Beautiful

This picture is beautiful, but it just doesn't do justice to the majesty of the sunset we were privileged to watch last night. There were scattered thunderstorms sweeping through the area. There was black clouds and lightning to the south of us as well as to the north east. Between the two storms was this gorgeous red sunset.

My thanks to everyone who has been praying for Karen, the midwife. I found out this morning that she died yesterday. Please offer prayers for her soul, and pray for her family to find comfort and strength.

God bless!

It's Hot!

I was recently told about a cartoon called "Stone Soup" where the character is planning a homebirth. It is pretty cute! I don't know the legality of posting copyrighted pictures to the blog, so click here for a past cartoon I thought appropriate for today.

We got up to 95 or 96 today, depending on which thermometer you want to believe. We have two outdoor thermometers, and they never say the same thing, so I am suspicious of both of them. There is supposed to be a cold front moving through, keeping temperatures in the mid-60's through the weekend. I can't wait for it to get here!

Other than the heat we are all doing well.

God bless!

Tattling

Thomas came to me this morning and said, "Mama, Joseph is not being have!"

Our Weekend

It was actually hot this weekend. Mind you, not Alabama hot, but 90 degrees is plenty warm no matter where you are. We got some work done around the house and yard on Saturday, then took early "church showers" and went to the vigil Mass. St. Mary's is a pretty little mission church; the first church to be built in this area. Fr. Harris, a retired priest in resident, was observing the 60th anniversary of his ordination. He passed out prayer cards after Mass with a picture of himself on that day 60 years ago. It is hard for me to imagine the dedication of a priest who has been ordained twice as long as I have been alive!

I have an update on Karen, the midwife. I talked to Amanda (her daughter-in-law) today, and she has not passed yet. There is no improvement, however, and it doesn't sound as if there is any chance for her to get better. Still, she is peaceful and at home surrounded by her family. That in itself is a blessing, and talking to Amanda it sounds as if the family is holding up well. Please continue to pray for her, and for all the sick and dying and their families.

I hope we all have a wonderful week!

God bless!

He must have woke up hungry...

Thomas and I almost always wake up at the same time. (Eventually I will have to somehow convince him that his bed is just as comfy as Mommy's.) This morning, the very moment he opened his eyes, he said to me, "When Daddy gets home he will get his gun and we will walk way, way out in the woods and shoot a bear and bring it home and cook it and eat it and that will be big, big, big burgers! That will be good!"

I wonder what he was dreaming about?

In Memory of Lyle Schoonover

Today is the first anniversary of the passing of Chuck's Grandpa. I have two pictures of him I would like to share.

First is a great picture we have of Grandma and Grandpa together. This was taken when we visited in May of 2003. The second picture is my favorite way to remember Grandpa- face to face with one of the babies in the family. The second picture was taken when he and Grandma drove to South Carolina to be with us when Joseph was born. They arrived the very night before he came. Grandpa used to sing the most ridiculous songs for the babies. And they all loved him for it.

God bless and keep you, Grandpa. We miss you!

Prayer Request

I have an urgent prayer request for my midwife, Karen K. To say it plainly, she is dying. I do not know all the details, but I spoke with her partner and daughter-in-law last night. The doctors are sending her home from the hospital and they expect her to only live a few more days. I can't imagine what a horrible shock this is for her and her family. Please pray for a miraculous healing if it is God's will. If it is not His will to heal her, pray for a peaceful death for her and strength for her family.

We've been having problems with our phone lines- probably for a long time- but didn't realize it until Chuck was out of town again. When he is home we almost never get phone calls. Hopefully it will be fixed soon, but in the meantime, I usually cannot receive calls at home at all, or if they come through the connection is very bad. It really is miraculous that the call regarding Karen came through almost perfectly. My ability to call out is iffy, and my DSL cuts in and out without warning, so if nobody hears from me for a while don't worry! Somebody from the phone company is supposed to come out today to at least see where the problem is, but who knows how long it will take to actually fix. In the meantime, everybody stay safe and enjoy your summer!

God bless!

Today

We just got back a little while ago from the airport. After nearly three weeks having Chuck home, it was hard to see him go. He's heading back to Oregon. At least he won't be stuck where it is really hot. We're up to 95* today. Some rain is supposed to move in over the weekend and hopefully cool things off.



Today is the one-year anniversary of our arrival in the UP. You would think such a momentous day would be burned in my memory, but I actually remember very little of it. That probably isn't surprising considering I spent the entire day staring at the back of the U-Haul. The time since our move has been full of challenges and blessings; it is almost hard to believe it has been only a year.



Today is special for another reason. If you look at the ticker on the upper right-hand side of my main page you will see that there are now less than 100 days until Baby's due date!



And, finally, the most special thing about today is the feast on today's Church calendar- the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I didn't know anything about devotion to the Sacred Heart until a few years ago when our homeschool group met for Mass on the First Friday. There is a nice website with information at http://www.sacredheartdevotion.com/




May the Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on us!

Finally! The pictures I promised...

I'm happy to report that Chuck is still home. At almost three weeks, this has been the longest break he's had. It's been wonderful! I've taken tons of pictures over the last few days. Unfortunately, I still don't know my way around this camera very well. Many of the pictures I thought I was taking ended up being video clips! Still, I ended up with a few images worth sharing, so here they are.

First, this is a picture of the lamb, Spot. He is almost six weeks old now! He doesn't take milk very often anymore, but we have a bottle rigged up on a kitchen chair in the garage. He's been staying in the garage and yard until he is big enough to be out with the adults. Last time I tried leaving him with the other sheep, Pops wouldn't leave him alone.

Speaking of Pops, he's turning into quite the handsome ram. He's a yearling now. When we first got him, he was smaller than the ewes. Now, he is about an inch taller than they are and much wider. It was really interesting to notice that his "voice" changed. He used to sound pretty much like the females, but about three months ago he started making a much deeper sound.
Here is a picture of the memorial for Hope. It was installed just about a month

ago. It is nice to have something so pretty there for her.

On Tuesday we visited Misery Bay, on Lake Superior. The beach was beautiful and there were only a few other people there. And (best of all in the opinion of this pregnant lady) the outhouse wasn't too bad! Unfortunately, this is where the settings on the camera got changed accidently and I ended up taking several 30-second video clips rather than pictures. From now on I know to check the settings before I point and shoot!

Last weekend, Chuck showed me how to use the riding lawn mower. The push mower we have needs a new blade that is an odd size, so we haven't found a replacement yet. I think the riding mowers are, for the most part, unnecessarily noisy, smelly, and expensive. I have to admit, though, it was nice to mow the lawn sitting down! Still, I predict Robert and Daniel will be spending some time behind the push mower in the near future!
And, finally, here is a picture of my clothes line on Tuesday morning. All last weekend and the end of the week previous, it was too windy for me to hang wash out. Rather than use the dryer, I decided I'd just wait until I could hang them and then play catch up. Well, this was Day 1 of the two days it took me to catch up! All I can say is thank goodness
I didn't have to hand-wash them all!

That's all for now I suppose. Chuck literally just now came in and said it looks like he will have to fly out tomorrow. :-( It would be nice to have some more advance notice, but that is just the way it is. I hope that everyone has been having a good week!

God bless!