We have several huge fires burning in our area, so the air has been really smoky for the last week, It's awful actually, over 50,000 acres are burning right now. But today it's really clear, no smoke and no clouds, so my cousin Anna, who is an amazing photographer, came over and did some pictures of us. My parents have been wanting to get some done, and since Anna's in the area for the week, she was happy to do them :) We did lots of family photos, and she also took some great individual shots of us with our instruments. If I can figure out how to upload pictures to blogger, I'll post a few, There's a great one of me holding the banjo and looking in the distance.
Gracie bounced back so fast from the anesthesia and surgery, Anna couldn't even tell she'd been in the hospital. Praise the Lord! Thanks everybody for praying for her!
Hannah~
P.S. Gracie wanted to thank everyone for praying for her too :)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
What a day!
Gracie's home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow that was a lot of exclamation points! but we're happy :) So they got home this morning, apparently she was doing well enough to come home and so the doctors didn't want to keep her. So she came home this afternoon and things got back to normal...sorta. Mid-afternoon mom asked me to make a fruit smoothie, as a snack for Gracie. So I went out to the garage to get the fruit out of the freezer, when I grabbed the fruit, it was thawed. I went in to tell mom, and she came out to see what we could save (we had probably half a cow and lots of chickens in that freezer, and we'd raised them, so it was good meat) it ended up that most of the meat was still frozen, and we could put it in our other freezer, we only lost a little fruit and 3 pounds of beef. Right in the middle of all of that, Sarah came running out yelling for mom and saying that Gracie was having trouble breathing. Trevor and I were left to finish moving all of the meat to the other freezer and call dad to see what to do about defrosting the one that had gone out.
Mom was on the phone for a while after Gracie was breathing okay again, I guess the doctors weren't worried that much about her breathing problems (comforting...) but it still scared us. She's fine now, and we're having beef for supper ;P
Just another (ab)normal day in our life. As my dad says, we live in organized chaos!
Hannah~
***EDIT: She's been breathing weird for the past hour, so we're not out of the woods yet, other than that she's happy and back to normal. Keep praying
Mom was on the phone for a while after Gracie was breathing okay again, I guess the doctors weren't worried that much about her breathing problems (comforting...) but it still scared us. She's fine now, and we're having beef for supper ;P
Just another (ab)normal day in our life. As my dad says, we live in organized chaos!
Hannah~
***EDIT: She's been breathing weird for the past hour, so we're not out of the woods yet, other than that she's happy and back to normal. Keep praying
Monday, August 29, 2011
She's awake and doing great!!
Gracie's awake and doing pretty well for the most part, she slept waaayy longer than anyone expected, but she's up now. When she woke up though, she started throwing up because of the anesthesia and since she hadn't had any breakfast and couldn't keep anything down, she was pretty hungry! She's eating now though, and happy little Gracie again. Praise the Lord!
We're doing great here too, we got all of the chores and farmwork done (no grumbling either!) and made a pizza dinner, now we're getting ready to finish off the birthday cake from last night and read more of The Westing Game. That book is so confusing, but so hard to put down, we've read half of it since yesterday afternoon and wow the plot twists! I'd definitely recommend it!
Hannah~
We're doing great here too, we got all of the chores and farmwork done (no grumbling either!) and made a pizza dinner, now we're getting ready to finish off the birthday cake from last night and read more of The Westing Game. That book is so confusing, but so hard to put down, we've read half of it since yesterday afternoon and wow the plot twists! I'd definitely recommend it!
Hannah~
Gracie Update
Mom called, she's out of surgery, but not awake yet. We had a great morning, and now the little kids are napping. Grandma led bible study this morning, and we had a really interesting talk about hiding your light under a bushel and related subjects. Then we went on a long walk and the younger kids picked up so many rocks they couldn't carry them back :) Now the little kids are napping and the older boys are outside, waiting for mom to call. anyways, I'll update when she calls
Hannah~
Hannah~
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Mom, Dad, and Gracie just left for the hospital, it was hard, Gracie didn't want to leave so she was crying and the younger kids didn't want Mom to go so they were crying, but we've successfully distracted them with picture books and dessert :) So we're praying for safe travels, and a safe procedure in the morning.
Dear God,
Please be with mom, dad, and Gracie as they travel over the mountains to the hospital, help dad not to get tired, and Gracie to be able to sleep. Be with the doctors tomorrow as they operate on Gracie, guide their hands and give them wisdom. Be with mom and dad tomorrow, give them a sense of peace as they wait for her to come out of surgery and recover, and be with the rest of us here at home that we could run the house smoothly, and I pray for safety for the younger kids, help none of them to get hurt, sad, or scared while Mom and Dad are out of town, and for the older boys, out in the fields keep them safe as well Lord. Give Gracie strength and courage as she goes through this.
In your name we pray,
Amen
Dear God,
Please be with mom, dad, and Gracie as they travel over the mountains to the hospital, help dad not to get tired, and Gracie to be able to sleep. Be with the doctors tomorrow as they operate on Gracie, guide their hands and give them wisdom. Be with mom and dad tomorrow, give them a sense of peace as they wait for her to come out of surgery and recover, and be with the rest of us here at home that we could run the house smoothly, and I pray for safety for the younger kids, help none of them to get hurt, sad, or scared while Mom and Dad are out of town, and for the older boys, out in the fields keep them safe as well Lord. Give Gracie strength and courage as she goes through this.
In your name we pray,
Amen
Pickles!
..and corn, and green beans, and broccoli, and summer squash, and peas, and tomatoes, and zucchini! yep, it's officially harvest, and that means we've got fresh vegetables coming out our ears, (thank goodness the potato field won't need harvesting for another week) today we made pickles, and lots of them! Our family eats pickles like you wouldn't believe, but only homemade ones. The ones you can buy don't taste the same at all! So our day went something like this, We got up with the sun and went out and harvested all of the beans, peas, squash and broccoli while it was still cool, then we came inside and started putting up the beans, peas and broccoli. After that we went back out and picked all of the pickling cukes and corn, and started making pickles. We had an assembly line going, and my job was to slice the pickles into coins and mix up the juice, I probably sliced for 45 minutes, and we used an entire gallon of vinegar before it was all said and done! We stopped for lunch around noon, and I'll bet you can guess what we had ;) Vegetables! haha, we had fresh boiled corn, peas, tomatoes, some leftover pulled pork from last night, and fresh milk. I think we'll finally be finished with the pickles as soon as the timer goes off and we take them out of the canner. Then we have to do the squash, after that, we'll be good for about another week, then the next round of the vegetables will be ripe.
Tonight we're having a birthday dinner for Luke, his birthday isn't until Wednesday, but with Gracie's Surgery and all, we decided it would be better to have it tonight. We're having an exclusively "homavore" meal. We coined this term to mean food that we grew or produced on our land, which actually applies to more and more these days. Anyways, We're having: Baked Lemon Chicken, Fresh Corn, Green Beans, Salad, and homemade grape juice, Yum! Then dessert will of course be birthday cake, and fresh berries. We raised and butchered the chickens, grew the veggies, grew the grapes, harvested them, and made them into grape juice, which we canned last summer, and grew the berries. For the birthday cake, we ground the wheat into flour and made it from scratch (and if you want to be technical, we didn't grow the wheat, we actually bought it from some friends of ours that did) Sounds pretty "homovore" to me :P
We couldn't go to church today, at the risk of getting Gracie sick, so we did a family bible study while we were putting up the beans and peas. Oh, life on a farm.. :)
Hannah~
Tonight we're having a birthday dinner for Luke, his birthday isn't until Wednesday, but with Gracie's Surgery and all, we decided it would be better to have it tonight. We're having an exclusively "homavore" meal. We coined this term to mean food that we grew or produced on our land, which actually applies to more and more these days. Anyways, We're having: Baked Lemon Chicken, Fresh Corn, Green Beans, Salad, and homemade grape juice, Yum! Then dessert will of course be birthday cake, and fresh berries. We raised and butchered the chickens, grew the veggies, grew the grapes, harvested them, and made them into grape juice, which we canned last summer, and grew the berries. For the birthday cake, we ground the wheat into flour and made it from scratch (and if you want to be technical, we didn't grow the wheat, we actually bought it from some friends of ours that did) Sounds pretty "homovore" to me :P
We couldn't go to church today, at the risk of getting Gracie sick, so we did a family bible study while we were putting up the beans and peas. Oh, life on a farm.. :)
Hannah~
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Summer Days
Today we decided to go up to one of the lakes, about 1 1/2 hours away and hike, swim, and canoe for the day. It was a beautiful day so we started by taking some gorgeous photos of nature, and our family, then we hiked around the lake, canoed, and swam. My cousin Anna came up and hung out with Gracie for the day, since she can't do something like that, especially so soon before her surgery, so that we could go. (Thanks Anna, you're awesome!!) It was really fun, and we got to take our grandma with us, since she got here yesterday. She'd never canoed before, so we had lots of fun teaching her :) We left just in time though, now it's raining and I think I just saw lightning strike, definitely not the time to be up at the lake, or driving home.
Dad, Mom, and Gracie are leaving tomorrow night for the hospital, and bright and early Monday morning she has surgery. I think we're all feeling a little nervous, as it's a pretty serious procedure, but God is in control of whatever happens. Well, I think dinner's ready and I need to get the table set.
Hannah~
Dad, Mom, and Gracie are leaving tomorrow night for the hospital, and bright and early Monday morning she has surgery. I think we're all feeling a little nervous, as it's a pretty serious procedure, but God is in control of whatever happens. Well, I think dinner's ready and I need to get the table set.
Hannah~
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The last 2 weeks
That's right, In two weeks I turn 15! It seems kind of weird, 15 seems so old! Where we are, you're allowed to get your drivers permit at age 15, so I'll be able to drive in about a month. (scary thought!) So yeah :) I think there's a huge age jump between 14 and 15, and then 16 and 17, I know its just a year, but when you say it, it sounds so much older, know what I mean? Or maybe it's just me... :)
***Gracie Update: They're going to go ahead with the surgery. They're leaving probably Sunday to drive up to the hospital for her Monday morning surgery. My grandma's going to drive up to stay with the rest of us while my parents are gone, not that us older ones couldn't "hold down the fort" as my dad would say, but Mom and Dad feel more comfortable with her coming and being here. (I think it's in case something happens to Gracie) So that's whats new, at church last Sunday my dad asked for special prayer for her and it was cool how so many people lifted her up, we really felt loved. I know so many people are praying for her, and she knows that too. Thank You if you have been praying, it's working. :)
Hannah~
***Gracie Update: They're going to go ahead with the surgery. They're leaving probably Sunday to drive up to the hospital for her Monday morning surgery. My grandma's going to drive up to stay with the rest of us while my parents are gone, not that us older ones couldn't "hold down the fort" as my dad would say, but Mom and Dad feel more comfortable with her coming and being here. (I think it's in case something happens to Gracie) So that's whats new, at church last Sunday my dad asked for special prayer for her and it was cool how so many people lifted her up, we really felt loved. I know so many people are praying for her, and she knows that too. Thank You if you have been praying, it's working. :)
Hannah~
Monday, August 22, 2011
Wasn't it just last week that I said I was back?? well, since I said that, we now have five MORE family concerts scheduled! When we started this whole playing music together thing, 5 years ago, I don't think any of us imagined adding 6 violins, 3 guitars, a banjo, a mandolin, a keyboard and a stand-up bass to our living room decor! (In addition to our baby grand piano of course) Yeah, as you can imagine, things get pretty crazy around here when everyone is "practicing" at the same time ;) I guess we should be thankful for this opportunity to share the love of Jesus with lots of people who might otherwise not hear about him (we do mostly christian songs, lots of hymns) but wow, sometimes we seem a little to busy!
Other than music, which seems to be taking over my life right now (not that that's a bad thing) I've been trying to get organized for the coming school year. Somehow, despite my diligent effort (riiiightt ;) ) my desk and books always seem to become a hopelessly disorganized mess over the summer months, must be that invisible troublemaker that lives in the wall, right? (It's kind of a joke around our house that the invisible troublemaker who lives in the wall comes out at night and makes messes and does bad things, I can't remember who came up with it, but he often gets blamed for things like crayon on the walls, etc... ;) ) Anyways, I always like the beginning of a new school year, there's something exciting about a brand new schedule and new books and new things to learn after a summer of little structure and lots of crazy, fun times.
I have to go now, time to rehearse our stuff. I'm trying to stay on top of this blog now though, it's like once I sit down and start writing, I don't want to stop (which could be a bad thing...) but actually sitting down to write, that's the hard part :)
Hannah~
Other than music, which seems to be taking over my life right now (not that that's a bad thing) I've been trying to get organized for the coming school year. Somehow, despite my diligent effort (riiiightt ;) ) my desk and books always seem to become a hopelessly disorganized mess over the summer months, must be that invisible troublemaker that lives in the wall, right? (It's kind of a joke around our house that the invisible troublemaker who lives in the wall comes out at night and makes messes and does bad things, I can't remember who came up with it, but he often gets blamed for things like crayon on the walls, etc... ;) ) Anyways, I always like the beginning of a new school year, there's something exciting about a brand new schedule and new books and new things to learn after a summer of little structure and lots of crazy, fun times.
I have to go now, time to rehearse our stuff. I'm trying to stay on top of this blog now though, it's like once I sit down and start writing, I don't want to stop (which could be a bad thing...) but actually sitting down to write, that's the hard part :)
Hannah~
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sweet song
I heard this at the one of the weddings I was at this summer, and then I heard it again at the wedding on Saturday, I thought it was really sweet.
Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each others face
So much in love your alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world
I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one
She told me so
And she still means the world to me
Just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything
Life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your way
But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it still hard to give her away
I loved her first
How could that beautiful women with you
Be the same freckle face kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights
And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of time
But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But its still hard to give her away
I loved her first
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
Someday you might know what I'm going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first
***GRACIE UPDATE: thanks to those of you who've been praying! she's doing so much better, we were able to church last night and she did so well. She loves being at church with the rest of us, but she got pretty tired and actually fell asleep for a few hours afterwards while we were eating and visiting. It's so nice to have our happy Gracie back after her being so sick.
Hannah~
Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each others face
So much in love your alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world
I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one
She told me so
And she still means the world to me
Just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything
Life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your way
But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it still hard to give her away
I loved her first
How could that beautiful women with you
Be the same freckle face kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights
And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of time
But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But its still hard to give her away
I loved her first
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
Someday you might know what I'm going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first
***GRACIE UPDATE: thanks to those of you who've been praying! she's doing so much better, we were able to church last night and she did so well. She loves being at church with the rest of us, but she got pretty tired and actually fell asleep for a few hours afterwards while we were eating and visiting. It's so nice to have our happy Gracie back after her being so sick.
Hannah~
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Wow...
...I didn't know that weddings could last so long! we had to be there at 12:30 for a 3:00 wedding, then we all drove to the reception hall at about 4:30. We got home shortly before midnight, a long day, but we had a blast! We knew almost everyone there so lots of catching up and good times with our out-of-state friends :)
So the rest of our summer (so far!) well, our church camp was amazing this year, it's not really a church camp, more of a big camp like gathering of people in our church and others that people invite. We of course invite all of our WA friends and people come from all over the Northwest, it's always a special time, and this year was no exception.
This summer it's funny, it feels like we haven't really gone anywhere like for a vacation, but when we thought about it, we've been so many places (mostly for weddings and family concerts) that we've been gone more than we've been home. There's talk about doing a Southern California trip in early October though, just as a vacation for us. (Ellie, if you're reading this, my parents are going to call yours about stopping by)
Well, I think that's pretty much our summer so far. I really should get some pictures up on here, maybe next week...
Hannah~
So the rest of our summer (so far!) well, our church camp was amazing this year, it's not really a church camp, more of a big camp like gathering of people in our church and others that people invite. We of course invite all of our WA friends and people come from all over the Northwest, it's always a special time, and this year was no exception.
This summer it's funny, it feels like we haven't really gone anywhere like for a vacation, but when we thought about it, we've been so many places (mostly for weddings and family concerts) that we've been gone more than we've been home. There's talk about doing a Southern California trip in early October though, just as a vacation for us. (Ellie, if you're reading this, my parents are going to call yours about stopping by)
Well, I think that's pretty much our summer so far. I really should get some pictures up on here, maybe next week...
Hannah~
Friday, August 12, 2011
For Daddy
I heard this song last summer. I love the words and the message it sends. I love you daddy!
I am my daddy's girl, and how I pray
That I may grow to be, like him one day
My daddy is faithful, his heart is true
Dad are you listening? I love you
The Glory of children is father
He is the strength of our home
Daddy we need you, we love you
Walk by our side, counsel and guide
Show us the way of the LORD
Dad you have been with us, All through the years
Faithful through happy times, faithful through tears
You served the real God, you taught me to pray
Dad are you listening? Thank you today
The Glory of children is father
He is the strength of our home
Daddy we need you, we love you
Walk by our side, counsel and guide
Show us the way of the LORD
Dad are you listening? I love you
I am my daddy's girl, and how I pray
That I may grow to be, like him one day
My daddy is faithful, his heart is true
Dad are you listening? I love you
The Glory of children is father
He is the strength of our home
Daddy we need you, we love you
Walk by our side, counsel and guide
Show us the way of the LORD
Dad you have been with us, All through the years
Faithful through happy times, faithful through tears
You served the real God, you taught me to pray
Dad are you listening? Thank you today
The Glory of children is father
He is the strength of our home
Daddy we need you, we love you
Walk by our side, counsel and guide
Show us the way of the LORD
Dad are you listening? I love you
I'm back!!!!
Yes, after 6 weeks of crazy busyness, (not that it's going to be stopping...) I'm back! I apologize, but with us being gone every weekend since late June, I haven't had much time to be on the computer.
This summer our family has/is participating in 5 weddings, a Music Camp, a Church Camp, and 5 family concerts. One of the weddings was in WI so you can imagine how that went, getting 9 people there, with all of the necessary items needed for travelling with little kids, and participating in a wedding. Very interesting trip :P
So that's where I've been.
Soooo, first things first, Gracie's doing a lot better, she's still not herself but much better. She's laughing at a joke my dad told her right now :)
The weather has been so nice this summer compared to the rest of the country, I think the hottest it's been so far was 96 and no humidity. We're lovin' it!!
Oh, this is really cool, (in my opinion) I learned how to play guitar this month!! I've been watching my dad and brother for a long time and so one day I had a lot of time before I needed to do anything so I looked up a few chords online and practiced for a few weeks and now I can accompany in almost any key!! (ahh, the magic of a capo* :P) I'm really excited about that because in family concerts, the fiddle can't really back up other instruments and singing, just do lead, so that's going to be fun.
Well, tomorrow we're off to another wedding, it's local though and it should be a lot of fun, we know a lot of the people coming in for it so we're excited. I've got to go practice my songs and then help get ready, so I'll finish my updating of my summer hopefully tomorrow or Sunday :)
***for those of you that don't know, a capo is something that clips onto your guitar and shortens the strings so that you can play the same chords but in a different key (in other words, I really know about 8 chords but I can use the capo to play in all of the different keys)
Hannah~
This summer our family has/is participating in 5 weddings, a Music Camp, a Church Camp, and 5 family concerts. One of the weddings was in WI so you can imagine how that went, getting 9 people there, with all of the necessary items needed for travelling with little kids, and participating in a wedding. Very interesting trip :P
So that's where I've been.
Soooo, first things first, Gracie's doing a lot better, she's still not herself but much better. She's laughing at a joke my dad told her right now :)
The weather has been so nice this summer compared to the rest of the country, I think the hottest it's been so far was 96 and no humidity. We're lovin' it!!
Oh, this is really cool, (in my opinion) I learned how to play guitar this month!! I've been watching my dad and brother for a long time and so one day I had a lot of time before I needed to do anything so I looked up a few chords online and practiced for a few weeks and now I can accompany in almost any key!! (ahh, the magic of a capo* :P) I'm really excited about that because in family concerts, the fiddle can't really back up other instruments and singing, just do lead, so that's going to be fun.
Well, tomorrow we're off to another wedding, it's local though and it should be a lot of fun, we know a lot of the people coming in for it so we're excited. I've got to go practice my songs and then help get ready, so I'll finish my updating of my summer hopefully tomorrow or Sunday :)
***for those of you that don't know, a capo is something that clips onto your guitar and shortens the strings so that you can play the same chords but in a different key (in other words, I really know about 8 chords but I can use the capo to play in all of the different keys)
Hannah~
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