Summer Vacation, Part 3

The kids just reminded me that I should really finish posting the pics from our vacation, since it was a whole month ago now.  Since it is already becoming more difficult to remember all of the details, they are probably right. :)  So, here goes.  After spending the third night at a hotel in the Mammoth-Hot Springs area just north of Yellowstone, we spent day 4 visiting Mammoth-Hot Springs.  I really wasn't sure what to expect, since I have never been to that area.  It was really quite beautiful!!!

 This is Liberty Cap, a dormant hot spring cone.  The kids thought it looked pretty cool!

These are pictures of Palette Spring.  The columns, arches and terraces are incredible!  Knowing that they were not created by human hands, but rather by God's hand through the use of the water and hot springs is pretty awesome!

These are pictures of an area called Cleopatra Terrace.  Again, the terraces, along with the contrasting colors, are breathtakingly beautiful, especially in person. :)

Sheepeater Cliff was really cool also (again, much more so in person.)

Here we see evidence of the massive wildfire that spread through the area in 1988.

This was my very first encounter with hot spring pools.  It was really neat to see the water bubbling and steaming, and I was also surprised at the vibrant colors.  We learned that darker the blue, the hotter the water.  

I just realized that I didn't get any pictures of Steamboat Geyser.  We didn't see it erupt, as it is very unpredictable and can go for weeks or months between eruptions, but they say that when it does go off, it is amazing!

I think it is time to end this post as well before it becomes completely ridiculously long. :)  Stay tuned for the next installment! :)

Summer Vacation, part 2

Okay, continuing on with our vacation adventures.  Before I share more pics and stuff, I just have to say that I am truly amazed (and SO thankful!!!!) for how well things went!  By all rights, this vacation really should have been an absolute train wreck.  We had been gone for almost the entire previous week at Family Camp.  We got home from camp on a Saturday, and the next day was Michael's first birthday.  Then Abby woke up that night with the stomach flu.  Including that Sunday, we were only home for 3 days between camp and our vacation.  And that 3 days included stomach flu and and LOTS of unpacking, laundry and repacking.  Additionally, Michael had NOT been doing well AT ALL with sleeping places other than home, or with being in the car.  He did do well with sleeping at camp, but really, how long could that last?  The last time we had stayed in a hotel (in June, for a grad party), I ended up spending almost all night walking the halls and lobby with him.  And did I mention that he had NOT been a fan of being in the car?  Yeah.  We were looking at a week's worth of hotel stays, plus  hours (and hours, and hours) of car time.  Sounds like a recipe for success, doesn't it?  But praise God, it really was!!!  All of the kids were SO good in the car, and generally were so tired at bedtime that they crashed and slept GREAT!  This led to a VERY happy mama.  The only issue we really had at all was that Michael seemed to have a little bit of a stomach bug.  There was no throwing up (that would have been a disaster with a 1-year-old!) but the diapers were awful.  Thankfully, it almost always stayed contained. :)  

Anyway, back to the fun stuff.  Our third day, we started out from Billings and traveled south into Wyoming, via the Beartooth Pass.  This takes you directly up, around and through the Beartooth mountains.  Our plan had been to take a somewhat leisurely drive through the pass and then check out Mammoth-Hot Springs just inside of Yellowstone.  It turned out that the drive took us pretty much all day (not because of any problems, but just because it is SO beautiful and we kept stopping to check things out).  The good news was that we really didn't have a strict agenda, and we had a pretty flexible time table (we really didn't know how long we would be gone when we started out) so we could just enjoy things as they came up.  

This was our first real glimpse of the mountains.  Randy had been out this way a couple times when he was growing up.  I had been to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee before, but otherwise this was my first real experience with seeing the mountains, and it was a first for all of the kids.

Throughout the trip, I was truly in awe of the beauty and diversity of God's handiwork.

We ended up with several family pictures on this trip, which was really fun.  I think this one might be my personal favorite.

The kids thought it was cool to see so much snow in the middle of July!

All I can really saw is WOW! 

The kids wanted to get a picture wearing their shorts in the snow.  We were trying to hurry and get a picture in before the storm came.

I just loved the pointy mountain.  It is exactly what most kids would draw if you asked them to draw a picture of a mountain.

This was a really cool waterfall that we saw along the pass.  Look at the water just roaring down from the mountains!

Considering the number of pictures in this post, I think this is enough for one post.  To be continued...

Our Summer Vacation, part 1

As I posted earlier, we had an awesome vacation a couple weeks ago!  We started out on the morning of Wednesday, July 11 and headed west to Dickinson, ND.  Some friends of ours, Becky and "Cordy" (as Abby called him) graciously allowed us to crash at their house that night.  In addition, "Cordy", who works as a firefighter in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, took us on a little tour through the park.  (Not the entire park, as that would have taken a lot more time than we had available this time.  We will probably have to take another trip out to Medora and the park another year.)  The kids were excited to see their first wild buffalo, as well as some wild horses.  (There is a bison ranch that we pass frequently on our way to run errands, etc, and of course they have seen and been around horses before, but seeing them in the wild was different and very exciting!)

I have been to Medora/part of Theodore Roosevelt National Park/the badlands before, but it really is a pretty area.  

This last picture was the first of several family pictures that we captured on our trip.  It almost looks like we were photoshopped over a background of the badlands, but I promise we were really there. :)

Day two of our trip took us from North Dakota into Montana.  It was fun to watch the landscape change one again from the badlands to rolling hills mixed with HUGE wheat fields, along with open prairies with herds of cattle and horses grazing.  The kids were also excited to see their first long-horn cattle, something we don't really have around here.  Our main focus that day was a stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.  We listened to a presentation and watched the film they had about the battle, and checked out the exhibits in the visitor center before heading out to see the battlefield area.  

This is a picture of part of the cemetery where U.S. soldiers are buried.

These are pictures of the U.S. Soldiers monument on top of Last Stand Hill.  I apologize to the random people in the picture for unauthorized use of your picture on my blog.  This picture was taken from the car as we drove past.  (I would have loved to get out and take a closer look and get a better picture, but we had tired kids, we were running out of time and it was BLAZING hot.  Consequently, we chose to just drive around instead of getting out and hiking around.)

This is a picture of the Native American monument.  

It really was interesting and I wish we had more time to really explore.  Maybe on another trip, when the kiddos are a little older and better able to do more walking/hiking, and perhaps when the temperature is a little farther from 100.  We spent that evening in Billings, MT, taking some time to relax in the pool after supper.  The kids needed a chance to burn off some steam after a lot of time in the car those first 2 days.  I think, in an effort to keep this post from becoming horribly long (especially with all the pictures that we have), I will end this post here and continue our journey in another post.  

Emma's Story

I have been really wanting to record the stories of how each of our kids came into this world, because I want to remember and maybe someday down the road they might want to know.  

*Disclaimer: I know that some people are somewhat squeamish about things like this and don't want to know anything about that.  That is absolutely fine.  No judgement here. :)  But if you really don't want to hear anything about that, then this would be the time to close this window and not continue reading.  :)

When Randy and I first married in September, 2001, we had originally thought that it might be a nice idea to wait at least a year before starting a family.  (You know...give us some time to adjust to and simply enjoy being a married couple.)  It does sound like a nice idea.  Our families believed that there was no way that was going to happen, and immediately started a pool on when our first child would be born.  We laughed and said that was completely silly.  My sister chose July 15, 2002.  Emma was born on July 14, 2002. :)  Things didn't quite go according to our "plan" and that's ok.

So, backing up, I was taking the pill at the time we got married.  (This is something I would change if I could go back.  There are a whole host of reasons why I am not a fan, but that is something for another time.)  Despite taking the pill, we really thought that I had gotten pregnant the first month we were married, and we were really kind of disappointed to find out that I hadn't.  So, knowing that it can take up to a year to flush out your system and become pregnant, we decided to stop the pill and see what happened.  What happened was that I did get pregnant that very next month. :)  I really wanted to make sure that when I took the test I would get an accurate answer, so I went to get tested at our local crisis pregnancy center.  They rejoiced with us at the exciting news, and I had such a wonderful experience there that I became a volunteer.  (I would love to go back to volunteering there sometime, but that will have to wait for now.)  

We found out the week before Thanksgiving and told Randy's parents right away, since they were right here.  We wanted to tell my parents in person, so we decided that we would tell them at Thanksgiving.  Since I was in the habit of talking to my mom every day, and I am not very good at keeping exciting things like that a secret, that week was VERY difficult!!!  It was SO hard not to say anything, but I REALLY didn't want to spoil the surprise!  They were just as ecstatic as we were!  

The pregnancy went really pretty smoothly with no real complications.  I had some minor morning sickness, but nothing terrible.  The worst part was being very pregnant during the heat of the summer in a tiny little apartment with only a little window air conditioner in the living room.  (Believe me, I was very thankful to have that!)  During the last month or so, my feet started to swell.  (When I say "swell" I don't just mean a little puffiness.  I mean water balloons- as in it felt like they were literally going to pop at any moment!)  Aside from that, though, things were really easy!

We live about 20 miles from the town where I would be delivering.  On Saturday, July 13, we were in town shopping for a video camera.  We really wanted to make sure we had that before the baby came.  As we were shopping, I began having some contractions.  I was VERY excited and said we should go walk around the mall for awhile and try to really get things going.  So we walked, and walked, and the contractions stopped.  Completely.  Disappointed and disgusted, I said we might as well just go home.  Instead of going to our house, we stopped at the farm so Randy could work on a few things.  Within about 15 minutes, the contractions were coming less than 10 minutes apart.  When Randy came in the house about an hour later, I said that perhaps we should head to the hospital.  (Remember, this was our first baby and I really didn't know what to expect.)  


So, we drove to the hospital and got checked in, arriving right around supper time.  We called my parents to let them know that we were going to have a baby!  (Yes, probably a little bit preemptive, but again, we didn't really know what we were doing.)  We also called Randy's cousin, Renee.  She was in high school at the time, and very interested in becoming an ob nurse or midwife.  Knowing this, I had asked her if she wanted to be there when the baby was born.  Talk about excited!!!  So, she drove up to the hospital to meet us.  


When the nurses checked me, I was at 2 cm.  I was still having fairly regular contractions, and things were progressing, just VERY, VERY slowly.  (I am actually rather surprised that they kept me there and didn't just send me home.)  As 1 am approached, things still hadn't really changed much.  My parents had arrived, along with my sister and a friend, and the nurses told them they might as well go home, since it would be a LONG time before anything happened.  Being that they live 2 hours away, they didn't feel like driving back and forth more times than necessary, and unfortunately, it also happened to be the summer festival that weekend, so there were NO hotel rooms anywhere in the vicinity.  So, they continued to hang out in the waiting room.  


The nurses, in an attempt to be helpful, came in to give me a little shot to help me get some rest.  Had I known more at the time, I NEVER would have accepted that shot.  But, again, I really didn't know any better.  Renee, having been told that nothing would happen for a good, long while, decided to go get a little rest and come back later.  My family continued to camp out in the waiting room and the car, and I settled in to get what I thought would be some much-needed rest.  Little did I know.  


Turns out, 15 minutes after the shot, my water broke in the middle of a big contraction.  Immediately, things picked up tremendously.  The contractions came fast and furious, and I was very ill-prepared for dealing with that.  I asked the nurse for something to help with the extreme contractions and was told that the shot was designed to help with that, and it was too early for an epidural.  Well, the shot did NOT help at all with the contractions.  It made no dent in the pain and just made me feel loopy and out of control (not cool when I already felt out of control and didn't know what I was doing.)  About 2 hours after the shot, it was time to push.  Thanks to the "restful" nature of the shot, I kept falling asleep in between pushes, and I really remember very little about the delivery.  One thing I will never forget, though, is that Emma had the hiccups.  All through the pushing, until her head was all the way out.  That was a very memorably odd experience. :)  Anyway, like I said, I would NEVER use that shot again, as it just made it very hard to focus and made me drowsy and unable to do my job.  But, in spite of all of that, our beautiful Emma Joy was born just after 3 in the morning, July 14, 2002.  Randy rounded up my parents and family to come see our precious blessing.  He had also tried to find Renee when I was in active labor, but to no avail.  She arrived at the hospital around 5, expecting things to just be picking up.  Little did she know she was 2 hours too late.  


In spite of all of the unexpected twists and turns, things turned out very well, and we were blessed with a sweet and beautiful daughter, with more hair than I have ever seen on a baby. :)  And that is the beginning of the story of Emma Joy.  

Birthdays and vacations

No, we didn't fall off the edge of the earth.  We have been quite busy this month, but in a very good way. :)  


We spent July 3-7 at Family Camp.  This was our third year (and for me, much more enjoyable than last year, when I was 9 months pregnant and praying we would make it through camp before baby arrived.)  Our first year, we stayed in one of the rooms at the camp, which worked pretty well.  Last year, we decided to take advantage of my father-in-law's offer to use his very nice, very new 5th-wheel camper.  It was lovely!  We had our own bathroom, our own kitchen, comfy furniture (including the 2 recliners where I spent much of my time last year, relaxing with my feet up), and we didn't have to worry about forgetting anything in the room.  Plus, we didn't have to deal with coolers, etc.  It just worked out really well.  So, we opted for that option again this year, and again, it worked really well!  The two big kids claimed the recliners for sleeping, Abby and Michael slept on the floor, and Randy and I got the queen--size bed.  Everyone did really well with sleeping, which made Mommy VERY happy!  I was also really pleased with how well Michael did in the nursery!  In the morning, there is a Bible study, and then there is another service in the evening with a different speaker.  There is a kids' program during both services for the older kids, and nursery care available for the littles.  (Abby could have been in the preschool program if she was fully potty trained, but she had a LOT of fun playing.)  When you drop the kids off in the nursery, they give you a number that corresponds to the number on your child's name tag.  If there is a problem, they flash your number up on the big screen in the sanctuary.  Our first year, when Abby was a little over a year, we got paged at some point during almost every service.  Last year she did fine.  This year, we got paged once for Michael.  I thought that was pretty good!  (Actually, when I got to the room, he had calmed down again, but once he saw me, it would have been a problem to just leave.)  Another highlight is getting to spend time with some of our best friends, the Seavers.  They were our next-door neighbors for 6 years, and Mike was also our pastor.  They moved about 2 hours away the same summer that we moved out to the farm.  We do get to see them sometimes when we visit my family (they live about 15 minutes apart), but it's not the same as having them next door. :)  The only real issue this year was the heat.  It was SO hot outside that we had to revise some of our outdoor planned activities in order to prevent the kids from roasting.  Actually, the heat might have been somewhat bearable, but the humidity was also in the upper 90s, which made it hard to breathe.  (Thankfully we had air conditioning, or it would have been a long, crabby, uncomfortable time!)


Anyway, we really did have a lovely time!  The speakers were terrific, the kids had a blast, and we had so much fun visiting!  We got home on the afternoon of the 7th and got things mostly unpacked and cleaned out.  The next morning was church and Michael's birthday.  Does it make me a bad mom that when I had been shopping earlier in the week, making sure we had everything we needed for camp, I completely forgot about getting him a cake?  After church, we went out for lunch and picked up a cake mix.  When we got home, we got the cake made, opened a couple presents with Grandpa (he really didn't have much to open since a lot of his presents were clothes and a pair of shoes, which we needed for camp, but I don't think he minded too much).  Then we ate cake and ice cream and got people to bed early. :)  


That night, Abby woke up with a fever and vomiting.  By the next morning, her tummy was doing a little better, but she still had a fever.  Michael also spiked a fever that afternoon, but no vomiting.  The next day, both of them had a low-grade temp in the morning, but seemed fine by that afternoon.  We were especially thankful that everyone seemed to be doing well, since we had been talking about taking a little vacation.  


Tuesday, everyone seemed to be doing well, so we got everything repacked and ready.  The next morning, we piled everyone in the car and headed west.  We spent the first night in North Dakota, visiting some friends.  The next day we visited the Little Bighorn battlefield, and spent the night in Montana.  Then, it was off to Yellowstone, via the Beartooth Pass.  We spent 3 nights in Yellowstone (Randy's 3rd trip there, and a first for the rest of us).  Emma got to celebrate her 10th birthday in Yellowstone, which was pretty neat.  Then we spent one night in Grand Teton National Park, before heading back up to Montana.  We finally arrived back home late on Wednesday night, the 18th.  


In order to avoid making this post WAY too long, I will just finish by saying that we had a tremendous time, and there will be more posts (and pictures) to follow!

Praise God from who all blessings flow

Yesterday, we had a lot more excitement than I would have preferred.  It all began Wednesday night.  Michael is teething and not sleeping well.  At all.  That night was one of the worst, with me being up with him until after 1 am.  I finally crawled into bed, knowing that we were in line for a thunderstorm and praying that it wasn't too loud and crazy so that I could get a little sleep before the new day began.  I drifted off to sleep.  I was awakened around 4, with the sound of thunder and rain.  Randy checked the radar and saw that we were definitely going to get hit with something.  Little did we know...
I whispered a prayer for God's hand of protection over our family, our home and our fields.  Again, little did we know...
I closed my eyes once again, and was just beginning to relax into slumber when the loudest crack of thunder I have ever heard SHOOK the house.  I literally jumped up from the bed.  Randy and I heard some kind of loud beeping noise, and I quickly left the room to try to find it and stop it before it woke up Michael.  I said that it seemed to be coming from downstairs somewhere and Randy went down to check it out.  The beeping noise was coming from the dehumidifier, which was easy to take care of, but what greeted him in the basement was not at all what we were expecting.  There was a thin, smoky haze in the basement, accompanied by the smell of burnt electrical wiring.  As we searched with flashlights to see exactly what had happened, Timothy came down to see what was going on.  Flashlight in hand, Timothy asked what the big dark spot on the wall was about.  We both turned to look, and discovered that the wall around the phone jack was charred.  
As we went through the house, the pieces began to fall into place.  As I said, what was left of one phone jack was surrounded by charred sheetrock (the jack itself had been blown apart).  Another phone jack was found with about 2 inches of phone cord attached, the remainder of the wire having been blown apart.  The modem and wireless router for the computer was charred, and the carpet where they had been was melted.  
Outside, the siding was charred around the phone box on the side of the house, and there was a hole burnt in the wood behind the siding.  There was charred grass at the base of a large tree near the house, bordering the driveway, and a hole in the driveway itself.  Obviously, lightning had struck the tree, blown a hole in the driveway and hit the phone line, completely obliterating it.  There really is no way that we shouldn't have had a fire.  I am truly in awe at God's hand of protection over us and our home, just as I had prayed.  
I am also thankful to the men from our local phone cooperative, who were out right away in the morning.  The first man who came said that in over 25 years on the job, he had NEVER seen anything that bad.  He was immediately on the phone, calling in more guys and equipment.  They went to work immediately to inspect everything and restring the phone lines.  Everything was restored by that afternoon.  They had also called in the electric company to inspect the electrical lines to make sure that everything was ok.  
Given what could have (and probably should have) been, the damage was really so minimal.  I am absolutely, truly humbled by the way the Lord protected us, and the way he orchestrated the help and restoration.  God is so great, and His mercy endures forever.

I'm Blessed

Hello everyone (or the couple of people who might read this)!  :)  I haven't posted anything for a long time now (again, not because there hasn't been anything to share, but simply because I have been too busy with other things that this just doesn't make the top of the list).  I am going to back up just a little bit and post the blessings that I would have posted last week if I had taken the time to post then.


Right now, as I have one child sitting on my lap and "helping" me type and another one circling the chair, I am so thankful to be a mama.  This is exactly what I have always wanted to do with my life, and I am so thankful to God for enabling me to live this life! :)


I am also so very, sincerely thankful to all of the people who have fought for the many freedoms that are so easy to take for granted.  I am also thankful to their families, who also sacrifice so much so that we can be free.  And I don't believe that there are any words that can truly express the profound appreciation for those who ultimately gave their lives to protect our home.  Thank you.


I was also very blessed to spend Memorial weekend with most of Randy's family.  Four of his five sisters and their families came and camped out at our house for the weekend, and it was fantastic!!! :)  We had such a great time!  The kids played until they dropped, the grown-ups relaxed and visited, we had campfires and s'mores, fishing, fireworks and even some horse-back rides for the kids.  The other wonderful thing is that everyone takes turns for making meals.  Knowing that you only have 1 meal to make and clean up after is so nice! :)  (I told everyone that they are all welcome to stay as long as they want, because I really kind of like that arrangement!)  :) 


In other news, Michael is completely grown up now.  He runs around all over the place and is so proud of himself.  :)  He is such a sweet, funny little boy!


Abby also made my day the other day (well ok, a lot of days, but I am talking about this past weekend specifically).  We have been working on memorizing scripture.  I found a link on another blog for a really easy, low-stress, no pressure way of working on memorizing God's Word.  The first verse we started with is Genesis 1:1.  Emma and Timothy already knew that one, so we thought reviewing that would be an easy place to start.  After a few times of saying it aloud, Abby also had that verse memorized!  We made a really big deal out of letting her know how proud we are, and she has been very proud of herself.  On Saturday, we were out shopping.  We stopped at the pharmacy counter to pick up something, and as the lady was getting my information, Abby stood up in the cart and said "'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.'  Genesis 1:1."  When the woman didn't respond, Abby said (louder) "Did you hear that?  Genesis 1:1!!!"  I think she didn't understand why the lady behind the counter wasn't as excited and proud as Abby was.  (In the woman's defense, I don't think she heard Abby.)  But it really made my day. :) 


That is all for now, as I need to start thinking about making food for my beloved and my kiddos. :)


For more blessings, click over to Gretchen's blessing party.