Sing with me!

Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday dear Wesly.
Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to the most amazing man I know. I love you!

I can't wait

I can't wait for Christmas morning. I'm so excited now. I'm almost done with Wes's gift and I can't wait for him to open it. I haven't been very excited about Christmas yet. Of course I attribute part of that to the fact that I am just now finally really getting over this bug I've had for almost two weeks. It put me way behind on my gift making since I really needed to rest during naps and I was exhausted by the time Wes got home from work each day. So I have a ton to do. My house is a disaster. Stephen and Amy will be arriving at the airport at like 5am Saturday. Right, and Saturday is Wes's b-day. So I really don't have much time to get anything done. Good news, Josiah is spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house tonight. So, I have a birthday cake to go bake now and a gift to put the final touches on. Oh how I wish I could post a picture. I want to show it to the world!!!!

I ordered prints!

I was always incredably good about taking in my film to get it developed. I am terrible at developing my digital images. I did get some in last week though. I figured it was time to update the family's Josiah pictures. My parents still have his 2 month photos hanging up. I ordered new photos for everyone. I got a few photos of Laura too. I spent an hour editing out a few dust spots and touching out some belly button piercing scars. They were actually in the belly button at on time and at 8.5 months lived an inch above her bb. So I did a couple of proofs for them. But why am I so excited? Because they came today! My little boy is so cute and Laura is so beautiful.

still sick...

Wes feels better. Josiah never got very sick. I am still congested from head to toe. Okay, maybe just from sinuses to chest. I am feeling better, but it's a slow journey for me. I actually got seven hours of sleep last night. It was a record for the week since I haven't been sleeping well. I need to finish Christmas presents but I just haven't felt up to it. But with just a week till Wes's birthday, I'd best get them done yesterday.

tears shed

Yesterday we learned that two friends from West Hills passed away.

Babe was Josiah's oldest friend. They used to play together on Thursdays. She turned 90 a couple of months ago. She was still driving and living on her own this past Summer. Things took a turn less than 6 months ago. The Dr discovered she had cancer and she was too weak for any treatments. Just a few weeks before she turned 90, she had to move into a care center. We went to her b-day party. She passed away Sunday evening around 8:00.

Dick was a private man. No one knew he was sick until he ended up in the hospital about two weeks ago. No one is sure what was wrong. He didn't tell anyone. The last time we saw him, he looked great. It was a bit of a shocker to learn that he passed yesterday at 11am.

I shed a few tears yesterday. Only, they weren't mornfull. In fact, they were happy tears. I am happy for our friends. Both knew Jesus and served Him well. Babe is young again. She's been reunited with her husband who passed at least 10 years ago. I'm sure it was a happy day for them. Dick lost his wife to cancer a couple of years ago. He loved her deeply. What a joy for him to have her in his arms again. What joy to be reunited with your beloved spouse in the presence of Jesus. What awsome joy to see to your Savior's face. There is no need to cry. I will see them again. What assurence we have when we know that Jesus has died for our sins.

Please pray with me for those who will miss Babe and Dick them most, their family and friends.

The Smith Family Illness

We are sick again. Wes and I came down with it Friday. Josiah seemed a bit stuffy Sunday morning. Friday wasn't too bad. I woke with a bad sore throat and mild head cold. Saturday was terrible. I was cold and achy all day. I had a fever, it broke during the night. Sunday was better, no more aches. Yet, this head cold was a whole lot worse. Wes was feeling well enough to hang some Chirstmas lights outside. We didn't feel up to going to the Gathering. It's 4am Monday morning now and I've gotten about two hours of sleep. I slept from 11:30-12:30 and 2-3. Wes is congested and being a noisey and tossy sleeper. My head has been screaming all night with this headache that I can't seem to kick. I'm congested and it's moving to my chest. Josiah has woken several times. I'm wide awake now. I have three more hours till Josiah is up for the day. Maybe I will be able to get another hour in...

Josiahisms

"Did you want to play with me?"
"Pillow fight you!"
"Okay, this is going to be noisy."
"Okay, let's go."

There was a terrible accident yesterday...

...at the little people zoo. Zookeeper Zack was hanging out with the exotic bird in the tree. Peacock found the zoo vehicle unattended, so she hijacked it. Well, we all know that peacocks can't drive. She ran over crocodile and into elephant's pen. The seal food went everywhere. Fortunatly, Dumpy was close at hand. He cleaned up the seal mess and hauled it away. But the vehicle was still half in Elephant's pen and he did not like that. So Farmer Jed came to the rescue with his tractor and scooped up the zoo vehicle. Unfortunatly, it feel off and land upside down on top of Peacock. Oh the horror!

Good news. Everyone is okay this morning. However, I do believe that Zookeeper Zack spent the night with the exotic bird. Hummmmm.

Josiah has an imagination that doesn't stop.

the gift of encouragement

It seems like we talk about spiritual gifts alot in Ethnos circles. So I thought you might find this little Josiah incedent cute. I've been working on making Christmas gifts a lot this past week. I have about a week before I have to be done with half of them for the Smith family Christmas over Thanksgiving. It was after dinner, well after dinner for Wes and I, Josiah was still working on his. I pull a project out and start working. Shortly, Josiah is all "Go, Mom go. Make that ----." It was the cutest thing. So we start telling him what a good encourager he is, and how he can encourage other people. The I ask him, "Josiah, do you have the spiritual gift of encouragement?" He got a very serious look on his face, took a minute to think about it, and then, very much like he knew exactly what I was talking about, gave me a huge nod, smiled slightly, and then said, "Yes, I do, Mommy."

On another Josiah note, he went in for his "3 year" well check yesterday. He weighed in at a whopping 29 lbs(which isn't very whopping for a 3 year old), and of course is measuring 37 inches tall, with a big, thick, 20 inch noggen. He didn't say a word the whole time we were there. At least not untill the Dr gave him his stickers at which point he got very talking and excited. Then he got the first half of his flu shot and didn't even wince. He's a trooper.

Humm, I here a stool moving across the kitchen floor upstairs. Best go see what he's trying to get for his breakfast.

auction

We are home from the auction. This year was way more fun then last. Probably because all our friends got to come too since it wasn't on Sunday evening. We got to spend money too.

Now I get to take a break from Grace Academy. It was really good to have drawings and the model there for donors to see. Things become much more real when you can visualize a place. I'll get some pictures posted soon. Oh, and the model, that was secret project #3.

We got into a bit of a bidding war with Anthony over a chair. That was fun. We also tried to outbid Dave P. and take home some paintings, but he had a pocket full of money. We did come home with the following items:
$100 in Powell's cash
A djimbe (The one Dave K. made)
A really nice chair (Yes, you can all come over to try it out.)
Some cd's
6 Visible Grace calenders (for all our family)

Time for bed and our "extra" hour of sleep.

cluster plan

I appoligize for the funny colors. It's really about tone. When you print b&w the greens are a nice shade of grey. This is phase one of Grace Academy. There will be a total of 6 housing clusters. Each house will be the home to 10-12 children and their house parent(s).

I did it!

No, I didn't stop time and save the world. But I did make a good beam. Actually, there are twelve beams, ten of one type and two of another. I rule!

2 days left

Well, I just about have the furniture in. I'm struggling with the roof. I can't seem to make a 2 dementional beam in AutoCAD. It just doesn't want to work right. Oh, I can make a beam, but it's ends are but funny. And typing that just made me think of a possible solution. Alas, it will have to wait till tomorrow. Once the building has a roof, I can lay out the cluster. Then, when I have a cluster, I can make five more. Soon that turns into an entire site. YIPPY!

Trudging through Auctiontober

This crazy busy month continues. I still have a lot of get done, but some things have been completed.

Since Sunday, I've spent 19 hours working on Grace Academy. That's a lot of nap and after bed time hours that I've used on this project. I still seem to have a lot of drawing to do, but SP3 is coming along nicely. I think I'm going to have to ask for some help to get it done though. Just bit off a bit more than I could chew with this one.

I got my auction donations in. It's a good way to clear out some CM inventory that I shouldn't be carrying and get a tax write off to boot. I also got two pictures matted and framed. And I found the twin baby dolls.

I got all or most of Josiah's 3 year old photos done. He was such a ham for the camera this time (as if you didn't notice). We did some outside on Monday and then another group with the lights all set up and such on Wednesday. It was fun. He's at an age where he can actually take some photo directions.

Tomorrow my hermeneutics study group is meeting again. I got two of the three chapters read for last week. I'm supposed to have two more done for tomorrow. I haven't had a chance to sit a read though. After all I've spent 19 hours on GA since our last meeting. I'm going to try and at least get the last one for last week and one of the ones for this week done tomorrow morning. While I host the study group here at our house, Wes is going to go "jam" with a group of guys from Ethnos.

Josiah has two b-day parties to go to this weekend. One is tomorrow afternoon and the other is Sunday morning. That's a lot of cake in one weekend. :O)

Well, I'd best get back to work, only 8 days left till Auctiontober comes to an end. It's kind of nice that Auctiontober ends with an extra hour of sleep. I think I'm going to take a two week break from GA after it ends. Christmas comes the day after Thanksgiving in Eastern Oregon and I have some presents to finish.

Sweet dreams.

No title could say...

dreaming about Grace Academy

So I've been having all sorts of odd dreams lately. New things and people have been popping into my dream. Suddenly everyone from Ethnos is starting to arrive. But last night it was my big project that domenated my dreams.

I was in a room, sitting at long tables. There was someone up front presenting. I had a stack of papers litterally a foot deep in front of me. I was trying to sort through them while the guy next to me was trying to steal all my ideas and was just really annoying me. Then the presentation was over. The instructor asked me if I wanted to present. I said yes, but not for the contest, just for feedback. So I start trying to find my project and all I have is a stack of newspaper. Where did it go?

ho hum

That's how I feel this evening. It must be that fall finally started and the rain is drowning me.

The fence came down today. Most of it is in our driveway. I don't like not having a fence. It takes away my privacy on Shattack. It means I have to watch Josiah more closely when we're outside. Fortunately, it's a temporary thing. It will be back up before the end of the month.

I'm frustrated. I wish I could remember all the things I used to know about AutoCAD. I expect it to do something for me, but it doesn't. I definately getting back into the swing of things, but it has taken more time than I thought it would. I suppose it took me 3 months to learn it the first time. Perhaps I shouldn't have expected it to come right back. Now if I can figure out how to get the 2D thing a going...

I'm frustrated. I don't know how to construct something in Kenya. I don't know how they do things. It makes it more challenging to design. I wish I could find something online. I've looked. I haven't had much luck. I wish I was close to the AAA library at the UO. I might be able to find some info there. I wish I still had friends who worked there, then maybe I could just call. I wish I had an alumni membership, then I could call anyway. I wish I could get on a plane tomorrow and find the info I need in Kenya. I wish a lot of things...

Ho hum...

October is a crazy, busy month

I can't believe how many things are happening this month.
Josiah had his first party with friends last weekend. I'm glad that's over. This weekend we have something scheduled for just about every minute of it. For the Visible Grace Auction I have a list of things I need to get done.
1. AutoCAD Drawings for stage one of Grace Academy
-Site plan with stages of design
-Housing unit in plan, section, elevation
-Housing unit details
-Cluster plan
-Perspective renderings, 3 or 4 of them
2. Mat and frame photo for auction donation
3. Secret Project number 3
4. Find the twin baby dolls
Then there are the things I need to get done for other reasons
5. Prep for my Moppets class next Thursday
6. Do Josiah's 3 year photo shoot
7. Have Laura over to do maternity shoot
8. Read three chapters for my study for this Saturday's meeting (oops)
9. Do all the things that entail being a stay at home wife and mother
10. Do everything else I just can't think of at this moment
On top of all this we are finally getting our fence redone over a period of the next two weeks. Several sections blew over during our windy Spring. I'm sure it will all be too interesting to Josiah. Which will mean lots of outdoor time, rain or shine (especially if Troy rent a big machine). Which means less time to do the things I need to do.

"I'll pose if you put me on your blog." -Chris

Here it is. It's "Secret Project Number One". This was a fun project. I saw a pattern for it at the fabric store. I wanted to make it. For a couple weeks I wondered who I could make it for. When I realized that Ava would be here soon, I decided to make it for her.

A few weeks ago Chris and Laura came over for dinner. Josiah was so excited. He was telling them all about Ava's kitty. They didn't catch on. Just before Josiah went to bed, I had him get the kitty and give it to them. He was so excited. (But I think I already said that.) Chris said I could only take a picture if he could be on my blog.

secret projects...

Last night I officially started secret project #3. SP #2 is being put on hold. Something when wrong and I have to rework part of it. Which means I don't have time to complete it before it's original deadline. But SP3 is a blast. I was so tired last night, but I wanted to keep working. I discovered how it was possible to pull all nighters in college. It was the excitement and adrenaline of watching a project come together that kept you going. At 11, we finally put SP3 down for the night and headed to bed. All nighters aren't an option for us old folks. SP1 was completed a few weeks ago. I will post pictures soon. I think Chris and Laura like it. I hope Ava will too.

The long awaited...

Falls Creek Falls Backpacking photos!

I'm a clutz

Clutzy Angie did it again. This time down the stairs I advoided twisting my ankle. However, I landed so hard... Now it is painful to stand, to sit, to walk... But the worst thing is the actual proccess of standing up from a sitting possition. Tis no fun at all... OUCH!

I'm bree!

That's what he says. Yep, my little baby turns three today. At 2:59pm, to be exact. He's growing up so fast. I can't believe my tiny 6lb, 10oz, 20 3/4 inch little boy is now over 25lbs and 3 feet tall. He's eating an ice cream cone right now. Not a normal lunch time menu item, but hey, you only turn three once. Soon he'll be going down for an early rest time, so that he can be up early. Daddy is coming home early so that we can open presents before community group tonight. Then this weekend is all about Cars.

Giving away his toys

This weekend Josiah and I had a little talk. I told him it was going to be his birthday soon. We talked about how he would get presents and new toys. I told him he needed to choose toys that he was all done playing with to give to another child. I pulled out an empty box and he picked out two toys; the Eddie doll and a piano/shapes/colors leapfrog thing. I thought that was a great start. He woke up the next day and decided he had another toy for the box. Usually, after a nap he will come find me first thing. That day he put more toys in the box, including two balls (big sacrifice for a 2.95 yr old boy). Then, he came to tell me he put more toys in the box. The next day he wanted to put some of his books in the box. So in went some of his favorite board books. Yesterday he told me he was going to put his trucks in the box. I talked him out of it and into choosing just one to put in the box (He plays with them all the time). This morning he told us he was done playing with his trucks and he was going to put them in the box so that another boy could play with them. You might think he doesn't understand. That he just thinks someone is going to come over to play with his toys. However, I think he does. I think he totally gets it. We've taken toys (not his) to NCO before. I think he knows exactly where his toys are going. He continues to blow me away.

I did it again

So I messed up my ankle in July during VBS. A week or so ago I noticed that it wasn't bothering me anymore. Wednesday I found a hole in our lawn while playing outside with Josiah. My foot is swollen again. I'm really sick of this foot being swollen. I sprained it really good about six years ago, and ever since...

Hey, if you don't read Wes's blog, you should. There are some really cute stories about our adorable son on his blog.

A day in the life...

8:30 - I carted Josiah to the library in time to drop our books in the overnight bin. They were due yesterday. One was recalled. I didn't want to have to pay a fine so we got them in the bin at 8:45 before the library opened so that they would check them in as yesterday.
9:00 - Josiah watches Seseame Street. I got out the paint I bought yesterday and started a new project. No, I shouldn't have, but I did. It's my new "crazy project #387" :O) I wanted to see if I wanted to do would work before I go out and buy 31 more canvases. I'll be buying them 1 at a time with 40% off coupons for the next 31 weeks or so. Thanks for the latex idea, Ciara. I also played with AutoCAD a bit. I've got to brush up my skills a bit and design an Academy.
9:30 - Josiah yells for me. I come down stairs to see what's up. Cookie Monster is learning about healthy eating. This must be the first time Josiah has seen this, it's the first time I have. Two years of watch SS, about twice a week, and I finally see the healthy side of CM. So he gorges himself on fruit and then still eats the cookie. Is that really that much healthier?
10:00 - Josiah watches Bob the Builder, I continue painting.
11:00 - We head outside to play. I get the recyling out and clean the garage some more. Josiah rides his tricycle (he's getting the peddling thing down), plays in the sand box, mows the lawn, draws with chalk, and "helps" mommy.
12:30 - We go in for lunch. I burn my lunch badly. The whole house was smokey. I'm suprised the firemen didn't show up at the door. I shouldn't be allowed to use the oven.
1:00 - I paint some more. Josiah wants to help but settles for watching and playing with his trains.
2:15 - Nap time for Josiah. More painting time for me.
5:15 - Nap time is over. Josiah wants to go back outside.
6:00 - I open the door for Josiah and I to head out and discover Wes on the other side with key ready.
6:15 - I make dinner while the boys play outside.
6:45 - Dinner.
7:15 - Wes leaves.
7:30 - Bath time for Josiah.
8:00 - Into bed, it's time for stories.
8:15 - Computer time for Mommy.
8:50 - Publish blog.

It was a good day. I came down with a cold Sunday evening and needed a day at home not doing a whole lot. So that's basically what I did. It was a good day to paint too. I can't smell as well as I should be able to so the latex paint didn't go to my head. Plus I got to play around with cad, which is always way fun. I just wish I hadn't burnt my lunch.

I switched

Are you guys happy now? Wes? Dave?

a lot of overdue pics

A few weeks ago (the 5th) we had time to go to the park as a family. Josiah likes to ride in his wagon there. At the park we found about 30 cheerleaders from Wilson High. They were having cheer camp. They had about 30 beachballs all over the playground.







After lunch I decided that I should head over to Beth's to help sort junk for the Visible GRACE (previously known as GRACEworks) garage sale. I helped for a while but had to prepare for my Sunday School class too.
This is laura helping at the garage sale sort. The baby is Ava, the future recipient of my first "secret project."

Josiah thinks it's fun to walk around in mommy and daddy's shoes. If they aren't in the closet he will track them down, wear each set to one location, and arrange them in a neat line.

Grandma and Grandpa came over to play. Grandpa was suppose to be helping Josiah make a track. Grandma came to the rescue.

This is Josiah's friend Hayden. He came over to play for the day so that his mommy and daddy could go out to celebrate their anniversary. He's just three weeks younger than Josiah.

The rest of these pics are from "Baby Ella's" first b-day party on the 11th. I'm convinced that Josiah will always call her Baby Ella, even when they are teenagers hanging out in the same youth group.














Coming up next...

Backpacking pictures from the August 12/13 overnighter to Falls Creek Falls.