My Ground-Hog Day Present!

Last October we went on vacation and our van decided it was having so much fun it didn't want to come home.  (Blown head gasket)  Since then we have been getting by with one vehicle.  But because of my husband's odd work schedule, this meant saying no to a number of things.

We've been looking for a vehicle, but we hadn't seen the right one.

Imagine my surprise when my husband came home from work with a new-to-us van!  Then we went out for dinner.  What a lovely evening!

I'll post a pic in the morning.  I haven't seen it in the daylight either!  But I am thankful for one of the best Ground Hog Day gifts ever!  ~smile~

This is the view from my front door this morning!  :)

Thinkin' 'bout camp, camp, camp, camp!!!

I follow the status updates made by the Christian camp that our kids attend, and this past week the status update brought tears to my eyes. Here's the post:

"This morning a mom placed her faith in Christ after hearing about her daughter's salvation at Pine Ridge earlier in the week. What a changed home that will be!"

I think about this family often. I pray that their home will indeed be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God.

Thankful for Sunshine!

For those of you who don't live in Michigan, winters are very gloomy. We can go for weeks without catching a glimpse of the sun. And if it does ever come out from behind the thick cloud cover, it shines so brightly off the snow that it's blinding.

The past few weeks we've made up for it though. The sun has been shining so beautifully! We've spent a lot of time outside building a chicken coop. It's almost done. (And it's a good thing because these chicks are growing like weeds!)

Today is supposed to be another beautiful day. I'm hoping to get our lessons done this morning while it's still rather cold outside so that we will be able to enjoy the fresh air this afternoon and evening. I'd like to get some yard work done, and I'd like to do something fun with the kidlets. Maybe a bike ride.

But today, I'm thankful for the sunshine. It inspires us to get something done, and it gives us a bit of hope that spring is, indeed, on its way! (Especially since the weather man is predicting snow for the beginning of next week!)

Thankful for a Quinzee!

Yes, I'm thankful for a quinzee! You see, as a homeschool mom, I hope that all of our odd projects will turn out to be winners, but honestly, life doesn't quite work like that.

Take our hot dog/sun block experiment for example. It sounded great. Get two hot dogs. Put sunblock on one of them. Put both hot dogs in the sun. See what happens. What happened, you ask? Well, we forgot about them, and the next day our dog ate both of them.

Now, what's a mom supposed to do?

Poison Control Center: Hello. This is the poison control center. What is the nature of your call?

Mom: Please promise me that you won't submit this to Reader's Digest's funny column.

PCC: Oh, I can tell this is going to be good. What happened?

Mom: Well, my dog ingested some sunblock.

PCC: How big is the dog and how much sunblock did he ingest?

Mom: He's about 60 pounds, and he ingested all the sunblock that was on the hot dog.

PCC: Ma'am, how much sunblock do you normally put on your hot dog?

Mom: Oh, a little bit more than ketchup because we rubbed it all in.

PCC (After I explained our little experiment): Well, ma'am. I don't think the sunblock will hurt him as much as eating a hot dog that's been sitting out for over 24 hours.

Ah yes, the failed hot dog experiment...

But the quinzee. Now that is a success! We started it a week ago today. First we made a huge pile of snow. The kids thought I was crazy. (So, what's new?!?) They hated doing all that hard work. When we finished our pile was about 5' high. But before we had a chance to dig it out, the weather warmed up to the mid to upper 30s. So, we put the digging on hold until it got colder. Finally, two days ago the temperature dropped, and we put another layer of snow on it to get it back up to about 6' tall. Again, the kids questioned my sanity ... Until we started digging. And digging. And digging!

The kids spent quite a bit of time playing in it today. They love being out in it. I spent some time in it yesterday with Carl. It's big enough for all three kids to fit in with our dog, Scout. I haven't had all three kids in with me yet, but it's probably big enough for that.

And so, yes, I am thankful for a quinzee. I think it proved to my kids that I'm not totally off my rocker. I know after that bad hot dog experiment, they were definitely beginning to wonder!