By the skin of their beaks...

The chickens gain a reprieve from the butcher block. I am no novice chicken farmer, but these guys have stumped me from Sept. They were spring chickens and supposed to start laying in the fall. Emma waited and waited, feeding them tons of overpriced chicken feed and diligently changing their waterers. Through all the snow and drifts Daddy would march to the coop, break the ice, give them warm water and food. All for nothing, those selfish chickens!

I started thinking since we are going to butcher this year I might as well throw these guys in with the butcher chickens and buy a new batch for Ems, but alas, I must have spoken too loud. They hens heard and thus produced. Emma found 6 lovely eggs and two more right away this morning! We will continue to whisper sweet death threats in their little chicken ears and hope they keep producing to redeem themselves.

Pass the Pigs, we LOVE this game because Micah can play! That is MY roll on the table btw, though I lost most every game I played.

This was SO cute. Micah asked Gracie to dance and they danced and danced in their jammies. Gracie must watch her older sisters because she even throws her head back and lifts her leg up high, in this picture is pointing her little toes and even dipped herself!(which Micah was NOT ready for and she fell on her head) It was just aDORable!

Still here...

Maybe I will get a post in tonight? We have been quite busy wiping up after the flu, which thankfully only hit two children and made me nauseous for two days, but I think this may be a side effect to cleaning all the yucky stuff up, lol! Blahck.

We have a house guest as well all this week and we are enjoying that. We never get house guests! Hmmm...I wonder why. Uncle Al, our Alaskan hermit uncle we like to affectionately call him. He lives in Cordova in a hand-built home on blocks and is a boat motor mechanic. He has lots of exciting stories the children like to squeeze out of him about fishing, bears and snow and ice. He is a jem. He loves to just sit in the rocking chair and quietly observe our days. Watching over homeshool and daily life...It must be quite entertaining for him!

My bubbling-over energy thermometer plunged to zip over the last week. I can't seem to get in bed early enough and get out on time. Hence, lack of posting lately. I am now on those every two week appointments with the midwife! Yay! Paul even let me rent a heated laboring tub(portable hottub) to help with pain, talk a 'bout spoiled! It just can't come quick enough!

Dealing with the flu...

Flu season is here. At least at our house. Wanna share tips? I know most of you have little ones, too. I finally have my own system that works great for us, but we can always use to improve. If you have a tip, leave it as a comment.

Gracie was throwing up every 45-60min the other night, all night..and after a 24 hr break, she just started up again last night with Micah crawling in bed with me this morning only to have him throw up! After the start two nights ago, I packed my "flu basket". A laundry basket stocked with 3 of each -crib sheets, pillow cases, pj's, towels, blankets, a tippy cup of apple juice & baby wipes. Gracie missed her pillow the first time around so I was able to get it stuffed and tied in a tight fitting garbage bag, then pinned the pillow case on so she wouldn't accidentally get to the plastic bag inside. This way, there is no washing of the pillows. The kit is right there and in 5min the babe is resting clean and sound again...and so am I.

Blankies. My children are all highly addicted to blankies. The catch? A sick child HAS to have their blanky, yet they ALWAYS hit it first! I try to find look-a-likes(feel-a-likes in the dark) at the second hand stores, cut them in quarters and have them on hand for times like these.

From three yrs on, my well-trained sickies almost always make it to the toilet, but when the flu strikes three or more at the same time(with 1 toilet), we kick into Crisis Mode. Last year? I had 5 children with a terrible stomach flu and fevers ALL AT ONCE for two nights. Everyone needed love and attention at once. Crisis Mode involved laying any type of water-proof material down(shower curtains, crib pads, plastic table clothes) to cover the living room carpet. Then everyone is given a comfy bed on the floor with a personal bucket and me in the middle with my flu basket filled with clean towels, warm wet washclothes & 1 cup of water. When everyone has the flu, who cares about germs, right? I pull out the dry erase board and log all Tylenol dosages, if the fevers are high. This works slick.

In the beginning I used to encourage the children to stay back from the sick child, as that is what the *books* say & I definitely didn't want more sick children! But I had a change of heart in this area. I overlooked one thing, we glorify Christ when we serve others.

Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Matt 25:36 "I was sick, and you visited Me"

We should never teach our children to avoid caring for sick ones because we are concerned for our own well-being. Wanna story? True story...There once was a terrible plague that hit a neighboring tribe of indians. Not nice indians either, ones that has caused much grief to the Pilgrims and neighboring colonies. These poor people were so sick, they would crawl on their hands and knees to a stream to get water and many died one the way...crawling. Every one of them were sick and no one could care for them. Even though they were enemies, the Pilgrims, when they heard, sent some of their people with supplies and went to care for them for many weeks. No one quite knows what the plague was, but they do know it started in a tribe of 1000 strong indians and left only 50 alive after a few short months. Not one Pilgrim came down with the disease, the Lord spared them and blessed their servanthood. I love telling this story to my children!!

If we have one or two sickies we set them up downstairs and everyone is encouraged to tend to them. I looove seeing the compassion and servanthood that is brought out out of the children, even the littlest ones, for each other in the sweetest ways. The notes, making meals, pictures colored, holding their hand or reading them a story. It is the sweetest thing.

The Call to Dunkirk - YouTube video

Here is a video circulating the Internet that I have run into several times over now. I didn't feel comfortable posting the link, but now I think what can it hurt? Nothing. I, for one, am so incredibly thankful for tools, like these, the Lord has used in my life to make me think, whether I agreed or not, it was worth struggling and thinking over. This is one of those tools.

....besides, it has one of my FAVorite teachers in it Voddie Baucham(bg!) of whose hand I hope to shake in 4 months and counting...(i know. i know, that is just not right)

Lot's of pic's, not much to say...

The snow is still here, can you believe we haven't gotten a pineapple express yet?

Usually here in the NW, we get snow, just start to whip out the sleds and a dog gone Pineapple Express(sudden warm winds from around Hawaii) come and wooshes it all to flooding in hours. Not this time, yay!

It snowed all day here again, never got above freezing.

Here are some snow pic's I took after Christmas and around New Years.

Branches bowing very low...we almost lost our big white van in all this. It camo'ed quite well!

My husband showing Jacob how a real man hits a snow drift and has to spend 2 minutes working his bike out.

Jake the dog(as we call him to discern between Jake-the-kid) very upset that I would have the audacity to walk off the yard without him.

So pretty...says I.

I didn't have to shovel it.

Then a day or two of thaw and the driveway was mud, but that didn't stop the sledders! Just be thankful YOU are not their mother who had to WASH all the soaked muddy frightful snowsuits.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ahhhh...another homeschool moment. If you are from, or affiliated with, the Dept of Wildlife please find another blog to read at this time. So anyways...Paul goes to work and finds this poor barn owl crawled near the entrance to Andgar to find shelter and then died over the freezing cold night. We are thinking he was quite old and near the end anyhow. So he did what any good HS father would do, threw him in the back of his truck. I will spare you the details, but lets say we had fun looking at him up close and personal, part of him will always be with us....oops, did I just say that?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On to our neighbors New Years party. They rented a school not far from our homes this year as there was a gob of children in their home last year. So we had space with tables of food, games, crafts and more food. Here are the masters pumping out large quantities of oliebollen. They had quite the system in place.

Of the many games, the pinata was a hit(ha ha). Micah is all boy. He beat the tar out of the poor thing. Mr. VB could hardly pull it up fast enough.

There was plenty for the kids to do... Gracie was second up and doing everything she could to climb up Jessie to get away from the UFO.

Emma got a little too *into* it and wound up with her scarf wrapped around her head, lol!

In the end there was candy everywhere!

Micah loved the felt coloring, singing away as he colored.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So I FINALLY have a dog in heat and brought it over for breeding today. The job was done, I came home to mark the due date and guess what? Her due date is my due date. March 7. Pretty depressing when the dog will go through her entire pregnancy in the 9 short weeks I have left! Oh well, dogs are always on time, I am not. I will have something to look forward to on my due date other than *just another day*.

Oliebollen here we come...

Tonight is our annual trip to our neighbors Oliebollen, I mean New Years, celebration. An Oliebol is pure delight. You must be of Dutch decent to truly enjoy them, o.k., no you don't. They are heaven. Oliebol is literally translated lard balls or oil cakes, not the most appetizing name for a food, but you know anything fried should be good. They are fried cake-like balls with apple and raisins. They are glazed, plain, rolled in sugar(ewe) or sprinkled with powdered sugar(yum).

All over Lynden at the bakeries and most cafes you can pick up Oliebollen 2 for $1 in December. It is a traditional Dutch food that is mostly eaten at New Years. Perfectly simple to make, even the itty bitty ones can get in on the fun. Here is only one recipe if you'd like to try them, we prefer to make them with raisins then slightly overcook them so the raisins get crispy, them pick them out first for a chewy candy-like treat! Oh the bliss.

AllRecipes.com

Today we have had a *first*. We had a couple inches of snow fall overnight, woohoo!, and the children are out sledding behind the bikes...This is the great part and the *first*...Daddy nor I are not riding them! We are warm in the house! Yippeee! I did not have to get all bundled up to go out for endless rounds around the field pulling everyone. Yes, we know about ATV accidents. Yes, they are supervised. Yes, there is a speed limit. What a perfect way to spend New Years...all the kids OUTSIDE!

Our oldest son Jacob 10, is need of physical exertion we have noticed. He got up this morning got dressed went out and rode his bike haaaard in the snow! He rode and rode and I am sure it was hard work! He came in with red cheeks and happy as a clam huff'in and puff'in.

New Year

O Lord,

Length of days does not profit me

except the days are passed in thy presence,

in thy service, to thy glory.

Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides, sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,

that I may not be one moment apart from thee,

but may rely on they Spirit

to supply every thought,

speak in every word,

direct every step,

prosper every work,

build up every mote of faith,

and give me a desire

to show forth they praise;

testify thy love,

advance thy kingdom.

I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,

with thee, O Father, as my harbour,

thee, O Son, at my helm,

thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.

Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,

my lamp burning,

my ear open to thy calls,

my heart full of love,

my soul free.

Give me thy grace to sanctify me,

thy comforts to cheer,

thy wisdom to teach,

thy right hand to guide,

thy counsel to instruct,

thy law to judge,

thy presence to stabilize.

May thy fear be my awe,

thy triumphs my joy.

Taken from The Valley Of Vision

Happy new year!!

I can't believe I just stayed up until midnight. I haven't done that in years!

We ended up renting Prince Caspian and I got so caught up in that movie I never fell asleep. Jessica, Jacob and Daniel were the brave ones tonight who stayed up with Daddy and I. We had a very special night with all the special little touches that make New Years memorable and tomorrow is Oliebollen with our friends...we reeeeally look forward to that! No shotguns this year, we didn't want the little ones waking so we did fireworks. I'm tired. Goodnight.