Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Today not only do we celebrate the Resurrection of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ, but we also had the joy of celebrating our daughter's birthday! Thirteen years have gone by so quickly... We are so thankful for the gift of Sarah in our lives... and so proud of the young woman she is becoming.
The gift of a beautiful ring... a tangible reminder to strive to maintain strong faith and whole heart purity...
a symbol of our enduring love for her...
and, most importantly, representing the everlasting love of Christ...
We have been enjoying a little break from the normal this week.
We have a very dear friend visiting us ...all the way from Germany.
Andreas ready to go!
Andreas has been an adopted family member from early on in my husband's life. He was a foreign exchange student many years ago in the home of my husband... and they became fast friends for life. I met him the week before my husband and I were to be married, 20 years ago, and he has been a very dear companion to us all of these years.
He and my husband enjoy a lot in common.
A lazy afternoon by Redfish Lake
Mostly, it is their enthusiasm for adventure and exploration through travel...gravel roads... and paths that lead to unpredictable and foreign places.
The difference, Andreas has a bit more "rustic style" running through his veins still... whereas my man has had to forgo the rustic, and adopt a more civilized approach to travel, in order to encourage his bride to travel along side of him.
A Butterfly we found on our Journey
This week, because of my love for Andreas and my husband, I agreed to endure a rustic adventure, in the wilds of the Idaho mountains... tent camping.
Our deluxe three room travel lodge!
My men chopping wood for the fire!
Sarah and Andreas tending the camp fire...
Lucky after our 4 mile hike!
Lumberjack Thomas keeping busy
We enjoyed the beauty of the great outdoors, the smell of cooked bacon and eggs by the camp fire, smores before bed, freezing temperatures and thunderstorms at night.
Our first day was spectacular!
We hiked near Alturas Lake and into the alpine meadows.
Hiking in the forest around Alturas Lake, Idaho
Sarah working on her Nature Notebook
We drove over to Stanley the next day and toured a bit of Red Fish Lake as well.
Stanley, Idaho
Redfish Lake A penny for his thoughts...
Resting by Redfish Lake
What ended up to be our final night, we found ourselves in a terrifying thunderstorm that would not end for over four hours... lightening showered the valley all around us, thunder boomed and echoed against the mountains, sleet, peas sized hail, high winds and torrential downpours pummeled our tent ...yet, through a lot of prayer and laughter, we survived the night none worse for wear.
As we packed up our soggy tent in the rain, we all looked forward to returning to civilization and warmth.
Today my husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary... it began early in the morning adjusting tarps over our tent together to insure the dryness and safety of our family... and ended dining by candlelight, just the two of us, in a lovely Italian restaurant.
We reminisced over all the adventures our life has afforded thus far and looking forward to many more to come!
Me and my best friend...my love...and fellow adventurer, in the journey of life.
It is not an all consuming passion, but it is a deep seated enjoyment of horses!
I don't know how it all started. Perhaps is was her first viewing of Black Beauty... or just falling in love with the beauty of a horse in the pasture...yearning for a horse of her own.
The reality is, a horse of her own, is most likely not in her near future. Yet, we encouraged our daughter to pray and to wait. As life has unfolded we have encountered many opportunities to enjoy and be around horses. God has a way of answering little girls prayers...
Sarah using "Princess" to demonstrate the importance of grooming
One of these opportunities has been involving our family in 4H.
This past month, Sarah has devoted herself to researching, preparing and writing an oral presentation for the Ada County 4H Horse Illustrated Talk/Demonstration contest. This year she chose the topic of "General Horse Care". As always, she is full to the brim with fresh knowledge and eager to share with others all she has learned. She prepared an 8 minute illustrated talk and did a fabulous job presenting her information!
What a joy to see her confidently speaking in public at such a young age.
Sarah received a 2nd Place Ribbon for her efforts!
I always try to begin the New Year with cleaning...
I clean up the Christmas decorations... and spend the day vacuuming and dusting and re-arranging furniture in attempt to create a fresh new start!
This is my own way of preparing my heart and clearing my head...
As it is a New Year, I have been reflecting...
On Christmas day we spent some time talking about giving. Yes, Christmas is truly a time or "season" of giving... but we discussed the idea that the "spirit of Christmas" (or message of Christ) should be spread throughout the entire year. The poor need to be fed... the sick need to be healed... the lonely need to be comforted every day of the year.
We started thinking about how we as a family could be even more giving. We talked about giving as more than just gifts purchased at a store...or money given to the church...or mission organization, but also gifts could include our free time and resources... it is sacrificing what we could have, or want for our selves, for others. It means thinking outside of ourselves instead of focusing inward.
We are waiting to see how God uses our willingness to look around and meet more needs as a family.
This year will be filled with lots of activity, stress, travel, and more... but we are hoping that we can see with eyes of giving this year as we live out each day...
“We need to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives.”
Don't we all get too caught up in the rushing around from thing to thing... all good...(some not)... at different times in our lives?
No time for resting... being silent... or contemplating the reason for it all... Remembering that we, in ourselves, are nothing. Here today... gone tomorrow...
As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children... with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
Psalms 103:15-18
It is easy to forget that.
Life rushes on and we just simply live it... without thinking... just... living life...thinking we are entitled...living with the knowledge of God...without Him as Lord of it.
I truly believe God has more for us in life than all the "good things" we feel we need to fill it with as we rush to achieve the best for our lives and the lives of our children.
How do weeliminate hurry from our lives?
A good question to ponder for a while... Any suggestions?
This afternoon, we enjoyed a slow walk and just rejoiced in God's beauty and found joy in the simple things just outside our door...
Our walking path is lovely...
Amazing colors don't last long in Idaho. They blow away all too soon...
Or are robbed of their last moments of beauty by small children "helping"...
It's time to put the garden to rest for a while. Every living thing, in it's time and way, must rest and rejuvenate in order to produce good fruit.
Tonight the air will dip into the 20's and I am afraid what is left out there tonight will be dead in the morning. So, I went out and harvested what I could and bid my farewell... until next Spring!
Some lessons learned:
* I realizedthat six tomato plants are a bit much for one family...
(I fed the neighbors; canned sauce; froze a ton of them and stillhave more!)
* Next year I will be extra careful... not to plant"wild"sunflower seeds in my boxes again.
(I did not intend to... perhaps the birds helped me out a bit)
*I mustdefinitely start earlier with my greens in the Spring... we loved them so...
* I will make roomfor strawberries...
* ...and maybe some bush beans...
* One, and only one, Zucchini plant is all anybody really needs!
This growing season has been a time of hard work and lots of enjoyment of the fruits of our labor! There is nothing more satisfying than feeding my family with the fresh home grown produce from our own little garden... I am thankful I had the opportunity to plant some seeds and watch them grow...
I just love this day... it is the day I pull out my fall decorations and fill the house with fragrant smelling pumpkin spice candles...
It is a day I reflect on the goodness and plenty God has so richly bestowed...
A day for pumpkins and mums... they just give me a smile... I have become so sentimental about them... they grace my door and home.
My sweater becomes my old friend again...a comfortable second skin... warming me through the chilly mornings and evenings.
I enjoy the scent of apple cider...warming my hand in my favorite mug.
Anyone who knows me well, knows I am looking for a pumpkin patch to wander through... is there anything more wonderful than children seeking out a perfect pumpkin in the brisk fall air?
These are simple things that fill my heart with joy and thankfulness...
"I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" John 10:10b
Today marked the first day of our 2009/10 school year!
We have been busy all summer with lots of activity and learning opportunities... but now it's time to stop and reinforce and gain more knowledge through book learning for a while!
Homeschooling is such a blessing... I am so thrilled that I have the opportunity to be with my children throughout the day.
Education is discipleship; whomever we allow to educate our children is discipling our children.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40 ESV).
This is the main reason my husband and I have chosen to school our children at home. We have been convinced that this is the best way to really "know" our kids and keep their hearts turned toward us... and for them to really "know" and understand us.
Simply walking the road of life together...rather than going in different directions.
Spending a lot of "quantity" time as well as "quality" time (rather than giving them over to others for the "quantity" and hoping the "quality" is good enough).
Homeschooling simplifies our approach to parenting and creates a common, and stable environment for all of us to live out our lives in faith, love, discipline, and educational pursuits.
I write this to remind myself... the importance of my choice... to walk this road. It is never easy to do things that are counterculture, but it sure helps to remember the "why" as you walk the journey...
Over the past few weeks, we have yearned to take just a little more time...to be in the midst of nature... to stop... and be still.
It is so good for the soul... to go into God's natural world and enjoy His amazing handiwork.
After some research, we decided to take a picnic lunch and head for the mountains.
Within an hour we were driving away from the dessert landscape and up over the foothills ...through a beautiful valley... lush with green fields... we decided to take the road less traveled and headed off the beaten track a few miles along the rustic side of the Payette River.
The South Fork of the Payette River
We found a turn off with a fairly steep, but passable, trail down to a white sand bar ... secluded and quiet... Having a moment of insanity, I chose to throw caution to the wind and encouraged my daughter to just scoot down on her bum! Thomas, my fearless son, eagerly held my husband's hand and climbed down the hill like a mountain goat!
Our Mountain Goat!
We made it... chairs, food and toys for the beach... all in one piece!
Mommy and her babies!
The afternoon was spent hunting for rock treasures, enjoying the cool river water... our dog, Lucky, had a great time fetching sticks.
Our Lucky Boy
We enjoyed the occasional kayakers paddling by... but for the most part, we had the place all afternoon to ourselves... it was perfect!
The water was very refreshing ... and cool
Thomas, looking at his toes in the clear water...
Sarah, our resident rock hound
The climb back up the hill was a bit more difficult for the children and the dog... (our 13 year old puppy is not as spry as he used to be)...lots of drama... but we lived to tell all about it...
