Diamonds Still in the Rough in 2018

Apparently I didn't pay any attention to that little email from Photobucket announcing that they would be charging a fee for third party hosting, soooo, there went all my blog photos. Seriously. I need work on just appreciating the fact that they did it for free for ten years, right?

Here we all are in 2018, with the exception of my mom's favorite son-in-law. He would not be caught dead in a coffee shop, so he didn't get to be in the photo. No, the truth is he's working hard today, making deliveries of just about anything you can think of: flowers, paychecks, tires, pallets of paint buckets, live birds, building supplies. He's the best.

Alison has been home from TN for almost a year already. She's our fabulous church pianist and organist and is otherwise busy teaching music lessons and working at the local elementary school as a one-on-one para. She loves coffee and blingy stuff and high heels and a really good guy named Daniel. 💝

Amy is also a para, but of the kindergarten classroom variety, and she LOVES her job. She's always organizing something or building or creating something, in fact, today she's in the garage disassembling a junk table and chairs and transforming them into something usable for the yard. She played the piano for the school musicals two years in a row, once practically sight-reading at the last minute. She's amazing. She's also not available, but we aren't allowed to say anything. 😉

Having completed her CNA classes, Betz is now working hard on her medical assistant degree, getting her driver's license, and just being the best sandwich artist ever. I think we'll call her a graduate this year. (Or last year? When you homeschool, who cares?) Last year Betsy co-wrote and implemented a preschool curriculum. She assisted in a kids' ASL class at our homeschool co-op this year and handled wiggle time for the young ones. Betz has big ideas and wants to do some exotic and adventurous traveling in the near future.

LAST year. We just had 10" of snow, remember?

Emily will be starting her sophomore year in high school this fall and is well on her way to graduating me out of a job as homeschool mom. She is our amazing church landscape technician. Emily loves piano and cooking and algebra (ha ha, just kidding, Em!) and is getting ready to run her first ever 5K in a couple of weeks. She has amazed her family with her determination! Go Emily!

The man of the house still enjoys conquering mountains. Why? Because they're there. He has a very strong gifts-of-service love language and is sure to be the one to have done all the big and little things that need doing around here. His love for God's word hasn't changed a bit in all these years, and he's still teaching and preaching God's truth. I admire him greatly for his unwavering faithfulness.

We moved a few miles to even more rural Minnesota two years ago, and we will probably be the new family for the next 30 years. 😊 God graciously and generously supplied us with a house and church building, and that is quite a story, maybe the subject of a later blog post. (Did you see that "maybe" written in teeny tiny letters? Right now I think I'm doing well to post something every two years or so.) 

I am contemplating who I am now that my family doesn't really need me except to make supper. 😁 I took a huge step out of my comfort zone this year and held a report-writing class for local homeschoolers, using curriculum from Institute for Excellence in Writing. The older I get, the smaller my comfort zone gets, and isn't that backwards? Shouldn't I be gaining confidence with experience? 

And now it's time to make that supper. Maybe I'll be back. To anyone out there who might have accidentally run across my post, I hope all is well with you and yours, as well. God is good.

Recalled to Life

I forgot all about this post! If I knew when it happened, I could put it in order. Must be about four years ago. Posting for memories' sake.

Our friend, Winter, at the Minnesota History Center

Wow, what a week! All the activity coincided with El Grande Allergy Headache, but I couldn't let that thing stop us from experiencing some fun,educational stuff. The snow isn't even gone, and the allergens are out already. You would think that Minnesota could have one nice month without snow, bugs, or allergens, wouldn't you? No. That is not reality. We must have at least snow, bugs, or allergens, or this would not be Minnesota. But we love it, right?

The maple sap started running earlier this week, and we were invited to see our friends' syrup operation. I expected we were going to see something like Ma Ingalls' big syrup cauldron boiling away over an open fire. That mental image was shattered by the more modern method. The sap was collected and poured into a large vat that was sunk into a makeshift wood stove.

Collecting sap.

View of MN State Capitol from History Center

Breaking up the Minnesota prairie with "oxen"

Happy miners on the Iron Range

Enjoying a good old fashioned soda fountain

Celebrity Betz returning from long journey, c. 1950

Alison and her friend, Grace, getting ready for a ride in the snow/slush/mud

Driving the four-wheeler to pick up sap buckets

Amy's first attempt at chopping wood.  I think she broke off a little chunk. :)

Emily making friends with Henny

Shooting the .22.  Emily needs longer arms!

My turn.  Haven't shot a gun since I was... nine?

Enthusiastic moms conduct rabbit dissection.  Kids not so enthusiastic. :)

Rabbit's dismembered body, donated to science.  Can you identify the organs?