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!  :)

one hour, one shot, one God

It just occurred to me 

that 12 years ago I would have never, ever, EVER 

had the impulse to take, look at, print,

let alone *post* a photo of a dead animal...

My husband is good for me! 

Adrian took the day off because today I was supposed to serve on jury duty. 

The court case was cancelled. 

Adrian went hunting. 

He sent me this with a note: 

one hour hunting, one shot, God is good! 

yes, God is so very good to us!

October

Daddy took the kids on a grouse hunt / hike / enjoyable day!

Mommy loved the *quiet house* and the stories that came back with them!  

Missed a photo of Aunt Sandy's visit too, but we had a fun tea party and visit with her!  

We visited the local pumpkin patch which offers activities of all kinds ~
our family's favorite were the pedal go carts they offered ~
driving on their own, racing between straw bales
and playing "bumper carts" was tons of fun!

One of Jaci's favorite things in life is driving!  

the patch also offered Tractor rides and these 4 wheeler pulled water barrel "cows".

So, Aaron is this really funny kid to me.  He is the first child that can end the day with his clothes completely shredded!  He will come up to me and say, "Mom, I don't know how this happened...."  That happened about 3 times in one week, and I only took a photo of the jammies...

funny boy!  The rip was too high to make shorts out of them!
We also lost 1 pair of jeans to a rip, and 1 shirt to a scissor hole that week...

poor Buddy also battled a staph infection for a couple of weeks!
Here he is in the bath with a mix of staph and chocolate on his face...

E&T attend a homeschool choir each Tuesday this year.
They like to stay at school for lunch,
so they pack their own lunch ahead of time...
in Adrian's "vintage" snoopy lunch box!

 So then I had this great idea to get some photos of all our kids + all our animals!  I knew it would be a challenge, but uou never know unless you try... 

Have you ever tried posing 5 kids, 3 horses, and 2 dogs? 

baby horse didn't realize it was her face we wanted to see!

white dog didn't know what this was all about...

deaf old black dog decided to move on...

baby horse nibbles on Orion...

another setting... but everyone is still wiggly...

....we gave Pip the prize for being the most mellow.

..and since we didn't try to include the cats and chickens in the photography...
here's Tessa's beloved Tika!  

Aaron with a mellow hen..

this old dog has retired from chasing balls...
from jumping up on people...
but in some ways she still manages to appear puppy-ish!
Look at those big black ears!
She still wags and barks very thankfully for her breakfast and dinner!
And she still manages to slobber on your leg, especially if you
are not wearing your farm clothes!  (right, Sandy?!)
she is 14, and we are enjoying every last day we have with her!

Timmy is growing!

This is Tika's brother, Timmy!  Tessa runs outdoors as soon as she wakes up every morning to say hi to them.  She greets them with her teeth clenched together, in utmost adoration, much like she did to her brothers when they were babies.  She calls them "teenagers" right now, 'cause they're in between little kitten and big cat stage.  They have habits like meeting us at the back door in the morning, hunting in the field after breakfast, sharpening their claws on the wooden fence, and romping with Aspen until they are tired of her playfulness...and they slip back through the fence.  I am not really a "cat person", but I have truly loved these kittens.  They are so  much fun.  They both come RUNNING full speed when we call them.  I especially like Tika's eyes, coloring, and soft coat.  But Timmy may be all of our favorite, just because he has sooooo much personality!  I think I love him because he doesn't act at all like a cat!  :P  He takes any amount of handling from the kids with a grin on his face.  He jumps up on the window sill to watch us while we are dining.  When the kids go for a run, he goes with them!  No joke!  He went on a 1 mile run with them just last night!  I'm glad he doesn't wander when not accompanied by our family!  

The chickens stopped producing eggs after the first cold snap we had in October.  So we introduced a heat lamp /light in their coop, and their production has increased again.  Our typical yield in October was 1 egg collected: 1 egg dropped.  So we actually had to purchase store bought eggs once.  The parents are now the egg collectors.

A few days ago, the kids & I were just talking about how God made everything, so Orion interrupted and exclaims, "Hey mommy!  Hey mom!  God made moon!"  To which I agree and praise him and name some other things God made.  Following this, he went around every few seconds saying "God made books!"  or "God made Daddy!"  and "God make Gramma Mary".  He seems to be thoroughly enjoying his new-found talent of speaking in complete sentences!  WE thoroughly enjoy HIM!!

all sisters dress up their baby brother, right?

September

Our September in pictures...

Our first and only Doland cousin, Charli visited!  

Gramma L with Orion + Charli

While they were here, we visited Glacier National Park.
This was my first time on the Going to the Sun Road.

Trying to capture the immensity, the majesty, the beauty of
this park is futile ~ you just gotta see it yourself!

We went to the top of the pass and hiked the Hidden Lake Trail

they day our company left, our kids fell really ill
I was glad they mostly slept it off;
here is our living room littered with pitiful sick children!

Somehow food is more fun to eat when it's out of the ordinary!  

Our good friend Amanda came to visit, and we got the idea to take a bike ride!
With the neighbor kids thrown in there, we took 9 kids on a 3 mile ride! 

next, we visited Anaconda.
When Adrian's job took him to that part of the state,
we decided to tag along and say a quick hello to friends!

as kids always do ~ they had so much fun together!

and we were happy they lent us their leaves!

super happy memories from this beautiful place

Two Bear Kids' Marathon

 All summer long, our 3 girls kept record of how many miles they ran (1/4 mile at a time!) or hiked.  The goal was to run a marathon in the summer.  T & J both made it to 25 miles; Ella went on to log 48 miles.  At the beginning of September, they held a "final mile" celebration for the kids.  It was 1.2 miles long, and the kids looked forward to it all summer!  Aaron wasn't old enough to register for the program, but ran the course anyway.  Each child had a buddy to complete the course with: 

Jaci ran with Daddy

Aaron ran with Uncle Paul

Ella ran with Grandpa

Tessa ran with mommy

 Other than the fact that a trip to the bathroom got some of us off to a late start .... and the local ice cream shop that was promised to be there wasn't... and there wasn't face painting ...  it was a pretty fun celebration.  And yes, they all ran the whole way, they all sprinted at the end, and they all impressed us soooo much!  When Aaron ran across the finish line (I wasn't there yet), the announcer proclaimed that he was the youngest kid in the race!  He just might have a future in running!  

red faces, happy hearts, and medals!

 Through September and October, the girls also participated in the local cross country program.  It's free, it's fun it's well organized, and its an activity all the kids can participate in!

There's Jaci on the right, nearing the finish. 

E&T at the starting line

finished!

Somehow I missed photos of Uncle Phil's visit, but I'm thankful to pick up the camera as often as I do!  :)