So... my computer is starting over from 2005... Arggg....

Actually, I could go on and on and on about how in the process of trying to fix my drivers on my computer that I instead made things worse, and then about how I had to "wipe" my hard drive and start over from when I originally purchased this thing in 2005, but... I'll just skip all the part about staying up 4 nights in a row until almost 4 am working on backing up data and restoring my system and updating 4 years worth of programs.

Instead, I'll tell you that our trip to Southern Oregon was great. The weather was better than it had been predicted to be for the whole trip and everyone got to do a whole lot of nothing (very nice) and the boys also got to play, play, play!!! While we were down there we cut and wrapped and processed Nathanael's elk, put it in the freezer and brought it all home ready to eat! We also cut a load of firewood to bring home, getting our supply ready for next winter. The part about it all that made it fun is that we all caravanned out to the back of my Dad's place on 4-wheelers with trailers in tow, then as my dad fell the trees and cut them up, Charles split them, I loaded and we all trooped home. In two trips we had all that our stout, medium-sized trailer could haul home, and it was only a couple hours after we started!

The real bonus of the trip was Wednesday when Charles and I took a walk all around my old home (80 acres worth) and I related stories about the different times I did what silly things when and where. As we came down the hill towards the house at the end of our tour, I decided to stop at an outcropping of granite that overlooks the house and the small valley that my Dad's house sits in. The sun was shining, temperatures were in the high 60's to low 70's, we were warm after our walk, and we sat down on the rock to enjoy more of the sunshine. I'm not quite sure what overtook me, but I laid back... and that's the end of the story! No, but what we actually did was take a long nap on the ground in the Springtime sunshine! Occasionally we'd hear the boys yelling in the back yard as they played and we'd look down long enough to see that they were just having fun and then would drift back to sleep! It was such a blessing to just totally relax and have no demands on our time. I almost felt like I was 12 again, spending a spring day out and about, just doing whatever I wanted! And then on the way home down the hill from there, I went barefoot, and I felt just like a silly school girl again! Ooohhh.... I had a good time while down south!

Looking forward to our visit to Southern Oregon

We're getting ready to leave for the Rogue Valley for a 5 day trip. It will be our "spring break" vacation since this is the only block of time that Charles can get away from work for any length of time. We'll be visiting family and hopefully seeing a few friends too! Nathanael plans to ride his dirt bike constantly from the moment we get there until the moment we leave!


Mikael is just planning to play, and maybe shoot spinners from Grandpa Syd's back porch. "Shooting spinners" is a type of target practice where they shoot .22's at pieces of wood which have been drilled and threaded over a horizontal metal rod so that when you hit one end of any of the pieces they spin.


I'm not sure what I'm looking forward to doing since I'm still trying to realize that in just 9 hours or so we'll be leaving. I don't really have anything packed yet, though I have been working on my list of things to do and to take! I think Charles is just looking forward to some down time, and maybe a game or two of Settlers of Catan with old friends. Other than visiting with family, going to Bible Study on Wednesday night and letting the kids play, we really don't have any agenda. It's rather a relief to let the schedule go and just see what happens. Rarely do I get to do that (usually because my personality doesn't do well with that sort of approach to most things). We'll be offline until late Sunday night. No doubt, I'll have some crazy story to relate when we get back home and back online! Until then, have a green St. Patrick's Day and a Happy Spring!

Red meat - it's what's for dinner!

Nathanael is the mighty hunter in our house these days.

Many of you may know that Nathanael has been hunting for some large game lately. And as you can see, he was successful! Early this last fall, Charles was approached with the offer of letting Nathanael hunt on a land-owner preference tag at a (then) local piece of property. I think we all jumped at that chance, but Nathanael was definitely excited to have the chance to kill an elk before his dad! So, we got it all set up and then we moved just as the season opened. Nathanael had been totally bummed out about it, but we promised to make some trips back to hunt. I did not realize at the time of promising that making some trips back would mean getting up at 2:30 am and driving two and a half hours to sit and wait for enough light to get into position and wait for the elk to move up through the property. I also didn't realize just how many trips we'd make, some of which found us arriving to find the elk already moved through, not to be back that day, so we'd turn around and drive the two and a half hours back home. Thankfully, I only made the trip twice, but Charles and Nathanael made several more without me and Mikael. This last Saturday, March 14th, 2009, Charles and Nathanael headed back to the coast (we'd all just been there on Thursday morning)right into a storm front. We'd checked the weather forecast and they were looking at an inch of rain, sustained winds of 25 mph and gusts upwards of 45 mph, with temperatures in the very low 40's. With rain gear piled high in the back seat, they left at 3:45 am after I got up and made them two thermoses of homemade hot chocolate. After they arrived and parked, they got all geared up and headed up the hill... right into a group of elk which spooked and took off up over the ridge and out of bounds for this hunt! So, they decided to get settled and wait to see if there were any stragglers that might show up. After a couple hours of waiting, they figured that they had blown there only chance and headed down the hill. They walked right into another group of elk! This time, though, they saw the elk before the elk saw them and they were able to get over behind a stump before they were spotted. Charles told Nathanael to get settled, take his time and make a good shot. Nathanael got to take his time all right! They sat for about 15 minutes watching and waiting for one to really present itself, and then the elk started lining out like they were ready to head up the hill. Charles was getting a little impatient by this time and finally told Nathanael that if he didn't shoot soon, Charles would do it! So, Nathanael shot, saw her flinch and then they couldn't see what happened to her. The other elk just milled around, fed for a little while, and then moved off. At that point Charles had to go see if they could track her (in the pouring rain and not even sure that Nathanael had hit her.) But after just a bit of following tracks, then loosing them, not seeing any blood, they found her, just below the road she had been on when Nathanael shot her. He had made a good shot, right through both lungs. Then came the work of gutting, skinning and quartering her and getting her in the Bronco to bring home. All of that work was made easier by our friend from church who brought up his four-wheeler to drag her out and down to the dairy his brother owns, then they used the tractor to hoist her up as they skinned her, Nathanael helping, and then they used the sawz-all to quarter her. They were all done with that, loaded and on the road by just after 11 am!

After arriving home, more work awaited us, as the majority of the cleaning of the meat still had to be done before we left it to hang and cool out. Charles and I worked for several hours cleaning and washing down the quarters, having to work pretty intensively on the quarter that the bullet had entered and on which she had lain for a hour or so. After that was accomplished, we cleaned up, got all the dirty, bloody, wet things in the washer. Then we could finally appreciate the satisfaction of Nathanael's successful hunt.

There will be a freezer filled with meat soon (we have to take the elk with us to Southern Oregon and cut and package it there as we only have this one window for our trip south to visit family, and the elk needs to be taken care of in the next day or so). Nathanael has gained confidence, and he and Charles have strengthened that father/son bond through all of this experience. I've gained a bit more faith and trust in the Father. It seems that when I finally let go of whatever I have been holding so tightly to, and I finally place it fully in the Father's hands, that is when the blessing comes!

Unity

What has God been saying to you lately? I'm sure that it's more than one thing, but is there a reoccurring theme, maybe? I'd have to say that in what the Lord has been showing me, Unity is what has been standing out. It's been in the teachings at church, in the conversations with the boys on the way home from Friday School where classes are held at the Baptist church, in the chatter of women at the monthly First Friday meeting (a time for women to get together and work of projects and chatter), in the exchange of thoughts at our Growth Group bible study. It's been all around me.

It's really making me think about the prejudices and assumptions I have; ones I've had since I was little and ones I've acquired from hurts and heartaches received throughout life. And while analyzing this, I then came to ponder what sort of prejudices and assumptions I was instilling in my boys... and to take it further, how have I helped create or have been responsible for any others' prejudices? Have I caused offense that has made someone put up a wall and hold a grudge toward a certain "type" of person? Have I given "Christians" a bad name in someone's eyes? Have I contributed to someones prejudices by listening to gossip or even doing it myself?

Hmmm... I'd have to answer yes to all of the above. And that needs to change. With the conviction from the Holy Spirit and the power of Christ, I can change. I can also help change the views my children already have. To be able to do that, I need to be knowledgeable of the Word. Not just knowledgeable of the Word, but steeped in It, full of It, and with a personal relationship to It.

That's where the power to change comes from, the relationship. And the only way to have a relationship grow is to invest time into it. Let's all take a look at our relationship to our Father. Have we been spending enough time with Him to really say we have a relationship with Him? If not,well... just do it, as Nike would say. Read the Word, think about it, talk about it, study it. Let's get steeped in the Word, able to squelch the flaming arrows of the enemy and stand for Unity within the Church. Let's be the beautiful Bride of Christ, shining God's glory into the dark world!

I want the world to look at the us, the Church and say, "Wow, they have something that's different, that's better than what I have, something I want." Let's not give them the excuse of "yeah... look at that. Look at how they treat one another. They're no better than anyone else. In fact, they're worse! Why would I want to be like that?"

Let's find the common ground with our brothers and sisters that don't fellowship in the same place or in the same way that we do. Let's choose not to divide over the stuff that isn't about our salvation. Let's just get along, starting in our homes. I'm willing to give it a shot. What about you?

Can you say "soap box?!" Guess I can get off now!

Did I mention that baseball season has begun?!

Just in case any of you were wondering, baseball season is here. And even though I can say that I "know" what that means, I guess I forget the reality of it until it actually hits. I have Nathanael's game schedule in front of me, with some guestimated practice dates inserted (2 games plus 2 practices per week). I also have a practice schedule for Mikael for the next 3 weeks (4-5 practices per week with optional Sunday batting practice). We'll be getting Mikael's full schedule this Saturday at his 4th practice of the week. I'm also looking at the regular weekly schedule that's in place -Women's Bible Study on Wednesday morning, Growth Group on Thursday night, Friday School on Friday morning, Church and Mini-Church on Sunday morning- and then thinking of adding regular stuff in like dentist appointments, grocery shopping, field trips, etc. So, what I'm saying is that even with Charles and I each coaching a team of our own last year, our lives definitely didn't seem this busy! I suppose I'll get used to the schedule in time (something every night of the week with some nights double or triple booked, and Saturday games or practices, or both, from now until May 30th,) but for now it sure seems daunting!

Yet, even with all this, I'd still sign them up for baseball again. Nathanael seems to finally be getting into a groove, bringing it all together and getting some confidence. Mikael is super excited to be able to show all his skills to his new coach, and proud that now he's not afraid to be hit by a pitch (he took a wild pitch on his hip this evening while we were at the batting cages)! They're both getting to know some kids and make good value judgments as to what kind of friends they want. So, even though we're all going separate directions most of the time, and my head's already spinning from the schedule, I'm glad we're doing this.

But, you can still pray for my sanity! I'm absolutely certain that there will be days that I'll need it!