Winter Retreat and Good friends!

January 28^th -30^th was our teen winter retreat. This year the camp was held in Donnelly, Idaho. We were also joined by youth groups from Boise and Lewiston. Fun and interesting! For this blog, we will stick to the fun. Steve and Mandy Buckland came to do the speaking and music. It was awesome to pick them up at the airport Thursday and spend some quality time with them. After their arrival we hit the ground running… well, actually driving. Touring downtown Boise, driving around the 'blue turf' of BSU, eating lunch at the Boise Fry Company (super yummy), visiting Mr. Trouten in Kuna, Idaho, Birds of Prey Scenic Overlook (a ginormous canyon with the snake river running through), the old mine in Pearl, Idaho and last but certainly not least our wonderful town. Yep, that was all of Thursday. Friday, we loaded the church van, bus, rented u- haul trailer and our Yukon with lots of people and all their treasures and headed for the mountains… destination Donnelly, Idaho- for winter retreat. The facilities were very nice. The weather was cold with a couple, few feet of snow on the ground. Steve did a great job preaching, his sermons fit right in to where our teens are living. Jesus was there in our services and that was so awesome! Sunday afternoon we packed up camp and headed back to our valley. Our teens did well, not major drama, no broken bones, no out-of-control pranks, good times!

The musicians on the bus.

The girls on the bus.

Andy, Carson & Kenny in the snow.

Jessie and his duck tape helmet.

Steve and Mandy were scheduled to fly out early Monday morning, they had checked into changing their tickets to a Tuesday departure, and were first told that yes for a small fee they could change their flight date, and then when they called back to change the date to Tuesday they were told that it would be $500.00 or $600.00 to extend their visit. Well, when Steve checked their flight status late Sunday night, there was a message that he could, for no extra charge, change their flight to a later date due to bad weather. So he re-booked for Tuesday morning. Long story short, they stayed with us until early Friday morning due to crazy weather back East. We loved having them get to stay longer- a gift from God! So, since God extended their visit we kept up our whirlwind touring of our fair state and also branched out into the state of Oregon.

Monday: Oregon Trail Museum in Bakers City, Oregon. (This place is totally awesome, we have been there at least 7 times, and someday I will post a blog on this museum.) We drove on to visit the small town of Sumpter, Oregon. Home to the Sumpter Valley Dredge. (This place is also very cool and I have enough pictures from previous visits to do a blog post.)
Tuesday: We drove up the Butte as far as we could until we got into the snow line. Andy and Steve decided they would do some hiking from there. So, Mandy and I and the kiddies drove home and then after z-girls bible study was over, we went back and picked them up from their great hike.

Wednesday: Andy and Steve went calling with some of the men from church. Mandy did some school work. Then we all went to Life4ce in the evening and Steve spoke to the teens.

Thursday: Our biggest "adventure" day! We left around 9:30ish and drove to McCall, Idaho-for breakfast at the Pancake House. The trip to McCall takes around 2 hours, and you might be thinking that it sounds a little crazy to drive 2 hours for breakfast…. Well, just listen to this, their pancakes are the size of dinner plates and their cinnamon rolls, are so humongous and delicious! Someday I will do a blog post on the Pancake house! It is well worth the drive! The ice festival was also going on in McCall so we walked around to get a close up view of some of the sculptures. Very cool! After saying good bye to McCall we cruised on to the town of Crouch, Idaho (population 154) and then Garden Valley, Idaho. This part of our adventure was totally about the native animals. I have never seen so many mule deer and elk in all my life. They owned the area!

Friday: Mandy and Steve flew back to their concrete jungle. We had so much fun spending time together, laughing, talking, remembering "when", eating ice cream, drinking coffee, and solving the world's problems. Good times!!

Steve reading to the kiddies.



McCall Festival snow sculpture





The sculpture sponsered by the hospital.





When in McCall- you can use the flag
when crossing the street.
We are serious about our flag waving!



Steve getting in on the flag waving.

Elk!



Elk!!!



Mule deer and Elk



Yes, its an outhouse sculpture!




 

 Ok, I have worked forever to organize the pictures in order, but alas I am defeated, I shall give up this battle.  I'm sure that you can read the caption and figure it all out.

"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"