Thursday, September 30, 2010

Around here...

Happily busy here...

A little riding....


A little cuteness...

New chickies to cuddle....

Goofy photo shoots with oldest son Nate, who was home for the weekend...


Some end-of-the-season autumn flowers....

a little swinging and laughter....

The group hug before Nate left to drive back to Ft. Benning....  (man do I *miss* having him around!)
Once Nate left, it was back to work...

A little boy who loves to "read" books now...

Oh look!  It's Henny Penny!

I went outside to take photos of the children, but couldn't resist Henny.  Don't you love her fluffy plumage?

She looks stern, but actually she's an old softie~ such a sweet girl.

Miss Penny is one of our laying hens.  They are so busy right now.  I'm getting 24-30 eggs/day.  So yummy!

Tired of the photo shoot and moving on to other things....

Gotta love those end of the season roses too... is tomorrow really October 1st?  Really?

A quick picture snapped before my bike ride with some friends this evening.   

So there you have it... a quick re-cap of events the past week and a half here.  What's been going on in your neck of the woods?

Saturday, September 18, 2010

A Saturday run...

Ok, first of all... are you guys nice, or what?  Talk about sweet comments in reference to my new hair cut!  Thanks so much!  Now on to our adventure today...

The rewards of getting up early...

Today we left the house at 6:20am to drive to a race that Tom and the boys were running.

I am embarrased to tell you that I had no idea how beautiful this park area near the Missouri River in Riverside MO was.  (And it is only 30 minutes from my house!)  It is especially beautiful at 6:35 in the morning.  Especially.


With the sun rising over the Missouri River.


The runners all ready to go.


I had to grab everyone for at least *one* photo, don't you think?  Did you see Gabe standing on tip-toes so he's "for sure" taller than Tom?  (Not that he really *needs* to do that, at 6'3" he is a good 3" taller than his dad!)

Tom, Jake and Caleb ready to start their race.  Tom was running a 10K, Jake and Caleb a 5K.  Both started at the same time, Tom just had to go out and back further.

By this time the sun was sneaking a peek out of the morning cloudcover.  Which do you like better, a pink Missouri River, or a golden one?  Wow.


We didn't have to wait long for Jake to finish his 5K.  As you can imagine, it is pretty cool to have your very own (loud) cheering squad!  Go Jake!


Next in, Caleb, finishing his 5K to loud and loyal cheers as well~ "Run Caleb, run!"


Before we knew it, Tom was finishing his 10K.  (He ended up winning 3rd place in his division!)  Again, more loud cheering as he neared the finish.  "Go Daddy, go!"


Then we had a little time to kill before the children's "fun run."


Cute boys and a camera help the time pass though...

Before we knew it, the moment the little boys had been anxiously awaiting all week arrived~ the children's fun run!  WooHoo!





Here comes Joshua...


Jonathan,


Josiah,


and Daniel!


A big thanks to everyone who has prayed and asked about how my hip is doing!  I was originally scheduled to have surgery to have my hip pinned this coming Monday, but the past week it has been doing so much better that I was able to cancel.  I have been walking without crutches ~ and without limping, I might add.  Limp-free for the first time since last February!

Don't worry, I'm not going out running any time soon.  For femoral neck stress fractures the protocol is 3 months pain-free before running.  But I can get back out and ride my bike, swim, do some weight-lifting, etc.  I'm super-excited to get back outside and ride my bike! Sweating a puddle in the living room on my bike attached to a trainer just isn't the same somehow....

Grateful for beautiful landscape, active family, no crutches, God's faithfulness in my life, and you, my online friends!  I do feel rich!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Time for a change...

After many, many years of trimming my own hair and trying to keep it long, I finally admitted that I have the finest and quickly becoming the thinnest hair in North America.  Long hair simply wasn't working so..

today I went from this:



to this!


I had to be really brave.... but I like my new do.... a lot.  What do you think?

Sometimes change can be good.  (Tom and the children like it too~ a definite added bonus!)

Monday, September 13, 2010

Nutrition resource

I was recently made aware of a course that looks very interesting: Real Food Nutrition and Health.  The author is a homeschooling mom who subscribes to the Charlotte Mason method of teaching... using "real" books rather than boring pre-packaged textbooks for education.  There is both a book and an e-course option.

Here is her recommended reading list.  Some of the books I am quite familiar with, others I have not seen. 

Here's an introductory video for you.

Real Food Nutrition & Health E-Course Intro from FoodRenegade on Vimeo.


I think it would be great fun to cover this material with my children~ and vitally important for their future.  Hope you find this resource helpful!


Thursday, September 9, 2010

Transformations






Life is full of amazing transformations, isn't it?
 
So glad He isn't finished with me yet....

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Lean on me....

Several of you have asked recently how my hip is healing.  So kind of you!

 Great Dane puppy Dude sitting on our Great Pyreneese Lance... that concrete's awful cold, don't 'cha know....

Still on crutches and not much better, it seems.  From what I have read, femoral neck stress fractures (a stress fracture in the upper part of the femur~ the "neck" where it is narrow just before the "ball" part of the hip joint)  can be notoriously slow to heal.  Of course the fact that I get impatient and ditch the crutches every week or so probably isn't helping.  : )

Isn't Lance patient and accommodating?

I"m going back in to see my orthopedic doctor this Thursday, so I should have some additional info then.  Looks like my options right now are crutches for at least 3 more weeks, or surgery to "pin" the femur. 

I'm fine though... using the extra sitting down time to get some things learned on my new iMac (love iPhoto~ so cool for photo organization, and Bridge for organizing digital scrapbooking stuff).  Plus we're thick into school this year~ nine currently "officially" in school.  So I'm far from bored... just super-antsy from all this inactive sitting and "crutching around."

Thanks again for your concern and prayers, I really do appreciate it!

Monday, September 6, 2010

The power in learning to see...

If you have a minute, please watch this little documentary~ an amazing story of how a simple camera transformed the lives of some of Guatemala's poorest dump residents. My camera has wrought transformation in my life too (although certainly not as dramatic!) as I have learned to see and look for the everyday beauty around me. There is certainly an element of desiring to create a life that I want to see through my lens.  And I don't mean creating a magazine-worthy life, I mean capturing relationships, and learning to synthesize what the Lord is teaching me as we live this fabulous, ordinary life.  Striving to be all that He calls me to be. What a concept!