to sit and relax while the kids watched out the windows completely engrossed in watching people feeding the seagulls outside. They were so entertained by this that hubby and I got a good long (fairly uninterrupted) chat in, which was wonderful!

After our early dinner we walked back to the train station just in time to board our train home. We spent the time playing 20 Questions, looking out the windows and chatting with another homeschool mom, so the time went fairly quickly. As we pulled back into Kelso/Longview Station, it was absolutely pouring rain which was a surprising end to a very long but very fun day out.

Sunshine

2009-04-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

It's been so nice to finally have some sunshine here in Oregon. The kids are loving being outside, and I'm loving them being outside at last!

Fundraising Champion

2009-04-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Salesmanship is not my thing. I'd rather eat rocks than have to go door to door selling something. When we had the choice to either buy out the fundraising portion of the baseball fees for $30, I wanted to jump at it, but hubby said we should see if Ryan wanted to do fundraising or if he wanted to earn the $30 himself. Ryan chose fundraising.

Of course hubby said he would take him so I wouldn't have to do it, but guess who was conveniently working the weekend we needed to take him door to door? Thankfully I was rescued by poor weather after just a few houses, so Daddy took over the next day.

We discovered that we have an incredibly generous neighborhood! Apparently I'm the only cheapskate on the block. Ryan was told he would probably only sell to about one out of every ten people he asked, but in fact he was only told no by about five people! Though he only needed to sell five items, he wanted to keep selling so he could earn some money. Would you believe the little squirt was the fourth best seller in the whole league!? He didn't even ask around our church either. I was stunned.

We had Ryan do all the selling while we just stood back at the sidewalk. Apparently, he did a good job. It was quite a chore delivering all the items once we picked them up, but we finally got it all done. Ryan is $10 richer and also won a small prize for his all his fundraising.

Baseball Season Again

2009-04-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

It's baseball season again and the games have begun. Opening day the schedule was running behind, so Ryan took it upon himself to organize an impromptu game of Duck, Duck, Goose. It was hilarious to watch him getting it going, and I was happy to see Abby was included as well!

He has really improved in the last several months since he last played. He is no longer the novice player on the team and is holding his own quite well. He is really hard on himself though and thinks he should be better than he is for some reaosn.

He wasn't digging on the practices, but now that the games have actually begun, he's having a good time.

It was kind of comical when Ryan realized who one of his coaches was. (Remember this coach and the issue Ryan had with him during the last game of fall ball?) Well, Ryan made a beeline right over to him and asked if he could pitch this season. I don't know if the coach remembered his promise, but Ryan surely did.

However, once again the coach couldn't keep his promise because in this league they use a pitching machine. Ryan seemed okay with it, but I found it amusing that he remembered the whole thing so well.

Gramie Visits

2009-04-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

My mom came for a visit, and that is always cause for great excitement for Ryan and Abby. They could hardly contain themselves as we waited at the airport! One time a few years ago we made these cute signs that said "Gramie" on them and the kids held them as we waited for her at the airport. Even though the joke isn't nearly as funny the fifth time around, the kids think we need to do it every time she comes, so here they are holding up the signs for her.

We crammed a lot into the week she was here. We celebrated Abby's birthday, went to the zoo, celebrated Easter, went to the Children's Museum, and Mommy and Daddy got a couple of nights out alone too.

It's been years since we've been to the Children's Museum, but last summer the kids earned free tickets during the summer reading program. I had completely forgotten about them but found them when I was cleaning out my purse last month. I decided to save them and go when my mom was here so she could enjoy it with us.

The kids had so much fun playing in the waterworks, playing shopkeeper and ambulance driver, and even putting on a play for us.

One of the fun things my mom and I did together was make these adorable cupcake bites that I saw on Bakerella a while back. I've been wanting to make them, but it's so much more fun doing things like that with other people. So I gathered the supplies and made them with my mom. I don't think she enjoyed it as much as I did, but she agreed they turned out very cute. We ate some, gave some away, and shared some with Abby's Sunday school class.

Still Here

2009-04-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

I'm still here.

With Easter, my daughter's birthday, my mom visiting, church responsibilities, homeschooling, and plain old life, I've not found time to do any blogging lately. I have a bunch of posts backed up waiting for photos and such, but I may or may not get them done (who wants to read old news, eh?).

Today, I'll just confess my latest crime: I became a right-wing extremist this week. I didn't know I was doing it. I didn't feel any different nor did I recently adopt any new and radical opinions, but apparently if you think the Constitution is a document worth defending and abiding by, if you want to keep the money you earn and not have it confiscated by the government, and you have the audacity to actually do something wild and crazy like join thousands of others dumping two-year old tea into an already polluted river, you are a right-wing extremist! So be it.

You know, I guess I did see some pretty extreme behavior. I saw grown men crying as they sang the national anthem, I participated in public prayer, I even saw people put their hands over their hearts and look at the flag as they said the Pledge of Allegiance!

"Unheard of, unthinkable!"

Children's Museum

2009-04-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

Last year Ryan and Abby both earned free tickets to our local children's museum during the summer reading program, but somewhere along the line, I forgot that we had them. As I was cleaning out my purse a month ago, I ran across them and was glad to see they hadn't expired yet!

While my mom was here, I decided to take her and the kids to the musuem for the day. It had been years since the last time we went, so it was like a brand new experience for Ryan and especially Abby.

They played the most in the waterworks exhibit and were pretty wet by the end despite wearing the smocks that were provided.

They added a stage since the last time we were there, and Abby loved it! There were costumes, props, musical instruments, and even a sound board where you could play sound effects like thunder or the sound of slipping on a banana peel (like in a cartoon). Abby wanted to sing one of her own songs, and when she started singing, all the kids and parents in the room quieted down and listened to her! It was really kind of neat because she was singing a song she had made up about the Lord and everyone was listening to her.

Then they played in the play store and doctor's office for a while before going back to the waterworks.

Lastly, as we were leaving the museum, we found the special Bob the Builder exhibit. It was a little juvenile for our kids, but they had fun nonetheless. Ryan would have loved it two years ago!

We had a good day and we enjoyed it, but I was reminded why we haven't been in a couple of years. Unless we have free tickets, it's really not worth the price to get in to the museum, in my humble opinion (what's up with charging admission for parents who just follow the kids around the whole time?).

Abby's Sixth Birthday

2009-04-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

Abby has been so excited about turning six! She also thought it was pretty neat that her birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year.

She didn't have any special requests for her cake this year, so I kept it simple. I'm not much of a decorator, but it turned out pretty cute. Abby was just happy to have six candles!

Since Easter was going to be a full day by itself, we let Abby open her presents on Saturday instead. She was thrilled to get a dress with a matching dress for her doll. She got some much-needed clothes, and a couple of games too, but what she was most excited about was a miniature Build-a-Bear with several outfits to go with it.

I had been debating about giving Abby a full-blown party this year, but she is really struggling the last couple of months so I decided to wait another year. However, since we don't have parties, we usually let the kids pick where they want to eat and a special activity. Abby chose going to the beach, but we convinced her it would be way too cold, so we did the zoo instead. She also chose the usual birthday restaurant, Red Robin. It's always nice to go there because both kids like the food and Mommy and Daddy do too.

Because we got home fairly late, Abby didn't get to blow out her candles Saturday. But Sunday evening after our Easter dinner had settled, Abby finally got to make her wish and blow out her candles.

I had originally wanted to make these adorable cupcake bites to bring to Abby's Sunday school class on her birthday, but then I was told we don't have Sunday school on Easter Sunday. (I'm only the Children's Ministry Coordinator; how am I supposed to know?!) Anyway, my mom and I made them anyway, and I brought them the next Sunday to share with her class. They were adorable and a bit hit!

I tried to make these cute cupcake pops but couldn't find yellow candy melts anywhere. Instead I tried to color white almond bark with food coloring, but it messed with the consistency somehow. We made a few of the chicks but then gave up and stuck with the cupcake bites. (To see what they were supposed to look like, click here.)

Well, our little girl is another year older, and she had a full birthday week! I can't believe how fast six years have gone by.

Surprise!

2009-04-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

Abby is quite a social butterfly and loves people. She is always going around giving hugs and chatting, especially to the little old ladies at church. One of our church's members is a pharmacist at the local Walmart and each and every time we go by the pharmacy there she wants to go see if he's there and at least wave to him if he is.

I never realized this had such an impact on him, but on Easter Sunday, he did the announcements during service and surprised her by sharing with the whole congregation how she always comes to see him at work and then called her up on the platform and had everyone sing Happy Birthday to her! She blushed several shades of pink, but she loved it and gave him, of course, a great big hug afterward.

Easter at the Zoo

2009-04-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

Abby's birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year, which she thought was pretty special. Gramie often visits us for Easter, so it was great that she could be here for Abby's birthday too this time around. Our kids rarely have extended family present to help celebrate their birthdays, so it's always a special treat to have one of them with us.

Since Abby loves the zoo and we haven't been for quite about a year, we decided to buy another membership and take her to the zoo for her birthday. Though it was forecasted to rain, we managed to see what we wanted to and were just leaving as the rain begain to fall.

It was more crowded than when we usually go, but we still managed to have a good time and saw all the animals Abby wanted to see. Because it was Easter weekend, the zoo had special "Easter" activities planned, both for the people and for the animals.

We got to the Sun Bears just in time to see them come out and hunt for the Easter eggs the keepers had put out for them. They had filled them with something mixed with honey, and the bears loved it! They aren't very big bears, and they looked so cute holding the eggs with all four paws.

After visiting the stinky penguins (always a must for Abby), we headed to the ampitheatre at the heart of the zoo. They were having candy hunts on the grass for the kids, so the kids got in line to wait their turn, which turned out to be just a few minutes.

We didn't come prepared with Easter baskets like many of the kids did, but the zoo gave us bags and loaned Ryan a basket to use during his hunt.

The zoo volunteers entertained the kids while they waited for the hunt to begin. One told jokes and stories and another had them do warm-up exercises, but all of them seemed to be enjoying interacting with the kids.

Finally, the hunt began, and it lasted all of about 30 seconds. The candy was gone in the blink of an eye! I had to laugh when I looked at my pictures later, I was hurriedly trying to get pictures of both kids, but all the boys in Ryan's group were wearing a red jacket and I snapped photos of the wrong boy.

After the candy hunt we registered to win the contest to be able to hide Easter eggs for the elephants. Abby was so hoping we'd win because the elephants are one of her favorite exhibits, but we didn't win so we contented ourselves with just watching the new baby elephant and his mom for a while. Isn't he cute?

After watching the elephants for a while we decided to snack on some elephant ears. So while Daddy waited in line, the kids played on the grass for a bit and Gramie helped keep them entertained.

As we were walking past the polar bears we noticed that they were going to be giving them their Easter treat soon, so we decided to hold our front row seats so we could watch the whole thing. We waited for about 20 minutes, but it was worth it. They set up the whole habitat with hidden eggs, fish treats, large stuffed rabbits, and even Peeps!

We definitely chose the best window to watch from. The whole show took place right in front of us. The bears wasted no time finding all the goodies, and we were amazed at how gently they lifted the Peeps right out of the box. They are such powerful animals, but they can be very gentle if they want to.

Of course we also saw how easily they tore up the props too! Their paws are enormous, and they moved huge logs around like it was matchwood.

After the polar bears we decided to start heading back to the parking lot. We took a couple of side trips on the way out though. The kids were dying to play in the barn, so we let them jump on the hay bales and play on the tractor for a bit before walking up the hill to see the black bears and eagles.

We've never seen the eagles in the closest nest before, so it was neat to see them only a few feet from us. They are huge and gorgeous birds!

The last bear we saw had apparently eaten too many Peeps and was crashed out next to his stuffed rabbit!

45 Minutes

2009-04-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

There are lots of ways to spend 45 minutes of one's time, but digging impacted tissue paper out of my daughter's sinus cavity wasn't on my short list today. Still, there are worse ways to fritter away time, like sitting in urgent care for hours on end and watching a health care practitioner dig tissue paper out of my daughter's sinus cavity. Thankfully, I was able to skip urgent care as I successfully extracted the disgusting wad after 45 minutes of praying and tweezing and digging and praying some more.

If I had had the presence of mind to think of it, I would have had Ryan take a picture of the procedure. I'm sure Abby and I made a comical picture as I sat on the toilet, tweezers in hand with my son's survival gear headlamp strapped to my forehead and Abby sitting on my knee with her head rested against the wall, nostril stretched wide open!

Very Useful Search Engine

2009-04-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

Have you ever needed to search the internet by image instead of by words? I have, and I found the coolest search engine this week. It's called TinEye, and you either upload an image or type in a URL where the image is found and hit the search button. It searches their database and gives you all the websites where this image can be found!

I needed to find the name and artist of this odd painting the other day, and in a matter of seconds TinEye had numerous websites I could visit, many of which gave the information I was looking for. Very cool!

This is a fairly new site and their database is still relatively small, but I have found almost every image I was looking for.

Rainy Days

2009-03-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of rainy days lately...seriously, a lot! By this time of year I have exhausted my limited creativity and meager supply of indoor activity ideas. But this week was yet another rainy one, so I had to come up with something. Friday I looked into my magic box and found a wood kit for Ryan to paint and assemble (I've got to remember to stock up on more of these for the next rainy season!), which kept him busy for over an hour.

Abby is easier: I pulled out some fancy scissors (normally off limits to her), some construction paper and a glue stick. She was happy as a clam cutting and pasting and making a huge mess for almost an hour.

Worse Than Expected

2009-03-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or have the first two months of Obama's presidency seemed like an eternity already?

Silly Kid

2009-03-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Do you recognize this face? Ryan has thinks a certain commercial (way overplayed on the Discovery Channel!) is hilarious, and this is his imitation of it.

Don't you love those glasses? How he can see through them is beyond me!

Can't figure it out? Here's a hint.

Now do you see the resemblance?

New Smile

2009-03-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

Abby has lost six teeth in four months, and her smile looks so different. She has a pretty good hole right now and she's talking a bit funny too! I think she has two more loose teeth on the bottom as well.

In addition to the new front teeth, she's also getting her lower molars. Her mouth has to feel pretty miserable, but she doesn't complain at all.

Daytime Appearance

2009-03-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

Our friend the raccoon made his first daytime appearance today! Ryan opened the door to growl at him, unfortunately, and he scuttled up the first tree so we didn't get a very good look at him.

I grabbed my camera and was able to snap a couple of quick pictures, but he quickly had climbed out on a limb and curled up to take a nap.

Our back neighbor called me later in the day to say a huge gust of wind came up suddenly and he looked up just in time to see the raccoon hanging upside down from a limb barely escaping a long and painful fall! The coon managed to get himself upright though and crawled out on another limb to finish his nap.

This would have been a great picture but for the branch
smack in the middle of his cute little face!
I hate to do it, but I guess I'll have to borrow the live trap again soon. He is terribly cute, but he is really not welcome in our backyard.

IRL

2009-03-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

Since last summer I've been trying to get together with a friend I "met" online. Something kept making us have to postpone or cancel, but we finally were able to get together last week. The kids enjoyed meeting her as well and had fun playing with all the toys in her toy cabinet. She helped me make some cute cards, and we had a nice visit getting to know each other better. She doesn't keep up her blog any longer, but she does have a blog with pictures of her beautiful cards that you can check out.

This was the first time I have met someone in real life that began as an online friendship. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so I'll have to settle for a picture of the cards I made. It seems like I have been forgetting that more and more often. I think it's time for a camera that will fit in my purse!

International Day

2009-03-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

Our homeschool group meets once a month for some specific purpose. We've done Action Packs for Voice of the Martyrs, Presentation Days, Valentine's Day party, etc. This month is International Day where each family picks a country and does a presentation on it, complete with costume and food. This is the first year we've participated, and it has been so much fun!

We chose India so that we could learn more about the country where Ravi lives, Ryan's Compassion International child. For the last month we've tailored all of our school activities around India. We've read stories (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Little Babaji, etc.) set in India, we've done writing assignments on India, learned about famous missionaries to India (Amy Carmichael is my favorite!), made art projects about India, and we've talked about and prayed for the people of India. While our study has been very basic, I have learned a lot (hopefully the kids have too) and it has been great for the whole family.

Interesting snippet about India: Did you know that the apostle Thomas is said to have been the first person to bring the gospel to India? How sad that now it is only comprised of two percent Christians.

Ryan and Abigial both worked on flags, and maps, and colored a picture of the Taj Majal. Ryan wrote a page on India's demographics, and together we put together a tri-fold board for the presentation.

Abby loved looking through the India picture book we got from the library, and the pictures of the Taj Mahal were some of her favorites. They both did such a great job coloring the Taj Mahal picture, though they have completely different styles.

Abby's.

Ryan's.
I have been impressed with how much effort they have put into this report. In fact, as we were finishing up this week, I asked Ryan if he first wanted to finish an art project we had started or finish his India project, and to my surprise he actually wanted to work on the India project first!

We had to bring some food from our chosen country as well, and I decided to keep it simple and bring some Naan, an Indian flatbread. It is incredibly easy to make (just four ingredients!) and tastes pretty good too.

Kids always enjoy rolling out dough, and then watching it puff up in the oven was cool. We spread some butter on it, but it was good just plain too. It must have been a hit at the homeschool group too because we left there with our basket empty.

I made Abby a simple Indian sari for our costume, and she looked very pretty all dressed up. She had two small speaking parts, and she did very well. Mostly I was proud of how she stood so still during Ryan's speaking as she had a hard time with that during our practice.

When the coordinator asked if there was anyone who wanted to go first, both Ryan and Abby shot their hands up and volunteered. When I asked later why he wanted to go first, he said he wanted to get it over with because he was a little nervous. I was surprised to hear he was nervous because he did a fantastic job, only forgetting one small part that we had practiced!

Daddy worked from home today so he could come and see their presentation, and we were both very proud of them. They did even better than when we had practiced at home, and even though I am biased, I think it's fair to say they did one of the best reports of the day!

Senator Wyden's Response

2009-03-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

At the end of January before the vote on the "stimulus" bill, I decided to write to my senators and the President. I knew it was probably futile, but I had to let them know there were some people who did not want them to "bail out" the economy with billions of dollars that had absolutely no chance of actually stimulating the economy.

Yesterday I got my response from our senior senator Ron Wyden, and I thought I'd share it here for those who might be interested. (I can't believe it took him six weeks to email this canned response! At least he did reply though. Our junior senator Jeff Merkley has not done so as of yet.)

Dear Mrs. Garner:

Thank you for contacting me about the state of our economy. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

As you may know, our country has been in a recession since the fall of 2007. Families are hurting and having a hard time making ends meet. With the tightening grip of the credit crisis and unemployment levels not seen in over 20 years, our economy faces the threat of a deep recession.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, H.R. 1, is a well-targeted stimulus bill designed to halt the economy's slide. It includes investments like Build America Bonds, a major transportation infrastructure initiative I have championed for years, which has the potential to create millions of jobs, generate billions in economic activity and save thousands of lives by improving transportation safety. It also includes the Making Work Pay Tax Credit, which gives 95 percent of workers a tax credit worth up to $400 per person, or $800 per working family, and $250 for many seniors and retired or disabled veterans. In addition, small businesses will be able to more easily secure financing through the Small Business Administration's 7(a) loan guarantee program because this legislation eliminates 7(a) fees and increases the amount that the SBA guarantees. The ARRA also looks to the future by protecting over 300,000 Oregonians from the crushing alternative minimum tax, helping economically distressed homeowners and putting our schools on a better foundation.

Like many of my Senate colleagues, I was very concerned about the cost of the overall bill. I do not take spending $787 billion of taxpayer dollars lightly. Unfortunately, with daily job losses mounting, to not spend money now would likely lead to a protracted recession and negative or painfully slow economic growth for the foreseeable future. Please be assured, as Congress moves forward in addressing our economic situation, that I will continue to vote against poorly designed initiatives that unnecessarily burden future generations, such as the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. I will also work to ensure that the economic stimulus and other government programs provide the greatest benefit possible for the taxpayers' dollar.

Again, thank you for keeping me apprised of your interest in this issue. If I may be of further assistance to you in this or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Ron Wyden United States Senator

This is School, Right?

2009-03-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

I am not adjusting well to the time change this year. I don't know if it's because our family has been sick for the last couple of weeks and we've been sleeping in a bit more than usual or if it's just my age, but my built-in clock isn't resetting easily this go-around.

While I was trying to get myself moving and thinking clearly yesterday morning, the kids seized upon my lack of organization and direction and began playing together ever-so-nicely. (I do believe kids come prepackaged with a built-in radar which is able to detect and exploit any chink in a parent's armor of resolve!)

Before I knew what had happened, they had set up shop, printed their own money, and were conducting commerce in their make-believe stores. I threw in the towel and brought them some canned goods and boxed items from the pantry that they could add to their meager store shelves, as well as my reusable shopping bags from the van.

It may not have been "formal" education, but I let it suffice for math (counting money), writing (printing their own money), and sociology (playing nicely together)! I may not get a Teacher of the Year award, but my Cool Mommy points just went up a little (and believe me, I needed some of those!).

Climate Change

2009-03-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

We have had a very unusual winter this year. One minute spring is bursting out all over, the birds are singing and the trees and flowers are blooming, and the next minute we're huddling inside watching snow, hail, and freezing rain fall!

The last three days we have awakened to snow on the ground, just a dusting, but snow nonetheless. Yesterday it snowed off and on all day, though it never did accumulate. At the last minute Ryan's baseball practice got cancelled, and I was one grateful Mommy for that decision!

Making Pretzels

2009-03-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

I love soft pretzels, and I have been wanting to try to make some at home for a while now. On the spur of the moment last Friday, I decided to finally do it. I found this recipe online, enlisted the help of the kids, and got to work.

They were actually very easy to make. The kids both loved rolling out the dough and shaping it into that famous pretzel shape.

They tasted very good too, though not exactly like I was hoping. I'm not sure how you get that really chewy texture that I like so much, but these were still a yummy treat. We were having a strange day and didn't eat lunch until about 2:30, so these were a nice treat for my very hungry family. In fact, hubby came home early that day and got to have a warm pretzel too!

Jane Austen

2009-03-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

These little quizzes are always fun though it certainly wasn't a surprise to see which Jane Austen character I am. Which one are you?

Take the Quiz here!

Free Movie Rental

2009-03-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

If you'd like a free movie rental today, visit Redbox's blog to get a code to enter to get one night's rental absolutely free! They will be offering a free movie every Wednesday in March.

Also, you can sign up to have a code texted to you every Monday for a free rental as well. We have been getting movies from our local Redbox ever since they put one in last year, and we've only had to pay one time (because we forgot to enter the free code)!

Wise Words

2009-03-04T05:40:00.000-08:00

I have been getting Elisabeth Elliot's devotions emailed to my inbox every day for about four years now. They repeat every year, and I've read them all multiple times. Though I currently don't read each and every one, I do check the topic and read the ones I think will be pertinent to me on that day. Yesterday's devotion was just what I needed...again:

God's Help for God's Assignment

Sometimes a task we have begun takes on seemingly crushing size, and we wonder what ever gave us the notion that we could accomplish it. There is no way out, no way around it, and yet we cannot contemplate actually carrying it through. The rearing of children or the writing of a book are illustrations that come to mind. Let us recall that the task is a divinely appointed one, and divine aid is therefore to be expected. Expect it! Ask for it, wait for it, believe that God gives it. Offer to Him the job itself, along with your fears and misgivings about it. He will not fail or be discouraged. Let his courage encourage you. The day will come when the task will be finished. Trust Him for it.

"For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed" (Is 50:7 AV).

Timely words for this weary mom raising and homeschooling a special needs child!

Baseball & Rainbows

2009-03-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

Ryan had his first baseball practice yesterday afternoon. As soon as we arrived a storm hit, and we were pounded by rain. We huddled in the dugout listening to the code of conduct and various other announcements until the storm passed. Though Abby and I left not long after, Ryan and Daddy stayed as the coach decided to have a full practice in the mud (I AM sick, so cut me a break, okay?). The other team skedaddled before the storm had even passed!

Anyway, on the way home Abby and I saw the most intensely colored rainbow I have ever seen! It was absolutely gorgeous and made me think about how incredible Heaven will be. We only see things dimly here, but then face to face. How I long to see my Lord face to face!

Happy Square Root Day!

2009-03-03T03:03:00.000-08:00

In honor of my geeky husband (she says with love and affection!), I just had to wish everyone a Happy Square Root Day!

Learning to Sew

2009-03-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

Ever since a friend of mine helped Abby sew a little purse a few months ago, Ryan has been begging me to teach him to sew. I am not much of a seamstress myself, but I picked up some plain black fabric and figured we'd kill two birds with one stone: give him his sewing lesson and make him the cape he's been wanting!

(Notice I have totally given up on having a dining room? It's where we do almost all of our schooling, for better or worse. However, notice my new cabinet with doors? Much better than the ugly black bookcase that used to adorn our ~~dining~~ homeschool room, don't you think?)
I didn't have a pattern so I just kind of winged it. I made him do each step along the way that he was able to do. He ironed the fabric, then we cut it out, then he hemmed up the cape almost entirely by himself. He did a great job, much better than I expected. Then we turned it inside out, he ironed it again, and we sewed some pleats into it and put the Velcro on the neck band. Viola!

He decided it wasn't as much fun as thought, however, and he doesn't have any plans for any more sewing projects...which suits me just fine!

Money Lesson

2009-02-27T17:34:00.000-08:00

It never ocurred to me when we decided to homeschool that my oldest would teach my youngest so much. It might be a first-born thing because I remember subjecting my younger brothers to biology lessons on my own chalkboard with my own chalk purchased with my very own money. (What a dork!)

Still, Ryan may end up being a teacher when he grows up because he is really very good at it. Though she isn't always a willing listener, Abby usually will participate in his lessons and seems to learn at least a little bit every time. Last week Ryan decided it was time for Abigail to learn all about money, so he broke open his wallet and began teaching her all about it. Really cool, if you ask me!

Pasta Fagioli Soup

2009-02-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

Last night I made this soup, and it turned out to be wonderful! It's actually supposed to be a copy-cat of the Olive Garden's Pasta E Fagioli soup, but it's been a long time since I've tasted theirs so I'm not sure how well this one compares. All I know is that hubby and I loved this version!

(It was a little thicker than I expected, but as I was typing in this recipe I realized I had forgotten to put in the V-8! So it would probably be even better with that ingredient in it.)

Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli

1 lb ground beef
1 cup diced onion
1 cup julienned carrot
3 stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans (with liquid)
1 (15 ounce) can great northern beans (with liquid)
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 ounce) can v-8 vegetable juice
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 lb ditali pasta

1) Brown beef in a large stock pot over medium heat-drain off fat.
2) Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saute for 10 minutes.
3) Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.
4) After 50 minutes boil pasta to al dente.
5) Drain well.
6) Add pasta to the large pot of soup and simmer for 10 minutes.

For nutritional information go the original link on Recipezaar.

Confidence

2009-02-23T09:57:00.000-08:00

John Piper had this to say on his blog this morning, and it was something I needed to hear this morning!

J. Gresham Machen, one of the great proclaimers and defenders of the Christian faith in the early 20th century, went through a season of fearful doubt on his way to solid confidence. Remarkably, it was his mother who spoke one of the decisive words of rescue. He tells the story:

The question is not merely whether we can rest in our faith, but whether we can rest in the doubt that is the necessary alternative of faith. We pass sometimes through periods of very low spiritual vitality. The wonderful gospel which formerly seemed to be so glorious comes to seem almost like an idle tale. Hosts of objections arise in our minds; the whole unseen world recedes in the dim distance, and we think for the moment that we have relinquished the Christian hope....

My mother [spoke to me] in those dark hours when the lamp burned dim, when I thought that faith was gone and shipwreck had been made of my soul. "Christ," she used to say, "keeps firmer hold on us than we keep on him."

My mother's word meant...that salvation by faith does not mean that we are saved because we keep ourselves at every moment in an ideally perfect attitude of confidence in Christ. No, we are saved because having once been united to Christ by faith, we are his forever. Calvinism is a very comforting doctrine indeed. Without its comfort, I think I should have perished long ago in the castle of Giant Despair. (J. Gresham Machen: Selected Shorter Writings, 561)

On Meeting the Governor

2009-02-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

Mommy: So, Ryan, what was it like meeting the Governor of Oregon?

Ryan: Strange.

Mommy: Strange? Why do you say it was strange?

Ryan: Well, if you were a little girl and you met someone that powerful, wouldn't you think it was strange?

Sesquicentennial

2009-02-18T07:19:00.000-08:00

On February 14, 1859, President James Buchanan signed a bill that admitted Oregon as the thirty-third state in the union. So last weekend there was a big sesquicentennial (150 years) birthday bash at the capitol in Salem.

Abigail had another birthday party she really wanted to attend, so we didn't get to go as a family. Abby and I stayed home, while Daddy and Ryan drove to Salem to enjoy the festivities. After I saw the pictures of the crowd that was there, I was actually glad I didn't get to go. I'm just not a crowd person.

While Daddy was waiting in line, Ryan spent his time climbing trees. Once they were inside the building, they explored the capitol building some. Ryan even got to have his picture taken with Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski. Oregon is still so "small town" in so many ways.

Of course the really exciting person he met was Smokey Bear! I'm not sure what Smokey has to do with Oregon's birthday though.

Ryan also got to do some crafts. He made a hand-dipped candle...

...and a paper quilt square, among other things.

The line to get a piece of cake (and for hot dogs) was way too long for Daddy, but they did get some free Umpqua ice cream (I'm guessing if it had been Tillamook instead, that line would have been too long also!).

Daddy and son had a nice day together, and hopefully Ryan will always remember when he went to Oregon's 150th birthday party.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

Our homeschool group had our Valentine's Day party yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. Each child was supposed to bring a mailbox to hold their Valentines, and all the boxes were judged as well. Everyone got a certificate so it wasn't a "real" contest, but it was fun to see all the creative things the kids came up with. Abby wanted to make a flower garden and Ryan, a robot. I gathered the supplies and let them get to work. Ryan pretty much did his by himself. Though I helped some with implementation, he came up with the design and ideas himself.

Abby won the prize for the Lovliest Mailbox, and Ryan won for Best Use of Art Supplies!

Snow Crocus & Robins

2009-02-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

I guess they call them snow crocus for this reason, but we don't usually have so many days of snow around here. Though we only got about a half an inch yesterday, I think it was the fifth time this winter that we have had snow, which is highly unusual. In fact, I don't think the robins knew what to think about the snow. It was odd to look out the door and see a dozen robins walking around on the snow trying to find worms!

Seven

2009-02-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

I know people say things like this all the time, but "I can't believe my son is seven!" He had a very nice birthday, and he is enjoying his new gifts.

He wanted a plain chocolate cake with just his name and the number seven on it, so that's what he got. He made it easy for me this year!

I had to take a video of him opening his gift from Granpa because it was a rather extravagant one. We told Granpa it was okay as long as it could be for both Abby and Ryan for their birthdays. It was kind of funny when he opened it because he had no clue what it was. We don't watch television, so he hasn't seen any ads for it, nor do we have any friends who have one. However, now that he was played it, he loves it! In fact, we all are having a great time with it.

Happy Birthday, Pumpkin!

2009-02-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

He's seven today and so excited! We are actually celebrating tomorrow, but he got the day off from school and he helped me make his cake this afternoon.

A couple of weeks ago he told me he had a list of what he wanted to do for his birthday:

Orange Rolls for breakfast
Open presents
Play with presents
Noodle soup for lunch
Bowling
Red Robin for dinner
Home for cake and ice cream
Watch a movie (at home)

Since we don't have parties every year, we usually let them decide what they want to do (within reason), but this was the first time he has prepared a list ahead of time!

Sunny Day

2009-02-05T21:48:00.000-08:00

We have had a couple of sunny days in a row recently, enough to dry out most of the mud puddles anyway. So after swimming today we took our lunch to the park, and the kids played for a couple of hours. It was nice to get some sunshine and be out in the fresh air.

This has to be one of the last remaining see-saws in the country! They seem to be taking out all the fun play equipment in most parks these days. Ryan eventually got over his fear of it, but the majority of the time he was lying flat on his tummy!

Abby of course had no fear of it and had a blast! The see-saw is designed so you can move the fulcrum, so I was able to get on one end and both kids on the other and we could balance each other out fairly well.

Unique Birthday Present

2009-02-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

We are trying to give our kids a vision and heart for the world and to broaden their view of life outside of our own little community, our own state, and our own country. I desperately want them to know how spectacularly blessed we are compared to the rest of the world and that as followers of Christ we have the joy of blessing others in His name and for His glory.

Realistically, I know that this will take a work of God in their hearts, but while I'm praying for that I wanted to find a way to make it real to them. So for Ryan's birthday we decided to sponsor a child on his behalf through Compassion International. I did a search for boys born in February 2002 and then let Ryan choose the one he thought we should sponsor. He chose Ravi, a little boy who is just one day older than he is. Ravi lives in India with his parents and two siblings.

I wasn't sure how this "present" would be received, but I was happy to see how thrilled he was! During school for writing last week, he wrote his first letter to Ravi, and he is looking forward to receiving one back. I was also encouraged because when I told Ryan I was going to send Ravi some money for his birthday, he brought me some of his own money to send as well!

2009-02-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Daddy took Ryan to work with him yesterday, so it was just Abby and me at home. I had considered doing our taxes, but Daddy encouraged me to go do something fun with Abigail instead. I'm glad he did. We had a fun day together! We went to Starbucks and to Walmart for some coffee, hot chocolate and donuts for breakfast. Then we drove over to our paint-your-own ceramics place. We went last year to make some Christmas presents for the grandparents, but Abby (and Ryan!) has been wanting to come back and paint something for themselves, so that's what we did. Abby picked out a cute little horse and got to work. She did an excellent job, and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

After painting her horse, she wanted to go to Subway for lunch, but I managed to talk her into Quizno's instead (tastes better and I had a coupon!). After lunch we came home and played with her elephants for a while before putting a movie on to watch. It was a nice girls day out for both of us!

Swimming Progress

2009-01-30T08:20:00.000-08:00

Our homeschool group has swimming lessons every other month, and we decided to join them the last two times instead of paying for semi-private lessons as we had been doing. I was kind of surprised when they placed Abigail in with the level three swimmers, but she proved to be up to the task. She is several years younger than the others, and she looked so small next to them. Now, two sessions later, she is almost to level four! The last day of class the instructor let them jump off the springboard for the first time, and she was so excited!

Ryan was not happy to find out he was a level below his little sister, but I told him that if he worked hard he would soon catch up. Sure enough, after our last lesson yesterday, he was moved up to level three!

Photos from Ed's Wyoming Trip

2009-01-29T08:07:00.000-08:00

For the first time in 27 years Ed, his sister and his Dad were together, so it was definitely a great photo opportunity. Though the circumstances were tragic, Ed's visit with his family was good, and despite the very long drive, he's so glad he went.

It was very cold (the coldest temp he saw was -17 on his drive home) but because it's so dry there, he says it didn't feel as cold as he expected.

You have to love those drive-thru liquor stores...how handy! LOL!

Ironic

2009-01-27T14:05:00.000-08:00

Thaknfully my hubby got home safely this morning after another all-night drive. He traveled through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, over the Rocky Mountains (twice) and the only time he had any bad weather was 100 miles from home! It took him three hours to make that last leg of the journey because it snowed for about six hours this morning. Thanks again for all the prayers said on our behalf.

Presidential Nostalgia

2009-01-27T09:34:00.000-08:00

Former President George W. Bush has been home in his beloved Texas for a week now, and I'm already missing him, his policies, his experience. I found a neat video made by the men who have been photographing him for the last ten years, and it gives a quick (five minutes) but neat glimpse into the man. I can't embed it, so just click on the link!

Photographing the President

Coming Home

2009-01-26T10:30:00.001-08:00

Ed will be leaving shortly for the long drive home. Any prayers on his behalf will be greatly appreciated!

Three Down, Three To Go

2009-01-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Abby has lost three of her loose teeth so far, so I thought I'd better get a picture of her before she has those great big teeth come in!

Safe and Sound

2009-01-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

Hubby arrived safely in Wyoming this afternoon after 17 hours of driving. He said it is 2 degrees there right now! Thanks so much for the prayers for his safety. He will be traveling again Monday.

Prayer Request

2009-01-22T20:18:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week Ed's 25-year-old nephew committed suicide. Ed left a short time ago to drive to Wyoming to be with his sister and her family and for the memorial service to be held this weekend. Please pray for him as he travels and for his family as they grapple with the heartache and pain. I don't know if his family are truly believers or not, so that is my biggest prayer request. However, I pray they will be able to one day sing this song from the depths of their souls:

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blessed assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Seriously?

2009-01-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

I wondered how long it would take before we started hearing what a stellar job our new president is doing. I found out even sooner than I expected. Hubby participated in a telephone poll this evening--one day after the inaugeration--asking if he approves of the job President Obama is doing. Are you kidding me?

Dental Exam

2009-01-19T09:34:00.000-08:00

The first thing the dentist said to me after Abby's exam last week was, "So, do you have a flexible spending account?" Ha! Words you just love to hear!

Apparently Abby's upper front two teeth are so large they are taking out four baby teeth instead of the usual two. The hygienist looked at her x-rays, let out a slow whistle and said, "Wow, you're going to need braces for her for sure." Take a good look at her smile now because she will have about five fewer teeth in the next several months. The good news is she has no cavities and neither does Ryan!

Sanctity of Life Sunday

2009-01-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

This may be the last time (for at least four years) where the President of the United States issues a proclamation on the sacredness of human life, born and unborn. I didn't agree with everything President George Bush did while he held our nation's highest office, but I thank God for him and his service to our country. He was a champion of liberty for the born and the unborn! May God change the heart and mind of our soon-to-be president, especially on the issue of life.

National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2009
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

All human life is a gift from our Creator that is sacred, unique, and worthy of protection. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, our country recognizes that each person, including every person waiting to be born, has a special place and purpose in this world. We also underscore our dedication to heeding this message of conscience by speaking up for the weak and voiceless among us.

The most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent. My Administration has been committed to building a culture of life by vigorously promoting adoption and parental notification laws, opposing Federal funding for abortions overseas, encouraging teen abstinence, and funding crisis pregnancy programs. In 2002, I was honored to sign into law the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which extends legal protection to children who survive an abortion attempt. I signed legislation in 2003 to ban the cruel practice of partial-birth abortion, and that law represents our commitment to building a culture of life in America. Also, I was proud to sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, which allows authorities to charge a person who causes death or injury to a child in the womb with a separate offense in addition to any charges relating to the mother.

America is a caring Nation, and our values should guide us as we harness the gifts of science. In our zeal for new treatments and cures, we must never abandon our fundamental morals. We can achieve the great breakthroughs we all seek with reverence for the gift of life.

The sanctity of life is written in the hearts of all men and women. On this day and throughout the year, we aspire to build a society in which every child is welcome in life and protected in law. We also encourage more of our fellow Americans to join our just and noble cause. History tells us that with a cause rooted in our deepest principles and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens, we will prevail.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 18, 2009, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies and to underscore our commitment to respecting and protecting the life and dignity of every human being.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

GEORGE W. BUSH

For Entertainment Purposes Only

2009-01-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

For a few hours tonight, hubby and I are escaping to a fantasy world where terrorists are actually treated as evil and freedom-lovers do whatever has to be done to preserve life and liberty.

Reality, it is not; entertaining, it is!

Christmas Program

2009-01-04T19:23:00.000-08:00

Due to our freak winter storm over Christmas, our church's Christmas programs were postponed not once but twice. So tonight the kids were finally able to present the program they worked so hard on! Abigail has been aching to get up on the stage, and tonight was her big night.

Ryan said he enjoyed it, but it was hard to tell by his performance. He doesn't love singing the way Abby does, so he wasn't nearly as excited. He got the privilege of having one of the few reading parts, and he did a great job with that!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

This picture is for you, Dad. I'm glad you started reading my blog at last!