WEEKEND CAMPING EXCURSION...

It actually went well with 3 kids. No, we didn't sleep all that much, but we did watch the sky light up with stars, enjoyed roasting hotdogs and smores, and caught fish. We hiked till we could go no farther and swam in a cold mountain lake. We listened to mule deer munching the grass right outside our tent as we tried to sleep. (It took us about an hour to reassure ourselves it was deer and not a griz!) The kids even got to wear stocking hats in the chilly mornings -- quite a change from the 100 degree temps we've been experiencing here at home. Though all our activities were wonderful, the best part was really feeling connected as a family again. We've been so busy with "life" stuff, that I didn't realize how disconnected we had become. I'm learning it's so important to set everyday life aside and go have fun as a family!

Our campsite

Myah(5), Joel(3), Kiana(17 mo.) picking wildflowers

Exploring near our campsite

Myah had lots of luck fishing!

Sleepy Joel

ICE CREAM IN A BAG

This is a wonderful kid project. We went to story hour at the library today. I must confess, we don't get there very often at all because it usually interferes with Kiana's naptime, but today it worked out and I'm glad we went. They always read a story and do a project. This one is perfect for a hot summer day, or a great activity for a summer birthday party!

Supplies Needed Per Child (or adult!):

* 1 Tbsp. sugar
* 1/2 cup milk or half & half
* 1/4 tsp. vanilla
* 6 Tbsp. Rock salt
* 1 pint-size ziploc plastic bad
* 1 gallon-size ziploc plastic bag
* Ice cubes

How to Make it:

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal again carefully.
4. Shake until mixture is ice cream, about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off top of small bag, then open carefully and enjoy!

NEED A LIFT?

I've been trying a new skin care product since last November, and have never in my life tried anything like it. It's 100% natural, and it really is anti-aging. I can tell a huge difference on myself. (Not sure if it's just age, kids, or the Montana dryness, but I was feeling pretty old in the skin care department!) :) The product is called Arbonne. My mom is a sales consultant, and though I'm signed up to sell, I'm not quite working it yet. She is doing very well at it, however, and it's because the product sells itself. Yes, it is costly, but I'm learning that you usually get what you pay for! My aunt, who has been a successful Mary Kay consultant for many many years, has quit Mary Kay and switched over to selling Arbonne, and she's glad she made the move. If you're at all interested, let me know. If you live in MI, my mom can drop off a kit for you to use for several days with no obligation. Just let me know! You will be glad you did. I sure am!

FLAX SEED

I've been doing a little research on flax seed and all its benefits. Here is one good place to read about it. I bought a box for just over $1 at Walmart. We've been adding it to salads, cereal, breads, muffins, even on our ice cream! It really doesn't have much of a taste to it -- kind of nutty if anything, and the benefits it gives are well-worth it.

THE JESUS STYLE

Started a new book this week called "The Jesus Style". Gayle Erwin visited our church about a month ago, and though Evan and I were in the nursery that week, we could still hear his teaching via video. He was intriguing, so we purchased a couple of his books at very discounted prices, and have both picked up this one. Though Evan is further along than I am in this book, we are both enjoying it.

Some thoughts in the forward hit me written by Richard C. Halverson who was formerly a chaplain of the US Senate. He states, "Some theological scholars have been insisting that the critical issue in the church is what we believe about Jesus Christ. In a very basic sense, he has always been the critical issue in the church, and for that matter, in history. Invariably and inevitabley, when anything else is made the issue, it tends to divide those for whom Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord. One way to look at this is that when other issues are allowed to polarize those for whom Christ is Lord, that issue, whatever it is, becomes elevated to a position of greater importance than Christ Himself" (page 2).

"...It is the settled conviction of this writer that this fact is today critical in the evangelical approach to an unbelieving world. Instead of presenting the fascinating, irresisitable man Jesus, we communicate a doctrine. The tendency is to ask a person to believe this or that about Christ rather than to know Him, receive Him, trust Him, love Him... the apostles knew very little about Jesus -- but they knew Him. We tend today to know much about Him -- but fail to enjoy an intimate relationship with Him" (page 3-4).

SUMMERTIME FUN!

RECENT PARENTING THOUGHTS...

I've kind of been struggling lately. 3 kids all with different issues going on. I spent some time chatting with a friend yesterday and she prayed with me about my frustrations. I've also been giving my frustrations to the Lord on my own time and begging Him for wisdom. Guess I have kind of known I'm somewhat to blame here. I get in my own little world sometimes and get very "task oriented" instead of child-focused. I see my own issues rather than their needs. It all boils down to my selfishness.

Feeling led by the spirit, I know I need to spend more quality time with my kids. Not only as a group, but one on one as well. My new goal is to spend solid time with each child every day that I'm home, and also to do some sort of fun project/activity each day with all them together. If you have any suggestions, I would appreciate any ideas on fun at-home summertime activities.

Today, we had to be in town for an appointment, but afterwards, we picked up pizza, and sat on the grass in the shade at the park to eat it. Afterwards, we spent almost 2 hours in the wading pool there. I think everyone had a really nice time. I know I did. :)

HOUSE/LAND UPDATE

It seems that every few days, there is a complete new twist to our land situation, but the amazing thing is, is that I totally feel that God is guiding us through each winding path of this maze. He is working out all the details before we even have them come to mind. The land has been hayed once, and will begin to be irrigated soon for a second cutting yet this year. The whole deal closes on Wednesday of this week. It definitely is all still in the works, and as things become solidified, I'll update you on the details!

LATEST ON FIRE...

...can be read about here. Again, be sure to click on the photo gallery. There are now some "after" pictures, where you can see the blackened landscape.

Things aren't looking much better today. I've been outside painting my garage (trying to beat the heat!) and have had helicopters flying over all morning. Some are even carrying those water buckets. The smoke is everywhere today, and seems much closer. Over 130,000 acres have now burned in this Pine Ridge fire near our home.

EVAN'S OUT AGAIN...

Our good friends who thought they were safe after yesterday's blazes have evacuated their home this evening. They loaded up their horses and a few belongings and got out. I don't know anything else except that they warned all of the town of Custer that they may need to evacuate, according to the news. Evan headed up to see if he could be any help. Over 90,000 acres have burned in this Pine Ridge fire and about 150,000 have burned total in Montana, the largest one being this Pine Ridge fire near our town. The kids and I took a drive to see some of the devastation this afternoon. The landscape is totally different.

MORE FIRE PHOTOS...

...are available here. Just scroll down and click on the Hardin/Pompey area heading in the photo gallery box.

MYAH’S RECIPE: GIANT PIZZA COOKIE

1 cup flour
¾ cup quick or old fashioned oats
½ tsp. Baking soda
¼ tsp. Salt
½ cup butter
1 egg
½ tsp. Vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup prepared milk chocolate frosting (chocolate buttercream frosting from Better Homes and Gardens works great...)
toppings: chocolate chips, sprinkles, shaved white chocolate, m&m’s, etc.

Preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, oats, baking soda and salt, set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Add flour mixture to butter and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Shape dough into ball and place in center of round stone or baking sheet. Pat into circle. Bake 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before frosting and adding toppings.

FIRE NEWSLINK

Click here for the latest regarding the Hardin fire. Be sure to click on the photo gallery! Mike Harlin, who is mentioned, is the friend of ours that Evan went to help out. I think it's neat they focus on the fact that it was everyone pitching in together that made the difference.

We woke up this morning to a very smokey smell both out and inside the house. There is ash on everything outside and floating through the air.

FIRE UPDATE

Evan just got home. He said the most amazing thing was watching a community of people come together to help each other out. Our local fire department was out fighting another fire in a different area, so many people's homes depended on the helping hands of fellow neighbors. Our friend, Mike, who Evan was helping, had about 30 people total, who came out to save his property. He lost all his dry ground, but everything that was irrigated was saved, as was his house. All these people came together to dig fire trenches, spray water, help move equipment, or whatever it took to save homes. Our other friends who were packing things up are also home safe and sound tonight as the winds changed and headed away from their home. Praise the Lord for answered prayers! Evan says there will be some news stories on this fire as there were reporters everywhere. He chatted with a guy from the Billings Gazette, and our friend Mike was also interviewed. I'll post the links as soon as I can. Currently the fire seems to be more under control, and there are now airplanes and a fire crew working on it.

FIRE UPDATE & MY OWN PERSONAL BAKING SODA MOMENT

Well, it's almost 9:00, and Evan still isn't home. I haven't heard anything yet either. The kids had dinner and were bathed early. We took a trip to the grocery store for milk and stopped by a friend's house on our way home...anything to stay occupied! The kids are now in bed, and I'm thinking about starting yet another book...

My friend Kristen's husband, Dave, who is a doctor down in a neighboring town, said they had a special meeting in case our local hospital gets evacuated. I was like, excuse me?? If that was evacuated, that would mean that WE would be evacuated, too. Chances of that are very very small, but guess they have to be prepared just in case. I had never brought my mind to that possiblity until he said that, though.

Good news is that the wind has completely died down. That will help keep the fire from spreading. Not sure how much new information is here, but I think it's been updated.

This just brought back to mind my day yesterday.... baking soda saved my house from a fire! :) Myah and I had made a "cookie pizza" for dessert for our dinner guests, and I had rolled it out on my baking stone, but it expanded way too much when it was in the oven and started to spill over the edges. I had a little smoke, and took the cookie out when it was done. (This wouldn't have happened had I followed the recipe exactly, but I chose to make my "normal" cookie recipe instead of the one they gave...) I closed the oven for just a second, and when I opened it back up, I had FLAMES!!! I'm horrible at staying calm in moments like this, and frantically started looking under my unorganized cupboard under my kitchen sink for my fire extinguisher, with no luck. Frantically I called Evan, and thankfully he was sitting right by the phone at work and all I heard was "Baking soda!!" So, I dumped that on, and wheh, the fire was out. My smoke alarms were going off, and my kids were screaming. I had company coming in an hour and a house full of smoke, but baking soda had saved my house. The cookie pizza turned out great even though it had been through all that. I'll try to post the recipe & picture. It's a really good one for having kids help with. We let all the kids put the "toppings" on before eating!

FIRE HITS WAY TOO CLOSE TO HOME

Guess you can say I'm trying to keep my mind off what's happening just 10 miles from where we live at the moment. It's one of those horrible, helpless feelings where you can do nothing, but pray and try to keep occupied with other things. Over 20,000 acres of land just north of here have burned, and many residents (including many of our friends) are being evacuated from their homes. To my knowledge, so far, no homes have burned, but a friend of ours home came very close. Evan is currently out there helping him and other farmers fight the fires as I write. (Thus one reason to try to keep myself occupied at the moment...) The latest story you can read about here, and I'll try to keep you posted as more news comes available.

The kids and I have been praying on and off all afternoon. God controls the wind and He is in control of this fire. The sad thing is, this is only one of SO MANY fires that are burning in Montana as I write. There have been families in Montana who have lost homes and so much more.

I'll try to write more as I know more, but if you can, say a short prayer for all those involved. It gets pretty personal when people who have been like family to us are face to face with this.

MYAH'S RECIPE

A new thing I plan to do with Myah that we started this week is having her choose and make a recipe all on her own each week. She'll pick the recipe ahead of time, and help me shop for the ingredients and then pick what day she wants to make it. Of course I'll help her where she needs it, but I want her to have the feeling of accomplishment in this area knowing that she can do things like this on her own. I'm also hoping to instill a love for cooking into her at a young age!

I have a kid's cookbook from Pampered Chef that we are using right now, but I will have to look for recipes elsewhere, too. I was looking for another way to "tie strings" with her (as Michael and Debi Pearl put it), and came up with this idea. It will work out well, I think, since Joel and Kiana share the same naptime in the afternoon. It's a great time for Mommy and Myah to bond -- something I feel like we need more of lately!

I hope to post her recipes here so that you can benefit from them as well!

She made dessert for tonight!




BRAIN FREEZE

3/4 cup frozen juice concentrate (your choice flavor)
3 vanilla yogurts (Myah used 1/2 of a large container)

With a whire wisk, stir up the concentrate until smooth and somewhat melted. Whisk in the yogurt. (Optional: add sprinkles to the top!) Pour into individual containers and freeze for 4-6 hours.

THE WORLD'S FUNNIEST JOKE

This has been officially named the world's funniest joke. I just had to post this.

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"