The Legend of Thousand Hills Farm

Merry Christmas!

Another year has come and gone, and I am left wondering where on earth the time went! We seem to stay plenty busy, especially through late summer and fall with hunting and football.

Mike has had a full year. He spent time in Fernwood helping our friends, the Primers, with their log home that they are building, although we didn’t get over as often as we would have liked. We went to the Homeschooling Conference in Seattle in April, he was able to attend the Whitworth 8-Man Football Camp with the boys, and he took me to Seattle for a couple days for our anniversary in August (18 years!). He continues to work at the store, and coaches middle school football. This enables him not only to coach which ever son(s) is/are in middle school, but he is also able to be on the sidelines at the high school games as well. He thoroughly enjoys sharing his love of football with his sons, and it is a time for us to be together as a family ~ cheering one another on. He has had rig problems this year (no surprise to those of you who know us!), and recently bought a newer Isuzu Rodeo, which we hope will last several years. We also bought a new (to us), van as the big green van was on it’s way to vehicle heaven.

Will is now 17, and is driving! :-0 Early this last spring, we got him into Driver’s Ed. I do have to admit, it’s been so nice to have another driver in the family! He attended the Homeschool Conference with us in April, (and was very relieved we didn’t end up stranded in Seattle for a week this year!), attended the Whitworth 8-Man Football Camp again, helped out up at Primer’s some, worked at one of the local restaurants and hayed this summer, went with Pak, played football, hunted (he got a doe early in the season), played hunting chauffeur to brothers and friends, and is now cleaning the meat department at the store, and doing some trapping on the side. Whew! Makes me tired just writing it! J He and Levi also attend “Core Group” each Sunday, and at the moment, they are studying the Truth Project, a Biblical Worldview curriculum.

Levi is 15, soon to be 16, and has just begun Driver’s Ed ~ which means a busy(ier) December than usual. Levi also went to the Conference with us this spring, and attended the Whitworth Football camp. He hayed this summer, and also got a bit of a start on roping. Of course, his horse isn’t broke yet, so it’s a little difficult to rope off of her. ;-) Levi also has enjoyed spending many hours with his Pak this summer. He spent most of the football season on the field, scoring several touchdowns. And, his hunting season got off to a “bang”, with the killing of a doe. He’s looking forward to being 16 when he can get a “real” job.

Garth is 13, and on the hunt for the big buck. He entered the Big Buck contest at the Blue Goose this fall, and so, has passed up several does during the season ~ we’ll hope that he, and our freezer don’t regret that! Garth spends as much time as possible with his Pak, and has become his main beaver trapping buddy. Garth thinks that Gusto and Beaver castor are some of the most wonderful smells in the world! (The rest of us *don’t* agree with him! ;-) ) He has really shot up this year, and is almost as tall as me, so soon I will have 3 children that I have to look up to. He is very gregarious in nature, and can strike up a conversation with just about anyone, from fellow football players to refs (he takes the job of ball boy for the High School team). Dad also wanted me to mention that Garth made several touchdowns, and played QB some this year.

Logan is now 11, and this spring he participated in the Missoula Children’s Theatre. This was the first year that they were in Plummer, and he and Kathleen fully enjoyed themselves! They were in a production of Rumplestiltskin, and Logan was a grumpy gnome. He did very well at it! Logan has a strong artistic bent, and so he loves to spend time drawing, acting, and filling his head with all sorts of historical facts. Logan also shot his first turkey this year! It was a good sized hen and he was *very* excited!!!!

Kathleen is 7, and is finally getting her teeth! Some of you may remember that when she was about 17 months old, she fell down the stairs and lost some of her teeth, so she has been all this time without the middle bottom teeth, and one of her top middle teeth, but this year, they have come in. Kathleen also participated in Rumplestiltskin, but she was a busy, busy bee! She does seem to have a flair for the dramatic (can you say, *understatement*????) J . She enjoyed helping Daddy plant the garden, playing in the mud with her sister and baby brother, having tea with friends, and learning to help more in the kitchen. Kathleen has also recently started taking piano lessons, which she is very excited about.

Laura (Bob) is now 5! This is a fact that she is very proud of. J She caught her first fish this year ~ with a “little” help from Levi, and as you can see, it was a beauty! Laura still keeps us on our toes, being somewhat of a daredevil, and always coming up with something that just makes us laugh. She is very much looking forward to being old enough to be in a play like Logan and Kathleen. She loves to color and play ~ going through her day singing, and whenever she can get her hands on it, playing the guitar (although not with much, um, success, shall we say). Her newest favorite thing is to insist that Daddy and I meet under the mistletoe as soon as he gets home from work! I do love her ideas!! J

Josiah is almost 19 months old! He is *all* boy! He goes about his day shooting his brothers, and climbing on this and getting into that, and being told, “No”. He chatters much, but doesn’t really say anything, although he communicates what he wants so clearly, that at this point I’m not sure if he’s ever going to *need* to talk! He spent his fall at football games, and thinks that he’s the next Brett Favre. Or somebody. He loves to kick the football, and if he has one small enough, will also try throwing it. It’s very fun to watch a toddler already picking up on the game. It provides a lot of entertainment around here, and is just another evidence of his big brothers’ love for him, and the amount of time they spend playing with him. Si also has a great sense of rhythm, and spends a good amount of time at my piano, with the drum beat going, bouncing up and down to it ~ he loves listening to music, and I am curious to see how that develops in him as he grows.

Well, I guess that leaves me! I’m another year older. J I have kept busy getting everyone to everything they were doing ~ did I say that I am *ecstatic* to have another driver in the family??? My days seem to be full of following the baby around saying, “Get down from there. Put that down. Put that back. Do I need to get the baby whopper? I said, get down.“ J He is still nursing, and I find that as I get older, I cherish that relationship with my babies more and more, and I appreciate having to sit down every few hours just to cuddle my baby! God seems to always have something new to teach me, or perhaps I am just a slow learner! Recently, I have been convicted about my attitude as I go about my day. Am I joyfully serving my husband and children? Or do I look at my calling as more of a chore? I desire for our home to be filled with the aroma of praise and joy, and so I am learning more and more how to rely on the Lord to infuse *me* with praise and joy so that it overflows onto those I love.

We look forward to May when, Lord willing, we will be holding our newest little blessing. The boys are all hoping for a boy, and the girls are hoping for a girl ~ go figure. We are just praying for a healthy baby to love and raise.

May this find you praising God for His precious gift of a Son, sent to save the world from it’s sins, and embracing the blessings of family and friends this Christmas season.