Bronco Rider

I just finished my latest cross-stitch block. This square is for my stitching group and will go on a western theme quilt. Next up...Teddy Bears.

And the Rain, Rain, Rain Came Down, Down, Down

After a beautiful sunny day, the afternoon turned much more humid and the storms rolled in.

We have been having quite a bit of unusually hot, humid weather this summer, which almost always produces late afternoon, evening thunder and lightning storms.

Today's storm was particularly wild, with heavy winds, tremendous rain (2.25 inches in just over an hour), and hail.

The hail was about nickel size. I do not dare look at what this storm has done to our garden! Three times during the duration of the storm, the hail came and coated the ground. It was quite interesting to see and I do love weather, but I am very concerned for our plants.

To top it all off, with the last wave of the storm, the power went out. It was only off for about two hours, but with the heavy rains on top of the close to four inch storm we had a couple days ago, the ground is saturated and our cellar soon flooded.

We do not keep anything down there of value but the house mechanicals and our big freezer. Because there was no power, there was also no sump pump. Everything is up on concrete pads, but the water came in fast. The water reached over the pads and up above the motor on our furnace and maybe the motor on the freezer. We will have to wait until the water pumps out to assess what damage there is. Brian is certain the furnace is heavily damaged.

Note: Brian spent several hours in the cellar lastnight pumping out the water and assessing the damage. He still doesn't know why, but the furnace motor was undamaged. He said it must be a sealed unit as the motor was under water. So, praising God, nothing of importance was damaged. We have a lot of cleaning up to do, but we are so thankful. Our cellar is just a cellar, not a nice basement or anything, so we really don't have anything of value down there. We had another round of storms run through, but we did not lose the power, so the pump was able to keep up with the extra water. Thank you all for your kind words and prayers.

Shots from the Vegetable Garden

The vegetable garden is doing great. This spring, we spent a lot of time setting up the new beds and building the fence. (Well, Brian did most of the work!) We wanted the whole structure of the garden to be more permanent and durable. We didn't know how much time we would have to actually plant the garden and work it this summer. What a pleasant surprise that we got it all planted and that everything seems to be thriving. We have learned a lot about this system and we will make some changes next year, but we are very pleased with how things are going.

Here are a few snippets of what is growing.

I love how the garden looks, all the nice neat beds with the different textures and hues of green.
Hopefully next year will be even better.

Creation Club for July

The kids had their monthly creation club meeting on Tuesday this week. I am so glad that Karen invited us to participate this year. The kids are having a great time and meeting new friends.

This time was on plants. It was fun watching the kids trying to think of all the things we use plants for. Most of the kids could come up with things like eating fruits and vegetables, but didn't make the connection between trees and lumber for building or cotton to make clothing.

There were games, a fun activity where they had to fish around in a bin and try to find the things that were not a plant product (metals and plastics), a craft and yummy snack. There is always time at the end for free play time


There were games to play.

A fun craft.

This activity where the kids had to fish through this bin and find things that were not plant products (mostly metal and plastic).

A yummy snack is always served and at the end, so free playtime, which the kids always love.

What a great group of kids.

Bugs in the Yard

Here are a few recent visitors to our yard.

walking stick

lots of butterflies
This one is a bit strange. It is a female wolf spider. She carries her babies on her back until their first molt. We fished this one out of the pool. We often find all sorts of interesting bugs in our pool and each day before we swim, we make sure to do a quick sweep of the surface.

Newest Family Member

A side note to our new van story, when we went to test drive the new van, there were quite a few cats and kittens around the families house. Bessie was loving all the kittens and they were very friendly. We had recently come to the conclusion that our outside cat of 8 years had probably perished as he had not been around for several weeks. The man asked Bessie if she would like one of the kittens. She was so excited, we said yes.

So, here is little Tiger Lily, who came home with us when we picked up the van. Isn't she adorable. She is white and tiger striped, sweet as can be and very friendly.

Gabe is especially happy with her as our old cat was quite aloof and did not really like the younger children too much. Miss Lily lets him hold her and carry her around.

She was used to being an outdoor kitty at her old home and she will have to do the same here as we have several family members with cat allergies. Right now she is living in and out of our garage. Brian is installing a cat door for her, so she can easily get inside to her food and bed.

New Van

After a year and half of looking and praying, we finally found a new van, well used, but new to us. Our old van, with 200,000 miles, was a bit too cramped, especially when we traveled or went camping. We had wanted a larger passenger van, but we were finding 12 seaters quite a bit harder to find than 15s and we did not want to go as large as a 15.

We feel so blessed to have found this van, which is newer than we had hoped, less expensive and has fewer miles. The old owners called it Moby Dick Gabe thinks we should call it Frosty! Whatever we call it, I am thrilled to have a van where the kids don't have to all sit crammed together, the A/C works and we aren't losing parts of the body as we drive down the road.

Back Yard Science

While swimming at the brook, Gabe caught a small sucker fish. It was only about 6 inches long and he brought it home. It did not survive long in the bucket and Bessie asked if she could dissect it.

We are a very science and nature kind of family and this sort of spontaneous science stuff is always encouraged. Now, how many 15 year old year girls do you know that would choose to cut open a fish...just for fun?!

All eyes as Bessie explains the fish body parts

Fun at the Pond

We are always ready and willing to spend time with friends.

As we waited for our pool to be complete, we were even more grateful to visit our friends with the pond, for a refreshing afternoon of enjoying the water on a very hot, humid day.

What better way to spend a few hours when the temps are so hot, than swimming and playing in the cool sand with friends.

Burn Pile

We have a very large pile of construction debris, from various house projects, in the back of our yard. When Brian cut up a very old, wooden boat and added it to the pile, it became more than I liked to look at everyday.

To whittle down the pile, Brian has been burning the wood as the weather permits. He built a large fire pit of cinder blocks and bricks and we are amazed at how quickly the pile is disappearing. The kids enjoy the fire each weekend and participate in the process. The boys especially seem to like to fiddle with the fire, throwing on pieces of wood and giving it an occasional poke.

As a bonus, it makes for great evenings sitting around the fire and roasting marshmallows.

My Life? One Word at a Time

I took this meme from Dorothy's blog and since she put Debbie as her answer to #35, I felt I needed to oblige. Now, she could be talking about another Debbie, but she knows that I read her blog everyday and like to do silly blogging things, so I'm thinking she probably means me.

Anyway, here goes! You are suppose to answer the questions with one word answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? puttering
3. Your hair? braided
4. Your mother? gentle
5. Your father? rugged
6. Your favorite thing? flowers
7. Your dream last night? weird
8. Your favorite drink? tea
9. Your dream/goal? contentment
10. The room you’re in? bedroom
11. Your church? growing
12. Your fear? fear
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
14. Where were you last night? home
15. What you’re not? typical
16. Muffins? applesauce
17. One of your wish list items? sewing machine (I guess that is two words)
18. Where you grew up? Vermont
19. The last thing you did? gardening
20. What are you wearing? smile
21. Your TV? silent
22. Your pets? many
23. Your computer? enjoyable
24. Your life? challenging
25. Your mood? relaxed
26. Missing someone? mom
27. Your car? old
28. Something you’re not wearing? makeup
29. Favorite store? AC Moore
30. Your summer? hectic
31. Like (love) someone? tremendously
32. Your favorite color? green
33. Last time you laughed? today
34. Last time you cried? yesterday
35. Who will re post this? Tammy?

Okay, I'm not sure if this is a tag thing or not, but if you would like to do it, consider yourself tagged.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

Today was Gabe's 9th birthday! What a full, fun, wonderful day it was. We try and squeeze as much fun and enjoyment out of our special days as we can and today we squeezed a lot!

Brian was able to have part of the day off, which is always a treat for us. The day was gorgeous, clear blue skies, warm temperatures and a pleasant breeze.

As soon as Brian got home, we let Gabe open a few of his gifts. He always is so appreciative of what he gets and this year we were able to surprise with a few special goodies.

After lunch and a fun swim in the pool (Yes, we finally have our new liner in! I'll post about that later.), we sang happy birthday, ate scrumptious ice cream cake and let him open the rest of his gifts.

We spend more on the kids for their birthdays than we do for Christmas. We decided, as a family, several years ago, to scale back at Christmas time, moving our focus from all the gift giving to the birth of Jesus. This has worked out for very special times at Christmas and special birthdays for each child.

Gabe's big gift this year was a Nintendo DS. He had no idea this was coming. He had not mentioned getting one or even asked for one. I knew he would love it and we really surprised him with this gift. He was actually beside himself, he was so excited. He didn't know what to say. He knows how expensive they are and did not expect it at all. I love it when we hit on something that is so special to one of the kids.

Everyone was oohing and aahing over the new toy. Gabe loves electronics of any type and he took right off setting it up and starting to play.

Bessie helped him put together his new Nerf gun. We love Nerf.

On each child's birthday, they get to choose their desert and what to have for our dinner meal. Gabe wanted ice cream cake, pizza and wings. We opted for take out. We picked up our food and headed to one of our favorite local spots, one of the canal locks on the Champlain Canal. Each canal lock has a picnic area with grills and picnic tables. Being a Tuesday, we had the place to ourselves except for the Lock Master.

Brian and the kids brought their fishing gear, I brought my binocs and camp chair! I actually love to fish, but do not like "little kid fishing" (Isn't that terrible of me!?). Brian, on the other hand, has the patience of Job for these types of things and does so well working with the kids. I sit back and watch and save myself the frustration. I was quite surprised how well they all did. Bessie and Gabe are pros, having been fishing many times, so they did great. Rachel picked up casting quickly, but didn't really seem to enjoy it all that much. Hannah is going to be a natural. She was quite willing to sit quietly and watch that bobber, with never a complaint. Dan, well, I guess we just need to give Dan a few more years. Dan is not into sitting or being quiet or being still for anything and before long he was splashing in the river with his pole and throwing rocks.

Brian hooked a fish and let the birthday boy reel it in...a small bass. Just another treasure in this great day for Gabe. This is a catch and release area, so after pictures, this little guy was let go.

Isn't this a lovely spot? We finally headed home about 8:00pm.


After the Littles went to bed, Brian, Bessie, Gabe and I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Gabe went to bed at 11:30 (late even for him), tired by so happy. He wanted one more hug and me to tell him "happy birthday" one more time. I think he was reluctant to let his special day go.

I found myself, on several occasions today, looking at Gabe and thinking of his birth parents, especially his birth mother. What a sacrifice she made and what a gift that sacrifice was to us.

Gabe is such a special little boy and we adore him. He and I are especially close. We enjoy so many of the same things. I like his sense of humor, his terrific imagination and his love of nature and science. I love talking with him.

All these things make me wonder what type of personalities his birth family has. How much of what makes Gabe "Gabe" came in his genes and how much is a product of his life here with us. I know some people want to think it is all nature or all nurture, but I'm sure it is a combination of both.

Either way, doesn't matter to me. We have never been the type of adoptive parents that want our kids to look like us so we can pretend that they aren't adopted. We am very aware that our children had lives before they came to our family and that is okay. All the elements of their lives make up who they are.

However Gabe came by his uniqueness, I love it and love him so very much. We are so happy that his birth mom chose to have him and that God chose to give him to us.

Happy Birthday, Gabe!