Chapter 38

Tire Swing Fiasco

Let's just say I was inside the farm house when this story occured.  Otherwise I think I'd have had a heart attack.

Eric and the kids picked a really high branch to hang the tire swing from. The only problem?  Eric is deathly afraid of heights, as are most of my kids.  

Only one child is brave enough to climb that high:  BETH.

Eric and my dad got this old rickety ladder out of the shed.  It's an old wooden extension ladder that was rebuilt by my grandfather years ago.

Eric told me later he was seriously thinking through all the scenarios of how he would try to catch her when she fell.

I'm so glad I heard about it later.  :)

Yay for Beth!  Everyone gets to enjoy the tire swing now.  (and NO, there are no pictures allowed of ME on it.  But it's fun.)

You might want to get Beth's autograph before she becomes famous! :)

Beth has been checking out Lee Hammond books from the library since we lived in Muscatine.  She asks for them for Christmas and the ones she owns are well used and tattered.

Earlier this summer Beth discovered that Lee Hammond lived in the area.  She found an email address on one of her books and just decided to email her.  To her surprise Lee emailed back and invited her to the studio!  Even more surprising was that it was only 5 miles away from our house!

Beth fit right in.  Lee has lots of furry friends...

While we were visiting I asked Lee if she taught classes for kids.  She doesn't BUT she said Beth could just join an adult class.  In fact, she had one coming up  that was a week long intensive that ran from 9 am - 5 pm.  

Hold your horses.  (HA!) I have seriously been praying for almost 2 years for a way for Beth to be able to take an art class or have some kind of art instruction or some way to nurture her God-given gift.  This is one of those HOLY COW, WOW GOD moments.  Isn't it just like God to answer a simple prayer with an unfathomable answer?? This was way beyond anything I could've thought up.

So, at the end of July Beth took an art class.  She got up hours before the class started each day.  She was beside herself with anticipation. She took more showers and brushed her teeth without being told.  :)  The week was truly a gift.  

And her art work flourished.  Lee took a natural gift and fine-tuned it into an amazing art.  Beth did several drawings from photographs.

(her pen name is Vrenith Sylversmith...clever)

There's more but these are all I could find on E's iphone files.  

I am so thankful for this answer to prayer!

Peacefulness

We are taking some time at my happy place soon for a little outdoor work and some refreshment. It is so peaceful there. 

It's a really great place to meet Jesus. (not the cows...) :)

Alex takes hundreds and hundreds of pictures whenever we stay for more than 10 minutes.  She loves it there too.

My kiddos roam the acreage.  They love the outdoors.

SEE??? Don't I look happy here??? 

The tire swing - which is the kids' favorite city toy - has been transplanted to the farm.  Now it's there whenever they visit, not sold with our house in the city.

It's a great place for teenagers learning to drive.

But the BEST part of the farm?  The sunsets (and sunrises!).

Blogging and Randomness

I've been missing from the blog world.  

We are preparing for a big move...our biggest yet.  

But we've been preparing for this one for 6 years.  So we're just about ready.

Our house is for sale.  One car sold, one to go.  Everything we own is pretty much up for grabs. (except for the kiddos!  Oh, and the Chevelle.  We all know that I would be sold before the Chevelle. HA!)

Last week at co-op the kids' assignment is to write a 5 paragraph essay on a childhood memory.  No one could think of one!  

They went back to my 2006 blog and laughed and laughed while they read all the things that happened they had forgotten about.  

My kids were pretty naughty creative when they were younger.  I told Alex it would've been more her than Lucy if I blogged in 2003...or 2002.  But in 2006 Lucy was a pistol.

It made me remember why I blog.  I love to write down the story of my kids...the story God is writing in our lives...the funny and the ugly.  Because I never want to forget some of this stuff!  

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Some randomness:

Alex's herbs are doing pretty well.  Not too bad for patio plants.  We really miss the lush soil we had when we lived in Fruitland where things grew so out of control.  

Our first watermelon of the season...but it was picked early.  It wasn't feeling well.  Small and pretty but it tasted kind of yucky.  

We have cucumbers coming out our ears.  Manny (aka eldest daughter with a pen name) blogged about what she's doing with some of them here.

Some dinner guests from last weekend...

I think this was on Father's Day...via iphone.  ;)

a rehearsal dinner (aka night out for the momma and daddy)

Our favorite little Mennonite cafe close to home...