Abby's Pictures

Abby has been using my digital camera.

She loves taking pictures.

Here are a few of her better shots.

One morning we found Robert sleeping on the floor.
He moved himself there after I put him in bed.

Josiah fell asleep at lunch.

Josiah just got a diaper change.

Abby's art work on the refridgerator.

Phoenix trip

We had a great trip to Phoenix this past weekend. We visited the Faithful Word Baptist Church. We have been listening to the sermons that Bro. Anderson preaches, and we wanted to meet him and to learn more about soul winning from him and his church. It was wonderful to meet other soul winning ladies that had similar standards and convictions as I have. We got to go soul winning Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. In those two days, my husband had 8 people saved, and I lead two people to the Lord. All together the church had 48 saved over those two days. That is really good for a church that had 46 in attendance Sunday morning while we were there. I enjoyed the preaching and fellowship after the service. I took my camera and I did plan on taking pictures, but I never did. I was enjoying myself too much to worry about taking photos.

I didn’t want to leave, and neither did my daughter. Every time we got in the car she would ask, “Where are we going?” If we said, “home” (usually meaning the hotel) she would say, “I don’t want to go home.” Monday she told us several times that she did not want to go. She wanted to stay in Phoenix. She made several friends and did not want to leave them.

This coming weekend my parents are arriving so now I need to clean house and rearrange beds and rooms so they have a place to stay. The kids are excited to have grandma and grandpa coming, and my list of projects for my dad is growing. He doesn’t sit still, so I have to keep him busy to keep him happy. Our big project is to build bunk beds for the boys. He made up plans to build bunk beds that will work with the crib mattress. I’m not ready for my son to be up too high on a regular twin size bunk bed.

It may be a while before I blog again since my family will be here for two weeks.

Our busy Saturday

I had a wonderful day this past Saturday. That morning I got to go soul winning with a group of ladies from another church in our town while my husband, Rueben, and the kids did our bus visits. We have been trying to get it so I can go on with a lady from our church on Thursday night while my husband keeps the kids at home, and then he and Rueben go on Sunday afternoon. The only problem with this plan is no ladies are showing up at soul winning meeting that need a partner. The few that do come go with their husbands (IF they go at all). So I call the pastor's wife that I knew of another church in town and she told me when they go on Saturday mornings. It worked out great for me. I got some fellowship with other soul winning women, and I got to lead one person to the Lord! I had been feeling lonely the past few weeks, and the fellowship with these women really helped me. Now I know they will be upset at the church I attend when they find out that I went soul winning and invited people to attend another church, but is that really a crime? Anyway, I had a great time and I will do it again. This allowed me to watch the kids on Sunday afternoon while Gabe and Rueben went soul winning after dropping off the bus kids.

After soul winning and bus visits, we headed out as a family to Crow Mesa to pick pinons (pine nuts for those of you back East that don't know what I am talking about). Two of the kids took a nap on the way out. Since my husband surveys for the oil field companies, he knew of a good place to go picking. The kids enjoyed wondering around the forest making lots of noise and playing games. They did pick up a few pinons, but I guess it reminded them too much of picking up toys, so they soon came up with their own games to play. Josiah was the best picker, but he would sit on my lap so I couldn't move to pick more myself, or he would stand right were I wanted to pick! Anyway, we came home with a bowl full of pinons for me to clean and roast this week.

Crow Mesa Wildlife AreaNapping ChildrenPinons still in the cones.

Abby enjoyed counting the pinons.

Robert is using the lid to "drive" his truck around the forest.

Look at those dirty hands!

Our harvested pinons.

Baby update

We had a check up today. I am at about 25 weeks. Everything is going well. The kids went with me since I did not have a baby-sitter. They got excited when they heard the baby's heart beat. It was awesome to see their smiles when they heard the heart beat.

Out of the mouth of babies

Children see things in a different light than what we do. It is sometimes very funny the things they come up with on their own.

When the workmen were here putting the pipe through the wall for our pellet stove, Abby and Robert saw the insulation in the wall. Not knowing what it was they came and asked me, "Why is there trash in the wall." How do you explain that to a three year old? I tried to explain it, but they still call it "trash in the wall". When I told my husband that evening, he thought it was hilarious, and he now calls it "trash in the wall" too.

The other night my husband was trying to get Rueben to hurry and come help him so he told Rueben, "Hurry we're burning day light."
Abby heard this statement and went to the door and called out to her dad, "Dad, we’re not burning daylight. It's already dark outside."
Gabe answered her, "I was wondering what was going on."

This is just two examples, but they are constantly doing and saying cute, funny things. Sometimes the constant questions get to be too much, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.

Our Saturday

I had a stay-at-home and go-nowhere Saturday. I like them every now and again. We usually spend the day in town visiting our bus families and doing errands, but my husband had to take a class Saturday for his work so he and Rueben did the visiting on Friday evening. Also, the Shiprock parade was happening Saturday morning, so very few if any one would be home to visit. Shiprock parade is like a holiday for the Navajo.

Friday I had a yard sale and sold a lot of unused and unneeded items. Saturday morning I tried to sell more, but with the parade going on in Shiprock I had very few customers. While waiting for customers the kids played in the back yard and I finished my housecleaning for the week.

A little before noon my sister came to visit. Her husband was working so she came to hang out with us. The kids were all excited to see Aunt Becky. After lunch it started to sprinkle so we gathered in the yard sale things, and spent the afternoon talking and playing with the kids. We made whoopee pies which have their origin among the Amish. We grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania – the heart of Amish country. We love the Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. It was fun to be baking again with my sister. The kids had fun helping and licking out the bowls.

While the whoopee pies were in the oven, we put together the train track for the kids then we got on the internet and shared sites and ideas. All too soon Aunt Becky had to go home. Robert cried when she left. He wanted to go with her.

That evening after the kids had their baths, Aunt Renee, Gabe’s sister, stopped by to see the kids. She was in town for the Shiprock fair. They had a blast chasing their aunt all over the house. Grandma, who came with her, brought the kids sunglasses that she had picked up at a booth at the fair. It was hilarious to watch three kids chasing their aunt with sunglasses on. Who needs TV when you have entertainment like that?

Peaches

Monday, I canned peaches. It was a real experience to can by myself with three kids under four. I’m experience at canning, but doing it without help is a first.

My dad grew up on a farm, so we always had animals and a garden. Now that we have land of our own I also have a garden and my own animals. Every summer Grandma, my dad’s mom, would come for a week to help can. We would go to an orchard to buy our peaches and other fruits, but mostly peaches. We would can around 300 quarts of peaches in about one week with Grandma’s help. My dad built an outdoor canner where we would blanch the peaches and later can them. He used the tub of an old wringer washer and built a brick fireplace around it. We could can 24 quarts at one time in Dad’s canner. It kept the heat and mess out of the kitchen.

I started early this morning by washing jars and cleaning up the weekend mess in the kitchen. After feeding breakfast to the kids and doing our chores, I put in a Baby Einstein movie about colors for the kids to keep them entertained and out of danger. I usually don’t let them watch any TV so this was a treat for them. While they were busy I got the peaches blanched and peeled. Then they got tired of the movie and started running around the house. In between breaks to check on what they were doing, I got the peaches cut and into jars. By lunchtime the first batch was in the canner. We had a quick lunch and the youngest went for a nap. I spent the afternoon cleaning up and getting the second batch in the canner. They looked great when they came out of the canner.
I was worn out that night, and very thankful that the kids all went to bed early.