Holiday happenings

We spent this Christmas at home alone together, as we do all Christmases. Sunday we visited relatives after church and got home exhausted at supper time. One of the gifts Mom gave me this year was the book "Elixir" by T. Davis Bunn. I really enjoy Mr. Bunn's books because they are so serious, very well researched, and so tense. I encourage you all to read a book of his. Other than that, I received too many socks to count and enough candles to decorate a funeral home. If you skip over to Jen's blog you can read what we did yesterday; this weekend brings another round of guests and social activities.

The best parts of this year's Christmas were:
1 seeing the boys get so excited over a toy you spent five cents on.
2 hearing Jotham's journey again. (Dekah.... of.... Megido!!!!)
3 Jen spending time with a good friend from out of state
4 finding out that Josh is still human, and not zombie
5 openly, freely, and thankfully celebrating the birth of Jesus

Light Shining out of Darkness

God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
-William Cowper

Tidbits

Yesterday Jen and I went bell ringing for the Salvation Army for almost four hours. It was windy and we got very cold. Then we went to see "The Nativity Story"- it was a good movie. Jen always has car trouble, so it was good I was there with her. Not that I know anything about cars, I'm only good for encouragement and advice. Besides that, I had to take Caleb to Civil Air Patrol. We got home late and were sooo tired. Besides that, this weekend I babysat, went grocery shopping, went to a get-together, and saw an alien. Well, not really. It was just a man dressed in camo wearing a face mask walking down the road at night carrying a gun.
And the next two weeks are going to be even busier.

Abnormal

The morning started off with a temp. of 14 degrees F and strong north winds. I had a caramel apple for breakfast, this being only the second caramel apple I've had in my lifetime. And for breakfast! Then Dad left for his business trip to that liberal country of Denmark. When Mom left for work, we kids decided to get out the Christmas decorations and put them up. Then we started getting calls from United Airlines about Dad's flight being canceled, and that's still not cleared up. Hopefully it won't get to stressful for Dad. After lunch I stepped on a piece of glass and cut my foot. The boys thought the blood was nauseating. Now Jeremy is down for his nap and I am working on painting bits of broken china plates that I use for decorations. What a strange day!

Update: It turns out Dad didn't go to Denmark at all. All of today's flights to Chicago were full, and Dad decided it wasn't worth it to go for such a short time. Well! I know God has a good reason for this, but now I won't get any birthday presents from Denmark!

An update on my life

It seems like I am going to spend my holiday week in public service:

1 I am babysitting twice this week for a very active family of four children, all under age six. Basically all they do is wrestle each other. I’ve never seen such active little girls before.

2 I am going to clean an already clean house for a rather old woman-she’s 90- who can’t hear.

3 I will probably have to clean house for guests, if we can get anyone to come over, and also dust off the guest room for Josh, with whom we are determined to spend quality time. We were going to attend the wedding of my cousin, but Mom said Josh needs TLC.

So that’s what our Thanksgiving looks like. I am also working on Operation SOUND’s Christmas boxes, our next GenJ meeting, and my job search. Life is busy!

This is a bad picture of Andrew; but do you notice anything strange about his face? While cutting up a paper craft at the table one day, he accidentally sliced off part of his eyebrow while scratching himself with the scissors. Boys!

 

This is what happens when you have an art teacher for a sister- you win the art contest. I'm so proud of him!

Teddy Roosevelt

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

– Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic," speech at the Sorbonne, Paris (April 23, 1910)

Mr. Whalen's speech on Nov. 7th was centered on this quote.

Report

We left for the airport Friday morning, flew all day, and got to Cedar Rapids at dinner time. To get to Cedar Rapids, we had to fly to Chicago and switch flights. Isn’t that silly?
On our second day we went to our HQ, the Scott county Republican center, and were briefed on what we would be doing: Literature drops all day, phone calls at night. We didn’t get started until late that day, so I think we did more phone calls than anything. I would say that 40% of the people we called hung up on us; 40% we had to leave a message on the answering machine, and 20% listened to what we were saying. Going door to door, most people weren’t home, and if they were, they weren’t as mean to our faces as they were on the phone.
We had Sunday morning off and we all went to a local Baptist Church, which was fun. In the afternoon we did lit drops and phone calls. We were mostly campaigning for Jim Nussle for Governor and Mike Whalen for Congress. We got to meet both of those candidates and a few others. That was a lot of fun because they thanked us so profusely for what we were doing.
We worked hard on Monday. Jen was bitten by a loose dog while handing out literature- it wasn’t a bad bite, but she had to get a tetanus shot so her arm was sore. And she got a lot of attention after that.
Tuesday, we were kicked out of HQ by some Scott county volunteers who didn’t like us much, so we didn’t have to work as hard. We did about five hours of sign waving at big intersections during the morning and evening rush hours. Then that night at about 7pm we went to the victory party at one of Mr. Whalen’s restaurants. At about 10:00pm, Mr. Whalen gave his speech. It was one of the most inspirational speeches I've ever heard. Yes, we lost. And when you look at the nationwide election results, it looks like we really really lost. But I'm not worried about it. Mr. Whalen encouraged us to be in the political arena, to work hard, and to be leaders. And we will! It was an honor to work for such a godly man, and we are already looking forward to working in the 2008 elections.

Off to Campaign

Jen and I are leaving tomorrow for our GenJ Student Action Team. I am still working and haven't had time to pack yet; We ladies have to pack more than just our toothbrushes, unlike some men. And we are having a guest for dinner. Life is hectic.
Yesterday Jeremy broke the tip of his finger and I missed it! I hate missing out on my family's life. Well, it's 20 degrees F here and I have to go get the car to start so I can get to work. I promise I will post as soon as I get home, on the 8th.

Holy Sonnets

XIV.
Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labor to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

-John Donne, 1572-1631

Just one more picture- at the end of the day, there was still this much tree left. Poor Dad! 

Isn't he cute! 

The boys working hard. 

Andrew on the patio with what was the top of the tree. 

Strange weather

Last night when Dad and us kids got home really late from the Peter Hammond talk, which was very educational and inspiring, by the way. The weather has been very strange these past few days and driving home in the dark was no picnic. We had to pass through very strong rain and the wind was terrible. When we finally did arrive home, we were very startled to find that our garage door was completely blocked by a very large fallen tree that had only hours before stood on one side of our yard. The strong, tornado-like winds had apparently blown it over. This fallen tree did some damage to our garage, just barely missed the purple car-which actually wouldn’t have been that great a loss anyway- and just touched the tip of our patio without hurting it. What a miracle that so little damage was done! Our clothesline, however, was demolished, and the state of our lawnmowers remains to be seen as they are still buried underneath the branches. Dad is going to have to get out the chainsaw today and cut at least some of the branches so he can take his car to work tomorrow. What excitement!

A Bit of Poetry

No strength of Nature can suffice
To serve the Lord aright:
And what she has, she misapplies,
For want of clearer light.

-William Cowper, 1731-1800
From what little I have read about him, William Cowper seems to have an interesting life story. He suffered from severe depression and even attempted suicide, and he was a great and famous religious author.

Home life

This morning’s family activities and discussions established the facts that:

1 Pocket knives are only to keep in your pocket, they are not for throwing
2 Couches are only made to be sat on
3 Nebraska spiders will not jump on you and kill you
4 It is possible to have fun and excitement at home without eating food.
5 One does not run their dirty fingers through the granola container

I had a very domestic day. I cleaned the kitchen, and washed tomatoes; did school with Jonny, and then rested for half an hour while the boys wrestled and chased each other, the rules being no biting and no kicking. I stepped up the search for a Nanny job yesterday. Calling people about a advertised job scares me to death. Then in the afternoon I went grocery shopping, visited the library, shopped for a birthday present, and paid the taxes for Mom. Tonight Jen and I are having our girl night, which consists of hiding upstairs with a combination of TV and sugar in chocolate form.

Last night I read a book by Danielle Steel. Now before you all have heart attacks, let me explain. The local book club, which I attend, decided that this month we would all read a Danielle Steel book. Usually the reading assignment is much more flexible, for example, one month we each read a different sea story; so generally, I can pick the type of book I want to read. I know that I didn’t HAVE to read a D.S. book, but I thought I would read one just to say with greater knowledge, “I don’t like her work”. And I don’t. I found her book to be poorly written, immoral, and utterly un-educating. Someone once said “It is a good book which is opened in expectation and closed in profit.” I read books for enjoyment and education. This book gave me neither. How I am going to tell all this to those kind but very sensitive old ladies at book club, I do not know.
Sometimes book club frustrates me- but we do have great treats afterwards.

Watercolor pencil, finished today. 

The rainbow from a week ago. A photo just can't capture how beautiful it really is. 

My cemetery during a heavy fog. Cool!

A book report

Recently I read a book titled "Then sings my soul: 150 of the world's greatest hymn stories" by Robert J. Morgan. I've really enjoyed reading learning the background to some wonderful songs, and I found it can be very encouraging to sing those songs to myself. Just yesterday I sang "It is well with my soul" under my breath while Andrew threw beanie babies at Jeremy, who I was trying to put to bed for his nap so I could go clean house and do chores before an unexpected visitor arrived. My attitude was not right but the song reminded me to not get so frustrated with small things. One of my favorite stories from this book was the story of the hymn "Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty" which is just such a fun song to sing. The author, Joachim Neander, was born in Germany in 1650. He was converted to Christianity at age twenty, and he died ten years later from tuberculosis. The last year of his life, he wrote this beautiful hymn. He loved to roam the nearby hills so much that eventually one of his favorite walking spots was named for him-Neander valley, or Neanderthal, "thal" meaning "valley" in German. Recognize that name now? In 1856, human bones were found in a cave in that very valley. The scientist William King claimed that bones were that of the "missing link" of evolution. Which we know to be baloney, as Joachim Neander would have also rightly asserted. I liked this hymn book so much that I plan to buy them for Dad this Christmas. Don’t tell!

1 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

4 Praise to the Lord, Who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

7 Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

I should have learned to swim.

It’s been raining so much here we are like to drown. It was raining just last night(!) and Jen ran out in the rain to take pictures of it(the rain) and she discovered a beautiful, huge, perfect rainbow. A RAINBOW! What a rare and wonderful sight. We all ran out in the rain to stare and got slightly wet in the process. Rain! What strange weather we’ve had this summer.

Yesterday I went into town to do housecleaning for a(slightly crabby) 90 year old lady. On the way in I dropped the girls off by the river so they could go canoeing. I was at the lady’s house for two hours cleaning her cupboards- I nearly had a heart attack cleaning her fine crystal. Some of it nearly fell. After she released me from her hands, I rushed to the library to cover books for an hour. Libraries are a good place to hear gossip- the librarians know all. When I came out of the library, The sky was extremely dark. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so dark. On the way home I got hit by torrential rains which rendered me nearly sightless on the horrible country roads. Anyway, I made it home and even got the girls to their next social appointment, a birthday party, to which I was not invited, so Jen and I decided to get ice cream!!!! at MacDonald’s after going grocery shopping and visiting the LIBRARY(A different one than the one I mentioned earlier)!

Today we girls are going to can cucumbers and tomatoes. I also have to make zucchini chocolate cake and carrot cake. I figured I'd better do the cake because if Jen's bread is any indication, her cake would not turn out well. Her bread is the stuff legends are made of- you know, the legends that go like, "Yes, I remember using Grandma's fruitcake to build brick walls". After that we have to make dinner-BLT’s. How we are going to do all that in four hours I do not know. We also have to prepare for tomorrow- we aren’t going to Church because we are attending a thank you lunch for veterans from the local nursing home. It starts at 12, and since we usually don’t get home from church until 1:30, we’ll probably just have Church at home.

Well, there you go- an update on my life.

Heart pounding excitment

Yesterday we had twenty-five of Dad's international students over for lunch. We've done this many times before, so we have the routine down pretty good- cleaning and cooking takes up pretty much half the day before and all the next morning, along with the cooking. This group was special, though, because they were all from Europe, not Asia, and they were almost all Muslim. These students were from Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. Quite a few of the students were actually Muslim immigrants from other countries such as Egypt, Pakistan, and Africa. Mom ended up discussing the war and religion with some of them while I ended up listening, which is fine- I probably would have said something a little too heated. I did talk to one seventeen year old girl from Denmark- actually, she was from Turkey, but her family immigrated to Denmark. She was much more serious than our silly American teenagers.

It was an interesting experience. The discussion did get my blood going. It was like talking to a member of our media. They were total political opposites of us. Mainly what was discussed was the Iraq war(they didn't mention Afghanistan), which they were heartily against. Then Islam was discussed- we heard the history of Islam, which I have heard before, and how alike Christianity and Islam are alike(I disagree!) and I left when one fellow started talking about how wonderful Islam is. So that was our first heart pounding excitement for the weekend.

Then today, the boys were loading wood onto the truck to bring up to the house for the winter. All of a sudden, Jeremy starts crying- no big deal, he probably got a sliver. Not so. Next thing we know, all four of the boys, followed by Dad, tumbled into the house. The three younger ones were crying hysterically, Caleb was shouting "Dad! there's another one! Dad!". Dad was swatting the air. It turns out that they had disturbed a wasp's nest that was in the wood pile. They each had been stung several times and the tears flowed freely for the next few minutes as we tended their wounds. Poor boys! They still have various swollen limbs but after we sat down to lunch, the pain seemed to disappear. Food- works every time. And that was our second heart pounding experience of the weekend.

A Fairy in Armor

He put his acorn helmet on;
It was plumed of the silk of the thistle down;
The corslet plate that guarded his breast
Was once the wild bee's golden vest;
His cloak, of a thousand mingled dyes,
Was formed of the wings of butterflies;
His shield was the shell of a lady-bug green,
Studs of gold on a ground of green;
And the quivering lance which he brandished bright,
Was the sting of a wasp he had slain in a fight.
Swift he bestrode his firefly steed;
He bared his blade of the bent-grass blue;
He drove his spurs of the cockle-seed,
And away like the glance of a thought he flew,
To skim the heavens, and follow far
The fiery trail of the rocket star.

-Joseph Rodham Drake

Swedish is frustrating

I went to the cemetery again today. I really enjoy working there, but the computer work is driving me crazy. The inscriptions from oldest stones, there are about seven of them, are in Swedish. I am trying to translate it by using a combination of library books and the internet, but I just cannot translate several of the words. The main problem is the old stones are worn and exceptionally hard to read, so I am unsure of the spelling in many cases.

Around 1:30 the sky grew very dark, and almost a bit yellow. At first it was calm but then it started to thunder. I had visions of myself huddled in the basement as a tornado roared through town, but so far it hasn’t even rained. Just extremely dark clouds, lots of thunder and some lightning. Kind of like the Middle East. I will certainly pay attention to the situation in Israel and Lebanon. I feel sorry for Israel- they have such nasty neighbors.
And we complain about Mexico!

MSNBC’s overview of the happenings so far.

They always blame Israel.

The babies are the sad ones- there are quite a few. 

I am about 2/3 done with the cemetery. 

This is as close as I got to any bear.  

The view from our campsite-Mueller State Park. 

Our Trip

Thursday June 1st
We left NE at 8am and got to our campground at roughly 7pm. Seeing the mountains for the first time was absolutely thrilling. We camped in Mueller State park- and when we arrived at the park, it was snowing. When we set up our tents and bedding, we discovered only two air mattresses worked. What with the temperature being well below 45 and with only a sleeping bag beneath us, we all had a miserable night.
Friday
We went to Healthquarters and got checked by Dr. Frahm, who does muscle response testing. We trust such methods over normal Doctors’ checkups. Then we went to a store to buy more air mattresses and blankets. We briefly visited Garden of the gods but were to tired to see it all. That night the campers next to us decided to stay up till the wee hours of the night singing, swearing, yelling and drinking. If they weren’t drunk, they were preeetty close.
Saturday
We visited the U.S. Air Force Academy and got a very nice tour from Jason. Jason makes a very good tour guide. After that we spent a short time at Focus on the Family HQ, the most exciting part of which was when we went through THE wardrobe into Narnia.
Sunday
We stayed at camp, went hiking, and talked to a really neat home-schooling family camping just a little ways up from us- they had five kids whose names all started with a T. It was also Jonny’s 7th BIRTHDAY!
Monday
Finished up at the Garden of the gods- took lots of pictures, and I got my FREE Zebulon Pike bicentennial poster from the visitor’s center.
Tuesday
We went to three really cool places- The American Numismatic Association Money Museum-“See more money than you’ve ever seen in your life!” The Colorado Pioneers museum, which was an old ornate courthouse, and Van Briggle pottery. It was beautiful pottery- Mr. Van Briggle rediscovered an ancient Chinese glaze back in the 1900’s.
Wednesday
We drove to Golden gate state park- it seems like most of CO is state parks. We took the scenic route there, which usually means Mom gets us lost, but this time she didn’t. And it was truly wonderfully scenic.
Thursday, our last day.
Most of us sat around and enjoyed our ISOLATED campground, did a little hiking. It was also Andrew’s 9th BIRTHDAY!

It's good to be home.

We got back last night at 11pm.
The mountains were amazing.
I am tired of washing my hair in a bucket.
I am so thankful for our house, running water, beds, etc.
Maybe I will post on Monday- check back then!

Breaktime

Yes, it's time for a break. Some rest and relaxation. No noise, extreme heat, extra work, etc.
I know!
Let's go on vacation!
Sigh. Our vacations are fun, but not relaxing. We pack furiously for days- we claim we will leave at six in the morning- and yet Mom and Dad are still packing at 8am even though they only have room enough to pack a toothbrush and pajamas. We are leaving for Colorado June 1st and we are staying for about ten days. We are camping in tents, because that is the cheapest way to go. I don't mind camping, really- but oh help- Mom read the description of our campsite to us yesterday. We are MILES from the bathroom(yes, I'm a wimp), it might get down to 45 at night, and it is, apparently, black bear season. Visions came to my head of one of the boys being eaten alive by a bear in front of our very eyes. Be optimistic!, you say.
Well, at least there's more room in the tents now, and it will be that much quieter around here. I get his sleeping bag!

I'm sure we will have alot of fun. Any tourism suggestions are welcome. You can expect blogging to begin again on the 12th or 13th.

Update

I. Am. Bushed.
Graduation went very well, I got lots of cards, shook many hands, and talked myself hoarse. I am so tired! Josh and another boy “decorated” all the graduates cars. I’m going to bed early- we have church tomorrow, visit a family at the hospital and Grandma, and then Dad has to take Josh back to college. Then Monday- Oh never mind- I’ll tell you later. I’m going to bed.

Important events

Graduation graduation graduation! I am sure you are all tired of this topic by now. My apologies, but it’s all I can think about right now. One more day and it will be over. The rest of the family went out this morning- I am grateful that I am able to have some time alone today for calm reflection and thought before tomorrow, when we will be so busy. Josh is home for the weekend; and it’s going to be very hot tomorrow- 95 or so.

Psalm 121:1-2 (ESV)
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
[2] My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

I am thankful for my parents, who decided to home school originally because we lived in Japan when Josh and I were school age and they didn’t want us to go to a Japanese school, but by the time we moved back to the states, they were convinced home schooling was the way to go.

I am thankful for my sister, Jen, who is always supportive and a very good friend. We enjoy talking about everything under the sun; she’s the only one able to get me totally silly, make me so nervous that I tremble, and push me to the verge of tears when I see her dance(I’m not a emotional person so that is unusual).

I’m thankful for my four younger rowdy, noisy, dirty, silly brothers who test my patience and teach me new things and remind me of old lessons every day. They also help me with my sense of humor and teach me how to deal with tense babysitting situations involving lots of blood.

I am thankful for our 1000 book high school history course, all of both our libraries poetry books, my watercolor pencils, our big dusty old house, our business, the reply letters we have received from the soldiers we write, the many opportunities we have had to learn wonderful and marvelous things, and all the blessings God has given us.


Besides celebrating my graduation and Memorial day this weekend, I am also celebrating my first blog anniversary TODAY! Has it really been a whole year?!?!?!?!
Here’s how I got started:
Jen: Em, you need a blog. I’ll set it up for you.
Em: I’m kind of busy…..
Jen: Here’s your password, and here’s how to post. Have fun.
Em: Oh.

We've come a long way, baby. 

Wisdom teeth are out!

We left home at 6:45am to get to the dentists’ office by eight. We didn’t have to wait long in the reception area before a nurse called me back to the room of doom. They had me get in the chair, took my blood pressure, covered me with a blanket and stuck three monitors on my chest. Then they put the much dreaded IV needle into my arm. It wasn’t NEAR as scary and painful as I thought it would be- the nurse was very friendly and gentle. Then after the Doctor came into the room, the nurse put something in my IV needle and I just dropped off to sleep. Apparently, what the Doctor did was slit the gums on my top teeth and pull the wisdom teeth out, then slit the gums of the bottom wisdom teeth, then cut those teeth in half because only half of the tooth could come out at a time due to the jawbone and the shape of my other teeth. Then he sewed me up. I woke up about 45 minutes after being put to sleep and the nurse helped me into a wheelchair. It was very hard to focus on anything and my mouth was full of gauze. My legs were like wet noodles. I wasn’t all there. In the car on the way home Mom had me put ice packs, magnets and pain relief oil on my face. When we got home I had to change the gauze twice, then Mom made me go to bed. I slept for two hours then got up and drank four cups of grape juice and some guacamole- I was hungry! Now the numbness has worn off and I can feel my face again. My jaw is very sore. It hurts to open my mouth and chew, and my jaw aches but not too bad. I still feel weak and wobbly. My face is a little swollen but not bad.
And that is my exciting story.

Greetings to my ardent followers!

I am having my wisdom teeth out this Thursday. I will be glad to get it over with so this cloud of doom will not be hanging over my head any longer. The only good reason for having my wisdom teeth out(besides medical reasons) is that I will have something interesting to post about, at least, interesting for my male readers because I know all guys like disgusting stories. I tried to figure out a way to live blog the procedure from the dentist’s office, but gave up on that because I don’t see how I can when they are going to put me to sleep.

Other interesting news: I am going to vote tonight for the first time. We are voting for Governor, Senator, state Senator, and some other position which I have forgotten. I am not really worried about who is going to be our next governor, because all of the candidates are decent, conservative men. It would be nice to get Senator Ben Nelson out of office but I am not sure that will happen.
So, if you have the time, pray for me on Thursday and for the voters of Nebraska today.

The snow-plough man:My hero

We have snow! I am not sure exactly how much we got, but it was more then we’ve had for several years now, and it was sticky too. It was a out-right blizzard yesterday. Today was bright and sunny, so we have all been out enjoying the snow. We made snow houses in the biggest drifts, and I made the most wonderful snow-woman. Jeremy kept getting stuck in drifts and even lost his boots once. He is so cute! The snow itself was not really that deep, but it was so unbelievably windy yesterday that it drifted and made very deep piles of snow in various places. One of those places was our lane; the snow was drifted about three feet deep at the bottom of our lane. We girls and Dad started to shovel the lane this morning, and we knew it would take us a very long time to shovel all of that snow. But! The snow-plough went by just then. Oh, we were so hoping he would take pity on us and plough our lane, and guess what- he did! We are forever in the debt of the snow-plough man.

This last weekend we remembered the anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war three years ago. I honor the memory of those soldiers killed in this war, and say thank you to all those laboring for a free and safe Iraq. Three years, 2000 American dead, and people are already saying we should get out. When did Americans become so spineless? We must stay the course!

Home

First let me say, I love my family, my home, and Nebraska!
Next let me say, we had a very exciting time.
Well!
Jen and I got home last night at 8:30pm after a four hour delay at the San Antonio airport. So we got the whole “airplane experience”, delays and all. Jen ordered a bloody Mary on the plane just to see what it tasted like but I am pretty sure that it wasn’t alcoholic. It still tasted terrible though. Our plane had about fifty seats and went up to 37,000 feet so we could see the ground for almost the whole way there and back. Neither of us got airsick and we each had a window both ways.

Here’s what I think about Texas:
The land is a bit ugly because of all the brush; and every Texas plant has thorns. It’s dry and hot. It must have got up to 90 at least once while we were there. And here in NE it’s 30! It was a bit of a shock coming home to such cold weather. It was very interesting to see all the wild cactus- it grows like a weed all over people’s yards, and everywhere else too. But I’m not saying it was a bad experience to see this different country; it was educational, and therefore fun, right? Everywhere we went there were lots of dirty Mexican restaurants, tons of Hispanics and heaps of Air Force men and women in uniform.

We visited:
The Alamo: Because the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo was that weekend, there were re-enactments, displays and demonstrations, and many many people.
The riverwalk: We went on a boat tour; it was just beautiful. Very pretty.
Lackland AFB: The museums there were not to good- they were small and not quite finished- but we got our pictures taken by an airplane.
Ft. Sam Houston: The Medical museum was very nice, big and informative. Some of the medical tools made us cringe though. The leech container comes to mind.
The four missions: San Juan, San Jose, Concepcion, and I forget the other one. These neat buildings are about 250 years old. Jen and I liked San Jose the best.
Institute of Texas cultures museum: Was so big and had so much info there as no way you could read it all. It was interesting to see all the other cultures that came to Texas early on before it was overrun by Hispanics!
Assembly of God church on Sunday: Grandma and Grandpa helped build it. The church service was very different from what I’m used to. That was the first time I’d ever heard anyone speak in tongues.

We probably could have gone to more places but Grandma and Grandpa got a nasty case of the 24 hour flu, and then Jen got it too. We were staying with Grandma and Grandpa in their RV at the Teen Challenge San Antonio camp- Teen Challenge is a 13 month religious program that helps drug addicts and criminals start a new life. G&G have been there all winter helping to build a women’s dormitory and a all-purpose building.

I am still trying to catch up on everything that accumulated while we were gone. Mercy! So much to do. Jen and I were so tired last night after that stressful delay (The United employees told us first that our flight left at 1:11pm, then 2:40pm, then 3:15pm, then 2:40pm, which made us panic, then finally 5pm.) we just slept like rocks. Anyway….the only souvenirs we bought were three matching “Mexican” skirts for Mom and us girls. Otherwise souvenirs were too expensive. Plastic bowie knives were $6! Jen brought the boys some hot sauce(They had some for breakfast this morning) and I gingerly broke off a piece of cactus and brought it home as well.
What happened in the news while I was gone?

Travel plans

Four days until Jen and I leave for San Antonio. I am very excited about, and you may laugh at this, the airplane ride. I haven't been on an airplane since I was four and I intend to enjoy this experience to the fullest. I am also looking forward to seeing the sacred ground of the Alamo. Other then those two listed above, no other activities have been set in stone so I can't really tell you where else we'll be going. We are taking the camera, and I am taking my pencils and watercolor pencils. If there are any worthy results from those items, we will post them.

Other than that... Jen and I went to the ballet of "Sleeping Beauty" in Omaha yesterday while the boys went bowling. Of course, none of the dancers were as good as Jenni. Unfortunately the two younger boys have a cold so we stayed home from Church today.

It can't get any worse

Some of you may know that we have been, and indeed some of us still are, very sick. Yes, we were visited by The Plague a good twelve days ago. The two first victims are over it, and the parents are fine. Four are still stricken, myself included. Jonny and Andrew are expected to recover relatively quickly. Jen is pretty bad right now- she has a bad earache. I am not sure what other discomforts she is in because she is not speaking except for an occasional moan. I had an earache, and Mom gave me an antibiotic. It turns out I am allergic to that antibiotic. I got a red rash on my hands and legs, and my face was bright red for a whole day. Then I got worse. However, hope springs eternal and I really hope I will be better tomorrow. What a miserable two weeks. I just thought I’d give you an update.

It’s really weird, but my ear is plugged and as I’m sitting here typing I’m hearing buzzing noises come and go. Is that just me? CAN ANYBODY ELSE HEAR THAT? Ahhhh! I’m losing it.

Our poor Korean student is still very quiet. I think it would take a thumbscrew to get a whole sentence(in English) out of her. But we are not very good company right now…She didn’t get sick, though.

With everybody so sick we have been watching mounds of TV. We watched “The Princess Bride”, “Robots”, “The march of the penguins”, old “Star Trek: Voyager” episodes, and a cute movie called “Narrow Escape”, which is about the crew of the U.S. Aircraft carrier Pointe-cruise(that’s probably the wrong way to spell that) and how they rescued a half-American half-Korean baby from certain death in 1953.

Well, I’ve probably told you more than you wanted to know about our past week. I will post again assuming I get better.