Visitors

Last evening a family we met last summer at music camp was able to come visit us. The Curran Family is from Oregon. They have two daughters and one son. We had such an enjoyable time of visiting and fellowship. The Keulen family also joined us for a fun filled evening.

Even though the Currans were only able to stay over one night it was a good time and fun to get to know them a bit better.



Visiting at the dinner table


Getting breakfast ready


Enjoying breakfast together

I Really Am Still Here...

...even though I haven't posted for ages. I am just going to post a few random pictures and comments from the last month.



We stayed home for Thanksgiving and had some friends over for the afternoon. I gave pony rides to the little girls, we played games, and ate a wonderful turkey dinner.







Lately we have been getting ready for Christmas. We got our tree and decorated it and I have been making cookies.



A chilly winter morning at our house.



A while ago we recieved our Vision Forum Catalog in the mail. As I was reading through it I noticed that they are having a Jamestown treasure hunt. I found the first clue and solved it then didn't think about it for awhile. The other day I got into it again and now I am having a hard time getting other things done:) What have I gotten myself into? It is alot of fun but quite challenging.

Well that's what I've been up to lately along with other projects and ideas that I will hopefully post on soon.

Conference in Oregon

Well this post is a bit late. I have been meaning to post about this trip ever since I got home. That was almost two weeks ago.

This last trip to Bend, Oregon was the fourth time I've been to Oregon this year. It was a little different because only three of us went; Mom, Jonathan, and I. Dad had to work and Melissa stayed home to keep him company. We haven't really traveled without Dad before so this was a new adaventure for us.

This time we were there for the Berean Call Conference on the Seduction of Christianity. The speakers spoke on the affect phsycology, mysticism, ecumenicalism, marketing. and other ideas have had on the church today. There was so much information it was almost overwhelming. I took a lot of notes but I am really a terrible note taker, so they don't always make sense:) I think one of the most important things spoken on was the sufficiency of God's Word and the impotance of testing all ideas and teachings by the Bible.

We were surprised at how many people came to the conference. It was so encouraging. At the Saturday evening banquet we had the opportunity to meet a sweet family with three young children from Kentucky. It was enjoyable to talk to them. Another highlight was hearing the Booher Brothers play both Saturday evening and Sunday morning. It is always fun to hear them.

On the way home we took several detours to admire the beauty of God's creation in Northern California. Because of our many stops we got home later than planned. But the trip was safe and it was good to be all home together again.

I didn't take any pictures at the conference but did get some on the way home. My camera was acting really strange part of the time but then started working again just fine. I hope its not going to break.

Horseback Ride

On Tuesday afternoon we went on a walk with the our neighbors, the Stevens.

I convinced my mom and Mrs.Stevens to ride the horses, even though it had been a long time since either of them had been horseback riding. Celeste rode the other horse while the rest of us walked.

New Blogger

If you look at the sidebar on the right you might notice something different. I have changed my blog so that from now on my sister Melissa can post also. So look for her first post coming up soon! This is going to be fun!

The Girls

Callie, Windy, and Misty enjoying an afternoon out in the pasture.

A Crash and a Firetruck

After reading the title of my post you probably have all sorts of wild ideas flying through your mind. Well, they are probably all wrong. You also probably think that the crash and the firetruck have something to do with each other. They are in fact two different and completely unrelated events.

THE CRASH

The first event happened on Wednesday afternoon. I had just arrived home from work. I went over to my computer to check my e-mail when I noticed a strange blue screen telling me that it was shutting down due to an error. So it shut down and restarted. As it booted up it got as far as the Windows XP logo before... uh oh... there it was again, the blue screen! This occurred several times. I spent a very frustrated afternoon trying to figure out what to do, before giving up in fear of causing more damage. I have not been able to get on since then. I am hoping that there is some way to recover my files. I had been being very careful to back things up until earlier this year. So all my photos from January until now, a website that I was working on, and other design work and artwork has never been backed up. Right now I am still able to blog and use e-mail on the other computer. If anyone has suggestions for what to do when a computer crashes please let me know.

THE FIRETRUCK

OK, now for the second event. This one was unusual. I was sleeping peacefully when suddenly I was awakened in what felt like the middle of the night. It was actually very early Thursday morning, around 4:30 a.m. Outside my window it was very bright and a loud motor was running. When I looked to see what was going on I saw a huge firetruck with glaring lights parked in our driveway. What in the world was going on?
Now I think I'd better go back a few days to explain things. On Tuesday evening my grandparents from the Bay Area came down to visit us for a few days. Before coming down Grandpa had been to the doctor to have a cyst removed from his head. As I was leaving for work Wednesday morning the wound had begun bleeding and didn't seem to be stopping. Eventually the bleeding was stopped and it seemed to be doing ok. But early Thursday morning Grandpa woke up to find it bleeding a lot. My mom tried to stop it but was unable to so they called emergency. My room is back in the converted garage so I didn't hear any of the commotion until the firetruck arrived. Anyway Grandpa was taken to the hospital where the bleeding was stopped and more stitches were put in. Mom, Dad, and Grandma followed him there shortly after. They all came home around 8:30 a.m. We were all glad that it was not anything more serious. My grandparents are getting older and neither one knows the Lord so this was somewhat scary for them. Hopefully this event will help them to think more seriously about their relationship with God.

Apple Season

This afternoon we went with our neighbors to See Canyon to get apples. It has become almost a tradition we do every fall. We took a picnic lunch to eat in the beautiful garden behind one apple farm. At the apple farms we sampled the apples and then bought a large box of our favorites for fresh eating, baking, and making apple butter. After that we headed over to the Avila Valley Barn. We spent our time buying produce, looking at the gift shop, visiting the animals, getting lost in the hay bale maze, and eating ice cream. Apple season is always an enjoyable part of fall. I am looking forward to making delicious apple pies, apple sauce, and apple butter.


Posing by the old tractor


The ladies eating a picnic lunch


Enjoying our ice cream


The boys with their ice cream.

After the Rain

Books, books, books

I have been tagged by the Servens to post about books. So here goes.

1. One book that changed your life. Inside the New Age Nightmare by Randall N. Baer. I have never read this book, but my parents read it and were saved right afterward. They had been into some new age ideas and this book really opened their eyes to the truth. If they had not read this book I am sure my life would have been very different. Also the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible continues to change me as I read it more and more.

2. One book that you've read more than once. I have read many books more than once. When I was younger I read many books by Marguerite Henry more than several times.

3. One book that you would want on a desert island. The Bible. I would need this book more than any other book.

4. One book that made you laugh. All the Anne of Green Gables series. Anne was always getting into the most awkward scrapes. Also Nicholas Nickleby and others by Charles Dickens.

5. One book that made you cry. A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I really, really enjoyed this book.

6. One book that you wish had been written. I can't think of any right now.

7. One book that you wish had never been written. I am not sure about this one either. There are many books that it would probably have been better if they had never been written.

8. One book that you are currently reading. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I am enjoying it so far. I will know for sure if I like it when I finish it.

9. One book that you are meaning to read. Well there is a whole list of those:) I just bought some used classics that I will read soon. I always enjoy getting suggestions.

10. Now tag four people. I don't know very many people with blogs so I will only tag Mandy. If you don't have time to do this don't worry about it.

Glorious

The sunset this evening was glorious. It always amazes me how beautiful and unique each sunset is. They are like paintings done by God who is the true artist.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.

I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.

Psalm 19:1 & Psalm 145:5

He Who Keeps You Will Not Slumber

Psalm 121
A Song of Ascents.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the LORD,

Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;

The LORD is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Fun at the Beach

Yesterday we were able to go to the beach for the afternoon with the Keulens and several friends from out of state. We spent our time climbing rocks and trees, taking pictures, looking at tide pools, getting very dirty and just generally having fun. We were planning to watch the sunset but it was too foggy to see it.
Afterwards we all went to the Keulens' house for homemade pizza and more fun. Soon we had the instruments out for jamming and singing. We were all having such a great time that before we knew it was almost 11 and time to go home an get some sleep!
Thank you, Keulens for inviting us, we had a wonderful time!

The tree we climbed into




Out on the rocks

Looking at the pet crab

Who had the dirtiest feet at the end of the day?

Having a Ball!

Last Friday evening my whole family attended a civil war ball. Our friend Sharon came over before to get dressed for the ball and rode with us. It took us a little longer than we expected so we were russhing out the door when we should have been arriving. It is ridiculous trying to get three girls in hoop skirts into the back seat of a van! We all had an enjoyable time.

When we got home at 11 p.m. the three of us girls started watching Wives and Daughters, a four part movie. We only made it through 2 episodes before going to bed at 3 a.m. It was a terrible place to stop but we were all so tired.

All dressed up

Dancing

Signs of Fall

Fall is coming! It is starting to feel more like fall; the weather was cooler today and the leaves are just starting to turn color. I am looking forward to fall. I love the cooler weather, the fall colors, wearing sweaters, the smell of apple crisp baking. I enjoy all the different seasons but I think fall is my favorite.

Another Trip

Well we made it back from Oregon. We got home around eight last night after a late start and a long drive.

We had an enjoyable and busy trip. We packed a lot into only six days. The first two nights we spent with our grandparents up in the Bay Area. Grandpa has a couple old Oldsmobile "muscle" cars and he likes to take them out to "exercise" them. So Dad, Jonathan, and I went for a ride with Grandpa in his black and gold hotrod car. He likes to drive really fast; way over the speed limit!

On Sunday afternoon there was a birthday party for Grandma at my cousin's house. All our relatives on my mom's side were there. It was good to see everyone.

Grandma opening her gifts

Monday morning we packed up and headed for Southern Oregon. We spent the night at the state park along the Rogue River in a yurt. A yurt is a round tentlike shelter. It was actually very comfortable.

The next morning we picked wild berries along the river and had them for breakfast. They were delicious! We spent the day mostly driving around the area. We saw some very pretty areas around Ashland, Grants Pass, Cave Junction, and the Applegate Valley. We drove by some properties that we had looked up before we left. We are not planning to move but just like to look, we didn't really like anything we saw anyway. We also ate lunch and walked around in Jacksonville which is a fun historical town.

Mom and Melissa in front of the yurt.

Wild blackberries


On Wednesday we took a tour of the Oregon Caves outside Cave Junction. It was very interesting despite the evolutionary ideas our tour guide threw in. The tour lasted for about an hour and a half and it was quite cold down there. It is so amazing to see all the formations that are under the ground. It just makes me realize what a creative God we have. Then after a picnic by the creek we went to the Rogue River to try some fishing. We had a good time fishing but didn't catch anything that we kept. Melissa and I did catch a lot of very small fish though. The weather and scenery was beautiful and it was very relaxing.

Rock formation in the caves.

Melissa fishing in the Rogue River



Thursday was an especially fun day. We took a two hour drive up to visit some friends. We visited the Boohers and also Jenny and Julie K. who are up there staying with them. It was a good time of visiting. That night we went to see a Shakespeare play in Ashland. We had never done anything like that before and it was a lot of fun. The play was pretty good but it seemed like it had been changed some and "modernized". We were not allowed to take pictures in the theater so I don't have any.

Visiting with friends

An almost full moon



We were supposed to get an early start on Friday morning to head home, but... well we didn't. We went out to breakfast which of course takes a while. It was very good though. Next we were going to walk around Ashland quickly but that turned out to be not so quick. There were some fun shops to go in and a lot of sidewalk sales. Then we found a music store! It had all sorts of instruments; old violins, banjos, guitars, upright bass. It was so fun just to look. I found a book of Early Dance Music for the Mandolin. It looked interesting and came with a CD (now that I play more by ear it a CD really helps) so I bought it. I guess I need to start practicing more now! Well we finally got in the car and headed off toward home.

When we got home we had to take care of our animals and milk the the neighbors goats. They took care of our animals while we were gone and we are taking care of theirs while they are gone. It just worked out that we got home the same day they left.

I had a fun time on the trip but am happy to be home.

Random Ramblings

Well I am actually going to post again!! This is going to be rather random I think :)

The past few weeks have been fairly busy so I will just give a brief overview of what we have been doing.

Melissa and I have spent several days over at a lady's house helping clean, organize, and do paper work. She and her husband are the administrators of our local home school group so with the school year starting, her grandchildren visiting, and work being done on their house she had too much to do. We also spent two days helping an older lady who is moving sort her books. She had many very old books which was fun because I love looking through old books!

We are also working on a shed for the goat/horses. It has been a long project, mostly just because we don't often work on it. This week we have done as much as we can and now we need to buy more materials.

One very fun thing we did recently was go boogie boarding with some friends for the first time. It was a blast! Our friends were very helpful in teaching us how to catch waves. And pretty soon I was actually catching some. We spent all afternoon at the beach then we all came to our house for dinner and a movie. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post. :(

Two nights ago we had a good friend over that lives just across the road but we hadn't seen since before music camp. She went away for the two weeks after we got home and then she was busy and we were busy. It was so good to finally spend some time with her.

This weekend we are going on a trip to see our grandparents in the Bay Area and then up to southern Oregon to do some fishing. I will probably post again when I get home.
I really need to get off now. I have a whole pile of ironing, my room desperately needs to be cleaned and I really should get some packing done.

Music Camp Pictures

Well here are the pictures of music camp.

Friends at camp

Getting some extra fiddle practice

My fiddle class

Band scramble night!



Dancing the Virginia Reel



Late night hymn sing