Hide and Seek

Psa. 14:2

From heaven God gazed down upon mankind, to see if there exists a reflective
person who seeks out God.

Have you ever watched kids play hide and seek when the seeker didn't really want to play? The hidden child waits and waits to be found but no one is seeking. They are excited, then curious, then restless and finally disappointed and hurt. No one was looking for them.

How God must love us to keep encouraging us to seek out His ways, to hold off his coming to allow us the time to look for him, to delve into his mysteries. I want to be a reflective person who seeks out God for myself, not just swallow what others have found. I'd rather be the one who looks into Holy places for myself. I don't want to hurt the Holy One with my apathy.

Is Someone trying to tell me something?

It's been quite an interesting 24 hours. Last night during the thunderstorm, I believe our house was hit by lightening or awful close. It blew out our electricity and it took many hours to restore it. The outlet in my bathroom is blackened after I saw electricity shoot out of it. It blew our master switch on our panel. Our phones still don't work but at least we've got electricity now.

Then my hard working hubby went to dump some dirt at his dad's farm. While shoveling it into the dumping area, he fell off the tailgate of his truck. He had no one around and he was hurt very badly. He had to struggle to breathe and finally was able to drive himself to where his dad was. They called an ambulance and took him to hospital. He was there most of the day. He's at home now, cracked ribs and very sore. Lots of pain meds and we're happy to report no internal bleeding or damage to his organs. He still has trouble breathing when he moves, especially walks. Now the challenge is going to be to get him to rest long enough to get better.

I think he's vying for some nurturing from his wife.

Do you think Someone is trying to tell us something? Hmmmm....

A Time to Gather....

Well, don't know about you but I love harvesting things from my very small container garden. We've had lots of peas. 3 cucumbers. 3 Zuchinni. Lettuce ... plenty. Herbs are growing well and need to be used more. Tomatoes are averaging 1 - 2 red ones per day. Our strawberry and blue berries are pretty sad this year.

We decided to go to a U-pick and pick strawberries. 3 ice cream pails full. That is lovely.

I love fresh food ....
think I'll check the farmers market.

Happy Birthday to my young adult daughter.... 13!

Happy Birthday to my oldest and my first to reach young adulthood (since we're avoiding the teen word)....
May God grant you wisdom in your decisions for your future and
may you be responsible to ask God's guidance every step of the way.

We love you , Happy Birthday.

Things to be thankful for....

Quote of Thursday

"

Grandma did you bring your new kitty? We have a kitty pool for
it. It can swim there."

It took some explaining to say the difference between kitty and kiddie pools. Cats don't really like swimming even in this heat.

Midlife Crisis - Mister

Here's my second installment in my midlife crisis...

Mister... not a man.
a mist-er

Those things you hookup to your hose and it mists you... to cool you down.
Here's my logic...
If I'm this hot now... imagine what hot flashes in this heat is like.
I figure if I invest in it now ..
I should get alot of milage out of it when the hot flashes hit.
Hopefullly it will be totally unnecessary but... you never know.
I could use it right now anyways....

wow they are nice.

The Horse Trough

A Horse trough? Grandma bought a new horse trough ... 8 ft across...hmmm... it seems like a good place to fit a few hot bodies into.
I wondered how deep it is? I wonder what it's like?
I wonder if I'll ever get out. This is the best kiddie pool ever. Got love it, Grandma.

Horse troughs and strawberries

Water is the best way to beats the heat. Even if you have to force it on people. Our cousin, Mariah and her friend came to stay at "Camp Grandma" and the kids had a great time.
3 Jr. High girls .. lots of silly. Lots of giggles.
After strawberry picking, a BBQ and strawberries and ice cream. What a great way to enjoy the outdoors.
The horse trough makes the best swimming pool. What a great idea. I love it. We had a really nice visit.

A Quest for Exercise pants

I need some new exercise pants for the gym.
I've looked a few places but honestly, I don't want to pay that much for the ones I like.
Went to Costco and they had some nice yoga pants ..
you can't try on at Costco.
I bought some and brought them home.
A quick try on and I needed an opinion..
kids were the only ones at home so I asked my daughter.
Her response?
"Oh, that's just disturbing. Mom! Quick take them off."
Now I'm sure she didn't mean get naked...
more like, she'd need therapy if she had to view me in them any longer.
So they're headed back to be refunded at Costco today...
and the quest continues.

Teamwork Island

Everyone needs a challenge from time to time.
Everyone needs a little help occationally.
Everyone needs a little adventure in life.
Everyone needs balance.
Everyone needs others to make life worthwhile.
Everyone needs a place to relax with a friend.

Tiny bursts of Sweetness

A nature walk,
A sweet surprise
Red dots in green
Small, tiny
delicious
curious
hidden

Bursts of flavor in your mouth
Natural
Orgainic
Fun
There's nothing like discovering a patch of wild strawberries.

Yesterday's Quote of the Day

"I'm the Sermon-ator"

J. N.

He actually didn't know it's terminator ..but it works better this way. I mean who can't use a good sermon once in a while?

Midlife Crisis - Hair

I've decided to document the things I'm catagorizing as my midlife crisis...
Hair.

I finally did it.
I dyed my hair... never been done before .. well, it's actually vERY streaked.

I went with my husband's longterm wishes and got it cut shorter.... he's one of the few men on the planet that perfer women with short hair.

There... crisis averted.

Today's Quote

"Kids are more helpful than a Pig in a pen."

Josiah Nickel

Don't ask... it's a language all his own, I''m sure it makes perfect sense to him.

Peas in a Pod

Mom's Hammock addiction has spread to the next generation. Let the fun continue....

Not so Hot... Cool thoughts.

Popsicles
Pools
Ice Cream
Showers
Cucumbers
Fans
Freezers
Fridges
Igloos
Snow
Snow cones
Fruit Salad
Ice
Wind
Breeze
Waterfalls
Woods - shade
Springs of cool water

Think cool thoughts.....

Horse Heaven

Our vacation at Bear Gulch included a special treat for Bethany. She was able to care for and ride the two horses Grandpa left there for our vacation time. She taught Micaiah the basics of riding. She got to ride herself whenever she wished. She practiced her skills of caring for and saddling the horses. Mom helped round them up at night, with alot of frustration and not much success .. so Dad came to the rescue with the quad and got those silly horses into the coral for night time.
She was so thrilled with this chance to have horses in her life. Josiah checked if they had enough water several times a day. There was an on going conversation about what you could feed a horse. Micaiah tried to feed them strawberries but... I think they weren't very interested, though they did eat the corn husks.
Thanks Grandpa.

Ways We Managed the Heat at Bear Gulch

Wore as few clothes as possible, and as much sunscreen as we could remember to apply.
Played in the kiddie pool. Mostly just soaked our feet in the freezing water that comes from the well there.
Showered often, and out doors.
Sat outside and found quiet breezey places.

Sat still, didn't generate any heat ... and looked for shade.
Spend alot of time awake after the sun went down.

It was great fun...
Mom got sunburnt, silly mom. But mostly if we stayed out of the cabin we were okay.
Hope you are all managing the heat this week.

Picture answer

Okay ... I'm giving you the answer....
first day of Grade 10, I'm going to McNally and haven't a clue about high school and all the trouble this year will bring me.
But as far as school pictures go... this is one of the better ones.
smile.
Look forward to seeing yours!

Bear Gulch Ranch & Dad's revenge

Well after several days of house guests and Greg off from work for 2 weeks, we decided the only way we'd get a rest was to leave the house behind. We are very blessed to have a place we can go to for a nice quiet family time; Greg's Dad's Ranch. This is not where he lives, it's a wide open space, a nice view, a tiny cabin and just enough land to feel like you have the whole world to yourselves. The cabin is very small and Greg is giving his dad a hard time about not building sleeping quarters .... so Dad's revenge was to set us up in the horse trailer. Note the sign: Cowboy Bridal Suite.
It's kinda like camping. The kids slept in the rearrnaged kitchen/living space and we slept in the horsetrailer. The out house, the outside shower and cooking on the BBQ, make it just that one step up from camping so mom's get a rest too.
We had a great time.... stories to follow.

Designed to be Different

Recently Yvonne's Mom, Dad, (sister) Joy and her friend, Lisa came for a visit. We don't get to see Joy very often, so it was nice of my parents to schedule us into their vacation plans, when they decided to bring her up to Grande Cache.
A one day planned visit turned out to be 3 days. Dinner with my brother's family and plenty of time to just visit together.
Joy has Autism,(left) and her friend has Down Syndrome so it was a bit of a learning experience for my kids. They know that not all adults have the same abilities but I was very proud of how they did on this visit. They treated the ladies as adults in the proper ways and played with them as "kids" at the appropriate times. Everyone got along great and we had a really nice visit.
I am always reminded that we need to expose our kids to many people so they will see the great variety and strengths of the ways God has created us different. In a world where we're supposed to act as if everyone is the same. In a culture and time when we are supposed to nullify our differences, we've chosen to celebrate them. Isn't that what the Bible teaches us? To raise up in the presence of the elderly, because they are elderly.. the difference is what gives them the honor. To honor women for women and men for the special role God gives them. Children to obey parents. Don't curse the Deaf, and don't put stumbling blocks before the Blind. To care for widows and orphans... it's the differences that marks the special respect and care that we are to up hold. I'm hoping we're affecting the kids in this direction, against the grain of mainstream.

The MJ temptation

What do you get when you have a farm, horses with babies.....
a quad for each boy...
and the room to ride them fast?

A very tempting place to visit... Grandma MJ"s farm.
Thanks for the nice visit, Grandma.

What year is this? Warning: Historical content.

I challenge Kathy, Janet, Carlissa, Bethany, Robyn, Marylynn, Winona, and all you silent readers out there to guess what year or my age at the taking of this photo.
Then post one of your school pictures and and let us do the same.

TAG!

Twist my rubber arm

CAUSE KATHY AND JANET are my peers ... this is done under peer pressure.
smile

What time is it? The only time I have alone, 12:03 am
What's your full name? Oh why do they always ask this? Elizabeth Yvonne (Snyder) Nickel
What are you most afraid of? If I'll make a good mother in law some day.
What have you seen in a Theater? Mostly movies, but lately that the staff are way too young for me to ask them to tell that couple to stop making out in the time before the lights go dim.
Place of birth? a clinic, Belem, Para, Brazil.
Favorite food? legumes... beans and peanuts.... I don't know .. depends what day it is. I have a tendency to like too many foods.
Natural hair color? What you see is what I've got. Brown with grey invasions.
Ever been to Alaska? Not that I'm aware of, but I have been to alot of places that I don't remember so ???
Ever been toilet paper rolling? Yes, I seem to be the only one who knows how to change the toilet paper roll around here so if it's an Olympic sport, I'd like to know about it.
Ever love anybody so much it made you cry? Only when they didn't seem to love me... of course, I'm a woman of hormones, what do you expect?
Been in a car accident? Yes, but none of them were my fault, really!
Croutons or bacon bits? Well, that's a tricky question. Bacon bits if they have no bacon in them, soy bits. Croutons are bread, listed as one of my favorites so...? Hmmm.... I rarely eat either.
Favorite day of the week? The day of the week that I get something accomplished that doesn't have to be re-done in 24 hours.
Favorite restaurant? If frequency decides this... Tim's but if it's a nice night out... Joey's. Guess I have a thing for boyish named restaurants.
Favorite flower? Anything that's low maintenance and is colorful.
Favorite sport to watch? Like Olympics, extreme sports like ski-ing or snowboarding out of a helicopter.
Favorite drink? summer - lemonade ... winter - chai tea (the way Kathy makes it)
Favorite ice cream? Rocky road or Vanilla (as long as I can add to it)
Warner or Disney? the movie is what counts ... depends.
Ever been on a ship? Been on boats of many sizes and shapes in my life... ship? cruise!
What color is your bedroom carpet? When it's vacuumed? Off-white?
How many times did you fail your drivers test? once.
Before this from whom did you get your last email? Some news agency thingy.
What do you do when you're bored? I'm rarely bored but I think fill out one of these things.
Bedtime? When life and I agree it's time! or when no one is around to notice me slipping off to bed.
Who will respond the quickest to this meme? Bethany
Who is the person you are most curious to see their responses? Bethany, Marylynn
Favorite tv show? So you think you can Dance, Traveller and I can't believe no one said "corner gas" ...
Last person you went to dinner with? My hubby and kids.
Favorite time of the year? later summer when the flowers and garden are all producing things, heading towards fall (not too hot).
Favorite colors? hmmm... blues, greens and well what's life without black to define it.
Any Tattoos? No a one... just freckles.
Pets? No thanks! Kids keep me busy enough....
What came first the chicken or the egg? Check Genesis.... the chicken
What do you want to do before you die? Live life in a way that my children will remember God is faithful and all things are worth laughing about at some point.
Have you ever been to Hawaii? Yup 1988, honeymoon.
How many people are you sending this to? Send? you can send from a blog? I challenge Bethany, Marylynn, Winona and well Chris Neumann (since he doesn't write either).
Time survey ended? 12:30 am (does that tell you anything about me?)

Canada Day was a Blast

We spent Canada Day waiting for my parents, my sister and her friend to arrive. Thank goodness for cell phones. We didn't waste our time. We painted the fence, for the task oriented members of the family, and cleaned house. Then had a BBQ lunch in our back yard and enjoyed our lovely view.
After that, off to waste money on rides and events near Millwoods Town Centre. My family arrived just after 7pm and we came home. After all the Hellos.. got everyone settled and rested....
Off to see the fireworks across from MWTC and enjoy the evening of crowded chaos. Lots of junk food and loud music. It was fun and the results were lots of tired bodies to drag home. Nice but I'm glad we only do it once a year.