Random update :)

Well, it's about time for another update on us (or well past time :)). Life seems to be zooming along at breakneck speed, as usual. Even though summer brings a more relaxed routine than the school year, we are still pretty busy. We've been doing more get-togethers with friends, which has been nice. Last week on Jim's day off, we headed south to my old high school (boarding school), to visit with some friends there. It had been way too long since we got together with them! We also had the chance to watch some logging that the guy my dad works for is doing there. Of course the kids were pretty excited to get to watch Grampa as he worked in the big loader! Our kids also had lots of fun playing with their new friends . . . these girls are close in age to Sam and Julia, so they all got along well and had lots of fun on the school playground.

{my dad is in the orange loader}

{visiting with Grampa}

{We finished up the day there with a campfire and s'mores--so much fun!!}

A couple weeks ago, we bought 3 new laying hens to replace the one that was eaten by a critter. These "girls" just started laying in May, so they're not quite once-a-day layers yet, but still they are doing very well. Sam named them all, but so far I can't quite tell them apart. They are: "Lucy" (in honor of the hen that was killed--Sam was determined we needed another Lucy :)), "Hilda Hen," and "Scaredy-Pie." Scaredy-Pie is apparently our accident-prone chicken. The day after we got her, she stepped on something sharp and her foot was bleeding. I quickly went online to get ideas of how to clean and treat it, and we got it bandaged. Scaredy-Pie spent the rest of the day in a tote with some food and water to make sure the bandage stayed on and that the other chickens would leave her alone. The next day we changed the bandage and all looked good, so we let her stay with the other hens. The day after that (Thursday) we removed the bandage and she's been fine ever since. On Friday, the chickens had been free-ranging all day and were all close to the coop as evening approached. We had just sat down to supper when we heard a commotion outside--Jim ran to the bedroom window and looked out in time to see a fox making off with one of the hens. The fox stopped a little way from the coop and Jim was able to shoot him, and amazingly missed the hen. In case you were wondering, yes--the hen he took was Scaredy-Pie. She was totally fine, just a bit shaken up and missing some feathers, but not bleeding or anything. Anyway, she had quite the traumatic first week with us, but since then everything has gone smoothly. :)

{Scaredy-Pie}

Work has been going well for Jim. It is so neat to look back and see how God blessed us with this job, in His perfect timing. It's been nice because he is getting about 35+ hours a week, and has been able to do some small carpentry jobs on the side as well. So far all the jobs that have come in have been little things like installing a door or something, so they can easily be worked into his schedule.

Things are going so well with our new church, too. I have missed the small church atmosphere over the past 6 years. It's been fun to be involved in piano playing for church again (something else I have missed) and I'm teaching Sunday school to two 11-year-olds, which has been fun also! It's been neat to see how God has brought along some new families to join our group since we started meeting together. We started with 6 families--plus the pastor and his wife--and now we have 10 who are coming regularly, and have had a few others visit too. We are very thankful for our years at Trinity and we loved the time there--I thought we would feel a bit of a void in some ways when we left. But I can honestly say that we haven't felt a lack for anything. We've heard wonderful preaching each week, our kids are enjoying their classes and programs, and we've actually had a lot more time for fellowship with others, since we're not having to run out the door for an hour long drive home. We are loving it--feeling refreshed, spiritually fed, and challenged every week. And we've been able to be a lot more involved in ministry, which has been really nice.

I'm hoping to go strawberry picking sometime this week with my mom and the kids. Just got to find a good (cheapish) place to go! We have a little patch here which is doing beautifully this year, but I need lots and lots to make jam . . . so we need to go to a farm. So far we've used ours for smoothies and I'm also planning to make strawberry shortcake. Plus the kids have eaten lots. :) You can probably expect a jam-making post here sometime within the next week or two! I also have lots of other things to blog about--butterflies, science museums, books . . . and an update on my monthly goals, which I haven't remembered to post about since . . . um, February, I think!