Good Times!

This weekend was very busy, but quite wonderful! We were bustling about getting ready for the Christmas supper at the church, last minute baking, etc...

We almost didn't make it to the morning service. The wind and snow were blowing through the night and the drifts across the road were incredible! It was like hitting waves in a speedboat, only we were driving a minivan and they were snowdrifts;).

The kids were well behaved at church, which is always a huge blessing:).

We came home in the afternoon to bake the pies and put get the Turkey soup. The drive back to town the second time was MUCH better! I'm very thankful for all the ladies who were helping. It made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable and the fellowship was a blessing.

We met some new people and enjoyed fellowship with some that we hadn't seen in awhile. The weather was -21 and may have kept some people home, but we thank the Lord for those that came and look forward to seeing what the Lord will do in the year ahead.


Merry Christmas to all our family and friends that we can't be with tomorrow!

Life changes so quickly...

In the midst of an exciting day some of the Hutterite girls came up to let me know that my friend, Miriam, lost her baby boy today. This is the 3rd baby that she has miscarried in the past 8 years. Feeling sad at her loss and praying for healing for her and the family. I know that they were REALLY looking forward to this new little one. She was further along this time and thought that they'd be holding the new little one in the New Year. Looking forward to meeting this little boy in Heaven and praying for wisdom to be a comfort to a friend...

Hoping they win the competition!

Jason put this video together for a competition that the school entered.  Cameryn is singing and Chandler is playing the drums:).  Proud sister/Auntie moment!

Christmas Break

I was going to tell the kids that we were starting our Christmas Break today, but then just decided to tell them that it's field trip day:). We're going to the Hutterite Colony to watch their Christmas Concert. We're excited to see what the play will be about this year. The music is always good, the play is always a surprise;).

I'll leave you with a couple cute pics of the kids to get you through til after Christmas...

Babies, Babies, Babies...

I'm very excited that 3 of my friends have now been removed from my prayer list. The reason is because they are now holding those precious little ones and enjoying one of the best early Christmas presents ever! Angie had a little girl. Amanda had a little boy and Hannah had a boy. I'm loving the names-Audry,Lincoln and Liam.

Praying all the best for these families as they bond with their little gifts from the Lord. May they have wisdom to guide these little ones as they grow and point them to the Saviour.

Addicted to Productivity

Is this a bad thing? It's so nice to see things coming together. It all started with learning to make pajamas. Everyone in the family is getting some for Christmas except Scott and myself. Even Elyssia's doll gets some:). Then I thought of something else to make and couldn't seem to stop. I'll wait til after Chr

I'm very excited to see the kids response to the homemade gifts that they haven't seen me making. I think waiting is the hardest for Elyssia. She declares at least once a day that it's too long to wait for all the surprises:).

Only 2 more big days to get through before we get to Alberta. Friday we're heading to the Glidden Hutterite Christmas Concert. Scott has to be somewhere else, so I'll be taking the kids by myself for the first time. We've visited without Scott, but not gone to the concert alone. Thankfully we know quite a few people that will be there, so I'm thinking it will be lots of fun. The second thing is our community supper that we're offering to the community on Sunday night. There have been a couple of responses already, so I'm hoping that means we'll have quite a few that come to share in the celebration of Jesus' Birth and allow us to be a blessing by serving them this one night of the year.

The kids have been very busy making their own surprises and finishing up the last week of school before holidays. There have been several interruptions, but overall we're quite a bit ahead of schedule. Looking forward to taking a break from things. We'll continue with the History lessons, since that's the kids favorite subject right now. I'm enjoying learning a lot of it for the 1st and 2nd time with them:). They're currently snuggled inside a homemade teepee in our living room discussing canoeing upstream and Jacques Cartier, etc...

The kids learned how to play Duck, Duck, Goose today. It was really funny to see Addie walking around bopping the others on the head and saying, "Duck!"

Caleb has recently been printing his name over and over. I'm thrilled that he mostly taught himself how to do it too:). I showed him a couple times, but he was the one that stuck with it and kept writing it til it looked right.

There's a certain warm glow coming from both the kids rooms. They really wanted to decorate their rooms, so I gave them each a set of Christmas lights. I have to say that it looks pretty cool. I didn't take a picture though, cause I never really get the colors right for those.

Happy Happy Wednesday!

Flying By In A Blur...

That's kind of how my mind is feeling as I try to think of what to write today. I really should be writing in the evening, while things are fresh, but I've been choosing to get a little extra sleep on the nights that we're not out and about with ministry opportunities. I'm really not sure if Addie's late night eating is a phase or a habit that she's gotten into. It starts about midnight and she seems to think she needs to eat every hour or so after that. It's really changed the way that my body functions right now. I'm feeling more alert in the middle of the night and a bit more fuzzy during certain parts of the day. This too shall pass though, for they are only little for such a short time. Besides that, she makes up for it by being so loving and snuggly, so I can't stay upset about the lack of sleep for long, even if I wanted to:).

Today is the last jam delivery day that I'll be making until after the New Year. It's given me time to bake a little and discover a wonderful recipe for Honey Wheat Bread. I love that it makes 3 loaves too, because we're going through amazing amounts of bread as the kids get bigger and have their growth spurts. What better to give them than Bread with Butter and Homemade Jam:). Looking forward to next year when the butter will be from our own animals too! Scott was able to locate a goat that we should be able to purchase in the spring. It'll be nice to have the extra milk and cream fresh instead of needing to get up to 5 gallons a week at the store now.

Also on the agenda is locating some chickens. Some for eating and some for eggs. I think the biggest hurdle will be getting Sam to see them as part of the farm and not something to try to chase off. They might not lay eggs for a couple days if he scares them. Hopefully it won't take very long for him to accept them and not go crazy when he sees them.

Last Saturday Scott let me go for a sewing day. It was a very productive and fun day. We were able to get pajamas made for the older two and if we hadn't made a mistake with the back part of the pants for the younger 2 they would be done too. Will be finishing those up at the church this afternoon:). We also tried to do button holes. It went pretty good on the spare material that we tried it on, but not as good on the pajamas. Thankfully it's not really visible and we just decided to go with the elastic instead of drawstring. It inspired me to do more sewing though, so I'm hoping to finish a couple more gifts before Christmas and through the rest of the winter.

School is always interesting. The latest History lessons were on Henry the 8th. I knew a bit about him, but never really went in depth with it. The kids know far more than I ever knew and even Kiersten remembers quite a bit of what was taught. The good and the bad...

Well, I'd better start rounding up kids and loading things into the van. Elyssia worked quickly and is finished with most of her subjects. Garrison can read to me in the van:). Homeschooling definitely has benefits!

Happy Wednesday!

Helpful Blessings

I haven't posted that much since last week-too busy cleaning up all the little flu victims. It struck Addie first , poor thing didn't know what hit her. All those long night feedings spent building up her weight are gone, but thankfully she's quite perky now. She also has 8 teeth and had a growth spurt! One by one we've succumbed, but I'm ever so thankful that I was the last. I remember one flu season that I had it at the same time and it's hard to clean up the others while sick and gagging. I got it last night and that brings me to the reason for this post.

The little ones really seemed to take Daddy's advice this morning when he told them to "take care of Mama". There has been quite a bit of discord lately with those well enough to engage the others and I wasn't looking forward to Scott's departure for work. God's full of suprises though. They banded together to wash dishes, feed animals, amuse Addie and even put in some laundry. Elyssia finished all the schoolwork that she didn't need help with and Garrison even took the time to do some:). This has been a huge blessing and the quiet rest time this morning has helped me to feel quite a bit better. I don't know if I'll be up for the big grocery trip this evening, but it's nice to be walking around a bit today. The sun is shining!

A Thankful Monday for this Mama!

p.s. I just heard Kiersten telling Caleb-"You will get sick". "You'll be throwing up tonight". Such an encouraging sister;).