Saturday, November 26, 2011

Joys of Thanksgiving

Putting the extra leaf in the table...

Building a choo choo train with the chairs...


A feast with family and friends...

Bible, prayer, and sharing of thanks...
 Thanks giving was commanded in the Old Testament... it is still a command from the New Testament  to:  ..."in all things, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus...."  The pilgrims were just obeying the commands of their God as we obey the commands of the same God today.  It's just pretty neat that we have a legal holiday set aside just in case we forget!  I'm thinking that every month we should celebrate because we do forget rather quickly to be thankful in everything!
A trip outside at more than minus 20 to get some sledding in...

The day after Thanksgiving sale of flannel fabric...
 The older girls and I braved Black Friday at Jo-Ann's Fabric and came home with three bolts of flannel and then some.  They were selling an entire bolt for $12.00.  Everyone is getting new flannel clothing for Christmas.  Baby decided it made a great nest to nap in...
This is where I'll nap today!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Alaskan Entertainment

Icicle burglar

Showing off the prize!

Enjoying the noonday sun

Mama's Alaskan Head Gear

Baby's head gear:  sister's swim goggles

Peeling logs with a draw knife

This is hard work!

It takes two to hold the log down... thanks sister!
The winter is really here with close to a foot of snow and sub zero temperatures... we still go outside, it's just that we don't last as long on the really cold days.  The sun just peeps through the trees now.  It gets light around 9:00ish in the morning and gets dark around 4:30ish.  Already the sun seems far away...

Monday, November 7, 2011

Reach for the Globe!

Why do we say, "reach for the stars" when we all know good and well that we never will!  Anyone else out there tired of reaching for the unreachable stars?  I sure am.  I'm just going to settle for enjoying the view and getting on with enjoying my life here on the planet Earth.  Don't get me wrong, now, it's great to be reaching and growing and striving for positive change.... it's just that we can't get obsessed with it and miss the point of just enjoying the moment.  Every moment we have with each other as human beings should be cherished!  Don't wait for the dream vacation or the trip to the zoo or a fancy date to start enjoying one another.  Enjoy one another as you do the dishes and as you clean up and as you walk along the road and as you rise up and so forth in daily work and daily play and daily life....  How wonderful and fun and exciting life could really be if we just simply embraced all the  moments that we had with one another.  Even the hard ones, the lonely ones, the tired ones, the trying ones, the ones that maybe we'd like to forget...  well, I'm on another rabbit trail...

Back to questioning the wisdom of the phrase, "reach for the stars"...
I say, the stars reach us!  The light from the closest stars you see left four years ago to get to your eye.  I have great news!  No more reaching for the stars!  They come to you!  And even more amazing then this is that God created the stars on the fourth day of creation, fully functional!  Fully able to penetrate how ever many light years away in one breath!  How could the earth possibly have been created in six literal days?  How could the entire Universe run and function on such exact laws that nothing runs amiss?  How could man not see the power and might of His loving Creator displayed in such detail in these last days with all the technology at his disposal?!  How is it that we miss so much yet have so many answers?   

Every new home school year brings a new verse on which I must focus.  This year it is found in Joshua 1:9 and says, "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest."  There is no where that man goes that God has not been there already!  I love it! 

Give up reaching for the stars and GO FOR THE GLOBE!  Everyone needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ...  the work is done!  Spread the news.  We don't have to be good.  We don't have to earn God's favor.  Jesus death, shed blood, and resurrection is enough.  We are co-heirs with Jesus.  This is awesome and worth shouting from the mountaintops or from my computer if that's all I've got.

Good Thing We Like Snow!

Viewing the driveway from just off the front deck...
 P.S.  Don't ever take a road trip through Northern B.C. , The Yukon Territory or Alaska during the month of October!  We made it, frozen pillows and blankets stuck to the windows!  The front cab of the pickup was toasty but the camper was basically an overgrown ice cube!  At one point, for several hours nearing the Alaskan border, we had the heater turned up all the way to 90 degrees and it was still so cold that you could see your breath!  We had the best fun anyway!  I played a game of battleship with my 12 year old son that I'll never forget!  Sailing over frost heaves in the road while trying to get our numb fingers to push in the travel size pegs was hilarious!  We haven't laughed that long and that much in a long time.  It did help that we had chocolate handy as well!  So by the time we made it home, we were so happy to be just HOME!!!  We made it in five days from Monmouth, Oregon.  By the time we got home, the entire plumbing system was completely frozen.  It's a long story, better told by my husband...
Can you see me Mommy?

How long am I going to have to pose?

Anyone for a ride?
It is beautiful out today!  It's been snowing steady for the past day and night.  This morning we measured the snow.  Six inches!  It's so light and fluffy, almost like sand.  The kids are loving it!  I take the two littlest ones out everyday for 30 minutes to an hour if it's not to cold.  Usually baby gets towed around, much to his delight, by his three year old sister who enjoys it as well.  The older kids last much longer and go out any chance they can.  I know the excitement of fresh snow will eventually wear off around January and February...  but until then, it is great fun! 

Everything is so soft and pure and quiet.  There's hardly a breath of breeze and every tree and bush is covered in puffy white.   Even the night snow is gorgeous!  Daddy put in a motion sensor light a few days ago off the back porch.  It is a wonderful sight to see the diamond like snowflakes gently swirling to the ground.  You could just imagine as you look up against the black night sky that it's diamond dust, a little chilly that is, being sprinkled down all over you.

Friday, November 4, 2011

2011 Fall Family Photos

Seven Strong who Belong to The King of the Universe 
My best friend from high school, Desiree Maerz, did a photo shoot with my family in Kamloops, B.C. in early October of this year.  We left Alaska for the month of October to see friends and family in Washington and Oregon.  We met Desiree and her husband for a couple days in Kamloops and had fun visiting, swimming, and even had a rooftop B-Que with bubble blowing to boot!

Just the Boys!

Sweet "Belle"

Sweet "Nanny"

"Miss Kicker Legs"