It has been weeks since I have felt caught up enough to post here.  Life is still busy but our school is done for the day, the boys are outside building what I hope to be their last snowfort of the season. Supper is on the stove, the fire is roaring and the taxes and FAFSA forms are done. FIRST LEGO League season is over and the boys did well on the 7th of Feb. at the county 4-H judging for Robotics LEGO project. Whew!!!! And I am finally healthy again. The boys and I had about 2 weeks of cold and sinus sickness. Jasmine got it first at college and she is finally all better also.

         The winter months has been hard on my body for 5 years now. I am in a chronic illness support group at church called HopeKeepers. Last Sunday, we were introducing ourselves to each other and saw a pattern that almost all of us struggle with severe muscle pain during the winter months. My first bout with Vertigo and severe torso muscle pain was in March 2004, upon returning from our 20th anniversary Carribean cruise. It has been a long road, but the LORD was faithful to help all of us along the way. I am beginning to write all the scriptures that have helped me along into one journal and one day I will share them here.

        Dinner is almost done! I was interrupted several times in writing this. So much for 15 mins. of solitude to write. UPS man came with a package for Kenny,  who had a great 9th birthday last month too. I need to post some photos and journal about his day!  :) Ben came inside to get ready for Youth Group tonight. Kenny wanted the garage door opened for shovels to dig in the snow. Darin and I talked via phone, too. The polish sausage had to get transferred to the skillet too. Just ordinary life but I am blessed to be home with my boys and having a good day health-wise. There is always much to be thankful for.

        The boys are in several other 4-H projects. Kenny is in Woodworking, Fishing, photgraphy and collections. This is his first year out of Cloverbuds. In Cloverbuds, he would do any 3 entries as his project. As a regular 4-H'er, he chose his projects and he is able to put in 3-10 entries per project. So we have lots more opportunities to learn new skills with our very active boy.

        Ben is in Bicycle, Rocketry, Mechanical Science, Collections, Art, Books on the Move and Quilting. He is working on a Japanese watercolor picture, clay flower bouquet and he will be doing an Impressionist acrylic painting in the next few weeks. He has several new patches to sew on his messenger bag for his on-going collection. We went shopping yesterday for all the green fabrics for his new throw pillow quilt project and the wallhanging quilt we are starting for 2010's fair.

Well, I didn't get as much written here as I have to say so until next time-

Much love and blessings-

Sarah

      D and B have spent hours outside shoveling, snowblowing and clearing the car in the carport. Our mantel has gloves, socks and snowpants hanging from the Christmas stocking hooks.

    The apartment building didn't have enough room to put all their snow so D gave them permission to plow some of it into our yard. So we have an 8 ft snowbank in our front yard. The backyard fort is 5 feet tall by 8 feet long. B has an "L" shape tunnel thru it and we had to make a rule that no one can be on top of the fort while Ben is inside. Common sense, right? Not with boys!

     With Christmas only days away, I should be shopping for gifts and Christmas fancy outfits. But no we were out today with everyone else in the town, only we were shopping for new snowboots for B, new snowgloves for K and J. Our Christmas gift shopping is done but our shopping for J a fancy dress for a family wedding on the 27th was delayed. There was a long line on the street just to get into the mall.

     We picked J's car up from mechanic. The emergency brake light would not turn off, turns out the brake lines needed flushing. Then we mailed a WI Badgers car flag to D's brother in FL. The FL Seminoles are playing WI Badgers on the 27th and he wants to represent both teams on his truck ,which is decked out in Seminole colors and decals, etc.  Then we delivered a meal to our Children's Minstiry leader who had an ER appendictis surgery this week.

      Then it was time to find snowboots and gloves for the kids! Finding a parking place was the first hurdle.So many of the parking places were filled with snowbanks. We drove thru the parking lot twice looking to an empty spot. Finally some shoppers got in their car so that challenge defeated. Now to find a good price on really warm, dry boots. Success was accomplished when we didn't look at the price tag.

    Final stop was the library!  Our favorite spot for books, movies and music.

    B's current book is "Man of the Family" by Moody. I have several Karen Kingsbury books in my possession now and J has to read "All the Presidents' Men" and Ben Bradley biography over her break. K is reading up to 6-8 pages in his "reader" as he is motivated to finish it by the end of 2008.Just last month I had a hard time getting him to read 3 pages. He is improving his speed and proficiency every day.

      The movies we have watched recently are: ELF- D's favorite. A CHRISTMAS STORY- another of D's favorites. LIBRARIAN- the quest for Judas' Chalise. Godfather and Christmas with the Kranks are the ones that are next on the list.

      We have had a pretty healthy week and we are just days from Christmas. Usually someone is sick at this time of year so this has me very hopeful.

       Stay tuned for the next volume about snow because it is snowing and they are predicting 3-5 inches more plus horrid winds making us about -20 wind chill. We are greeters tomorrow and have an important powerpoint celebrating the 20th anniversary of the beginning of our church.

      Blessings and love-

Sarah

WHEW! I made it through the first full week of working at the ballpark. The learning curve was huge the first 3 games. I worked my own cart one night and sold $140 worth of desserts to the public plus serving 3 suites. It was an exhausting, but fun experience. My $ and cash register receipts worked out perfectly but my inventory didn't match. The paperwork to figure it all out was challenging to say the least. I worked with 3 different ladies for on the job training over the 5 nights and 1 day game. I learned good tips from each of them.  The greatest thing I learned is that all of these ladies have unique challenges in life and are in need of a Savior. Some of them wear their need on the outside, several of them don't show the need until they really start sharing their story. I have gone to bed at night praying for them. They have accepted me as one of the team, most have made me feel welcome. I am trying my best to serve and love them as my Savior would want to do.

Home life is good. The dishes, meals and laundry are being kept up with well. The boys are doing their normal chores and their summer school this week, ie: Bible, Math and Reading. Ben is "Shakespeare's Scribe" right now. Kenny is still reading his Abeka readers and doing well right now.  The hardest adjustment for me- the boys and Darin are in bed asleep when I get home, Darin lets me sleep in since I am not getting home until 11:30-11:45 PM and I don't fall right asleep like he does. So we only saw each other sleeping for 3 days. FInally on Thursday AM, he awoke me thinking that I had to go to work by 7AM, no I need to be there at 10AM. He worked from home that day and I worked at the game from 10-4PM. That would have been a really long day at home for the boys. I will be working on that for the next day game in 2 weeks. :)

Jasmine's graduation photos have been ordered, the invitations will be printed today and she is working on address labels tonight. So that will be a good task completed by tomorrow afternoon.

Darin took the boys fishing 2 different nights this week. The boys and I planted Basil, Zinnia seeds and bought a Fern and a perinnal flower plant to add to our landscaping flowers. We visitied the Domes to complete our Botany science study on Monday.Ben has been jogging twice this week while Kenny rides this bike. Ben caught a 10 inch Bass while trolling but it was smaller than the 14 inch minimum. The boys helped me dust, vaccum and sweep, mop today so we are off this afternoon to see "Prince Caspian" at a matinee showing. Then I have a scrapbooking crop tonight at church. I am looking forward to doing something fun with  my friends tonight.

Ben is making lunch for us, then we off to Walgreens to buy movie candy. :)

Let us know what is going on with your lives this week-

Love-Sarah