All dressed up and we can't get out.

This was our dilemma yesterday.  We got all dressed up, loaded everything into the car.  We were able to back it up a little bit, but then got stuck.  Scott tried digging us out, but we weren't going anywhere.  It didn't help that we had a donut tire on from Thursday.  We should hopefully be getting a real tire tomorrow.  Scott called around and there were others in the same situation.  It's now Monday night and the wind has started to die down a bit.  Scott tried to dig around the van a bit, but it's so heavy and there's at least 4 feet to dig through. Our neighbor said that he should be able to come sometime tomorrow.  That will help tremendously, especially since our propane is down to 8% and we're waiting on a delivery. They need to be able to get around to the back of the house to put it in.  I'm praying that God will keep the propane up like the widow's oil in the Bible. I know He can do it and trust that He'll be with us no matter what.  You might be wondering what we did for church yesterday. Well, we went to Pinecrest:).  No, we didn't drive all the way back to Georgia.  We watched it online:).  We were able to watch Pastor Mack preach the last sermon of the series we heard while we were there.  So thankful for technology.  Yes, Scott could have preached to us, but it was nice to sit together once again and listen to the preaching as a family.  Elyssia asked if we could "go" to Grandma's church again next week.  I told her that we can watch the Sunday evening sermon, because it's on at 4, but we wouldn't be staying home on purpose.  We're really looking forward to being with our church family again!  Here are a couple pics of the kids all dressed up for church:

Getting their shoes polished.

Ready?

The young man takes his polishing job very seriously!

The girl with their dolls.

They had their dolls dressed up "fancy".

Kiersten is out of her crib now.

"Just me, Mama."

The girls have been sharing a bed for all of vacation and Kiersten doesn't like going to be without her sister anymore.  She tried climbing out of her crib and fell yesterday so we decided to put away the crib.  She really couldn't sleep on the top bunk, so Elyssia said that we should take it off.  She doesn't like having to sleep in the crib with baby and it was hard to sleep in the bottom bunk without bonking her head.  We cleaned the room up afterwards and the girls LOVE it!  There is so much room now.  My goal is NOT to fill it up:).  I'd like to get some curtains up sometime soon and Elyssia requested that we paint their room like Cameryn's and Caleigh's in Georgia.  We'll see.  It's nice to see how close the cousins got during our visit. Thanks to Skype they can continue talking even when we're far apart.
  This morning we got back on schedule with school, etc... We started the day off with a pancake breakfast and due to dwindling bread supplies Scott asked if he could bake more bread,  Tonight we had beef au jus sandwiches.  They were quite good and although Garrison was skeptical at first he quickly decided that it was really good.  We'll probably use the leftovers to make a stew tomorrow.
  The grandparents and Uncle have delayed their trip a bit, due to the weather.  They're hoping to come tomorrow, but it will depend on the weather. 
  We also started reading Tom Sawyer to the kids.  We'd told them a bit before our trip to Hannibal, but figured we would read the book when we got home.  So far they think it's pretty interesting.  I hadn't read it in quite some time and didn't remember Tom being such a rascal. 
  I should be taking more pictures of devotions each evening, but there's been so much to remember that I got out of the habit.  Maybe tonight...
  Today I heard something very pleasant.  We were sitting at the supper table and Elyssia said, "Yay, we have dirty dishes to wash!"  Garrison said, "what about me, I want to be the fisher!" The one that uses the tongs to fish them out of the hot rinse water.  Those two happily washed the dishes tonight and everybody seemed more than happy to help with their jurisdictions(places and jobs that they keep clean in order to help their family.).  We've been working more with each of them and showing them how the house runs smoothly and there is more joy when the cleaning load isn't all put on 1 or 2 people.   It may get done slower or with a little more water mess, but the long term rewards are priceless:).
  Tonight I also heard the older two children discussing more siblings.  Garrison said, "First mommy can have 2 boys and then she can have two girls."  Elyssia said, "maybe a girl and then a boy."  Then Garrison said, "Maybe 3 girls and 3 boys, then we'll have 12 people in our family.  Where did this boy learn to add. He was telling me that 6 plus 6 was 12 today, but figuring it out to add the 6 in our family and 3 plus 3 to add up to 12 is pretty amazing for a 4 year old.  So, we shall see what comes in the days ahead.  I told them that the decision of boys or girl is up to the Lord, so we can be happy either way.  We do prefer to not have them 3 at a time though:).
  That about wraps things up for now.  Signing off from a cold country praying for Spring!

How did we get missed???

  There was Spring type weather all the way from Georgia up to about an hour from the Canadian border.  Somehow we seem to have missed the memo that it's Spring.  There is more snow here than when we left.  It's up as high as 6 feet behind the house.  Elyssia's playhouse is getting harder and harder to see.  I'm not sure how quickly it will melt, but I'm thinking that we might have a lot of work in store for us.  I long for Spring, but not the muddy messy part of it:).  I'm at the point where I'm going to be thankful to see the grass again though and will gladly accept the mud along with it. We might need to shove some snow away from the house to avoid flooding when it does melt.  So much to think about and do.  The last of 4 loads of laundry is in the dryer.  The enchiladas for tomorrow's potluck is in the fridge.  There are fresh cookies and the cake has been ordered, thanks to the kindness of a lady in our church.  Tomorrow is the 2nd Anniversary of our church! So excited and praying that the roads will be clear enough for us to get there and back safely tomorrow.  We have an appt. on Monday to have the tire put on the van and get some groceries.  I'm thankful that we picked up milk and eggs on the way home.  We haven't gone out since arriving and I've already used quite a bit of milk and one of the cartons of eggs:).  What can I say, there's a hungry crew living here.
  Tonight's post may seem a bit boring compared to the past couple weeks, but such is life.  Coming back from vacation and adjusting to normal living again.  When I start to miss my family, the Lord reminds me of those lost in the Tsunami.  When I'm tempted to complain about the snow, the Lord reminds me of the destruction in Japan.  A little water in the house, if it comes, will be nothing compared to seeing you house and family washed out to sea.  We're praising the Lord tonight in our little house here on the prairies.  Thankful for the time away and the safe travels home. Looking forward to fellowship in HIS House tomorrow!  Good night y'all.  Couldn't resist:).

Travel posts...

You'll have to travel back a bit in my blog to go through our trip home in the right order.  I wasn't quite sure how I should put it. I'm sure you can figure it out though.  Hope you enjoy all the pics. I ended up taking over 950 pics on vacation.  I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I didn't post ALL of them:).Have a great weekend everyone!