Wedding bells...

Saturday, we attended the wedding of a very dear girl, Lydia. We are happy for her and her new husband. She comes from close family friends. Watching her stand there with her sisters as her bridesmaids brought so many good memories of times spent with them at our house or theirs. Hannah is now married and lives in Texas expecting her first child, Rachel is married with one child and lives in Scotland, and Havi got her first broken bone riding our horse. Hannah came with the birth of Rebekah, Gideon and Moriah to watch the other children. Hannah, Rachel and Lydia came to put up many freezer meals and muffins and bread for us to enjoy once upon a time. Hannah stayed a whole week ministering to us during a pregnancy; baking, putting up my pumpkins in the freezer, mending and numerous other things. Their family has been a huge blessing to ours. When I was pregnant, their son Josiah would see me coming to AWANA and leap across the street and grab the other baby that we'd just had and bring him/her into the church. He's married now and lives in California. We now have a younger generation of children becoming good friends as with 13 in their family we have many kids the same age. Blessings abound!

Home for Thanksgiving...

Ronie and the moving van. Ronie is 14 and laughs and smiles most of the time. She loves life.

Stephanie and I working in the kitchen. Although it looks like I'm just talking:) I did unpack a few boxes. We stayed until Kevin got the refrigerator in the door (it didn't fit) and he got it situated and then we were off.

Ronie and Emily became very good friends. Emily is going to miss the "giggle" sessions with her.
I am not going to miss them! :)

Here they are. The five kids we have gotten to know so well. Ronie with their dog Harley, Traci, Gideon, Jim and Fred. May the Lord guide them to know Him and serve Him someday!

We went to Kansas on Tuesday, traveled into four states, started the journey back on Wednesday and made it home about midnight last night! It was a real quick journey. We helped some friends move down there. We were able to pull a u-haul trailer and fill our van pretty full of their stuff. We took out all but one seat in our big van and brought three kids along to unpack it. Monday, it took quite a few people over 3 hours to pack it and it took a few less people less than one hour to unpack it.

We have had the privilege to have 2 or 3 and sometimes all of the 5 children in our home the last few months. We are going to miss them. This family lost their home in June due to financial issues. They have had a tough time making a go of it and it will continue to be a struggle for awhile but we are praying God will lead them through and show them His ways. They knew someone down in Kansas who helped find a three bedroom house quite cheap. Kansas is certainly warmer than where we are! Utilities should be a lot less. God's Blessings on them all!

Where to begin...

I've had a lapse of time on the computer. I really don't feel we are involved in too many activities but it seems we are never home! For a little over a week we ended up with kids throwing up. It is funny how that works around here. It took about 9 days to go through the whole house.

Monday, Jordan and I with Rebekah headed out to my dentist appointment. I got smart and took along someone who could drive. Jordan drove all the way home (4 1/2 hours) and it was so very nice. As the numbing stuff wore off I was in some pain and it was nice to sit back and read a book. I now have a new crown on my tooth. On the way there we were pleased to stop at a thrift store in Bismarck and find three new skirts and two jeans for Caleb. The skirts were all priced the same ($4) and one of them had the tags still on them. The jeans were only $2.50 each. I've not found a thrift store this cheap for things that looked so new. Jordan has learned to alter skirts that have slits in them so I bought one for myself with a long front slit. I can't wait to see what she does with it.

The puppy, Dakota, keeps us busy. He is quite well-behaved but unfortunately, we are busy and don't spend as much time as we should with him and it is getting colder out and not too many people are eager to spend time out there. He sat and watched two John Wayne movies with the boys yesterday though. I was so glad they took the time to help train and spend time with him.

Jordan and Emily are working hard at their symphony music. Their concert is December 5th. This Sunday, the 21st they have a recital with their violin teacher so they have been working on that piece too. Jordan will play an extra piece at the Dec. 5th concert as she is in a trio with another violin and a viola. I love to hear the music around our house. Moriah is busy learning the piano. I've taken over as her teacher for this first book for now. She has learned 4 notes now. Rebekah has stepped up her violin playing and I am encouraging her to practice, practice, practice.

Please pray for a family we know moving to Kansas next week. Please pray for the finances they need to live there in December. Thank you and have a great weekend. We are planning to!

Game night...

Changing habits can be fun! We had another game night. We must play games near everyday now. I must admit though, I was standing instead of sitting to play this game of Monopoly with Em and Gid John because I made about 80 buns with some milk we had scalded. The milk was supposed to be for yogurt. Frequently we heat it too high because we aren't watching it so I decided to not let the milk go to waste (we don't care for the taste of yogurt made with boiled milk). I got something done and played a game. :) Does that count?!?

Daddy, Moriah and Lena playing Connect 4

Isaac, Fred and Caleb playing Horseopoly.

Rebekah and Jim playing Guess Who.

We still have some extra kids in our house. Last week it jumped down from 5 extra to just 2. They both especially like playing games and it's partly due to their always asking for a game that we even play as much as we do. God blesses in many ways!

Oh, deer...

Kevin calls me Wednesday morning about 8:30 a.m. Normally, I delight in his phone calls but I had finally gotten to sleep after being up with Lena since 3 a.m. and the long day of driving the day before so I got to the point, "What are you calling me for?" He said he had some good news and some bad news. The good news was that we have some venison for the winter. I knew immediately what the bad news was: he hit a deer. It remains to be determined if his van is totaled or not! :(

Now, we can look forward to beef stroganoff and stew made with venison. We do enjoy slow cooking the meat with broth. Mmmm. God will provide! Kevin has been laying off all breads and eating mostly meat with veggies and we sure go through the meat so this was a blessing of sorts. I recently got 20 bags of steamer veggies for $0.75 each normally priced $2.02 each. They were on sale 4/$5 and I had 10 coupons for $0.50 off 2 bags and the store doubled each coupon to $1 off! It was fun to get them so cheap when Kevin eats nearly a whole bag in one meal. Coupons.com frequently has those coupons and so does the newspaper.

Getting ready to go...

This is my motto this week. We are always getting ready to go somewhere. Today, it is AWANA. Yesterday, I took a 4 1/2 hour drive to a dentist in the Western part of the state. He is a naturopathic dentist and I had a tooth that needed attention pronto. It has actually been cracked a few years but starting in May the pain has been terrible at times and lately I lose sleep with the pain. I haven't been able to chew on it for months! Dr. J. was able to save the tooth without doing a root canal. It will still have a crown but the tooth will stay living which can be better for you than having it drilled out. I wanted to check it out anyway and see how it was different than having a root canal. I believe the cost was similar and except for the cost of the driving it should be the same. Only, I should have taken someone who drives with me. I laid in the dentist chair over two hours and the numbing didn't take so they did it again and I drove 4 1/2 hours home coming out of the groggy, headache feeling you have after being drilled into. The last two hours was a little challenging. My tooth still hurts but I believe it to be from all the shots I got and the pushing and drilling my mouth went through.

Some may not believe in this and that is OK but I also wanted my mercury filling taken out in a safer way. My dentist already scoffs this idea but I do believe through research I've done that mercury in fillings is not good for you and you absorb that metal in your brain for all your life that you have those fillings. Dr. J. takes precautions that you don't inhale or ingest any of the material during drilling it out. Dr. J. replaced the filling with a body compatible material and the crown will also be non-metal containing material. In case anyone out there has been looking into this you can call or email and get the info. I know there is a clinic like this in the Cities.