Thursday, December 25, 2008
God Incarnate
We have all the usual Christmas stories that we read each year and the kids laugh at me because I BLUBBER all the way through them. But this year I made it all the way through "The Crippled Lamb" without even crying (okay, so it IS a cute story and I did get just a tiny bit choked up, but really just a TINY bit). I was almost indignant and cynical about them this year. Christmas isn't about some forlorn little lamb keeping baby Jesus warm. Not that there is anything wrong with those stories, but they are just sentimental stories that keep us in the "feel good, warm fuzzies" of the season and keep our eyes off of the importance of what really happened that night so long ago when the gospel came to Earth. Amazing. The gospel always existed, the plan was always there, but that night when the angels proclaimed that they had "tidings of great joy that would be for all people", they meant what they said. The plan was set in motion and life on Earth would never be the same. They brought the best news ever : A Savior, a bridge to God, hope, sin forgiven not just covered, real grace. "In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God, He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made..... And the WORD became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." WOW. That is some serious stuff to chew on. How could He? Why would He? The great God of heaven and Earth, the eternal God, the sovereign God of the ages came to Earth to redeem His people.
Christmas is such fun. I love the decorating, the baking, the preparations, the family traditions, the gift-giving, the gift-getting, the music, all the fun things that go on, everything. But they mean nothing compared to what God gave us in Jesus' birth. That truly is something to celebrate.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Welcome Home to Winter
The Violin
Isaiah the birthday boy
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Cyber Monday
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Raining on the Inside
All Thee Wanth for Chrithmath ith her two front teeth
Sunday, November 2, 2008
bison, bison and more bison
Friday, October 31, 2008
Happy Birthday to You, You Live in a Zoo....
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sibs at the Ranch
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Sharp Shooters
Sunday, September 28, 2008
A Writer in the House!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Potato Gleaning
Thursday, September 18, 2008
When in Rome....
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Homeschool on the Range
Monday, September 8, 2008
Three Ring Circus
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Bread Fiasco
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
GONE, like yesterday is GONE
There are some things that we have been trying to find since we moved in - important things: brown shoe(s) things, curling iron things, down pillow things.....and more. We have looked and looked and looked and finally yesterday all hopes were dashed. We finally opened the last box and they were not there. So, we figure that all of my necklaces (eeeek!), all of Brad's shorts and board shorts, the above, and who knows what else are GONE. I do remember that week seeing some things in the middle of the highway when I was driving into town. But did I even think about them being mine? NOOOOOO, even though we were moving all of our things to the new house that day? I just thought "Bummer, SOMEONE lost a bunch of their stuff!". I did see it however, and wouldn't I have noticed if it belonged to me? I guess not!!! So, anyway, it is G-O-N-E - GONE.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Memorial Day Weekend
Pack, Unpack, Rinse, Repeat.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tis the Season
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Avalanche Lake
Monday, August 25, 2008
What Not to do with a Bear
bee bee gun firing ........ ping ........... "RROOOOAAAAARRR" - bear is awake now!......4 wailing boys with swiftly running feet ....... galloping bear heading their way. Isaiah said that he kept looking back and saw the bear coming after them. They got to the gate and shut it (iron gate, about 3 feet high - not really a bear deterrent!) and ran as fast as their feet could go to the house - screaming the whole way. We were in the kitchen when they came busting through the door all talking at once about "it" chasing them. They were all freaking out (as they very well should have been). We figured that if that bear wanted to get them, it easily could have done so and, therefore, it was either scared of those 4 bellowing, hysterical, man-children or it wanted to give them a good scare. It did that for sure. We all had a good laugh about it later because as Ma Wilder always said "All's Well that Ends Well", but thankfully, they never want to see a bear again. So the moral of the story is......NEVER shoot a bear with a bee bee gun!! Is that new news to any of you? Maybe you ought to pass it along to your boys!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Our Summer Home
Camp Dunham
We have a nice view - actually, I think this is the prettiest place on the ranch. The shack in the background is uninhabitable and will be torn down eventually.
The spring
It runs down to Cut Bank Creek right at that fence line is a few feet down.
"The 6-Star"
Just so you don't freak out and feel sorry for us roughing it - our fridge/freezer is out in the middle of the field hooked up to the electrical box! I meant to take a photo of it before Brad covered it as we were leaving. We have power to the tent too.....coffee grinder, espresso maker, Vita-Mix.....you know, really roughing it!!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Lake Flathead
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Bye Bye Dunwoody Lane
Saturday, July 26, 2008
A Boy and His Horse
Monday, July 21, 2008
Elisha turns 11
Friday, July 18, 2008
Glacier Grown Weed Control
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Summer in Montana is.....
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Oh, Say Can You See?
Friday, June 20, 2008
A Little Dirt
This is how he looked at the beginning...just a tad of cookie on the face
To see the progression of dirtiness (and all the work that we did) you will have to look at the rest of the photos. It wasn't just him that ended up muddy - the girlies all had a great time helping him in his conquest. We hosed everyone's feet and hands off pretty well, but when the girls and I stopped at the Farmer's Market, the library and the grocery store in Columbia Falls on the way home we were quite a sight. The girls were filthy (Micah looked like she and her dress had been dragged through a bog). Our feet were so dirty (even hosed off) and when I got home, I found that I had a big, muddy blob on the back of my shirt! I thought people were probably wondering what kind of mother I was to let my kids run around like that. The girls said that I should be EXTRA nice to them while we were out so that no one thought I was a rotten mom. I think they were vying for ice cream.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Micah the Biker
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Ah, Summer
June 11th...nice and green.
If you don't like the weather in MT - hang around for five minutes - it'll change!