November musings

Here is a "different" flavor of photos....

They are photos I didn't take.

The kids daily leave my camera or iPad with a plethora of photos they have taken...

....I have weeded out hundreds.... but I do like how their photos depict "real life"

when I am prone to just take photos of the nice, the cute and the memorable ~ 

the kids capture real life.  Here is our real life, 

plus a post I wrote a few weeks ago and never published.

Adrian @ work.  A co-worker took this. 

thank you for the lovely photo, Pam!  

I can see who took this one...

camera hijacker caught again! 

a view of our cluttered desk.  Adrian complains that I leave little notes everywhere.  He's right.

not sure why we need a photo of the trash can full,
but somehow that's how it looks most of the time.

ella was proud of the way she won this Catan game...

apparently Tessa was enjoying knitting with a smoothie.

this is how my kitchen looks when you're not here!
...complete with naked kids.

yes, real life!  

I did take this photo.  The family cutting meat.
We processed 2 deer this year:
one for ourselves and one for a neighbor

winter means time to make soup!

we are thankful for little things...
like the way the tree fell and missed the 4 buildings it could have hit!
This was our Thanksgiving getaway cabin in Anaconda

home away from home!

a daughter photographer

orion took about 200 photos of this scene...

the kids get creative....
I like my husband from both sides!  :)

our drive home after Thanksgiving:
beautiful, but treacherous.
5 hours of ice, ice, ice.
I was so thankful to land safe.  

stopping to give my nerves a break from the road
we both had to drive, as we had taken 2 vehicles in case Adrian was bringing an elk back home...
he saw lots of cows and had a good shot at a spike,
 but couldn't find the bull he had a tag for.

lots of sandwich making.
good for road trips and an afternoon at Fairmont.

that's my boy!
a cowboy hat, underwear, and rubber boots on the wrong feet.
i can't think of anything cuter..

Jaci asked me to take this photo.

selfies

these "I heart you" notes are everywhere in our house!
~thankful~

when kids take a shot, it is not always the most flattering view, but... you get the picture!
...my new favorite skirt!

I recently browsed through my email contacts, and found two people that are no longer alive.  Wow.  Time marches on!  

For the past few weeks, the kids have been working on memorizing the U.S. Presidents, the 50 states along with their capitals and abbreviations.  Wow, that's a lot of memorizing!  

But "poco a poco, se llega lejos"~ 
(little by little, we get far!)  

...it only took the 4 older kids 2 weeks to memorize all 44 Presidents in chronological order ~ wowee!!  I am so proud of them!   We did it with the help of a song found here.  Now Ella is going a step farther and memorizing all of their first/middle names as well as their wives' names.  That's a lot, 'cause only one president wasn't married!  Do you know who?  Do you know how many fathers/sons served as presidents?  Do you know who served two inconsecutive terms?

I didn't either, 'til we started working on it. 

....and then I think to myself...WHY are we doing this?  Some days all the information we learn seems so futile.  I mean, Jesus is coming back and we're spending our time committing "Washington-Adams-Jefferson-Madison" to memory?  How will this knowledge help my children in the future?  I wasn't admitted as a student at Oregon State University because I still remembered the capital of Rhode Island.  I was never asked during a job interview to spell Montpelier or which states were the original 13 colonies.  (Those state abbreviations did come in handy in my various office jobs, however...).  I've never had to sing the Star Spangled Banner in order to qualify for ... anything.  

So, my work often seems futile.  Meaningless some days.  Still, I marvel at their little minds. Before we work on Presidents, states, capitals, Pledge of Allegiance or anything else U.S.A. related, we memorize scripture.  The kids are taking on 3 verses at a time.  Repetition works wonders.  I do like putting God's Holy Word on their minds, and I always ask the Lord to write it on their hearts ~ something only He can do!  

A few weeks ago, I happened upon a conversation in the Hardware store.  I only heard about 2 seconds worth of it, but I heard enough.  Apparently there are a bunch of "preppers" in this valley, and they are talking about the apocalypse as if it will be today.  That's how I should live about Jesus returnin', 'cause it's soon.  But to talk about how we are going to save ourselves with our ammo and all the government corruption and stocking up on years worth of food.. I just know that's not what my Savior wants me to focus on!  When Jesus left, he said, "keep watch"... keep looking up...keep hoping...because he will come back just when you think he wouldn't.  When the world is falling apart (it is), when things look like they couldn't get worse (they could), when you have lost your hope...that is when he will step in to save us.  

...like my husband says, "plan for the best, prepare for the worst".  So I will ask the Lord how that looks.  And trading my pennies for gold is not on my to do list.  

As we finished out studying the book of John over the last few weeks, I was so drawn to read Psalm 22 and Isaiah 58 over and over ~ there are SO many Old Testament prophesies fulfilled surrounding the death of Jesus.  There are 28 alone that were fulfilled on crucifixion day.  Fantastic.  I was making marks all over my Bible, in excitement that God's Holy Bible is the only religious book that has prophesy, fulfilled.  The best commentary on the Bible IS the Bible!  Love that.  

We are now studying verse by verse through the book of Revelation.  It is the revelation of Jesus Christ (1.1).  It is the only book of the Bible that casts a blessing on its reader (1.3).  I'm so glad that the best commentary on the Bible IS the Bible!  I read a verse like Rev 1.13 and read that Jesus was among the lampstands and I wonder "Wait!  What are the lampstands?"  ...but then you keep reading and Rev 1.20 says the seven lampstands are the seven churches."  Phew!  No guessing.  Jesus is into church.  He is among His church.  Oh, they have problems (all about that in Chapters 2 and 3).  But Jesus is still there among them.  What a merciful Savior! 

Paul tells us not to be ignorant about those that have died (I Thes 4.13), and then launches into a description about the end times (I Thes 5).  It is so exciting to know that we are in the end times, and to know that we are very likely to be caught up in the clouds with our Lord Jesus.  People that know a whole lot more about Bible prophecy than me say that there is not a single prophecy that is waiting to be accomplished for the Lord to return. 

Some are looking for the tribulation.  They are hoarding guns and stocking ammunition.  They are making sure that they will be taken care of with the desolation that is to come.  This lifestyle is full of fear (and pride for those who are prepared).  Some are believers, some are not ~ they have an inkling of what the world will look like once the church is removed (Rev 4-19)

As for me and my house, we are looking for the Lord!  I Thes 5.9 says we are not appointed to wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  I am joining the disciples who looked anxiously for Jesus after he ascended (Acts 1.11).  I am joining men of faith, "fixing my eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith" (Heb 12.2).  I agree with Peter who says "Don't forget that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise... he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish." (I Pet 3.8-9)  God cannot be confined by time.  I am excited that Jesus himself confirmed again, "Behold I come quickly!"  

Earthquakes (we felt one last night), plagues, tragedy... all designed to make humanity lift our eyes to God!  He is coming soon!  

And now, back to the silliness: Tessa took a sequence of like 15 selfies.  Here's a sampling:

some photos just won't rotate, so you'll have to rotate your head to see this one.
Sweet Orion signing a card for Operation Christmas Child!
One of Adrian's co-workers took this, printed a poster of it at the office, and emailed it to us. 

Did you make it to the end of this post?  Did you like the out of the ordinary photos?  Leave me a comment so I know who's out there!  :)