My poor neglected blog...

I was a little ashamed to see I haven't posted since August!!! 

September--We went camping up on the Iron Range for Labor day.  The kids got to ride in a friend's boat, go canoeing, and fishing.  They even caught a couple of fish.  :)

October--we found out hubby's job as it was would be changing.  There was a strong possibility we would have to move, so far his company has decided he can work from home and travel to the nearest office once a week so we've been able to stay put.

November--we enjoyed a four day Thanksgiving weekend, complete with Turkey, soap making, crafts, and Christmas candy making.  Skipped Black Friday, though.

December-we traveled back home for Christmas.  We enjoyed see our new niece and visiting with family.

January--the kids have been enjoying skiing

A Homegoing

A dear friend went home to Heaven.  He was diagnosed with brain cancer about 5 years ago and has in many ways struggled since.  Brain cancer tends to change a person's personality and even their ability to think clearly.  The medications also have an affect on the brain. 
Ed was a special person.  He was quiet,wise and kind, yet had a great sense of humor.  He was a wonderful dad as evidenced by the three wonderful kids he has.  I truyly don't know that I know of a more godly family.  It has been amazing to see their testimony through these last difficult years. 

There will still be difficult months ahead.  I know that everyone is happy Ed has gone home to Heaven, but there is still a hole left in many hearts that time will make less painful.  I am thankful God saw fit to take Ed home quickly after he started to decline.  It was only a few short weeks ago that Ed was sitting in church.  God has great timing.  He also took Ed home in time to make his oldest son's decision to go back to college easier.  I will be praying for his wife Barb and his children:  Seth, Luke, and Courtney.

II Corinthians 12:9

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

We never know what life will bring and in many ways that is a blessing.  It should also challenge us to live life to the fullest and to always be ready to meet the Lord should he call us home.

E's first youth group slumber party

The guys went on a camp out with some men from our church for a couple of days so we had a slumber party at our house for the youth group girls.  Complete with decorating flip-flops and toes!!!  We also had a great time playing crazy uno, eating homemade icecream, and chatting.  Duke (our dog)-the only guy allowed provided entertainment.  He tried to eat a cotton ball I threw up in the air and he caught in his mouth, was terrified of the nail polish remover and would run frantically away from it.  He also would rub his nose and face on his bed if he smell the nail polish.  Duke did end up with pink and green front toe nails and pink and silver back toe nails.  It only took 3 people to accomplish this, largely due to attention span more than due to having to wrestle him.  :)

Pics below:

Emily's toes

 My toes

Emily's flip flops

My flip flops turned into a fun summer decoration  :)

I hot glued them together and then glued a ribbon on the back to hang them.

Valley Fair

I took the day off yesterday, didn't look at or read a single e-mail from work.  Kind of proud of myself for that!!!  First time I've been "off" and completely ignored e-mail.  :)

The kids and I went with a friend and three of her boys to Valley Fair, an amusement park similar to Six Flags.  We had a great time.  This was the first time the kids went to an amusement park.  They've been to a couple of carnivals.  At first they weren't all real adventurous, but as the day went on they got braver.  :)  The High Roller roller coaster was their collective favorite ride.  My dad would have been proud of them, the Screaming Eagle at Six Flags was his favorite ride.  We didn't get everyone to ride some of the upside down rides, but all in all we rode about everything. 
Favorite rides:

T--Wild Thing
E--Scrambler, High Roller
K--Ship that when all the way around
Z--High Roller

Z isn't real sure about the Corkscrew.   T and Z wouldn't ride Steel Venom or the ship that goes upside down or the Power Tower.  The girls were the most adventerous, suprisingly.  :)  The kids have decided we should go back at least yearly.

Gardening

I was able to get my garden in before Memorial Day.  A friend brought me some fresh asparagus and I got to thinking that asparagus would be a nice addition to my garden.  I asked if they knew where I could buy some.  I couldn't recall seeing it anywhere to buy.  They told me to come over and dig some up. I couldn't find my shovel so I headed out with a trowel, garden gloves and a prayer that if needed they'd let me borrow a shovel. 

Let me tell you, aparagus is some tough stuff with HUGE root systems that are pretty thick and deep.  I won the battle, but it was a fight!!!  Asparagus is a worthy opponent.  I had sweat dripping off my forhead and I honestly can't tell you the last time that happened up here!  I got is home and got it planted in a nice sunny spot.  Can't wait to pick some next spring!

Memorial Day Weekend

We were able to go camping this year.  Can't say the weather was beautiful, but it did only rain at night (thunderstorm night before we're going to leave so everything is soaked to pack up!--gotta love the adventure!)  We went to Charles Lindbergh State Park.  It is a lovely park with lots of wild flowers, which I love.  Charles Lindbergh's mom's house is in the park and was donated to the Park Service.  It was interesting to relearn about him and learn some new things also.  We toured his house.  It was a nice farm house.  He was basically responsible for the farm during his High School years.

We also took the kids fishing and the closest we came to catching one was to have the bait stolen!

Duke enjoyed camping but was pretty exhausted by the time we got and just flopped on the couch and didn't stir again until about 10am the next morning!

Couldn't resist...

PLEASE understand.  I am NOT a birther, I think that President Obama IS a US citizen and therefore a legitimate president.  I think that he deserves the respect due his office.  However I do enjoy the humor of the letter a friend posted on her facebook account.

Dear President Obama,
I am writing today with a somewhat unusual request. First and foremost, I will be asking that you return the United States to its August 20th, 1959 borders so that Hawaii is no longer a state and you are no longer a citizen.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister of Israel
 
I think that while this is truly ludicrous, if serious, I think it is equally as ludicrous to expect Isreal to return to it's pre-1967 borders.  While Hawaii is a nice state, it would not drastically affect our national security to give it back.  Returning to pre 1967 borders would drastically affect Isreal's security!!!