Pumpkins

I have not posted anything for a while now, not that I ment to go this long, but with school and other things happening I have just not sat down to take the time. I had done a new entry but found that I had put it on my other blog by mistake and then I deleted it before remembering that I could cut and paste.....so all that work went away! :( We have been busy with school, and awanas and my bible study (we are studying a book on James), and walking outside because it is still so beautiful for this time of year etc. This week is no exception with 4 parties including Emma's birthday party, and a bible study and a luncheon that I am hosting with some friends, my week is overflowing! I am happy because I enjoy visiting with people and having friends over, but then you throw this homeschool thing in with it and sometimes I get a little overwhelmed, like I am not doing enough or I am not a good enough teacher, and the housework gets a little behind and it all snowballs in my face! With that being said here are some pictures of our carved pumpkins that have already bit the dust :). They were cute anyway.


Emma carved the first one, Madison the second, and I carved the last (even though it was Heidi's she didn't really care!)

No Competition for Me :(

I guess I jumped the gun on this one.....When I wrote this post I had just talked to one of the trainers that was participating and basically not enough people had signed up so it looked like anyone who did was garunteed a spot. Well like everything, everyone waited until the last minute and they ended up having to choose the 16 contestants from 40 applicants! I am bumbed that I was not one of them.....but I am not giving up! We have the treadmill in the livingroom and are pairing down the pantry from the fast fixes to more whole grains and better options. Chad and I have our own friendly competition going and with the encouragement and prayers from family and friends we will begin to make a dent in our weight loss endevor. One thing that has really helped me I think is that with homeschooling the girls, I am really having to organize a whole lot better, which is having an effect on my cleaning (decluttering our lives) and also because the girls are always eagerly waiting to exercise with me! I want to teach my kids a healthy fun lifestyle of fitness and now is the best time. God is working in my heart and while I can't speak for Chad and his fealings I see the work that God is doing in his. We are still stumbling a lot (food choices), but we are recognizing it and are trying harder to get it under controll. It is hard to deny the body what it thinks it wants!!! To learn a copeing mechanism is work, and we are willing to do the work! I also know that we have been down this road for 10+ years and I don't know what to say as to why this time is different from the rest. I just know that I am tired of not being able to go do the stuff that I want to do. Watching my friends go and hike all over, while I stay back was really really hard this summer. Please do not give up on us. Please continue to pray for God's intervention in our lives in this area that we can wake up each morning knowing that this is going to be REALLY REALLY HARD, but that God is in control and will get us through.

Bike Rides and Letter Boxing

On Thurday the 1st of October, 8 of us packed into my suburban and headed for Hope to do a day of bike riding and letter boxing! I was able to leave Mason with my next door neighbors and I took one of her kids in exchange along with Emma, Madison, and Heidi, and my friend Farrah and her son Gideon, and her daughter Luthien. I will stop here to explain what letter boxing is.

Letter boxing is a fun little mystery hunt of sorts. There are websites with clues as to where to find these "Letter Boxes" from all over the United States. Anyone can do it. The idea is that you get a container (weather proof) and include a notebook and a carved stamp that is like your signiture, you can leave a history of the place that you hide your letter box in or not it is yours to make. Then you hide it and post clues on how to find your letter box. Other people look at the clues and then proceed to go out and find them. They have their stamps and when they find your letter box they take their stamp and put it in your notebook and then they take your stamp and stamp their notebook. That way you know who has been there and those finding can keep track of where they have been. It is soo cool to see all the different stamps that people have made. They are so creative! This letter boxing is really neat because it takes you places that you might not have visited just driving through. So all that to say that is what we were doing on Thurday. Farrah and her family had two letter boxes hidden around Hope and we were collecting them for the season (so as not to get ruined by the snow and moisture) and we also spent time looking for 4 others that were hidden by other people. The kids had a great time and loved looking for the boxes and stamping their books! We went bike riding with all of them for about a 4 mile bike roundtrip. The day was beautiful and we were able to enjoy the fall colors at the end of their prime and it was still warm enough that we could sit on the grass and have a picnic in the middle of our ride! We do not have many years where the leaves are still on the trees in such abundance this late in the year. God's beauty surounds us daily and I am thankful that I get to have a glimpse of it.

Farrah is reading the contents of the first letter box found!

Swans on Kenai Lake

Kenai Lake

At Hope looking towards Turnagain Pass

Having lunch along the bike path

The old Seward hyw. bridge....now a part of the bike path

Along the road to Hope

At the trail head to Gull Rock in Porcupine Campgound at the end of Hope road.