All Is Well...

December birthdays are always exciting!

After recovering from being sick, we celebrated mine.

This is our third year going for a carriage ride in downtown Boise.

All the kids, big and small were thrilled and 

excited to, trot through town.

The horse hoofs clamp, clamp on the pavement,

and the bells jingled, as we all shouted out,

🎄Merry Christmas!

to those who stopped to look.

A little rain didn't keep us, Seattle natives,
from enjoying this thrill.

Bob, the horse,

 even popped up his head for this picture!

Back at the house, I opened some 

very special birthday gifts

from each child!

What's a birthday without cake and ice cream?? 

Nathan thought we were singing to him.
So cute!


🎂   🎂   🎂

After celebrating my birthday, 

(all week long!)

I had some Kitchen Helpers over.

Chex Mix !

Easy and fun for the kids to make
and eat.

I just stood back and watched!

They are getting so big.

Can you tell they took over my kitchen?

I sure do enjoy Christmas break!!

Later in the week, a few grands came over 

and we made Christmas trees out of

pine cones, ornaments for their tree.

🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲

Here a babysitting hint!

Buy colorful, plastic cups

and let the kids have fun

building!

It doesn't matter what age,

they all love to build.

The higher the better.

And so much fun when it falls down.

Ahhhh.... satisfaction and smiles!

Well done Isaac!


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

"Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."

1 Peter 2:17

Fall From My Point of View

Yes, it Fall or Autumn.

I looked up the difference between these words.

(link)

( I love to look up things like this)

Both refer to the season,

between summer and winter.

I knew that!

But Autumn is the more a formal way to refer to the season.

So, that's what I'm going to call it.

(Even thought I'm not a formal type gal.)

Autumn is Idaho is lovely.

But then again it's lovely everywhere.

For me it's more of the change

 from one season to another.

I like how Autumn puts on a big show!

  Morning sunrise from our backyard.

We moved to Idaho 4 and a half years ago.

It took some time to adjust to all the changes.

But the one change, that I have always enjoyed,

is driving out on the back roads.

Sunday is the best day for this.

Farmers aren't plowing or harvesting.

Peoples aren't racing to their jobs.

The light from the sunrises are
 sometimes breathtaking.

As we pass cornfields and hay fields, I think how blessed

I am to be able to see,
 the seasonal changes.

I never get tired of it!

I look for the familiar horses, cows sheep or goats.
that are grazing in the fields.

I now know each farm and who has what growing

 or what is in their pastures.

We live near The Birds of Prey National Conservatory.

So, you can look up,
 once in awhile, and see hawks or
eagles soaring above.

Never gets tiring!

We also live near a lake that is home
to geese and ducks.

This time of the year,

The Canadian Geese 

(or is it Canada Geese)

are overhead, all day long.

I looked up the difference
between the two names and found that

The Audubon Society,
 refers them as Canada Geese.

In this report, it says the 1772,
the Oxford English Dictionary,

refers to the birds as
Canada Geese.

Sometimes we just call them Honkers.

After the easy drive, 

we come to the entrance of our church.

What a great way to start our 

worship and fellowship.

Enjoy Autumn and the Honkers

God is good!

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

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth."

Genesis 1:1

More Signs...

It's been awhile since I've 

shared a post of just signs.

So here it is!

This is a sign we see on our way up to McCall.

I laugh every time I see it.

We have a new grocery store in the Boise area.

It's called the Albertson's  Market

For all of you who are in the area, it's a must see!

This cart is just inside the front door.

This church in downtown Nampa, 

has such a great sense of humor.

This is a sign that we drove by in Nevada.
I can't pronounce it.
Can you?

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

And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.' "

Mark  16:15

                         10 days...

                                      9 nights....

                                                    3 boys...

Tom and I took care of Levi, Silas and Isaac

while Lulu flew back  East for her back surgery.

Kimmy, Mark, Ila May and Nathan, were with

Lulu on this journey.

The boys got to choose where 

they wanted to sleep.

So they chose "Papa's" office.

Here are a few things that we did during their stay.

We did Homeschool

They came up with creative ways of playing.

Laundry room, watching the clothes go around and around.
Coffee table cars.
In an empty tub with cars.

We kept Kimmy's daily schedule.

which included Track practice, twice.

Isaac and I walked the track, while Levi and Silas

practiced.

 

I always had a helper in the kitchen!
Silas loves my Taco Rice Casserole
and Silas helped me make a huge batch.

The reward, eating what they made.

Next it was Levi's turn.
He had created a dish called, Pastage.
He was in charge of
making dinner.

Levi was closely supervised by Silas.

Ahhh, the rewards.

Isaac had floor duty.

And more rewards!

Because the boys live so close to us,
we would go back and forth to their home.
After breakfast at our home, we'd
go down to theirs to feed the bunnies, chickens and cat.
We had, Home school, down there and lunch.
Followed by a nap for Issac.

This day, we ate lunch outside.



Levi is reading so well.
I had him read to me as much as possible.
I don't know if he enjoyed it
as much as I did!

We took them to church, twice, during their stay.

Here's proof that Tom and I could do it;

get ourselves ready,

get breakfast for 3 boys,

get 3 sets teeth brushed,

get 3 boys dressed,

get 3 heads of hair combed,

and 

be on time for church!

Whew!

One of our last days together, Levi

picked me some flowers.

My heart just melted.

Lulu's surgery went really well.

Please check out Kimmy's blog 

for Lulu's updated progress.

Monday evening, we all drove to the airport,

 to pick Lulu and family up!

The excitement was overwhelming!

Words can't even describe the moment 

they came in sight.

The waiting boys!

Even friends came to support 

Lulu and family.

But the waiting was taking so long,

because Lulu was in a wheelchair,

they were the last to disembark.

Here's Isaac seeing them from 

HIS angle.

The doors opened and the hugging began!

My picture taking wasn't the best 

because I was crying and hugging

and just so thrilled to see them!

Lulu's friend came to wish her 

a welcome back home.

It was great to have so many helpers with 

the baggage.

 Nest stop,

HOME !!!...

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


"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. "

James 1:2-3