"Adventure Time"

It has been forever since we have gone on an “adventure”.   So on Thursday, Jan 20^th,  we packed snacks, warm clothes, boots, emergency kit, water and a couple of music cds for the kiddies (never know what you might need) and climbed in the clean Yukon.   I was, to say the least, very excited!!  My only request “could we please get out of the city for a while and head toward the “wilderness”.  Well this evidently wasn’t enough instruction so then a great discussion had to follow.  “Do you want to go East, West, North or South to the wilderness?  How far do you want to go?  What kind of “wilderness” do you want, mountainous or desert?”  My response “I don’t care I just want to go”.     Eventually a destination was decided upon and off we went happily ever after.     Jordan Valley, Oregon-   heart of the owyhees (mountains) and home of the big loop rodeo.   There didn’t really seem to be much going on in Jordan Valley so after using the restroom at a gas station (the only one in town) and taking a picture of the local sheriff’s pickup truck (which was so dirty/dusty/muddy that you could hardly see the sheriff sign on the side) we turned around and headed back out of town.  Promising ourselves that maybe we would return for the ‘big loop rodeo’ especially if Pops happened to be visiting us.   We retraced our travels until we came to a road sign advertising Leslie Gulch 25miles.  Let’s go!   In our travels, we did cruise through the very large metropolis of Rockville.  In doing some very brief research on the city of Rockville, I discovered that there are approximately 92 fine individuals living there and the Rockville Elementary School is providing a quality education for 7 students.  http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/67553   Ok, enough chatter, and on with the pictures!!

25 miles of this......

                                        


and this....

Happy Cows- owyhee mountains in the background


Below:  Leslie Gulch



Rockville Elementary School

Mailboxes for the fine people of  Rockville.

very dirty Yukon!!


We will return, to do more exploring when we have more time, and
when the road is in better condition.   Beautiful place!!!

December in Review (part 3)

21^st …..Z-girls delivered 3 cookie trays and had lunch at McDonalds.   Each of the girls made something to add to the trays.  First delivery: the hospital staff.  Second delivery: Sheriff, deputies and staff at the jail.  Third delivery: a terminally ill lady and her husband who used to make these deliveries, but passed the torch to the z-girls.

    

 …..The grand and glorious board dinner which I assisted Stephanie with.  This was an appetizer & dessert event with mocha punch, cucumber water, and coffee.  Good times, but no pictures.  My camera sat in my purse all evening.

22^nd…..Life4ce caroling.  This was such fun!  We never got a good count but I think there were between 40 and 50 of us. Some of the teens had battery operated candles and that looked cool.  I forgot my camera so no pictures of this either.

23^rd…..Second annual gingerbread house decorating. Hosted by my friend Debbie with 7 little people in attendance.

     

       .....The 4 of us took a ride through the booming metropolis of E and looked at Christmas lights.  I love family time!

24^th…..Christmas Eve Communion. 

      ……C & K open 2 presents.  The traditional new p.j.s and their gift from Aunt Sonja - which just happened to be “Neckless the Audrey Amaka Story” written and illustrated by Brent Vernon.  Awesome book!!  

25^th…..Christmas Day.  Quiet, subdued. Tylenol flowing freely.  C & K both have colds and C running a temp.  Jambalaya for Christmas dinner….weird I know, but its now a tradition.

Discovering the contents of
their stockings

26^th…..The kiddies and I didn’t go to church.  Sick, sick, sick!

27^th-30^th  Recovery

31^st …..Ending an old year, starting a new year.  Kids are sleeping. Andy is at the Life4ce lock-in and I am blogging.

December in Review (part 2)

12^th…..After church we had some people over to eat up the appetizer leftovers. 

13^th…..Life4ce Staff Party (these are the volunteers that help faithfully and willingly with the youth group) There was a total of 17 in my little house.  Potato soup, white chicken chili, and Chili were the main dishes. We also had salad, bread and different desserts.  Good Times!    

  

14^th…..z-girls Bible Study

18^th…..and the day finally came, the day I had been training for, waiting for, excited for.  The YMCA Christmas Run.  2.5 miles.   I ran with Stephanie and about half the state of Idaho.  She is an old pro at running races, this was my first one.  I could probably write a whole post on this subject as well.

      …..Dress Rehearsal for the Children’s Program- Carson is “Joseph”

      …..Church Christmas Dinner            

19^th…..Children’s Christmas Program (see my facebook for videos of this great occasion)

  

   

      …..Lunch with pastor Jonathon, Stephanie, M &G. 

      …..Candlelight Christmas Service.   

December in Review (part1)

 What a crazy, exciting, busy, and reflective month.  Here I am on the last day of the month, the last few moments of this year being driven by some unseen force to blog.  Hmmm they have places for people like me.  Ok, focus…

Interestingly enough this Christmas season was the most peaceful and enjoyable one I have had in many years.  I think there are several factors involved in this but I don’t feel like taking the time to spell them all out.  I am very thankful and blessed!

I think one of the factors had to do with my “mindset”.  Spending time thinking about Advent, the important stuff, and trying to teach my kiddies what’s important, really helps prevent worry, stress, and panic from taking over. 

Another of these factors came in the form of a saying that I read on my friend Tara’s facebook.  “Hospitality is about connection not perfection.”  This gave me much food for thought.  And without further ado… Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you December.

1^st ……Rehearsal for the Community Christmas Choir’s Program

3^rd-5^th..The Program.  There were two songs that we sang that were really thought provoking for me.  “God is with us” and “Is there room today”.

My new friend Kassi-modeling our
choir outfits. 

7th……Stephanie and I provide the musical entertainment for Coffee Buddeez’s Christmas party. We were rockin the house! (Coffee Buddeez is a group that gets together every Tuesday and drinks coffee  J )

       ….. z- girls Bible Study.

Just tootin our horns for Jesus.

   

 

8^th …..Dora the Explorer Birthday Party.  The little lady across town turned 4. 

9^th …..Baby Shower for one of my “z-girls”.  I could do a whole post on this one…but not today.

Dakota and the diaper cake I made her.

10^th….. Outreach Party.  This was huge for me…this is one of the times this month that God helped me set aside the desire to be “perfect” and it became all about hospitality and showing/living Jesus-does that make sense? This type of get together had been on my heart for a couple of weeks.   We invited 4 other couples for food, fun and fellowship: pizza, chips, brownie, ice cream and games.  These were not your typical been in church their whole life couples.  I could do another whole post on this too.  This evening was so much fun and we will be doing it again!  God used this time with these couples to teach me a lesson or two.

11^th…..Connections (Women of Worth) Progressive Dinner.  Another big evening for me in concentrating on the hospitality side of things.  I hosted the appetizers course.  Fun stuff!  2 of the z-girls came and helped me get ready, and Stephanie and 2 other z-girls   brought appetizers.  I believe there were around 35 ladies in attendance… my house was so full, but I loved it!  I fixed:  Bacon wrapped smokies, cocktail meatballs, creamy taco dip, cheese ball, festive pepper jelly spread, and Pineapple cranberry punch. Brought by others:  Spinach dip, artichoke dip, cheese quesadillas, and garlic and cheese bread.

Montana and Dakota helping me get

ready.

     

 …..The z-girls surprised me and stopped by so I could see their outfits and masks.  They had been at a birthday/masquerade party.

Discovering Advent

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my adoring fans… ok, ok, who am I kidding?   So, I have had so much bloggable, fun stuff rolling around in my brain during this happy, crazy, busy month of December.  But, as you can see, blogging has not been on the top of my to-do list… now its catch-up time. 

Let’s start with the important things first… Jesus, coming to earth is the reason we celebrate.

Discovering Advent

I have never really thought much or known much about Advent.  So this year seemed the perfect year to start my Advent education.  I felt a little overwhelmed by the topic, and didn’t really know where to start, or what to do.  Thanks to my friend Brandy who explained the candy calendar she makes for/with her kids and provided the link to a “how to make an advent calendar” she helped me get started off in the right direction.   

Continuing my search… I wandered across a website that provided a calendar of activities for each day of Advent. (It happened to be a calendar from 2007, so the dates/days didn’t match up…but it worked)  For each day there was a scripture, activity, ideas and a song to sing.  Each day you were to light the appropriate number of candles for the advent week.   Very cool!!    Due to the happenings of life we didn’t followed the schedule every day but it was so much fun to learn and teach the kiddies. 

I am excited for next year.  As you can see from the pictures, my candles are not the traditional purple, pink and white.  I just used the candles I had on hand.

During Advent, I also re-learned some lessons. One lesson in particular- on the “Peace” Sunday I arrived at church thinking about peace, my heart filled with His peace, feeling peaceful and having a peaceful morning (get the theme) and then in the beginning of the second service (yes, I was attending both services that morning) something VERY, VERY UN-PEACEFUL happened. This incident was bigger than a potty accident or misbehaving child, this was earth- shaking.   My “peace” could have disappeared in an instant, but His peace stayed with me, bringing me peace in the middle of turmoil. 

How about a few pictures. 

Gathering supplies for our candy calendar.



First step:  glue cardboard to posterboard.





Write numbers, add 2pieces of candy,
stuff with tissue paper.
I used smarties.



Tie a bow around it.



Getting their "surprise"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Menu:
Cranberry Fruit Conserve (new recipe- delish)
Picnic shoulder ham (delicious tradition)
Mashed potatoes (wallpaper paste)
Scrumptious sweet potato casserole (new recipe-yum-e)
Stovetop stuffing (always a fav)
Gravy (only saving factor for the wallpaper paste)
Crescent rolls (thankyou Pillsbury)
Apricot jelly (homemade by me)
Swedish Apple Pie ( a tried and true tradition)
Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake (new recipe-wonderful)


I pulled out the special dishes, placemats, cloth napkins and the minnie mouse plate.
Kinda fancy, but fun! My dad has been spending this week with us-good times!



Activities of the day:
Devotions. Drove to the gym is sub-zero temperatures. Actually, I think the temp was 14 degrees at 7:30am. Ran 2miles on the treadmill-average speed 13.02.
Fixed a big breakfast of bacon, fried eggs, toast and coffee with pepermint mocha creamer for the men of the household. Skyped with my family in Moldova and Ohio-at the same time. Technology is awesome.
More preparation on our great thanksgiving feast.
Did some volunteer time serving at our church for the community thanksgiving dinner.
Christmas came from Pops.

The men started the assembly process on a giant train table-all 126 pieces.
Completed preparation for our great thanksgiving feast.

The men undid some of their progress and re-did it in a manner more aligning with the directions.

Consumed much of the great thanksgiving feast

The men completed there train table project- much to the joy of the little man.
The little lady didn't understand why she couldn't play with the amazing train table.
Clean-up the remains from the great thanksgiving feast.
Naps for the little boy and girl.
The men play with the awesome train table.
More skype time with the very far-away sister.
The boy plays with his trains.
The girl plays with her house and piano.



I hope you have all noticed the humble state of my christmas tree.
We started it late yesterday evening and managed to fluff the branches, put the tree together, carefully apply the lights and ribbon and then throw the strands of beads on. More tender loving care to my minimalist tree is coming soon. Until then, the lights are shinning brightly and the christmas music is playing softly.

Happening soon:
Work up the energy for some dessert eating.