Spring just will not come

These poor Alaskan kids are making a go of a game of kick ball even thought there is a lot of snow that is stubbornly sticking to our yard. Yesterday I woke up early to snow gently falling outside my window. Today it is rain which at least helps the snow go away but it is awfully dreary outside. And so we are cooped up after a long winter. It has driven Alli to contortionist(see below) and tom is bouncing off the walls. We have just about wrapped up school for the year. They have just another couple weeks of Math and we will call it good. I may do some with Tom and Dan over the summer since they get left behind a little when Im working with the big kids. I guess we will see how the weather is.

Another ladies retreat

I am home after a crazy weekend. This years sold rock ladies retreat was a little later than usual. We had our fullest retreat ever. Sue Thomas was our speaker again and although I was not able to actually sit and listen to her I heard that everyone really liked her. I had the great opportunity to do a fund raiser/purse party for Heartline Ministries which I worked with in Haiti many years ago. I had a great response and it was a lot of fun to share a bit of my experience from long ago. Of course we stayed up far to late talking in the cabin and drank more tea than anyone really needs to drink in a forty eight hour span of time. I got home yesterday afternoon and this morning headed to anchorage (2 ½ hour drive) for a quick trip and home again tonight. I am really looking forward to not going anywhere tomorrow.

Another ladies retreat

I am home after a crazy weekend. This years sold rock ladies retreat was a little later than usual. We had our fullest retreat ever. Sue Thomas was our speaker again and although I was not able to actually sit and listen to her I heard that everyone really liked her. I had the great opportunity to do a fund raiser/purse party for Heartline Ministries which I worked with in Haiti many years ago. I had a great response and it was a lot of fun to share a bit of my experience from long ago. Of course we stayed up far to late talking in the cabin and drank more tea than anyone really needs to drink in a forty eight hour span of time. I got home yesterday afternoon and this morning headed to anchorage (2 ½ hour drive) for a quick trip and home again tonight. I am really looking forward to not going anywhere tomorrow.

I have not abandon the blog forever!

I have been dreadfully busy with life. I feel pangs of guilt every now and then for not keeping you all more up to date with our lives. I didn't do a Christmas or New years post this year and Zekari, Catherein and Dan have all had birthdays that went unposted about. Baby goats have been born and I have another nephew born Dec 1st. Catherine got to be at his birth and he is just perfection. Cory(my brother) and Lyla(his wife) bought a used book store and are now running that. I had the great joy of doing a 4'x7' piece of art for their wall behind the register. The name of the store is inkwell's bookshop and I love to hang out there and have already spent way to much money buying art book from them. I have no good excuse for my lack of posts and can't promise to do better in the future but I will say that if I can find a way to post from my phone I think I could do it more regularly. I have been trying to spend less time in front of the computer. I can check Facebook and e-mail from my phone but the blog has gone by the wayside in my attempt to prioritize my time. I think I will go look into it now to see if I can figure it out. that way I could at least put up a picture every now and then to ease my guilt.

Pretty Much

this is about what has been going on at our house lately.

It has been all kinds of great fun. Whenever we get the flu it takes the better part of the week to get through us all. I think we are just about done with this one.

Veteran's Day

Flanders Fields, in Belgium and France, were the sites of many different battles between the Allies and Germans and the countryside was devastated by the constant shelling and movement of troops back and forth. The red poppy was the first plant to grow and bloom in the muddy fields, even as the war went on.