Multitude Monday

Sorry folks but there are so still no photos! I am truly amazed at what a (92)whirlwind weekend it was and (93)how peacefully it ended !!
94. My family is absolutely amazing!! The guys all pitched in and we got the
95. WHOLE house sorted, cleared, and cleaned by Saturday night. This involved cleaning out closets, bookcases, storage boxes, under bed storage and
96. moving too much stuff into the enclosed trailer.

We have taken so much stuff to town and (97) been able to pass on just as much! (98) God has truly blessed us with an abundance! Not just monetarily but love of family, friends, health, and the list goes on. (99-101)

102. Two interested buyers before the contract for the realtor goes into effect!
103. A realtor who will split his fee in half if one of our "contacts" purchase the house.
104. The reassurance of knowing that my hubby has a job in these uncertain times.
105. Knowing that even though it is a deployable position God will watch over us if we are apart!
106. Getting 2 airline tickets for $10 a piece!
107. The glow of short, fat candles!
108. An overabundance of candles...
109. Having friends and family with whom I can share our blessings! Both monetary and spiritual!
110. The faithfulness of our forefathers!
111. National missionaries who are willing to work diligent to spread the gospel in once hostile lands.
112. The willingness of those same missionaries to continue work as they see doors closing all around them again!
113. Cinnamon
114. organic oranges
115. freshly brewed coffee
116. heads bowed over school work in an attempt to work ahead
117. friends who I will dearly miss when we move in January!
118. knowing that one day I will be reunited with said friends. Not necessarily in our life time on earth but when we are united in Heaven with our Lord!!
119. the ability to live in a country where I am still free to worship the Lord out in the open...
120. where I can write freely about my Lord without fear of persecution.
121. being able to read the histories of those who have been persecuted for the Lord and the love that shines through their words!!

Periodic Hiatus

Well folks I just wanted to let you know I am going to be on and off for the next few weeks. We are working like crazy to get ready to put our house in Alaska on the market with a realtor. The goal is to have it listed by December 1st and someone in to take pictures for a virtual tour later in the week. Plus Chris and I are using our rewards miles to fly down and look at properties. At present we are considering buying but will see where the Lord leads us.

I am amazed at how much we have amassed while living here and even more amazed at how much is from Ohio. Things kept for "a later day", well they are going! We will be moving into a smaller house plus our "retirement" property has an even smaller house on it!! I've also learned while up here what crafts I really enjoy and am getting rid of many unfinished projects. In fact I unearthed material that is going to be used for matching kitchen towels and trivets/coasters. I am so bad about putting hot stuff directly on the counter or table top.. Hopefully these will help to break that habit!! Plus it is such a cool pattern that I am making some for Christmas presents... I had thought about making some to sell at the Christmas Bizarre but just don't know if it would be wise.. We shall see how much gets done this weekend!

Toodles, and I will keep you all posted! Sorry for no more photos at present. Decide to wait until my work is done! Hopefully there will be more Christmas presents posted soon!!

The completed kitchen!!

Yes, you see the completed kitchen!! LOL... I laugh because we always move when we finally get the kitchen "remodeled"!! And I mean always... We sold our 1st house 1 month after the kitchen was finished, moved out of base housing and they started the kitchen remodel the very next day, in Ohio Chris received word that he got a job up here a week after we finished the kitchen and now.... We got the kitchen finished 2 weeks before Chris was told he got the job in Indiana!! So this next time around its the first thing we are going to do!! ha ha!



If you look closely you will see the fabric found in my macro shots..

As the day progresses I will be posting more pictures of the house.. We took a ton of pictures of the interior to send out to interested parties so I decided I may as well add them here!!

Foto Friday: Macro

Wow, this week has been crazy!! As most of you know we are moving in January so we are in the beginning stages of sorting and selling. In all honesty I don't remember most of this week! I just know that it is Friday... Oh now I am starting to remember. We had a band concert on Tuesday! It was wonderful watching all the "children" perform...

Not to change the subject but man is it ever cold here! We are breaking records right and left for lows... Today it is currently -35.1 below ZERO and still dropping. We have seen record lows off and on for the past week but according to the weather forecast we ought to see a warming trend. We may even see temperatures close to 10 ABOVE by Thanksgiving!! All of this was to explain why my "macro" picture as not outdoor pictures... ha ha!

By the way these pictures represent one of the loves in my life... cooking for our family and friends!





Hmm, I can see where I've been negligent is my cleaning recently.. Oops!

Take a gander over to Rebecca's at Renaissance to participate in this weeks challenge and to see all the incredible photos!! Next's weeks challenge is: THANKFUL. What a great challenge with it being Thanksgiving!!



Hope you all have a great week!

Homemade Christmas

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We do not do an entirely homemade Christmas but each year a portion of our giving has been homemade. What may have started out as a need years ago has now turned into a desire! I love making crafting things for my family and friends. To fit the gift to their particular likes or needs. A chance to pamper them a bit! So as our days seem to be getting busier by the hour as Christmas approaches and we prepare for the move I will take a little extra time to think and lift up in prayer those we hold dear to our hearts!

Here is but a preview of some of the things being crafted and recrafted for our dear ones this year:

Bundles of crocheted kitchen wash clothes.

Next week's Foto Friday Challenge... macro

I know I didn't post any pictures this week but I still wanted to pass on next week's challenge. Macro photography! It is one of my favorite forms of photography and am excitedly awaiting all the great tidbits Rebecca can share!!

It looks like this week is going to be busy as well with the Thanksgiving/Fall concert at school, science fair, Wednesday prayer meeting, Boy Scouts, and Youth Group. I don't think we have a free night between Monday night and Saturday night but the whole weekend is free. And we have no plans over Thanksgiving. Okay,no plans aside from a generalized whole house cleaning, sorting, and selling spree. Anyone interested in some Christmas shopping? Maybe I should do a giveaway... It is crazy all the stuff we have to giveaway and/or sell. We talked about a "yard" sale but it is just too cold at -10 to be doing that kind of thing. I think we are going to post a list at the local grocery store and post office of some for sale items. If you know of anyone looking for homeschool curriculum please let me know! We have supplies and curriculum we are planning to sell for a song (just slightly more than our mailing costs)!! I would rather it go to someone I know or someone whom a friend could recommend that really needs the blessing!



This is a close up of the owl who frequents our "backyard"! A truly magnificent bird who the boys have seen up close and personnal as there was a slight altercation with our small dog. The dog was unscathed and the owl flew off to return another day!

Hope you have a great week!

Foto Friday.... non photo post today!

Well today is supposed to be Foto Friday and I know it still is over at Renaissance but this week I took a holiday from photography! It has been such an event filled week that I felt it would be more productive to center my attentions on other things!

Let me see... where to begin. Tuesday, Sean called from school to say he was seeing a black line running through the middle of his left eye and could see nothing above it... The school nurse was concerned so he and I made a whirlwind trip to Fairbanks. The optomistrist was wonderful and got him right away! After much testing it was determined that Sean had lost all vision in the upper left (outside) quadrant of his left eye and a bit in the upper right quadrant. So off we went to have an MRI! Let me say this much... He was a TROOPER through the whole thing. By the time we got home he was a bit tired and was sound asleep about 30 minutes before his normal bed time. Tuesday morning Sean was up bright and early with his vision restored. The doctor called back to say the MRI showed no anomolies! We are so thankful God restored Sean's vision! We are still in the dark concerning the cause but just praise God daily that his vision has been returned.

My sweet hubby had to go back up to Fairbanks on Thursday for a root canal! He was in the dentist seat for 2 hours while they worked on him. All in all it was a good appointment as his tooth is now fixed and he had a nice nap. Yes, dear hubby sleeps in the dentist chair even during a root canal! They ended up putting in the bite block as his mouth kept closing... I wonder if he snores while in the dentist chair?

Friday was a mad rush back to town as we discovered the boys had outgrown dress pants and have a band concert next Tuesday. It was amazing as we stopped off at 6 different stores and got lunch to go in 1 1/2 hours! We left the house at 10:35 and were back home by 1:50. Not bad considering we had a 50 minute drive each way! The sun was shining, the wind was gone, and there was wonderful conversation!!

The remainder of the week has been filled with cleaning, cutting out magazine pictures, and crotcheting! It is so fulfilling as I see the projects being completed... We are getting the house ready and are hoping to start putting "For Sale" signs up around town on Monday.

I don't know if I told anyone but as of right now we will be leaving around the 23rd of January! Once Chris gets his orders we will begin the process of scheduling movers, etc. We are so excited and so thankful! It was exciting watching God's hand in the whole process! I know I am NOT the most patient person in the world but it is so comforting to know that everything is in God's timing... Yes, I still felt that way even when I was chomping at the bit! :)

This week's Foto Challenge: Dress-Up really was a CHALLENGE! We had our dress-up session last week and some how no pictures were taken... The guys really aren't that into dress up. I wonder why? Have you ever noticed when "boys" are little they are right in the midst of the "dress-up"? But when they get older (especially as teens) they seem to baulk at the idea... Henceforth my dilemma... but last night my husband came to the rescue! No it wasn't intentional, just him being his normal silly self.
(The thing on his head is the cover off the heating pad, we were folding laundry... ha ha!)
And all these years I wondered why our boys were always putting things on their heads!?! Apparently they came by it naturally!!



My sweet Babboo trying to squeeze himself into a queen size pillow case.. "LOOK Mom, I'm an Evan in a Bag! you know like a Jack in a Box..."

Drop on over to Renaissance to view all the other participants and to join in! Next week's challenge: LEAVES! Hmm, I am thinking this will have to be a week of true creativity as our leaves are mostly gone... OH I know!! Okay, so hopefully I'll see you next week!

I know this isn't part of the challenge but I am looking for information! So maybe it is a challenge of sorts... We are looking for information on the area around Peru or Kokomo, Indiana. If you or your families have ever lived in the area or you have friends in the area... Any information would be greatly appreciated! We still don't know when we will be moving but are planning as if it will be during the last two weeks of December (better safe than sorry) as it could be a very last minute move!!

INDIANA HERE WE COME!!

Yes you read that correctly! Chris got the job in Indiana! And I am totally overwhelmed... but that is a great thing. Okay I have to be honest, I haven't told anyone at church. Chris asked me not to say anything to anyone locally so we have kept it very hush, hush here. I still have not called any of my friends here as I know I will break out in tears... They are such wonderful, dear friends in Christ and God has truly blessed us with their friendships! I know the USPS will be getting a lot more business from me! My mom would probably laugh if she heard me say that! For years I was terrible at writing but am trying to make a concerted effort to be more faithful in my written correspondance. In fact I need to sit down and write her a letter today.

About the move... Well, we don't know when we will be leaving as yet. Chris has to fill out additional paperwork and speak with the Colonel who was the hiring official. I think he will know better by the end of today! Thankfully the military pays to move us or I would be daunted by the tasks ahead. As it is we will go through each room and sort, seperate, and discard. The "professional" packers will LITERALLY pack anything! We opened a box once and found a full trash can which had been wrapped and packed... Go figure! This last time they took the attached drawer inserts that fit into the panels in front of a kitchen sinck. They were screwed in and everything. They even tried to take down the medicine cabinet until I stopped them! Ha ha!!

Please keep us in prayer as we prepare for this journey. At present our list of to-do items includes:
-get passports (have to drive through Canada)
-sell house
-sell pick-up
-sell flat bottom boat w/ trailer
-sell snow machine
-get dogs current on vaccinations/paperwork to travel
-sort out severe winter clothes
-empty barn
-look for either rental or house for sale via internet
-contact schools

There is a possiblity we will be travelling over Christmas but don't know for sure yet. I will most definitely let you all know as we find out more!!

I want to thank each and every one of you for keeping us in your prayers as we were waiting! We have prayed so hard about this move. Firstly, that if it was God's will that Chris would get it, and secondly, that if it was NOT his will that we would have the grace to accept it graciously!

I promise I will keep you all posted on our activities in the coming weeks!!