Be Still....

Now the thought of being still and quiet is not real high on my list of priorities.

I am a mom after all, of 5 kids of a great variance of needs and ages.

And being quiet requires me to focus on keeping my mind still and in places of peace.

It is much easier to be busy.

You know the challenge of being a Mary in a Martha world---I am reading that book right now by the way!

So part of my challenge being layed up with my bum knee is keeping my normally busy self from going stir crazy sitting around with my leg up.

This mornings run to Walmart ended with a two hour stretch down on the couch.

All this laying around has caused sleepless nights too.

So what have I been learning through this trial of rest....

TV is bad company after a show or two--LOL

God's perfect timing---the two books that had been delayed reaching me, both got here, one the day before and one the day after my surgery.  The other one is Follow Me by David Platt---great book.

As I had the time to really digest the Follow Me book and think on it, it became clear that the timing was perfect for one of my children and the struggles they were having.  Me being down allowed the time to read, reflect, and train.

I have been working on memorizing the book of Colossians and have been doing it while I have been walking.  With that option out right now, I have been doing lots of review while laying sleepless in bed at nights!  Though I may be reviewing it a little incorrectly in the dark--LOL

I am so thankful to have a husband who loves to cook--and a son who is extremely interested in learning--especially this vegan thing we are doing.

And on the humorous side, guys really do think a kitchen is clean when it is very questionable whether it is!

And I am so very thankful for my husband's great job with good insurance that allows me to have this surgery done so that I can keep up with my family again without the constant pain.

God is good.

Lessons learned are good.

And I am learning that being still can be good.

Three......

What a whirlwind of a morning!

Mostly done with schooling, due to kids excited about their afternoons.

Laundry almost done.

Dinner made and in the crock pot.

Cornbread in fridge waiting for dinner.

Veggies cut up for weekend.

Kitchen cleaned, just waiting to empty the dishwasher when it is finished.

Emails responded to.

And had to run to the store to pick up some comfy clothes for after my knee surgery.......

This afternoon I am in for my third knee surgery since my bungled attempt to learn to ski!

Never did I say I was coordinated or athletic :(

So I am sitting here taking my last few minutes to think of all my blessings.

I have a group of ladies praying, plus my wonderful family and I have had very little anxiety---Praise God.

Hannah has a wonderful friend to spend the day with--Thank you Robin and Bethany!

Caleb is excited for some quiet time alone before heading out to track practice and wonderful friends that have offered to bring him home.  Thanks Murphy's.

The wonderful country we live in that I can have this done and hopefully be able to be back to full capacity with my family soon, without my constant pain.

God is good!

So here is to hoping we are at THREE'S A CHARM  and not three strikes you are out!  HaHa!

The old guys against the young'uns

 David and Caleb both had the opportunity to run in the Rogue Valley Challenge Relay today.  It is a 100K (62 mile ) race around the Rogue Valley with teams of 10 each running 2 legs.  They stagger the starts to try to get everyone to finish around the same time.  And it worked.  All the teams finished within 1 hour of each other.  Caleb's younger team started at 6:30, with David's more mature team starting at 8.  The young guys did not allow the older team to catch them!

 We knew this would be a challenge for Caleb, as he has not been doing much running and he would be on a team of Jr. Higher who have been training some.  Caleb was the youngest and only knew one person at the start of the day.

 He ran leg 2, which his dad ran with him, which was flat and on the bike trail.  These pictures are from leg 15, it was mostly down hill with a couple of short steep spots.  Both his legs were right at 3 miles each.  And yes, he caught that team in front of him!

 As you can see, he was really pushing himself.  I think to prove his worth to the older guys who were giving him a bad time about not being old enough for their team.  I think he showed them he could pull his own weight.

 Congratulations Caleb on a job well done.  He even ran an extra leg with the last guy because their bike broke down and Caleb didn't want him running along our sometimes scary bike trail by himself.  Here you see him handing off to the girl on his team who was to run next.

 David ran leg 8 along the river and 18 here at the end with lots of uphills through the vineyards,  beautiful, but hard.  If you look closely you can see his teammate across the highway.  They were allowed a wave pass off here due to the high traffic at this intersection and not wanting anyone to take chances getting across.  Love the smile.  YES, running makes my man SMILE!

 His legs are taped up.  I am getting pretty good at  it.  It seems to help his Achilles tendon not be so painful.  For the last 4 years or so most of his arthritis pain settles in his ankles.  He has beginning fusion there, but does not allow it to slow him down if he can help it. Love his little wave to me :)

It was a wonderful day for all.  I finished Hannah's hair with NO burned fingers, but wax all over my carpet :(

I got 3 checkbooks (Ours, David's work one, and Grandma's) all balanced and bills paid!  Yeah!

Drew ran his first race of the season today too and was very happy with his results---Go Cougars!

This and That...

The kids went fishing with Dad today, and as you can see were successful.

Hannah was even successful at napping between the catches and waking up to get the net ready for each catch!

Caleb was successful in catching the most and the biggest fish!

David has been successful at playing well all day--fishing this morning, golfing this afternoon, and dessert with friends tonight.

I, on the other hand, had great plans for my quiet morning with no kids, and other than finishing the small basket of ironing, most of what I had to do today came to frustration and incompleteness.

All I can say is God was working on my get it done attitude and saying, take it easy!

So I will try this afternoon :)

You ever had one of those weeks where you got so much accomplished, you feel very in control.  Well that was my week.  Guess He is reminding me that He is in control and His timing is best.  Though I want to get so much done before we are called away to hold babies :) --guess I am doing my own nesting---  I need to recall that all is in His amazing hands and His grace will cover all my sort-comings and that it is through His hands that I accomplish anything at all.

So now for a few minuted of down time before heading out to jui jitsu and some reading while Caleb is working out :)

I Heart Rogue Valley

 Our family joined many other from our church and other churches around the the valley to participate in I Heart Rogue Valley this morning, and we look forward to hearing Nick Vujicic speak this evening.

 Our project was to paint benches, tables, garbage cans, and signs up on one of the local hiking paths.

Here are David and Caleb working on one of the benches.

You might notice the quantity of paint on both Caleb and his friend Cora, I think there was a little paint fight going on there !

 My friend, Nichele, Hannah and I repainted this really old sign that was barely legible.

We were thankful we were mostly on the shady side :)

Though you can't see it here, Hannah decided to paint her arms mostly white while I was not looking--She looked like my little Oreo.

Fun day, now looking forward to hearing Nick Vujicic speak tonight.  If you do not know who he is, please watch the video and be encouraged. 

Some Amazing Sights

 We had the opportunity yesterday to go to a friends taxidermy shop as a home school field trip.

We saw this amazing albino elk!

 And this beautiful antelope.

 And this gigantic Buffalo just getting ready to get started.

 It was fun to have David with us since it was a holiday off work.

And yes that is a whole herd of elk drying to be sent off to a Cab*las Store.

 Hannah demonstrating just how tall these guy are, and there were 5 of them.

 Here Hannah is enjoying watching them put teeth into a jaw for a bear skin rug.

 Both the kids getting a close up of how large a moose's antlers really are!!

A herd of elk with a herd of kids, or do you call them a pack, or a flock.......

Catching UP!!!

 David and I were just discussing this week how much has been happening in our lives in the recent past.

I have been neglectful of my blog and many family and friends keep up with the goings on through this, so here goes some major catch up.

ENJOY!

 Danielle and Ryan have been settling into their new house and making it a home.

Lots of remodeling and make overs happening in their little place.

They are trying to stay ahead of Justice tearing it all apart:)

Ryan has just received a promotion at his work also!

Congratulations Ryan!

 Erinn and Michael are FINALLY settling into their new home in Wahiawa, Hawaii (please don't ask me to try to say that)!

They spent one month in Texas with no furniture and 2 months in Hawaii living out of suitcases in a hotel---it was on the beach though.

They are looking forward to settling into one place and being together for more than 3 months without having to move:)

Erinn has just accepted a position with Hawaii Behavioral Health.  She will be working with kids with disabilities helping them to become more independent.

Congratulations Erinn!

 Drew has won his last two college indoor mile races setting a personal best each time!

He is looking forward to racing on a longer track hopefully on the 11th in Seattle, which we are hoping to go see.  For those of you who do not know WSU has a small 200m non-banked indoor track.  Racing 1 mile on that is slower than on longer tracks and harder on the legs.  Still he ran a 4:13 mile!

As you can see from the picture there is more going on in his life!

He is referring for flag football for a couple of months.  It is at the college and they work around his schedule.  It is a perfect opportunity for him to earn a few extra bucks while still keeping up his commitments with running and school, both of which are important and he receives scholarship money for both, so he can't let them slack.

Congrats Drew on all your hard work!

 Caleb and Hannah both learned to cross country ski this last week.  

It was very icy and not such great snow to learn in, but they were both troopers.

As you can see from the difference in their attire, Caleb was a little over dressed for the weather!  I think he sweated through three of his 6 layers-LOL!

Sweet Hannah has finished 1st grade!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a major accomplishment.

Not only that, but she finished it in a calendar year----the first time that has happened with any of her schooling.

The only subject she is still in first grade for is math, a more troublesome concept for many African children!

We are so proud of her effort and the amazing strides she is making.

She also wants to have LOTS of girls over for her birthday party.

This is also big as she is usually fairly afraid of her peers.  We are hoping having them all on her turf will be good for her!

Congratulations Sweet Girl!

David had the sweet privilege of finishing a marathon relay with his friends, Nate and Dustin!

The marathon was split three ways giving them the marathon feel without all the miles, which David's body is having a hard time dealing with.

After the marathon he was out for a few weeks, but I am happy to say he may already be back on the running road.

He is a much happier and content person when he is able to run.

He is also trying a new medicine for his arthritis.  With his first shot this week, he is not ready to say whether it works any better than his old stuff yet, but he is loving that he will only need a shot every two weeks instead of every week!

I love you my man!

This is what I have been spending a lot of time on.

It is Hannah's Birthday quilt.

It is not finished yet, but close.

I am slowly adjusting to having just littles at home and missing my big kids!

This project kept me busy.

We are so thankful for the many blessing and stretching things that fill our lives---

Hopefully you enjoyed the catch up too!

A Smile

When I went out to the mail yesterday, look what I found.

Makes you smile, doesn't it.

And I had my name on it:)

Not the kids!

Something fun just for me!






Inside I found this lovely gift from my sister and brother-in-law, Sandi and David in Texas.

David brought them home from his travels.

What a lovely surprise.

What a nice smile at the end of week 3 of partial schooling:)

An Interesting Ride

Anyone who has known our family for long----knows that it does not take much for a simple outing to become a major outing:/

So Saturday morning David checked his facebook as I was finishing my devotions.

He ran upstairs and asked if I minded if he joined some friends on an quick morning bike ride--I asked to join in and we were almost out the door in 5 minutes.

Then we worked on getting the tires pumped up--our pump is broken.

As we finally arrived at our friends, they had left because it took us too long to get the bikes ready and we had forgotten our cell for them to call us.

So we headed out after them thinking we would catch them on their way back.

Well I had been on a limited calorie diet for the few days before and was struggling some as we were hitting the end of the path and still had missed our friends.

At this point we turn around and start back. David is behind me and says my back tire is a little low.

I was thinking with our morning luck with pumps, let's just leave it.

Well of course---we didn't---and of course----it went flat!

So I started walk/running with the bike.

David started biking home to get the car to come get me.

Well.....

He got a flat on the way home!

Seriously!

So by the time he got back to me I had biked about 7 miles and run/walked about 5.

With no water, because "this was going to be a 'little' ride".

Now these things seem to happen to us on a regular basis in our normal week.

It really is never boring around here!

Joni and Friends Dance

Our beautiful Hannah all ready to go square dancing.

She does have a dramatic flair!

Joni and Friends of Southern Oregon puts on a square dance every year in our area.

Hannah was very excited to go and try out her dress and dance with dad.

With her developmental delays this group is great for her.

She is accepted for her differences in social interaction.

And things usually move slow enough for her to follow.

When I got back from picking up Caleb at football you could tell she was getting a little overwhelmed.

Too much auditory information flowing and too fast.

An hour was great and she LOVED dancing with dad.

Last of Texas Pics

One of our days in Texas, Erinn gave me a tour of Fort Hood.

We enjoyed the 3rd Armored Carvery Division (ACR) museum.

I really enjoyed learning the long history of this brave group of men.

We wish you all home safely and soon!

Memorial to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. May we never forget.

We were also blessed to visit the 6th floor museum in Dallas.

This museum is located at the spot where JFK was assassinated.

Here the X marks the spot where he was shot.

This is the window from where the shooting took place.

And the memorial to John F. Kennedy

I have always loves bronze statues!

My little sister Sandi and I with some of the long horns!

But there was a lot of them. On a normal day there would be water running down all of this, but they were cleaning that day! What a smell! And in the 105 degree weather!

There was a small cemetery next to the sculptures.

To my surprise we found this monument to the soldiers who fought for the Confederate States of America.

I forgot how far east I had come.

Here you can see Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson.

The first stone I saw that so surprised me.

We saw this quote of the Newspaper office.

It would be great if all the news services still followed it.

Erinn with her cousin, Colby.

And Erinn with her cousin, Micah.

Micah would only give us a growl face, so Erinn did too.

The cattle drive in old town Fort Worth.

Texas Trail of fame markers in the sidewalks.

A Texas sized burger on a very hot and sweaty day!

Just some fooling around!

This is how we ended many of our hot days.

Though the pool was warm, it was wet!

This is my sister, Sandi, and her oldest, Colby.