Winter Picture Post...Happy Things

A Home Winter Collage for the Children Far Away

Frost on the Windows in This Old House

Which one of you girls did Gladys Martin send this plant home with? A Rabbit's Foot Fern. It is outdoing itself this year, gloriously.

A Fine Winter Morning of -16*

Smoke From the Boy's Cabin

The Current Work Table

Uncle Amos and Auntie Carol created this wall hanging of old barn boards and a placemat. I love it.

You're in our Thoughts Every Day, Children.

I hope you enjoyed the winter scenes at our house. Stop in for coffee anytime.

The Story of the Lost Book and the Pink Notice

Once upon a time, in a land nearby, there lived a family who enjoyed reading books. The man of the house was a logger and sometimes the logging took his family with him to "the bush".  When the whole family went logging most of the people in the family had time to read books.  So they would find the local library and browse, bringing home arm loads of books at a time.

Sometimes because they also had a library at home they would end up with double arm loads of books on the coffee table and some books from some libraries would end up going "back" to the wrong libraries.  Libraries don't like this. Most libraries have computer systems that keep a running inventory on their books and they know just where they might find a wayward book by looking it up.

This past fall our family was pinned with a "wayward" book.  The Secret of Grandfather's Diary was not to be found.  They looked in all their personal bookshelves, and under the couches and behind the beds, but it was of no use. The library that owned the lost book was getting pretty owly about it and demanded to be paid 25 dollars or else.

The family chose the "or else" route and decided to buy a replacement of the book for the library.  The one librarian was dubious that this would suffice since the special number on the book had to be the same as the special number on the lost book.  But a different librarian said, "Pish, just order a good copy of the book and bring it back to me. It will be just fine."

So the family ordered a hardcover copy, a replacement of the old rag tag paperback book that was lost.  In a couple of weeks the book came to their house. The lady of house opened the package and out came a lovely, old, brown book that appeared to have never been opened, probably never had been read. It was a beautiful copy.

They went to the library the very next week and "returned" the book, paid the five dollar fine and scattered to browse. A few minutes later, the front desk librarian brought the same book to the lady of the house and handed it back to her. "This book is too old to have on our shelves anyway, so you may keep it as your own." She said.  All is well that ends well, right?

The very next day, there came in the mail a pink notice from the library that had been sent out a few days before saying, 'that unless said book is returned in said amount of time the situation would be turned over to the city police as stolen property and said patron would be charged with thievery...'.

What a sad policy for the community library to have in their use.  The lady of the house did call to the library and made commentary to that effect. "What if a little child has lost a book?"  One wonders if the police in that community have nothing else to do all day but to go about the locality collecting fines for "stolen" books for the local library.

Home Scenes

The Stove That Keeps Us Warm All Winter

New Mantel Decor

Fixing The Fire

Getting Grandpa's Flashlight

Abraham Lincoln

Current Baby Toys

Quiet! I'm On The Phone.

Except Ye Become As A Little Child...

A Benny Post

  These are not good pictures at all, but they'll have to do for now.  Benny lives in a world of doting uncles and aunts and all adults.  Last night he figured out how to turn the lever to run the little electric train.    Imagine being the midget among giants, having a vocabulary of about five words. Despite these major difficulties, Benny manages to have a place in the democracy of our family. He is totally oblivious to the facts of his age or ability.  He means to be one of us and nothing deters him. He loves and accepts us and is unable to carry a grudge for longer than two minutes. He expects the same from us. 

Grandpa has a flashlight that needs to be checked for functionality during each visit. Anything that moves or makes noise must be investigated. If you have a break-down, Benny will be glad to "help". 

Spend time with a "little one" today, if you have an opportunity to so. 

The Rhine River, Kauffmans, GF Double Chocolate Cookies, and a Brother in the Marshfield Hospital

       And yes, I know the title is too long, but too bad! It has to be that long to get it all in.
       Shall we start in Marshfield or over in Germany?
       I am TRYING to write a/the story of when my mother's people came to America back in the 18th century.  Today I've been on the Rhine telling, (okay maybe I do too much telling and not enough showing, I have never said I could actually write right), about sick babies and distraught women, and second-guessing husbands.  Not much has changed, has it?  Well, yes it has. Travel has changed. Hygiene and ship cleaning have changed. Ships have changed. The reasons for cruising up the Rhine have changed.  But people haven't changed so much. So I am trying to tell you all about why a family would leave home and country to find a new life in a new world at the great cost of even losing their babies to illness.
   
      After eating all those holiday cookies and candies, we were ready for honest meat and taters and no deserts for a few days.  Especially after getting on the scales. Never mind.  But today I decided to make GF (gluten free) cookies again. This time I made double chocolate cookies. The first two pans were not done enough and while the second two pans were in baking I had to go pick Frances up from her teaching job, so I put the timer on and had Brad lift those out of the oven when done. The second batch was picture perfect with beautifully cracked surfaces.  Only thing, they were crunchy done. Oh well.  Frances won't eat GF cookies. Too much beany taste for her. Brad says they're the best. So there you have it, a good cross section of opinion at our house about GF cooking.

        All the while we were baking and on the Rhine, my brother Eric is waiting in the Marshfield hospital for a doctor to come and tell him what can be wrong with him.  Last week they told him he had a something the size of a baseball on his lung, most likely fungus. Meds and pain killers for that.  Last night he had an attack of some sort, full of pain, at which they finally decided to throw nitroglycerin. That finally helped. Today they did more ex-rays and another CT scan and then left him to wait all day in his room for word/diagnosis/anything. Evening and dark are here and we still haven't heard. Odd!

       We cleaned the church today. What a good thing. We vacuumed up a lot of little things, mostly paper, I guess.  And cleaned two scuzzy restrooms.  And picked up illions of toys in the nursery.  While I clean I can't stop seeing where there ought to be church appropriate wall hangings.  And certainly, we could have rid of that tablecloth in the entry and use trivets for the hot casserole dishes instead? Please?  But nobody else sees it like that, so I quietly allow the beauty of that lovely oak table to be hidden. It's not a hill to die on. There seem to be fewer and fewer hills to die on. Peace and tranquility are more important than a LOT of things that don't really matter after all.  Are those last two sentences redundant?

         And where is winter? The snow was melty today. Chinook weather. The laundry dried on the lines outside without once freezing and clacking together like chunks of wood. Sunshine, too. Beautiful January weather, unless you have snowmobiles to rent out to rich tourists.

If Jesus Should Come For Me This Year

      Ready or not, He will come, someday, for each and all of us.
      If there are changes I ought to make before Jesus comes, then today is the best time to make those changes, right? I don't think you can quickly get ready for Jesus to come for you, appropriately, that is, unless you have never taken Jesus as your personal Saviour. In that case, the sooner the better for you to turn to Him.
      I would love to keep our house in a condition for company at all times, but this is not always the case nor it is it even practical at times.  We LIVE here. So if you get a notion to stop in without calling first we will welcome you no matter how the house looks. Just so, we ought to be living every day as our last day. Some days don't look so pretty, just like our house. But does that make us any less prepared for His return?
      There is also a big difference between getting company and Jesus coming. You end up re-cleaning after company no matter how perfectly the house shone before they came.  But when Jesus comes, a squeaky-clean house won't mean anything to anybody. No more cleaning. Now we're talkin'!
    Knowing Jesus could return at any moment keeps me living rightly in my relationships.  How will I be remembered?  And will the people in my life have been encouraged to live for Him by the things I have said and done?
     I remember hoping that Jesus would wait to come till after we were married.  After that it was to wait till the children are all born and raised.  We are silly, aren't we?  The glories over there are not to be compared with anything here.
     So the question doesn't motivate me to any specific list or makeovers at all. My answer is: Even so come Lord Jesus. It is all about what Jesus did already. I am banking on that.


       On the other hand: I hope to be able to be here for our children while they walk through the teen years. I want to hear all about their trials and triumphs.  I want to be part of their training team when it comes to learning how to order their lives
      I want to grow old with my husband.  We have dreams to fulfill and goals that we're walking together toward.  After the children have all flown the nest there is a life for the two of us that we plan to enjoy. If God wills.
     I have no guarantee of being able to fulfill these dreams.  Elaine and Elsie were taken home before the children were all gone and before their "couple dreams" could ever be launched.  So I realize that every moment from here on out is a gift from God and  NOW is not to be wished away in the pressing toward tomorrow's dreams.
    What would I like to do before I die? 1. Win a Newbery Medal award. 2. See Norway and Switzerland in person. 3. Get snowed in at the cabin for three days.  4. Enjoy our family and friends every minute that I have remaining.

My Favorite Christmas Gift This Year

         
              Elv and the boys set up shop in the mini barn this year to make gifts for the women of the house.  They had several evenings into the project and nary a word did they breathe of what they were doing.  And, of course, we didn't ask, enjoying the whole idea of them making our gifts this year.
             I was pretty sure it would be something metal and perhaps have to do with a cabin type something.  But I have to say we were all quite wowed over the result of all that work and secretive planning.
            The mirror part of this still blows my mind.  Elv bought a full length mirror from which he cut the mirrors for these lamp holder/reflector beauties. They are etsy-able, if you ask me.
         
       

A Supper Table For Amy's 16th Birthday

What is more special that a 16th birthday? Well, maybe there might be some things a little more life changing than a birthday, but this one is pretty special to our family.  She did NOT want a party, but when we started on this brainstorm to make a pretty table for supper she was Johny-on-the-spot.
Frankly, I think this last picture of Elv and his daughters is precious.  Hope you enjoyed the tour, again.
                                Merry Christmas and God Bless Us Everyone!

Chocolate Covered Ritz Crackers

                                                             

What's Happening At Home

               I am writing this a few days before Christmas.  It is Amy's birthday today so she and Frances are taking a break from Christmas preparations to watch a Jane Austin movie for a couple of hours.  They're sitting here "wired" sharing earphones in front of the fire with me. I have my music to myself.
                Brad is over at Delvins helping Ben, Lily's father, today doing insulating.  Lance is running Delvin's logging machine so that Delvin can be at home to help on his own house.                         Yesterday Frances and Charity made Christmas goodies here with help from Dot, Anna, Amy and I. Lovely mess and the result was 25 plates of cookies and goodies to pass out to the parents of the Children's Ministry children on the rez. That's a lot of caroling, right? But they said it was fun and went over well with everyone.  
               Anything can happen just before Christmas and usually does. The woods machine broke down so Elv ran to Superior for the parts yesterday afternoon, then stopped in here to ask Brad and I if we'd like to go with him to the woods since he would be working into the evening working on the machine.  I gathered up the neck scarf I was crocheting for Jenny and gifts to wrap, my current reading, and computer to go with him. Brad grabbed a cedar board and his jig saw and jumped in, as well.
             So while Elv took the machine apart with the aid of his collection of strong lights, Brad and I continued our Christmas projects.  I sat in the cab with the interior lights on since the pickup was running all evening as Elv worked anyway, to do mine. 
            First thing, Brad needed me to help him draw a pattern for a rubber band gun. (To all you moms out there. Be prepared to even to help with guns now and then, being a good mom.) He wanted the shape of a hand gun to cut out with intentions to mount a clothespin on the flat top of it for the obvious purpose. He had to draw a little one to show me how it ought to look and then told me how to draw the one of proper size in a torn off flap of a cardboard box. 
           I finished the scarf in good time and had time to wrap the four gifts for Jenny and family. Besides I got well into a Jessamyn West novel before Elv came a verdict on the water pump. 
          "All the fins are gone on the pump." He had that look that guys get when something weird/bad/interesting happens to heavy equipment. 
           "So they're inside there somewhere." I suggested thinking about another engine one day long ago sitting by the road on Fourth Of July pass in the Bitterroot Mts. of Idaho where a little screw at the top of the engine fell down into the bowels thereof and killed it. 
           "Well, in the cooling system somewhere, yes."  
           We headed home then to solve tomorrow.
            As we walked in the door the young people who had been out caroling followed us in.  We must have had a dozen noisy boys and girls standing around laughing and talking.   Noah was opening a box that came while he was away. He popped the air wrap noisily with plenty of good will and help from the others. You couldn't walk for the press so to speak.  Most of them weren't staying and boots were dripping onto the floor giving the rest of us wet socks. We love a house full of youth at any time. 
          The rubber band guns turned out beautifully. When we got home Brad sanded them and had Amy help him get the clothespins glued on there while he cut a ridge to hold the rubber band taut. I wrapped them individually and labeled them. All done.  I wish all Christmas creating was that easy and successful, don't you?
          Gifts are adding up little by little on the lamp table in the living room.  There are still more to come.  The Christmas card/family pictures have not arrived. Tracking tells me where they were as of the 17th. Why should it take 4 days to get here from the cities? These particular cards are our third attempt at a family picture, to boot, and now they've evaporated. Can't win for losing!

           Our little family of six will have our Christmas day on Saturday here at home.  On Sunday we are to go down to Sparta to visit Mom and the Grabers for the day.  
         
         

Christmas Tea Centerpiece

I have umpteen projects cookin' right now, so I shouldn't be playing with my camera.  But how else is a person supposed to show her mother?! This is for you, Mom.