Memories

I am going to Michigan to attend my 20th high school class reunion. Yikes!! How did the time go that fast?

Please pray for me as I have been really struggling lately. I have had such a strong longing to talk to Chris. I guess I'm really missing him. I avoided a ladies function at our church. I couldn't explain to myself, let alone anyone else, why I didn't want to go. Sunday morning I was finally able to put my finger on it. I feel like I'm being sucked into a giant black hole of grief. I don't want to go into it...I have been clinging to the Word, trying to stay out of it. I also notice myself reverting into the responses of overwhelmed confusion that I had right after Chris died. I am grumpy, irritable and impatient with the children. I don't like being like this.

Just weeks before Chris died Lydia entered an essay contest and won. I wanted to post her submission as a tribute to her daddy.

My Dad is my hero because...

...he fixes airplanes for missionaries. He has been to Bolivia, Suriname, and Indonesia to help put airplanes back together.

He takes me on dates.

He plays games with me.

He is going to let me get a fish.

I love my daddy and he loves me.

by Lydia, age 9

This bike was the prize for the winning entry.

You Know You're a Home School Family When...

...you clean out the living room furniture and find 32 pencils, 4 pens, 3 crayons, a colored pencil and a pair of scissors!!!!

Hurricane Ike

Most of you know that Hurricane Ike hit Houston this past week. Tim, Chris' brother, and his family are all safe. Lydia was worried about Tim, b/c he is a police officer in the city of Houston and while everyone else was evacuating he stayed to help. He was exhausted, but safe.

We also felt the affects of Ike. It came through here Sunday afternoon into the night. We left for church and there was a strong wind blowing. While waiting for Caleb to finish up with the youth group the top of a huge evergreen tree fell onto the service road leading to the church. When we left the men had it under control, but as we rounded the church we saw another beautiful tree laying on it's side. It wasn't blocking the road, so we were able to leave. We were over half way home when we saw a firetruck. It was leaving the scene of a fire along the road...hmmm. When we passed the guardrail, it was black and still smoking from the electrical line that had fallen on it b/c of a downed tree. We thought we would probably not have power when we got home. Correct assumption. When we arrived here the back patio was a complete mess. I got a picture half way through the clean up. We had to secure our plants and keep our swing from flying away. The mudroom where the dogs stay while we are gone has no windows. The dogs were completely stressed by the time we arrived home. Lydia had to calm and reassure them. It was amazing b/c when Lydia took them out to do their business neither would do anything. They sat at complete attention aware that something was wrong.

I also got a picture of the neighbor's trees. This past summer I really felt a need to get them cut back. When we had the ice storm several years back the pine tree had several branches that fell off, one of which broke our bedroom window. There were several branches that didn't break, but afterward they hung much lower than before. I had a tree service come and they took out the tree that we were allowed to remove and they trimmed the remaining tree limbs that hung over my house. During the storm on Sunday I was so thankful that those branches were gone, b/c they very well could have fallen on my house. I was still concerned as I watched the wind bend that tree right in the direction of my house. I prayed that if it did fall we would not be hurt.

We were without electric for 22 hours. It was a chance to remind the children how blessed we are to have electric power. Lydia played the piano. Later Lydia and I sat on the front porch in the total darkness enjoying the strong wind. I love my new front porch. For lunch on Monday we had what we call hobo dinners. We took pieces of tin foil and loaded them with potatoes, carrots, mushrooms pieces of leftover hamburger and some cream soup. We then rolled the ends up and put them on the grill. YUM! We do this often, but they tasted really good yesterday.

The mission was also without power so I didn't have to go to work. The children and I were able to get so much school work done. We anticipate another day of working hard...much to mom's delight and the children's chagrin.

Fun in the Yard

Tonight all 4 girls (2 human girls and 2 puppy girls) and I enjoyed a cool evening in the yard. The puppies ran around on their tethers. The veterinarian told us to keep Tessa's splint dry and clean. How do you keep a puppy's foot clean and dry? We tried plastic bags and they kept getting little holes in them. We tried double bags, but that also ripped. Yesterday we were at Meijer's in Newark and Lydia and I looked in the medical supply aisle for something strong and thick enough to protect Tessa's foot. Nothing. We wandered down the paper supply aisle and when we came to the paper plates and cups we looked at each other. We both had the same idea. We picked up a package of plastic cups. Chris, our missionary mechanic, would have been so proud of us. We found a way. We taped the cups together and put ribbons through holes in the side and tied the cups to her foot!!! I now call her peg leg the pirate. (Maybe Lydia and I should apply to MMS and work as a team!!) I also put in a picture of Tessa disobeying the vet's orders and rough housing with Maia.


This past spring JoAnna kept asking me for a scooter. I told her to put it on her Christmas list. It turns out that she didn't have to wait. My parents live in a modular home park and every year they have a park wide yard sale...which happened to be going on while we visited this past summer. With menacing rain clouds hovering overhead we decided to leash up the pups and take a chance. We walked around the corner and there was an almost brand new scooter at a yard sale price. Ka-ching!! She burned up the road with her scooter tonight, but none of the pictures turned out. I was able to get a good picture of her picking raspberries off our one plant that produced berries this summer. We get a few berries each day. They are a sweet reminder that next summer, hopefully, we will have a bowls full. It will probably be a few summers until we get to take advantage of the blueberries we planted this summer.


I also got a great shot of Lydia and Maia. Lydia has met her match in stubbornness with this pup. I think it's a case of puppy love and they are both totally smitten with one another.

No more Tessa jumping from the bed

What a day. Tessa is our "odd" dog. She does not look like a Bichon. She does not act like a Bichon. A few months ago at my parents house she got her front, right paw stuck under the stove. We had to move the stove to free our squealing dog. She limped for a few days, but all seemed well. Then about 1 1/2 months ago I accidentally put a kitchen chair on the same paw...she didn't limp or seem hurt. A week later she jumped off my bed (a captain's bed with two sets of drawers under it--it's pretty high). She then started limping on the same paw. I thought that maybe she had sprained it, so we tried to wait things out. Today (with dollar signs dancing in my head) I finally broke down and called the vet. The vet was stumped b/c during the initial exam nothing felt out of the ordinary. She took an x-ray and found that Tessa had an impact fracture on the growth plate in her leg. The fracture was from a few weeks ago and had pretty much healed, but the splint will give it strength as it finishes healing. She is also supposed to stay calm for the next few weeks...no rough housing. Tessa and Maia, not chasing one another...hmmm...I wonder what that looks like. I am glad that she is okay. She may be odd, but she is our Tessa and we love her.

Today we enjoyed the cooler weather. We sat outside in the grass and the children took spelling tests. That is why we home school. We love having school any place we feel like it.

Wilson

The beginning of this blog entry is silly, but as I surfed through pictures the other night I couldn't resist.

In the spring of 2002 we went out to Seattle to visit with Chris' family. We stayed in tents at a state park near his parents house. As is custom in Seattle it was cold and rainy most of the time we were there. The tent awning kept sagging so Chris found this big rock to put on the edge of it to keep the water draining. Every time we went into or out of the tent we forgot about "the rock" and we ended up with a few bumps on heads and a couple of smashed toes. We had fun teasing Chris about his rock. When we left Chris put the rock on the dash board of the van, calling it his souvenir. Some where along the trip home the rock picked up the name Wilson. Wilson sat on our piano until a visit from my parents, when Wilson disappeared. We found out that he had been kidnapped by my mother. Well...on the next visit to their place Wilson hitchhiked a ride back to our house (in Chris' bag). Chris then took pictures of Wilson doing things with the children and sent them to my mom. She called up, laughing and thus the saga of Wilson continued. He would always disappear from whichever house he was at. One time he arrived at our house in box with curly white hair, button eyes, glasses and a top hat. Oy!! My mom and Chris had a great relationship. She and my father thought of Chris as their own son. They loved him dearly and miss him greatly.


Today was JoAnna's first soccer game of the fall. I really like this camera for taking pictures of the games. She and her friend, Lee, were defenders and JoAnna gave her coach the thumbs up sign that she was ready. She plays soccer the way she goes through life...kinda of in a happy go lucky, smiley way...so when she actually got her foot on the ball I tried to get the shot.

I have tried for days to get this blog posted, but I am having problems uploading pictures. I have learned to make the file size smaller, so I don't think that's the problem. I hit the browse button to search for my picture and Internet Explorer completely closes down. Thankfully the blog saves itself often so retyping isn't necessary. Does anyone have any idea what's going on. I searched Blogspot's files some, but I don't have time to search all of them. I had troubles when I tried to upload my Kodiak pictures, also.

The Kodiak

Today, the girls and I had the privilege to take a short flight on the Kodiak airplane. Dwight called yesterday and asked if we wanted to go up and I said, "Yes! We'll be there." Unfortunately, we showed up 24 hours early. *sigh* Today...the correct day...we arrived at MMS and the hangar was abuzz with excitement. We were on the first flight. I must admit I felt a little queasy by the time we were over West Lafayette and I was grateful for the little vent above my seat that blew cool air on my face. The girls really enjoyed the flight. I've posted pictures to show them before take off. I also added a aerial picture of Coshocton, Ohio.

When we arrived at the hangar something else was going on. Josh finished the work on Edgar's floats and Edgar was there to pick them up. Edgar is the owner of the airplane that Chris worked on the last year of his life. The plane itself was completed just after Chris' passing. The floats, however, complete "the package". They will allow Edgar more flexibility in his flying. Job well done, Josh. Chris would be proud. I have linked to Josh's blog where he has pictures of his work on the floats.