Oct. 7, 2009 - Crazy Fall Weather...

Well, its fall in Michigan...the weather is beautiful too!  Cool days and even cooler nights!  The wind though yesterday and into last night was nuts! We have had a lot of rainy days lately (which I love--cloudy days!)  After dinner last night, my hubby was outside and came running inside and said "Get your camera Hon, you gotta see this!"  When I got outside I was amazed at how much the wind had picked up and it was much colder out than it had been earlier...brrrr..  Anyways what he was so excited about was that all around our home were these stormy looking clouds and above us was blue sky...very cool...

This is to the south of our home...sorry that its blurry.

This is what the sky looked behind us (or east) of our home-yes it was that dark!  Freaky heh?

This is to the north of our home...the clouds were thinner, but moving very very fast.

I don't have any pics to the west of our home, but trust me it was as dark as the sky in the second picture, it was just really fascinating to us that we were in a circle with clouds all around us.  I love this sort of weather...I love cloudy fall days that are crisp and make me want to make homemade bread and beef stew...do you know what I am talking about??  I just absolutely love this time of year...I just wish it would last longer.

~Lori

Jul. 24, 2009 - Time for the County Fair!

Last night Tom and I took the kids to our County Fair, it was so much fun!  We saw all sorts of animals, rode a few rides and  ate lots of good fair food...including elephant ears and cotton candy!!!  Here are a few pics of the kids (and Tom and I) enjoying the fair!

Ahhh..the sights, the sounds, the smells....such memories it brings back, going to the fair!

Emily and Claire rode the ponies. Em's pony was named Barney.

Claire picked Comet, and although Comet did not move like a Comet, he was awfully cute.

My happy pony riders--this is a rare sight lately, to see them hugging each other, cause being sisters, well, they argue alot.

This is Em's favorite ride, she rode it twice!

Tom rode with Tyler (he is there in front) and Claire (she is next to Tom-you can just see the top of her head), on their first rollercoaster ride.  And it took alot for this mom to let that happen!  Oh, its so hard to let them grow up!  Here is another view of this rollercoaster, which I think will help you understand my  concern:

(GULP!)

In the end, they all loved the rollercoaster.  Ty gave his thumbs up and said "Mom, it was a sweeeeet ride! Lets do it again!!"  He is a daredevil naturally so this did not suprise me.

Claire was excited about having ridden it as well in fact she said "Mom! It was so much fun, I almost pee'd my pants!"  Yes! She actually said that!  She is afterall only 5 1/2 years old.  She likes to keep up with Tyler and those of you who know Claire will agree with that!

Here is Claire and I on a much tamer rollercoaster, more my speed. 

Claire and I are waaay in the back...this was a long ride, it went around 4 times...for a minute there I felt like I was on "The Ride that Would Never End!"  It was fun though!

Then it was time for food!  We were famished even though we had eaten dinner prior to coming.  Emily thought this cheeseburger was the most delicious thing ever (I tasted it and it was!).

Claire a.k.a. "Miss Corndog 2009"...this kid loves these things!

Ty was a complete chow hound, he ate his burger and fries, and Claire's fries. Then he helped dad eat some breadsticks also.  Guess rollercoasters help you work up an appetite?? 

All in all,  it was a great night!  We had to wait out one thunderstorm/downpour but other than that, County Fair 2009 was a success!

~Lori

Jul. 20, 2009 - Newest member of our family!

"Hi there!  I am the newest member of the family, a 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan. I sport many great features and these folks with these 3 crazy kids decided that I was to be their transportation and I am so excited!  I am so glad to feel the stomping of little feet and see the fingerprints on my windows and oh the noise!  Such a wonderful sound, who needs a radio with these 3 kids in the van?  The lady of the house thought it was awesome that I had a CD player so she could listen to the Gaithers? Whoever they are. " 

"Here I am in my new driveway. It seems nice, I can see that the van before me had issues with leaving messes...oh I hope I can do better!  I do see some chicken poop around and so I sure hope they don't poop on me too!  The robins are bad enough!"

"I understand this is the Terrific Trio, Emily, Tyler and Claire. They seem to be pretty good kids and they like my seatbelts too! "

"Emily loved how my seats reclined! "

"This is Claire, she has a booster seat, and gets the other captain chair I have."

"Here is Tyler, he loved how my back seat reclines and says we should go camping! Oooo, I think I would like that!"   Hahahaha.

"My first evening home they took me to a store called Meijer and I found out that this would be part of my weekly duties for this family.  It felt so good to be useful and enjoyed once again!  I think this is the beginning of something great!  She says they homeschool and that they will be spending lots of time in me going places like parks, libraries and homeschool classes....I think I will love this family!" 

~The Van

Jul. 20, 2009 - Saugatuck State Park Dunes

While on vacation at my sisters we took the kids to Saugatuck State Park.  There are some dunes, but more importantly, Lake Michigan.  It was a chilly day that day, very cloudy, but still beautiful and lots of fun!

All sorts of hills to climb-they found every single one!

The Terrific Trio, taking a break!

A huge hill!

The beach is just past here....

So beautiful...

It was so nice to sit on the beach and listen to the waves, the kids having fun, and to just be "still" for a little while.

~Lori

Jul. 20, 2009 - Water anyone?

While at my sisters for vacation the kids were hot one afternoon so they had a water fight, country-style, with a bucket of water and cups!

Such fun! 

~Lori

Jul. 20, 2009 - Fourth of July 2009

Here are some pics from our 4th of July celebration.  We were at my sister's for a couple of weeks on vacation. 

First there was the parade:

Waiting......we got there about 2 hrs early-you had to in this town if you want to sit somewhere!

Ty and daddy.

Emily and Aunt Cher.

Claire and daddy.

YES! Darth Vader even came to the parade.

Tyler shaking hands with a storm trooper (sorry its a small pic-I messed it up in photobucket.)

Then we had to wait for the fireworks:

I am a "tradition" person, we always get McDonald's for dinner, have a picnic and wait for the fireworks!

We tried to convince the kids not to "guzzle"....there was no potty nearby..Em was like "what?"

The kids played frisbee with a frisbee we got from the parade.

Beautiful fireworks.....Happy Birthday America!!

~Lori

Jun. 24, 2009 - Its Strawberry Time!!

Well the Terrific Trio and I went strawberry picking yesterday morning, very early before it got too hot out.  So at 6:30am I went in and woke them up and only Claire had a hard time getting up and around (she is not my morning child at all).  But we persevered and were out the door and to the strawberry farm by 8am!  GO MOM...GO MOM...GO MOM.  Anyway, we had a fun time (especially eating them!)   Here are some pics:

Emily-my fellow strawberry lover who ate about as many as I did. But we both agreed they are even better dipped in chocolate....that's my girl!! 

Tyler had a pretty good time, but his medicine had not worn off all the way, so he was still tired, and said so as well.  I give him credit, he did fill up almost 3/4 of a bucket! 

What was cute with Claire was, she was very excited about picking strawberries...especially when she would run over to me (like every 5 minutes) she would shout "Mama!  Look at all the strawberries I caught!"  Too funny-she "caught " them!!

Okay, for all of you you have seen Monsters Vs. Aliens...don't you think that this strawberry looks like Dr. Cockroach?  Em sure did and I have to agree with her-it does!!

The Terrific Trio and all the strawberries...we estimated that it was about 34 quarts of strawberries there in the buckets and probably about 3 or 4 in our bellies! Woo Hoo! Normally I would make freezer jam, but this year I am just freezing them (whole and w/o sugar), so we can use them in pies, smoothies, etc...HOW AM I FREEZING THEM? What I read to do was rinse and drain them-do not allow them to sit in the water, cut off the tops (a strawberry huller works well for this), then lay them on a cookie sheet in one layer, freeze for 12-24 hours in your freezer, then take them out, place in freezer bags/containers, then stick back in freezer or your deep freeze. Pretty easy and simple and I like easy and simple!! 

~Lori

Jun. 22, 2009 - It was a "dairy" good day!

The kids and I went to a dairy farm this past Saturday for an educational event.  Free ice cream, popcorn, water, tractor ride, cows...what more could a country kid want right?  We had so much fun and learned a lot too.  Here are some pics from our "dairy" great day!

Here is just one of the many hundreds of cows on this farm-they were soooo BIG!

The cows were all housed in big barns like this.  All their food is put right here for them to eat.

Most of the cows were skittish around people, but Claire found one that liked her nose petted.

We learned about why some cows are called "dry cows" or as we say "Soon to be Mama Cows!"

Here is one of the soon to be Mama's. 

Here is one of the educational stands that taught us about what cows eat, how much they eat, how much milk they produce...oh yeah and poop too! 

So just what can one cow do in 1 day?????

Don't worry-it wasnt real manure in there.....

The kids got "Kid Quizzes" that they took on the tour with them, they had to find the answers at the info stations.  When they got all done and the answers were filled in, they got a little spongy cow toy.

The kids got to play in a milk truck and blow the horn....YES!  It was loud!!

The Terrific Trio met Captain Corn and got their picture taken.

We enjoyed lots of ice cream.....................

and lots of popcorn!!

Then we took a hay ride down the road to the calf barn which was the highlight of the day for the kids!

Here is where the calves were housed.  They stay here for 9 weeks.  Some were just a few days old and my kids felt bad that they could not be with their moms.  They felt that those calves were sad, so they gave them attention...

What is it about baby cows that make them so stinkin' cute?

I really liked this one...such different markings!

They hand fed some of the calfs.

Tyler really liked this little calf...he named him Dillon (after his other four-footed friend).  Tyler spent a lot of time with this little calf.  He was cute too-he had a very different mark on his forehead that went across and down....maybe that was why Tyler liked him...cause he was just a little different?

"Dillon" was a hit with all three kids....he really liked my kids.....

....and their shirts!  Maybe he was inviting Tyler to come in and play with him!  Tyler probably would have!

Looks like "Dillon" was inviting Claire as well!

The Terrific Trio and the "shirt eating calf!"....yes, still eating Ty's shirt!

We got to bottlefeed a calf, Emily enjoyed this...but after awhile the bottle was really heavy, after all they drink like a gallon at a time...or so it seemed!  So she enlisted some help....

....from Claire...but even then the bottle was still heavy...so they brought in the muscle....

...yes, Tyler.  That seemed to help, but eventually they said "MOM! Help us!"

...so I helped them.  I have to say, it was easier giving my own three babies a bottle.  But it was nice to know that I was helping fill a little one's belly.

The Terrific Trio got to play on lots of BIG farm equipment!!

All in all it was a great day for the Terrific Trio!!

~Lori

May. 28, 2009 - A Cecropia Silkmoth!!

All I can say is HOKEY PETE!  This was one huge moth!  Tom brought this home from work today and we had fun looking at it.  We looked it up on line and turns out it is a Cecropia Silkmoth.  I took the following pictures, but if you really wanna see/read something cool, go to this site http://www.wormspit.com/cecropia.htm and there you can see this moth during each of its stages...this guy documented it with info and pictures-totally awesome!  Enjoy our pics:

Here you can see the stripes on its body...this was a female too as she was carrying eggs on her as well and her antennae were not very big or bushy...we found out that the male antennae are larger and bushier so that they can smell the pheromones of the female moths!

my brave hubby...I would not do this!! 

We ended up letting her fly away (much to the dismay of my moth phobic 10 year old daughter!)  But it was sooooo cool! 

~Lori

May. 25, 2009 - Our "rock" turned out to be a Gray Tree Frog!

Last night we were hanging around outside and the kids thought they found a rock sitting on the disc for the tractor.  BUT upon picking it up they discovered that it indeed was NOT a rock....

I know you have to look sideways at him here, but upon first glance does it not look like a rock??

He is beautiful!  Such pretty markings and we discovered when you picked him up the underside of his legs were bright yellow (but I did not get a pic of that).

Isn't he just cute? We jumped on line and discovered that he is called a Gray Tree Frog.  We put him in my flower beds where there are bugs a plenty and I am just hoping that he decides to suck down some mosquitoes as well as we seem to have like a million of them around here!

~Lori

Jan. 16, 2009 - My beautiful state!

If you would love to see some really pretty pics of Michigan, my beloved state,  check out this link:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jensenl/visuals/album/michigan/

Some of the places in the U.P(Upper Peninsula)  I have been to and it has made me incredibly long to go back there....how about you JavaGirl......time for a mental vacation heh? 

~Lori

Aug. 3, 2008 - Adventures in God's Country CH 6 "Kitchitikipi.....what?"""

Before we begin CH 6 in our adventures have you taken a few moments to enjoy Chapters 1-4?  Also, those of you who have been reading....thanks for your positive feedback!  This may become a book someday. 

So you may be thinking what on earth is Kitchitikipi?  It is actually known as "Big Springs" in Palm Book State Park in the U. P.  Kitch-iti-kipi means "Big Springs."  This was an amazing place, which I have come to understand that in the U.P...everything is amazing! God definitely had a great time creating it!  I'm just glad He did!

Anyway at Kitchitikipi you only pay to get into the park and the boat ride is FREE! Again, I like free remember? But sometimes, big boat rides make me a weeee bit nervous....I prefer canoes and row boats. Again, my anxiety levels were on the rise...and once again, here I was over a body of water........what is it with that?

 Kitchitikipi is  big pond like area, off of another lake. And the pond is crystal clear all the way to the bottom!  You take this self propelled boat that is rectangular in shape with the center cut out and you take it across the lake and back and you can see big trout, fallen trees, and the springs that are always going way down at the bottom!  These springs remind you of volcanoes the way the water moves the sand around, very cool.  The water is a constant 45 degrees which helps it stay clear. They say that due to the springs you usually smell a slight sulfur scent, however on this day it smelled "fishy.."....yuck.  (Although, I have to admit, I would have like to try catching some of that trout!)

This boat was quite large and had a nice cover on it for shade and had high rails on it that were fenced in, so children will not fall into the lake.  That was a fear of mine.  I did not really want to go swimming in that lake with those big, and I mean big trout!  Not that they would eat me, but still....what if they bit me, I mean I do have pudgy toes.  Now, all right,  I know that is silly because growing up I swam in a lake and jumped off a dock that was known to have big speckled bass (Crappies) swimming under it and that never bothered me. We would look thru the slats in the dock and see the big crappies swimming under it, then run and jump into the lake, fearless and reckless!  The lake had snapping turtles and snakes too! I guess I truly was fearless as a kid.  I would jump off a rowboat and swim around in a lake...what happened when I grew up?  I got common sense, that's what! If mom and dad only knew 1/2 of what we did....... 

Anyway, directing my thoughts back to Kitchitikipi, we got onto the boat and the boat holds about 20 people or so and then people just take turns turning this big wheel.  So basically if no one takes the wheel, the boat doesn't move (does that freak you out?) It did me!   The boat is hooked up to this cable and by turning the wheel the boat goes across the pond and then back to the dock. Of course what does my mind contemplate? You got it... "what if the cable breaks?" I immediately was planning what we would do should that happen, do you ever do that? 

My 7 year old son was quite nervous about this boat ride (he and I are so much alike) and came up to me and said "Mom, I don't like this, I feel sick."  I put him to work turning the wheel. That did help and took his mind off his nerves.  I have to admit it was a bit unnerving to go across this water and see exactly what we were floating over, that sort of freaked me out too! 

My girls loved it and kept saying "Mom, look over the edge!"I did a few times, but I just could not get myself to stare it it non-stop as my children could.  My sister seemed to like it and was holding my youngest so she could see over the edge part of the time.  "Mama!" she exclaimed, "you should look all da way down!"  Hmmmmm.....No thanks my dears..did that already... For awhile, I just sat on the floor with my oldest daughter, because to be honest with you, my head kept feeling weird and sort of spinning-like and I figured if I was going to fall over, well, might as well be on the ground to start with!! My legs felt kind of jelly-like......I am getting so old!   I just plain think too much about things sometimes. 

I was truly amazed at the clarity with which you could see everything.  Normally when you look in a lake you can't see anything under the water.  Here, the kids could watch the trout swim, they could see the springs bubbling up and big trees that you knew had been laying there for quite a while. They looked like old shipwrecks that had been tossed there by a storm and were now covered with algea and weeds and moss of some sort, adding to the mysterious beauty they call Kitchitikipi.    There were ducks swimming nearby and you could see their little web feet swimming under the water.   

I have to admit it was a gorgeous place, the boat ride was smooth and peaceful, but I was never so glad to see the dock as  I was that day! Oh to be that child again who would have dared to jump off of it!   

Aug. 2, 2008 - Adventures in God's Country CH 5 'fishy fishy in the brook...'

First of all, if you are just joining our adventures in this chapter, I would encourage you to read the first 4 that you've missed!!

We decided to take the children fishing one day up there in God's country.  I really did not know if they had the patience to go fishing, but I absolutely loved doing that as a child and had fished most of my summers away. Well, the children really got into it.  We stopped at the bait shop to get those wriggly worms and they were amazed that all kinds of fish were used for bait as well. This store had bins with lots of different fish bait.   There was one bin labeled "suckers."  Appropriate for bait huh?  

Anyway, we got the bait,  got into the car and of course we had the fight over who was going to hold the worms!  Goodness!  We went to the Chamber of Commerce there in town to ask about a fishing spot and the lady gave me directions.  Well, she gave us the wrong directions, so we went and asked the lady at the bait shop who knew where to send us. The children were getting impatient, so I knew this was something they really wanted to try!   

When we got to the spot, which was a little public boat ramp, we were putting poles together and trying to keep the kids calm and quiet but they were so excited!  When it came time to bait the hooks I was showing them how you rip the worms apart and put it on the hook....need I say more?  The kids were like "Oh gross, the guts are coming out!  How can you do that mom?"  Well I can remember my dad telling me when I was a kid after he had been baiting my hook for some time...he finally said "Lori, if you want to fish, you have to bait your own hook."  So I did.  My kids couldn't believe their Poppa would say that!  They said "You mean, Poppa made you touch the guts?" Gee whiz.....

So we got 3 poles ready with worms.  We explained the dangers of the hooks and all that good stuff and suprisingly the only one who hooked their finger, was me!   You could see the fish (little fish mind you) swimming around and so they dropped their lines into the water and thought it was so cool that you could see the fish bite the worm.  Well, once my sister and I showed them that when you tug the line you can hook the fish.....we had 3 instant fisherpeople!  For awhile they were catching fish faster than I could take them off the hook and rebait the hook! None of the fish were keepers, but the looks on my children's faces were priceless.  They learned what a bluegill, sunfish, bass, and perch looked like.  They got to watch the little fish swim around and bite their hook, they were just thrilled!  It filled my heart with such joy to watch them get excited about fishing! This was an activity that was not electronic in nature or a man made event, this was fishing, something that is just "natural." 

One time, my sister saw a big fish swimming around the dock and she had my 4 year old dtr drop her line nearby and BOOM! She caught a 6 1/2 " largemout bass!  My daughter who is a drama queen said things like "He is so big, sooo heavy I can barely hold him up!"  The drama that unfolded was wonderful, those of you who know my youngest, know what I mean.  She is a brave girl and wanted to touch her prize fish and everything.  I showed them the dorsal fin and how sharp it was and what the gills were and how they help the fish breathe under the water...one more miraculous creation from God! These were things my children had not experienced before and I was blessed to have this moment...thank you God. 

Later on, I tried my hand at fishing, and realized how much I missed this!  My heart ached to be a child again fishing at the campground that my parents so faithfully took us to all summer long when we were growing up.  The times I remember fishing with my dad are priceless, sitting there saying nothing, but enjoying each other's company and sharing the joy of sitting quietly  and fishing. My dad taught me everything about fishing, and it was nice to share some of this information with my children... (THANK YOU DAD!!) I was remembering when my dad would tell us "If you want to keep a fish, it has to be as big as your foot!"  What we didn't know then was our feet grew every year! Tricky heh? But it eliminated my poor dad from having to clean fifty 4" fish!   Well, in the middle of my reminiscing...BOOM! Something hit my line hard!  It was a largemouth bass!  Only about 7 1/2 ", but a bass none the less and I was proud of it! 

Once again I remembered a time when I caught a big bass all by myself as a kid, he was about 15" and I was too scared to take it off the hook and I carried it all the way up to the campsite from the lake on the hook!  Poor fish, good thing it was a keeper because it was pretty near dead by the time I got to the camper!  The small bass that I caught this day in 2008, did not meet the same fate, I still had my big leather glove and used it to take off that BIG bass!  Hee hee.

 Okay, back to 2008! One adventure we had on this day at the dock in God's country was a rather large crayfish (crawdaddy) that was nearby.  My sister scored major aunt points with my son, by helping catch this little turkey.  We kept it in a bucket and watched it all afternoon before returning him to the lake. They are creepy looking things and I don't know how anyone could ever eat them...yuck!  The kids were amazed and noticed it was missing an antennae and they felt bad for it and of course wondered how it happened, can it live with just one? The questions went on and on and on....questions they never would have asked otherwise.

Well, I think my kids would have fished all day, but soon the rain started and as the rain came harder we knew it was time to pack up.  The kids were very disappointed, and I was glad to see that they had found something that they enjoy doing that requires patience, being quiet(or at least trying to), and perseverance.  Those activities are hard to come by for kids now a days.  I'm sure the fish were disappointed too, because for as many fish as the children caught, we lost about just as many worms! But that is all part of fishing with kids......right Dad?      I want to dedicate this chapter to my dad, the "best" fisherman I've ever known, who in my eyes knows it all about fishing...thank you dad for introducing me to something wonderful, I now know the joy you must have felt when you saw how much I enjoyed fishing!   Thanks for answering MY never ending questions that I know I peppered you with while we fished....they were some of the best times I ever had growing up!  I LOVE YOU DAD! 

Aug. 1, 2008 - Adventures in God's country, CH 4, "Me and the Rock"

CH 4     (have you enjoyed chapters 1-3 yet?)

One day we took the kids up to Grand Marais, which is on Lake Superior.  I had never been up there either and was very excited!  We had read about Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and were looking forward to hiking around the area.  Let me tell you that there is no amount of words in our language that can describe the awesome majesty of this place, they would never do it justice!

But anyhoo, we decided to find the Grand Sable Dunes, pronounced (SAW-BULL).  Apparently it is a 500' dune that has a 300' elevation, meaning for 300' it is straight up/down.  We found it and it was huge and very beautiful!  There were danger signs everywhere that appealed to our sense of adventure. The signs only said to watch for the hidden rocks and talked about the steepness of the dune.  I was leary of doing this with the kids, the kids of course were not leary at all!

My sister decided to do it anyway.  After watching her go down to the very bottom (she looked like a bug by the time she got there), my kids begged me to let them go too!  "Okay, but I am not carrying you up, you have to do it all on your own, get it?" They were fine.  So, I made them slide all the way down on their bottoms so they wouldn't hit any hidden rocks.  I went down too of course.  That  was fun!

When we got to the bottom we were the only ones there.  My sister said it felt like we were on an island and she was right, you couldn't hear people, just God whispering thru the crashing waves of Lake Superior.  We walked on the beach area for awhile and I found a big 5 lb rock I just had to have. (You see, I collect rocks for my flower garden from special places I go, and I know that is weird, because most people collect spoons, bells or thimbles, but rocks are free, and I like free!)

So, here we go...back up.  Of course the kids did it without any problem.... figures right? Me, on the other hand had my big rock in one hand, and 3 smaller rocks my son wanted in the other hand.  Now, don't wonder why I didn't make my son carry those rocks, I had loaded his shorts with little rocks too, so he was doing his part, without complaining.......hee hee. 

Now, I will be honest, I know I am not in tip top shape.  But that dune about did me in.  I would stop once in awhile and pant.  I would turn around and just observe the beauty, but again, words would never do justice to what God created there. I found that this big rock I was carrying was actually providing a lot of support because I could use it to help "pull" me up. 

I kept repeating my favorite verse in my head "Isaiah 40: 28-31" Actually I was singing it in my head, waiting for that strength..... 

My sister kept yelling at me "Drop the rock Lori, we can find another one."  But I am stubborn and wanted, THIS rock, this rock would have a story behind it.  I knew I could do it. My 9 year old daughter who had gone to the top came back down by me "Mom, you okay, your face is awful red?" "Yeah, I'm fine."  "Mom, this is a tough dune to climb, especially with that rock."  "Yeah, I know, but you see, Jesus carried a cross bigger than this rock, farther than we have to climb and that was after he had been beaten, whipped, and scourged. So, I bet, I can do this."  "Okay, Mom, but here, I'll take the rock okay?"  "You are going to be my 'Simon?' " I asked her?   "Yep, I am" she said.  You see, a man named Simon was asked to help Jesus carry His cross and he did.  With my dtr's help I got up that dune. She was the little piece of "strength" God provided me. 

As my sister and I sat at the top of the dune recovering, she said to me "You know, for every step I took forward it felt like I took two steps back.  Makes me think about that story in the bible about why we are supposed to build our lives on the Rock of Jesus and not on shifting sands."  Good point. The sands can never give the support that a rock can. 

It was neat to think about how we saw God in our lives that day. How God used this beautiful creation to speak to us and remind us of different things.  It was a sweet day! 

Aug. 1, 2008 - Adventures in God's country, CH 3 "Take only pictures, leave only a tooth?"

CH. 3       (first of all have you read the first 2 chapters yet?)

I can tell you that I have left a piece of my 9 year old in the U.P.  You see, we were having a lazy evening of "not much to do" and we were hanging out in the cabin.  We had been considering getting some ice cream but hadnt fully decided if we had the energy to do so. 

My dtr who is 9 and my son who is 7  were playing with a jumprope, but of course not the way a jumprope should be played with.  She had an end in her mouth (the plastic handle) and my son had the other end, really it appeared that nothing was really being done. 

All of a sudden my son pulled the rope quickly and unsuspectedly. My dtr sat up very quickly and with a scared look on her face shouted "I lost my tooth!" This led to some nervous laughter on her part as the shock set in.  Now, I didn't even know she had a loose tooth because she will never tell us, so this was a shock to me.  I immediately began asking her "was it loose to begin with?"  "Yeah" she replied.  Thank goodness.  So we all got down on our hands and knees to look for this little tooth in the cabin.  We never did find it. 

I decided that a celebration was in order, so we decided to run to town to get ice cream!  My 9 yr old at that point decided it was time to turn white and just about pass out!  She gets like that when she loses a tooth.  So I laid her down on the couch and put a cold cloth on her head.....she looked horrible! My sister asked me if she was going to be okay and I said, "yeah, give her a few minutes." 

After about 20 minutes we had her up and walking and out the door for ice cream.  We looked again for that little tooth before we left at the end of the week, but we never did find it.....so somewhere up in the U.P., in a cabin far far away.... is a little piece of my daughter.  My daughter thinks it is funny and wonders what someone will think if they ever find it?  Hmmmmmmm......