Hiking

In the year of 2020, we hiked.  Many Sunday afternoons found us exploring new forests and trails.  On election day, Jim planned a surprise hike to a new trail system with great views that we hope to continue exploring.  And I even took the children hiking on random days off school, even on tough hikes.  One day when it was just a 6 1/2 year old, a 3 1/2 year old, and I, about to ascend a steep path, a couple stopped me to make sure I knew it was very steep.  "Yep!  The 6-year-old requested it. :)"  He preferred running that trail, and still asks to go back. 

I wrote in our Christmas letter that we might have found our family hobby.  I counted 16 hikes from May ~ November of 2020.  

We slowed down stopped over the winter.  In March, when we took our delayed Christmas visit to my parents' in Tennessee, we discovered two super fun trails.  One was down, down, down into a tunnel, and then up, up, up!  The other was through the spring forest and marshlands, but the highlight was running into the forest ranger who I remember coming to speak to my elementary class.  He still is full of enthusiasm and a delightful teacher of children, and LG & LM are, to this day, excited that they got to learn from him out in the wild.  

From March 23 - April 25, 2021, we did four hikes.  And then we stopped.  I'm not sure what happened in May, but then I got sick, and summer passed us by.  

But this past Sunday, thanks to prednisone, hiking poles (yay!!), and a real-feel temp of 89*F (!), we went to a favorite nature area and explored a new-to-us trail.  That nature area never disappoints.  It has it all ~ trails, a playground, a snack shop, and water.  Plus the trails are all pretty flat and wide.  It felt so good to be in the woods!!

I keep my Stowaway Packable 20L Daypack from Eddie Bauer in the van, so I'm always ready to hit the trail.  I make sure it contains bug spray, bandaids, my inhaler & Epipen, some water and granola bars, and we're good to go.  We took a change of clothes today to change out of our church clothes, but even still, 50% of us wore church shoes to hike in. Oh, well! 

I'm hopeful that 2021 will hold even more family hikes for us!

Thankful ~ a school day

Monday September 27th was a day off school for Teacher Institute. 

Wednesday October 6th was early release, with school ending at noon. 

Monday October 11th was a day off school for Columbus Day. 

Looking at the rest of the school year, I can see at least 1-2 days off each month.  

Days off are hard!  Children do not sleep in.  They miss routine.  I almost invariably plan big projects and then our desires for the day are at odds. ;) 

The best days off are when we go exploring and hiking and finding new playgrounds.  But sometimes the weather does not cooperate.  

So, today, Tuesday October 12th I am thankful that it is a normal school day ... and there are three more this week. :)

Harvest

 

Crops ready

Combines taking up both lanes of the road

Driving slowly

Bright lights of combines & tractors dotting the horizon after dark

Tired farmers

Late nights

Long days

Tractors pulling two grain wagons on the main road of our village

80 & 90 year old retired farmers hauling grain

Chaff swirling through the air at the post office parking lot (across from the elevator)

Farm wives riding along in the combine whenever they need a business meeting

Allergies

Children crying because they miss their daddy

Children out of sorts from the disruption in their life

Farm wives holding on, stepping up, making it work

More acutely feeling our need for God's grace

A season

::from the archives:: October 2020::

Thankful ~ prayer books

I am enjoying two of my Christmas books from last year  ~ Every Moment Holy & Piercing Heaven. 

Every Moment Holy has free downloads of excerpts on their website.  Sometimes they post on their FB also. 

Challies wrote a review of Piercing Heaven here, confessing that he never really cared for The Valley of Vision.  I can see his point.  Our pastor quoted from The Valley of Vision during his 15 months of weekday Facebook live prayer times, but he usually extemporaneously updated the language.  

Do you have any prayer books that you find helpful?  We have a whole library shelf (local friends are always welcome to borrow!) that I have used at different times...

A Diary of Private Prayer, John Baillie

31 Days of Praise, Ruth Myers

Praying the Attributes of God, Ann Spangler

A Pastor Prays for His People, Wendell C. Hawley

Sufficient Hope, Gospel Meditations and Prayers for Moms, Christina Fox

Hope Eternal, Selwyn Hughes

Prone to Wander, Prayers of Confession & Celebration, Duguid 

Streams of Mercy, Prayers of Confession & Celebration, Duguid

5 Things to Pray for your Church, Rachel Jones (part of a series)

Prayers of a Parent for Young Children, Nielson (part of a series)

Praying the Bible, Donald S. Whitney

Face to Face, Kenneth Boa

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  ~ Hebrews 4.16

Day in the Life

It was a normal Saturday morning, and it felt so good!

It was a normal Saturday morning, except that I was up by 5 or 5.30 (thanks to steroids), and Little Miss was downstairs by 6.30 (thanks to her nice early bedtime). 

We cuddled. We read. We were quiet. We had breakfast.  She had her favorite which we hadn't had in awhile - frozen waffles!  I had my new favorite - a smashed boiled egg, a Wholly Guacamole mini, and some everything bagel seasoning. She started painting on the easel. I started a book I've been meaning to read for months. 

(Judges for You .... part of a series by The Good Book Company, for reading, feeding, and leading.  I picked it up at Goodwill a couple years ago, and now that our pastor is preaching through Judges, albeit 2 weeks from the end, I had put it in the living room, planning to read along each week to prepare my heart.  I finally did, and I really like it!)

By 8.30, Jim & Little Guy had left for the farm.  After I paid bills, LM and I hopped to the post office, and on to the thrift store, where we dropped off half a trunk load and found a few books we "needed," as well as some pjs for LG.  Home via Dollar General, where I'm trying to shop smarter and only go on Saturdays and use the $5 off $25 coupon.  

Aunt C dropped LG off around noon, and we ate and played and said no to screen time and had baths (using the electric tea kettle to boil water, since our hot water heater died this week).  Around 4.15, we went to pick up Jim and give him a ride to the 15-mile distant field so he could bring more machinery back to the home farm.  LM fell asleep in the van. 

We all vegged with screentime when we got home, and then had a simple but satisfying meal of leftovers or a sandwich, veggies, fruit, and yogurt before falling into bed. 

It was a good day!

Thankful ~ online shopping

Living in the middle of nowhere, having littles, and then living immune-compromised during a pandemic has made me more and more thankful for (& dependent on, I'm afraid) online shopping.

What have I purchased online recently? 

3 pairs of big boy dress socks (Growing boy! and we've worn white tube socks one too many Sundays for my comfort!)

headlamp for hiking/ campfire with Trail Life

birthday gift for 6 year old friend

Badge Magic for Awana uniform

the next Louise Bates Ames books (Your 8 Year Old, etc.)

two printer cartridges which are for missionary care packages at our upcoming missionary conference (our church has a great gift tag system to supply needs & wants that fill the baskets)

kids' water bottles (How do we go through so many?!  For speech & sensory reasons we don't use ones with straws and spouts, and apparently they have stopped making our favorite ~ Contigo Gizmo Sip Autoseal 14 oz. Kids Water Bottles.  So stocking up on our second favorite ~ Contigo AUTOSEAL Trekker Kids Water Bottles!)

 

What gets delivered to your house? :)

Season of Lists

I have lists of projects to do while the children are in school ... organizing, sorting, things that take a few hour chunks.

I have lists for Christmas ...  steps to getting our card out, gift ideas to give, activities to keep it meaningful, foods to make with the children.

I have lists (or stacks) of books I want to read. 

I want to have a list of things I want to learn, ways I want to grow.

Some day I would like to learn how to decorate cookies.  Piping and flooding royal icing seems like a skill that would be fun to have.  

Decorating cakes is also something I would like to learn.  I enjoy making simple fun birthday cakes (but would enjoy it more if we didn't celebrate the children's birthdays while also celebrating Christmas with the extended family; it makes it a little rushed). 

This past week I learned how to make porterhouse steak, so that increases my confidence that I can learn other new things, too!

I have one sewing project I really want to complete this year, a cover for my Instant Pot, but we shall see. :)  This is the tutorial.  I procured the fabric months ago.  Hmmm. 

If I were really adventurous, I would learn how to do the farm bookkeeping on the computer.  

The plan is that in the next few weeks I will follow one of these tutorials to make simple no-sew DIY kids' costumes.  I'm looking forward to that little bit of creativity. :)

Have you learned any new skills recently?  Do you have a list of things to learn?