Happy Birthday, Micah

My sweet Micah turned 8 years old today - how do the years slip by so quickly? I hate that one day my little girlie that I love and snuggle and can't stand to be without, will run off and leave me. Micah is a dear, sweet, spunky, musical, hilarious, crazy, witty, totally fun-loving, compassionate, sarcastic, sensitive, affectionate, capable, take charge, fearless, dare-devil, dimple-sporting, cutie-patootie. Micah makes us laugh so hard - not because of funny little kid stuff she says, but becuase she has a great sense of humour. I thought that I would post some photos (digital ones - so sad that I cannot get all my film photos on here or I'd post some of her darling baby photos). I miss those pudgy cheeks.

She and her buddy, Elias. He takes good care of his little sister.

Drew's wedding. Love that face - goofball. In our family photos when she was three, she smiled and crossed her eyes - no one noticed until we got the photos back

Cute or what???

serious bedhead! How in the world did it get like that?

crazy bubby-girl

Nice outfit. That's a leotard on her head. That's what you get when you let a 2 year old get out the dress ups alone.

Her daddy calls her A.B. - Angelic Bubby. Doesn't she just look like an angel here? The rest of us have other substitutions for the A. part......like Amplified or Agro

Here is my baby, today at 8 years old. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of Micah. Happy Birthday, dear girl.

The Wylds

We just watched The Wylds last weekend. The movie, made by local film maker Andrew Wiest here in the Flathead Valley, is sort of a modern, loosely adapted version of Pilgrim's Progress. It stars Solomon Ray (Crystal Lewis' son; their daughter also was involved and wrote the end song). I knew it was an independent, small budget film and, although I thought it would be decent, I wasn't expecting anything incredible - films are tough to do without a big budget. Also, I knew there were some weird sci-fi/special effects scenes that made me skeptical. I was totally impressed - we all loved it. The script, the acting, the special effects and the filming were exceptional. It is one of the very best low budget films I have seen to date; WAY better than the films that have won a certain high profile, Christian film festival that many of us are familiar with! ;) There was none of the "cheesy factor" that often exists in lower budget films. It is even more impressive knowing that most of the actors were locals. One thing that I didn't care for was that Evangeline (Evangelist in the real Pilgrim's Progress) was a female preacher. I think that kind of limits the film's market and might make some people stay away. Although that is contrary to scripture, and I no way agree with that interpretation, I totally enjoyed the film and would recommend it to anyone. It is nice having movies that the entire family can watch and enjoy together. And imagine - right here in little 'ole Kalispell.

New Pianist

We have a new pianist in the family. She just started two weeks ago. She is so excited you wouldn't believe it. We HAD to start her - she played the piano all the time and she only knew one song, "Heart and Soul". After hearing it played 400,298 times in 98,434 variations we said ENOUGH. The girl needed to add to her repertoire. We never have to ask her to practice - she is all over it again and again and again....... So, after the first week I asked Rachel (ye olde fabulous piano teacher), in order to help us hang onto the small amount of remaining sanity we have, if she could please give Micah more than 1 song per week. At least now she had TWO songs to play 36,002 times that week. ;)

Morning Dunham Smoothie

I have been making a morning smoothie a lot lately. Mostly because it is a great way to get your vitamins (I have made my own vitamins in an herbal tincture over the past year, but I also have the same "formula" in a powder and can easily blend it in a smoothie. That'll have to be another post). I have certain non-vegetable likers who really need the greens and vitamins too and this is an easy way to get those to them. Here is our current recipe (well, I haven't actually measured anything - that's just how I cook):

1 1/2 - 2 cups frozen fruit (we use cherries and apricots from our trees this past summer)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (Brown Cow, Cream on the Top)
1 -2 cups fresh baby spinach (Costco, glorious Costco)
2 T orange juice concentrate (the kind with no garbage in it)
about 1-2 T raw honey
1-2 heaping T flax seeds
1-2 heaping T vitamin powder (I make my own, but it is very similar to More Than Alive Superfood. Or you can buy all of the individual herbs there and make your own.)
about 1/16 - 1/8 tsp. of cayenne pepper (depending on who will be drinking it)
enough water to make it all move in the Vitamix

If it isn't sweet enough you can add more OJ concentrate or a little more honey. Yes, it is kind of brownish green, but no one here complains - it tastes that good!

Freecycle Strikes Again

We posted on Freecycle a couple of weeks ago for an espresso maker (again - the last one just died) and I immediately received an email from Father Rudy at a local catholic church saying that he had one we could have. In our email communique, he also said that he had a nice guitar and wondered if we wanted that too!!!!!! Us, a guitar??? Heck yeah!! We got over there to get the items, and not only was the espresso machine a Krups Il Primo - looks brand new - but the super
nice guitar was in a case, with a stand, and included an instructional DVD set - 25 DVDs with the books and extra bonus practice DVDs. What a huge blessing. The DVD set is awesome. All the boys are using it in their school day. I love Freecycle. Isn't the Lord amazing to do things like that in our lives? And God bless Father Rudy!