The Week in Review

I know this doesn't look like the old white farmhouse.  That's because it's not!  We (My DH and I) spent most of the last week in Arizona.

It was the same week we spent in AZ last year.  My DH once more celebrated his birthday there. This year my cousin and his wife came over to my Aunt and Uncle's house and we had a steak fry and a wonderful meal!

My DH looks about 10 years younger when he is rested.  My aunt and Uncle spoil us so wonderfully while we are there.  Breakfast was Steak and eggs with lots of fresh berries, fresh avocados and tomatoes and bagels with cream cheese, fresh from Chompie's Bakery that morning.  I don't know how you top that!!!

How can you help but get rested when this is where you hang out.  The pool was still a cool 70 degrees, but I was able to get in and exercise once I gradually got used to the cold water.

Here is my DH, Uncle Mose, (He asked for a cool blog name and this is what we decided on), and my Aunt!  Our trip out was eventful - We arrived a little after 2 AM AZ time instead of 8 PM.  Yawn.  United had plane issues and had to fly another one in from Tampa.  My patients kept in touch and called early and often. They called at 8 AM which was only 5 AM AZ time. It took me awhile to get caught up on my sleep.

We drove out to McNeal AZ for my DH's Dad's memorial service.  It was a special family time.  It was nice to have the service where he and Mom served and lived for most of the last 20 years, until health problems forced them to move in with family.  This is the view from mission looking towards the mountains.

Rona, Steve, and my DH

Friday evening we worked on organizing and planning the service.  There was about three times the material available than there was time for a reasonable length service.

There were three children and their spouses and one grandchild there from the family.  Nobody is local.  It was good to get together.

Saturday morning we had a graveside service. (See previous post.)

We all remembered Dad's diligence at sticking to a task as we surveyed the triple row of pines that lines the front of the mission.  It is over a half mile long.  Dad organized and did much of the planting of those trees many years ago.

The memorial service was in the afternoon.  Many people were there from the mission and community.  This is a very isolated location and the town is not really even a crossroads.  You don't want to buy land in McNeal as you will never be able to sell it. You are there for life.  It is near (20 miles) both the infamous Tombstone, AZ and the Mexican boarder.  There were about 60 people at the service.  It was videotaped, and will be available for viewing at a later date.

Uncle Mose giving his royal style wave.

We said good-bye to our Phoenix family and got on a plane for an uneventful flight home.

We arrived just in time to rush over to church for the AWANA closing program.  Paul gave a paint board gospel message to the families.  He did a lovely job.

Michelle can usually be found either with a baby in her arms or in the kitchen!  Here she is with Liam.

Tuesday morning very early (for me) T-Bob and Joan got on a plane to fly to the Philippines to visit my sister and her family who are missionaries there.   Here they are just before they left.  They were warned that the plane gets cold so they should dress warm.  T-Bob's visit was a surprise to the cousin's and it was complete and successful!!!

Here is a picture of the farm, just after they left.  The mist was rising from the trees and the sun was rising.  So pretty!

Random Thoughts

The last ice of winter

Today the last of the ice melted off the pond.  You can see where the morning snow landed on the last little piece of ice and coated it.  The temperature never got above freezing today.  It doesn't feel like spring yet.  We had snow on Friday and today. It isn't in the weather forecast, but it just keeps coming!  Gotta love Ohio weather!

Mallards on the pond

One thing I have been enjoying is watching a pair of mallard ducks on the pond.  They stay near the edge and get scared if anyone comes outside.  They quickly fly away.  They are definitely wild.

Chicks at 2 weeks

Friday was a long day in Amish country.  I think I saw more patients on Friday than I ever have before in one day.  I felt pretty good doing it, especially considering how sick I have been with the flu the last three weeks.  I may have had a birthday last week, but I am still feeling young!

Chicks at 2 weeks

My DH has been working hard to get the kitchen finished at the old house.  It is looking really good.  We still have to go over there and take apart the dugout shed and the old chicken coop.  The chicken coop is too big to move intact, so we will have to take it apart and repurpose it in some of our out buildings here.

My two favorite homesteading books

My time has been spent lately planning and learning everything I can about gardening and poultry.  A lot of the ideas of permaculture and guild culture, and the biodiversity are appealing to my philosophical understanding of the world.  It was interesting to me that when I went to Amish country on Friday, one of the organic farmers brought up how he felt that the ideas being taught in this way of farming was really cutting edge.  He is looking to incorporating more and more of them on his farm.  I didn't ask him anything about them.  He was just telling me what he would do if he started on a new property.  It was good to hear that these ideas make sense from somebody who makes his living this way.

Thomas's Cream Puff treats

 Thomas has been experimenting in the kitchen.  He made these on Friday while I was gone.  Michelle didn't even help him.  They were pretty good.  The stinker did siphon off quite a bit of cream off our milk though.  Hmmm.  Can't be a regular occurrence, as I can't give up so much cream.  I am happy that he is finding something to occupy his time with other than debate!

This evening I spent most of my time putting together the AWANA slide show for the closing program.  When my DH and I went over our schedule for the next few months we realized that our lives were pretty well booked up through the WHOLE summer, and that's before we add in farming!!  It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

AWANA Grand Prix 2014

It is time for the annual WBF AWANA Grand Prix.  The kids have a good time working on their cars.  We have several categories that they are judged on.  The first is design and the second is speed.  There are also several different design categories.  The kids race in their groups, or they can enter the...

Open race, which has way fewer rules.  That is the group the adults enter (no age restrictions), the cars can weigh up to 15oz instead of 5 oz.  and they don't have to use the official wheels or block.

This T-Bob's race car.  Can anyone tell me what he used to make the insect on top of his car?  He did paint it and glue on the antennae.  But the body and antennae  all came from the same thing.  I will give a prize to the first person that guesses it.  No fair guessing if you were told what it is!  I will give you a book if you guess.

The clubbers had a great time.

Here is how our track is set up.  There were a few technical glitches in the timing and computing end, but they eventually got them worked out.

Elizabeth had her little buddy with her a lot of the time.

Phil was really proud of his winning hot wheel.  The Cubbies get their race cars provided for them.

Michelle enjoyed holding baby Lee.

On your mark, Get set, GO!

Lots of kids come to our AWANA program!  We have 80-100 kids come every week.  That means that most of them don't come to our church.  It is a real ministry opportunity.  It is exciting to see the kids learning their Bible verses and doing their lessons and listening attentively, in between playing games and snacks.

T-Bob did win second place in the design category.  The clubbers are looking to next year already.  Trying to plan how they will design their next car and how to make it go even faster!

Super Bowl Sunday Ohio Style

Church parking lot on Super Bowl Sunday

 Super Bowl Sunday arrived in a white way.  Our parking lot at church is getting smaller and smaller as the snow piles encroach on the parking spaces.  Something that is never an issue in warmer climes.  

Our Chapel has AWANA earlier on Super Bowl Sunday.  We decided to eat lunch at church as we wouldn't really have time to drive home and eat and make it back before  AWANA started.  My niece stayed with us, as my brother had to go to work.

To entertain themselves, Elizabeth got my camera out and did a photo shoot with my niece and some others.

They went outside, without coats, to get the snow pictures.

The branches were lovely with all the snow lining them.  It was so beautiful.  Miss R.  reminds me of a cardinal in the brush. She likes the 'prairie' look.

 Thomas posed also.

Everybody worked on getting the food ready for the AWANA super bowl party.

The games included a touchdown celebration dance.  Dee did a great job!

Miss Sadie all dressed up in her cubbie uniform.

TaDa!  The party trays were ready for the hungry kids!  They enjoyed the warm pretzels with sauces and all the yummy snacks.  And this was BEFORE the game.  Ha!  We know how to celebrate in Ohio!  Bible lessons were done and verses recited in between all the fun and games.  We mustn't lose sight of our priorities!

A Wonderful Day!

Yesterday was a fun day.  SO much variety and different activities to keep this mama busy.  I had the heartwarming experience of bringing four little boys to the hospital to meet their new baby brother.  They were so excited!  Everyone took turns holding him!

They studied him and wanted to check and make sure he had all his pieces and parts.  They compared his hand to theirs and were surprised at how tiny they were.  They wanted to check out his feet and the umbilical stump.  They wanted to know exactly how that had worked and what was going to happen with it.  So curious!

Grandma and Grandpa got their turn to hold little Liam after the boys had.  The boys were ready to move on after about an hour.  They were looking forward to coming back to the farm to play outside.

The air temp was almost 32 F so the chickens were out and about.

The boys helped us clear the ice so they could go skating or sliding.  They had a blast playing on the ice.  They ran and slid and bellyflopped.  So much fun!

Does it look like he enjoyed it?

The boys helped gather eggs and played with the chickens.  They were fascinated by the way the chickens came over and pecked at their boots to get the snow off.  Our hens are doing amazing laying eggs.  We have 24 hens that are about 2 years old and we are getting 18 eggs or more every day.  I am still planning on getting pullets soon so that when the old biddies get tired there will be some youngsters to take their place.  We just can't do without our eggs!

There was a beautiful sunset as we drove to church for AWANA.

It was inside out upside down and backwards night!  JoAn had her bun in the front and all her clothes inside out and backwards.

So did Ian.  He even had his socks on his hands!  It did make it difficult to throw the ball in game time!  He didn't care.  He is a trooper.

Michelle is working as a Mother's helper for our friend who just had the baby.  She is looking after the four boys.  It is a big job but she really enjoys it!

 She is enjoying holding the new bundle of joy when she gets the chance.  A baby is such a blessing! I got a chance to visit with my sister from the Philippines in the evening and chatted with my niece on facebook.  What a wonderful day!