Our Camping Trip

Almost two weeks ago (man I can't figure out when to blog) our family went on a camping trip.  This was our fourth attempt at setting aside a day away from town for some family investing time.  Illness, in it's many forms, had deterred us the 3 times prior.  We had planned to spend the day with another family, with 2 little boys, at the 2nd of Seven Mountain Lakes.

But several days before we made the trip, it was this that challenged my heart to step away for a little longer, more intentional family time.  The day was spent with lots of fun fishing, wading, throwing rocks and climbing on rocks.  The T family returned home after lunch and our family loaded in the truck to hunt the perfect camping site.  We haven't been very disciplined lately to rest and reflect on Him, so the challenge was a good one.  And Ethan had been asking to camp for his birthday; so 5 days before his birthday sounded like a great time to camp.

 Everyone taking a turn fishing.  Unfortunately we didn't catch anything.  This is also the view down stream from where we set up camp for the day.  We tried to stay in the shallow, calm water

 This is a shot up the river.  You can see the white water, where the stream was moving a lot faster.  To the right you see our 2 trucks.  All the shady spots were taken, so we settled on a tarp tied between our two trucks.  With local pillows (corphachas) to sit on, it made for a comfy picnic spot.   

 Enjoying a big old slice of juicy watermelon. 

 Looking out over the 3rd lake, where we would camp for the night.  We camped off to the left side at the very top of the lake.  Isn't the water amazingly blue and clear?

 Had to get a family picture with the tent.  Hard to believe it was a wedding gift 9 years ago.  Had NO IDEA then where we would pitch it and how God would bless us and fill it!
In the background you see Elli's little red porta-potty chair.  A camping "must!" 
 

 The sun setting on the lake at our camp out.  On the mountain side directly in front is the narrow road from where we took the other lake 3 photo; if that helps give you a location.

Throughout the day, God reminded my heart of His perfect and planned creation.  This string of 7 beautiful mountain lakes is no doubt the handiwork of a creative and intentional God.  It was so refreshing to pull away, drive out of town (and cell phone range) and enjoy His rugged beauty. 

Definitely not the best night of sleep I've ever had, but that wasn't the goal.  The temperature sure dropped in the night.  We had had several days of 105F temps back at home.  With the combination of a cooler front and the mountain air, Mommy didn't pack enough blankets.  We put our rain cover on to help hold in some heat and ended up sleeping with the towels our picnic friends left with us, just in case. 

Elli was so happy to wake up all together.  We were up before 5 and had the camp packed and headed back to town by 7:30.  And all 3 kids zonked out on the way home.  What a fun family memory!

For those who want to see more pictures, here is an album of more pictures of our time together. 

Mountain Camp Out

Claiming Insanity

Monday, after a rough afternoon and night without Austin (he was in the capitol), and a pretty choppy morning, the kids and I went down the street to the little neighborhood shop (cause you can't call it a grocery store.)  We came home with nan, cookies, a puppy and some cheap local shampoo- to give the puppy a bath.  Really?  Do we really need a dog?

I told the kids we would have to see what Daddy said when he came home.  But we couldn't pass this cute little puppy on the alley and not rescue her.

 White, with brown spots and black patches on her face, we named her Truffles.  Which quickly was shortened to Tuffy.  We've washed the fleas off of her (cause she was covered!!!!) We've flea powdered her and she's wearing a flea color (guess you could say I hate fleas!)  And we're going to keep her. 

She's definitely revealed a side of Elias we hadn't seen yet: determined.  When he wants to get her, he doesn't let much stop him.  Can you see his face?  Sheer determination! 

And sheer delight!

Celebrating Life

This year I turned 32 and it was a unique, but meaningful birthday.  Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes you sent (via email and facebook).  I felt so loved and remembered.  And amazingly, my birthday package from Mom and Dad arrived the day before my birthday; even when no one on our team was planning to travel to the capitol to pick it up.  T and her family had planned to leave town on my birthday and we wanted Austin to drive them over the mountain. (It ended up they left on Sunday, but none the less, I had prepped my heart for it to be a non-event: not in a martyr, poor-me kind of way, more in a reality kind of way.)  But Father woke my heart that morning with a challenge to celebrate life.  And these are some of the great ways I did.

 Celebrate God's perfect timing and His provision.  A bad broken arm, just in time to have it set and casted properly in Turkey.  And the provision of an ankle brace and ace bandage that made for a make-shift cast, after the local one left blisters.  To put words to Elli's expression "Keller, you're so dreamy!"

Chicken kebabs grilled on "packing filler" charcoal bought at the Amidon Dillons 10 for 1 sale the day they packed our freight.  Ambre, can't use that Key West Chicken marinade enough!

Celebrate good friends (even 4 years older) and lengthening pig tails.  Elli let me do pig tails, since it was my birthday!

  Celebrating growing big and strong.  He spent the evening pulling up on his buddy's car and trying to push his way around.

 Celebrating dear friends and sisters.  Celebrating faith, deep trust and surrender!

Smores.  Celebrating summer traditions with goodies out of our special treat trunks.  No better time to break 'em out than with dear friends on a birthday/4th of July.

 

 

Party Face!  Those were good chocolate birthday cupcakes!

Let me tell you this story

This is Apa, planting a juicy kiss on my Elias.  Every time I see her, her face beams with the joy that is in her heart!  She is family.  Her husband has left her to work in Russia where he has taken another wife and refuses to return.  She has raised 2 sons and a daughter all on her own.  A woman of great faith, she has been used to raise many in their own walks with Father.  She came fasting to my 3 hour, full spread party to honor T.  While in my home, she drank one glass of water.  Yet it was evident she was fully satisfied on Him.  Later I would find out she was fasting for T's healing.

This is my dear friend and teammate T.  She has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and cancer has also been found in lymphnodes in one side of her neck.  Her and her family (5 kids and husband) left July 4th for Turkey, where she will have surgery and undergo treatment.  The exact details on treatment are yet to be determined.  So much of their future is uncertain, but my heart is encouraged and challenged by her deep trust in the goodness of God.  No doubt I have seen her faith and trust in Him fleshed out in new and authentic ways.

And in the background is Mari.  Mari is deeply intrigued with Jesus.  Any talk of him and she leans in.  The conversation may not be directed at her, but she is not afraid to eavesdrop on what is shared.  She has seen genuine love; passionate faith; and humble service modeled in the lives of many.  Oh that she would enter in wholly and no longer stand outside wondering what's she missing.

Settling In

We moved to our new house on the 8th and there have been many days since then that I haven't even turned my computer on, let alone blogged or sent email.  I think of it often and often want to . . . just haven't been able to.  But we are beginning to settle in.  I overheard my husband on a skype call with a friend back in Wichita.  He was trying to explain why life had been so full lately; that we were settling in.  I felt the disconnect and of course had a communicators need to capture what settling in is looking like for us in our new home!

 

  We've had to figure out how we will store our medicines (mostly things we can't buy here so have brought with us) in a way that is safe (out of the reach of children) and a location that will not freeze come winter.  I finally opted for labeled boxes on top of our closet.  It makes quite the tower.

Our shower room is directly catty-corner across the yard and has an outdoor entrance.  We've had to figure out where the outside shoes get taken off; what is clean space; what is dry space; what shoes we wear in the concrete shower room; etc.  2 weeks in an we have  a great little routine down.  But you can imagine it was stressful trying to figure it out and continue re-enforcing it with my 3 year old.

This is our outside bathroom/laundry room.  The question has been how do we go about brushing our teeth and keeping our toothbrushes and contacts clean from the mice, spiders, frogs, flys and dust that have all been seen since moving in.

This is the solution we came up with.  Now we just have to find a new filing cabinet!

Austin says he walks in our squatty potty and feels like he's in the local version of Ace Hardware.  Our landlord recently remodeled the home and all the extra everything (tile, wood, window frames, glass, concrete) is packed into our squatty.  I'm somewhat hesitant, especially at night, as we've had multiple sightings of a very large rat right outside our squatty.  The settling element, however, is how to help my 3 year old go to the bathroom.  She has caught on to squatty really well, within the first week.  But we do have a little squatty port-a-potty accessible for when she doesn't want to use the other option.  For the first week she struggled with fear over falling in.

This little guy lost his closet.  It doesn't fit in the room that now holds all 3 of my children only a door away.  (You can see Austin in the background sitting at his desk on the far wall of our bedroom.)  So the 3 section hamper we brought from Wal-Mart has now become his dresser.  The green tub holds his cloth diapers and the tub (also brought with us) under his bed is for all his clean sheets/blankets)

Again with the hygiene products.  We're not high maintenance people, it has just required some creativity to know where to keep our stuff and how to keep it.  Thanks Mom for the shoe organizers.  One holds our deodorant, etc. on the inside of our closet door and the other holds our underwear and socks.  Thinking outside the box . . . all part of settling in.

What to do with our puchock is one of the first things we had to figure out.  All the vegetable peels, left over bread, grape vine clippings have to be disposed of in a proper way.  In our old neighborhood, one of Ethan's friends would push a wheelbarrow through the neighborhood and collect everyones puchock for his cow.  We have a neighbor 2 doors down with 2 cows and chickens.  Every afternoon, Ethan and Elli deliver our red bucket and any extra yard clippings!

So we are settling in.  We really do like our new place.  Minus the rat, of course!

Fighting to watch out!

"Make sure no one gets left out of God's generosity.  

Keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent.  

A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time.  

Watch out for . . . trading away God's lifelong gift 

in order to satisfy a short-term appetite.

Hebrews 12:15, 16 MSG

This was today's verse on my flip calendar this morning.  And it has been a battle all day long to watch out for weeds of bitter discontent in my heart; to see His generosity in and around me and make sure that those around me don't miss out on it; to guard against trading His lifelong gift to satisfy a short term appetite.  

The day draws to it's end and I haven't arrived.  But His Word to my heart was so timely today and He faithfully kept reminding me of it!

Trying to stay sane!

Since we have the keys to the new house, Austin and friends have been hard at work trying to get it ready for us to move in, God willing Wednesday and/or Thursday of next week!  That means I should be kicking it up a notch on the packing; but I'll be honest I'm struggling to find the motivation, energy or time.

Rather my days have been filled with keeping very excited kids (which let me say, I'm so very glad they are excited about it) content, occupied and patient!

The very excited kids!

As you may notice in the above photo . . . my eight month old is in the throws of teething; back molars bulging and swollen.  We have yet to cut any teeth, I have no idea why those ones are moving right now.  So he's up in the night screaming, not napping well during the day, and wanting to be held.  Ideal for packing, really!  

So here are some of the things I've resorted to:

    1.  My kids and several neighbor children riding laps, on anything that has wheels, around the four sides of our courtyard.  This is far from a new activity, but always seems to be a favorite.  The sidewalk is super narrow (especially when my laundry is on a drying rack on the sidewalk) but it doesn't seem to hamper the dreams of racing each other, only to never be able to pass the person in front.  This week, Elias has joined in on the fun, sitting in his stroller in the yard watching the world race around him.  Thanks Thompsons for that scooter!  So glad we brought it, it's got some major miles on it!

 

    2.  Chilled apricots and green melon in one of those sieve sucker things.  It's super yummy, so he'll actually eat it.  And I think the cold helps.

This is a new friend who's been coming to help several mornings a week.  I guess with 3 kiddos and home school around the corner, I'll take all the help I can get!

He likes it!

    3. And when he just wants to be held right in time for dinner prep to begin, I put him in the backpack carrier.  This was the first time he's ridden on the back.  He really like it and I felt much better about doing dishes and working on dinner with him on my back.  It was hilarious, we were dancing to the music one minute and less than 30 seconds later he was limp and fast asleep. 

My attempt at a self-portrait, taken in our only mirror (notice toothpaste to the left) while standing on a plastic stool.  But you get the idea.  On a side: I love my new red corta.  It's my favorite dress this season.

Big brother helped me snap the little head cover on (I had to explain snapping; "It's just like popping 2 Lego's together"- he had it right away) so his little head didn't bobble.  But he slept for an hour, the longest nap he had that day!

 

I love the baby squish face!  Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks!

     4. And this is my current addiction.  

You've never tasted an apricot until you've tasted one from our valley!  They are amazing.  So excited to see mounds of them appearing in the bazaar!  We can easily conquer a kilo in one sitting; which if you're not careful can have you running later!  Can't wait to make some of Grandma's great jam!  We only have one jar of apricot left.  But I think I'll wait to conquer that until we unpack into a new kitchen!

The perfect measure of ripeness; they split in half and almost dissolve in your mouth!

I'm sure I'll wish I had more organized and packed away.  But each day has worries of it's own and the days have been full.