We've Moved!

We now live in Washington! Brent started a new job, and for what seemed like a reeally long haul (a couple of months), he was working in one state while the kids and I stayed behind in another as the house was on the market and sold. We were really blessed in that we were able to get it sold in a comparatively short time, though there were some bumps along the way. But thankfully, the deal is now closed and here we all are in a new state. We've been together here a little over a week and still surrounded by boxes, but now that we have internet access again I can start getting caught up on my blogging and visiting my bloggy friends and favorite sites again. I'm looking forward to getting everything put in its place--deciding what gets unpacked here and what goes into storage until we find a home to buy and figuring out how to navigate this area. I know we will like it here, we already do, though it is so different from our home in Idaho. The first morning K woke up in the new house she looked around as if she didn't know where she was and I told her, "You look like you're still getting used to this house." Every day after that she told me she was "still getting used" as she wandered around the mounds of boxes. I think we will all be "getting used" for awhile, but we are so glad to be here.

Looking Back

One of the things I've liked about this house is the windows. Actually, I didn't like them so well at first because they are placed low, and being tall, it felt like my gaze was directed downward and it was an effort to view the sky. But they are the perfect height for children. Both K and T have spent long moments studying the mesmerizing outdoors. Over the years, I've sometimes grabbed the camera to snap a picture of one or both of them for a moment still, attention caught by something happening outside.

K, age 15 months

K, age 2

T, age 9 months and K age 3

K, age 4 and T, age 14 months

T, age 17 months

Soundbite from this Sunday's Sermon

Regarding our inclination to resist surrendering fully to God and instead hold on with white knuckles to our own ways and wishes for our lives:

"God does not make us strange, folks, He makes us strong."

That, and He does wonderful things in our lives that we never would have imagined if we had chosen to live life our own way.

Just squeezing in an August post, quick, before the month is officially over. Lots has been going on, but here's a picture of the green onions we had growing in our garden this summer. Brent discovered it's pretty easy to get them to grow. Instead of composting some spent onions I'd used for dinner, he stuck them in the ground. Lo and behold, they grew quite nicely. The flower heads on the top were great fun for the kids to play with. Very entertaining to catch, throw and tear apart. They kind of reminded me of those Koosh balls we had when I was a kid.

It was a great spring for growing things. Very damp. The lettuce was especially good. Picked just after a rain shower, the taste was mellow and sweet.

And since I'm on the subject of gardens, I'll mention the wonderful strawberry harvest we had.

We actually had enough of our own berries to make my most favorite strawberry pie. Doesn't look like much, but it is bliss in a pie crust.

And hey, why not, this is off-topic, but since I'm on the subject of food, here's a sight I thought was kind of funny. Katya got all her Little People out one day after not having played with them for a long time. When I walked by, I thought it was odd that the house was completely empty.

Oh, there they are, all gathered around the table(s).

She sure loves playing with toys that have to do with food.

I haven't forgotten my little blog. Things have just been really hectic this summer. I'm hoping they settle down soon so I can go back to posting more regularily.

July 27, 2009

..today..

Random Kid Art

I couldn't help but smile when I looked down and saw the way T happened to leave a few of his Cheerios.

A Boo-kay

For K, since you said you have no flowers nearby. I picked these in the yard a couple weeks ago and am finally getting around to "giving" them to you!

A Sad Tail

Today one of the little kittens is not doing so well. Not well at all.

Yesterday there was a huge thuderstorm with torrential rain. Incidentally, it has been a very wet month. So strange to see this area green in June! Anyway, I worried about the babies. If the wind shifted at all, which it did, water would quickly fill the kitten container and might drown them. Brent offered to go out and see if he could figure out something to rig up to offer a little protection. When he got back inside, he was absolutely soaked but had found something to cover the pot.
I asked him if Tib said thank you. I believe she did, he said. He said she seemed to understand that he was trying to help them.

When the rains abated, there was one little kitten that seemed more wet than the others. By the next afternoon he was not moving, barely breathing. The other kittens were fluffing up, becoming more active, but this one was not. Brent tried to get it to latch on, but it could/would not. It is so sad. Makes me look forward to heaven even more, where there will be no getting sick, no dying or death. Tibs keeps licking the kitten, but it does not respond or move.
I'm kind of dreading what we will find in the morning.

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Postscript: It's been a couple days since I first started writing this post. Sadly, the little kitty did not make it. It has been laid to rest in a corner of the yard.

The other three are doing well. Their eyes are still closed. How quickly they are growing.