Sarah Turned Sweet 16!

Sarah and Mom


Sarah and the gang!

Sweet Sixteen

Sisters

Sarah and Dad (before he shaved his beard!!!)

Before my eldest daughter left to go back to Maryland in August we celebrated her 16th birthday. However, she just turned 16 on the 13th of September. When she called I found out that she was having a barbecue of sorts for her party. I did miss not being able to be with her on that day, but I did call and sing her "Happy Birthday"!Anyway, here are some of the photos of the day we celebrated her birthday while she was here. I can hardly believe how grown-up she is becoming. We will be picking her up on our way down to visit my parents in November this year. A long overdue visit to my parents and my sister and her family. Maybe I'll get some pictures!

Demo Days and Kidney Stones

My sweet husband

Yesterday, our Tractor Supply (Scott is the manager there), was conducting Demo Days; a day where they demonstrate a certain type of equipment. Log splitters and chain saws were the items of the day, and Scott really enjoys this part of his job. He asked me to come out yesterday and take some pictures for his boss and those on the regional team. There were quite a few people out, and they even had the Boy Scouts selling popcorn and some 4-H girls out with their fund raiser. It was a really nice New England fall day, so the weather was perfect. He did an awesome job, and the store did really well as a result!

Scott using the log splitter

However, last night when I went to pick him up from work, he told me that his lower left side was really hurting him. He was able to sleep until about 1 am when he woke with terrible pain. He walked for a bit, really hurting, but we thought perhaps it was just his diverticulitis acting up. He took a warm bath and tried to get to sleep again about 4 am. When I woke up at 7:30 he was completely doubled over in pain, so we packed up and went in to the emergency room. First, I called our pastor and let him know we wouldn't be at the service this morning (again - we have been out for a month with all of the children's strange flu-like sickness) and he said a prayer for us over the phone. As soon as we got to the emergency room, they took us right in. They said they would do a CAT scan, but were pretty sure that he was dealing with a kidney stone. After they gave him some pretty strong pain meds, they took him for his scan. When the doctor came back he said that the stone was almost to his bladder. They also said that it was a fairly large one. Scott has no history of kidney stones, nor does his family, from what they have said. So for now we just continue to work on adjusting his diet. The pain meds that they gave him made him so nauseous. The trip home was pretty hard, he couldn't keep anything down, and he kept falling asleep. As soon as we got home he went to bed. He has only stirred a tiny bit and isn't able to eat anything. He is insistent that he is going to work in the morning so I pray that the Lord will help him feel better somewhat by then. Wow! what a day - what a year! He has had so many issues with his health over the last year. The children have done very well with it all, albeit they were very concerned for Daddy today. We continue to pray that God will heal his eye amongst so many other things. I know that God is faithful and we pray that He will help us to see what He is trying to show us through this struggle.

14 Years!

Last month on August 30th, my husband and I celebrated our 14 wedding anniversary! Wow, has time flown. We drove to Providence and had dinner at Smoky Bones - Scott LOVES this restaurant! The food was great. I had to fight back the desire to bring my knitting with me - only to discover later that I probably should have brought it to work on. There were televisions all over the place at this restaurant and on each table there was a speaker that would let you select which tv to listen to. College football is just kicking off and of course, there was the baseball game (Scott is HUGE into sports so it was impossible to keep his eyes off the screens!) So I should have just brought my knitting and all would have been well. After dinner we went over the Barnes and Noble to peruse the shelves of books. I could look for hours! Anyway, the children were very well behaved while we were gone ( the oldest two are "official" babysitters - certificate and all!) which was nice - no major problems. Although the driving was foggy (I couldn't believe the fog last night!) we had a good night.

After 14 years of marriage we are still in as much love as ever, only a lot closer.

My Sweet Husband had Laser Eye Surgery Today

My dear husband went to the hospital this morning because he had been having blurry vision in his left eye all weekend. He had started getting "floaters" in his vision and was having a hard time seeing at all. He went to an eye care center this morning and they sent him to a specialist. Apparantly, he had a large tear in the retina of his left eye. After they dilated his pupils and had a good assesment of the situation, they decided he needed immediate laser eye surgery! What a hard time to be on opposite sides of the country. It was very hard not being able to be there for him today, but I hung by the phone for any information. He called finally this afternoon when he returned to his hotel and told me everything that had occurred. I am relieved that his retina did not completely separate, which is what the doctor said would have happened if he had let it go a few more days. Aside from his eye being sore, he should be fine. The doctor said that the blurry vision and the floaters should clear up within the week, so his vision will return to normal. It is so hard having him so far away. I miss him so much. When things like this happen I long to be next to him, to be his support. I am grateful, though, that the Lord watches over Scott, and He was there with him today as he experienced this procedure with his eye.

It's Been a Long Time...

Wow, I can hardly believe that an entire year has flown by. We have been so busy with "life" that I have barely had any time to spend online. Currently, we are in the process of yet another move - hopefully to be the last. Scott is already in place, having just finished his training this last week. Because of a variety of reasons, some of which I am sure to remark on at a later time, he decided to change companies. So, we are no longer employed with Home Depot. The company my husband chose employment with is Tractor Supply Company (TSC). I am, so far, quite pleased with the experience. He has been promoted to Store Manager, which is something that will allow him a lot more flexibility to spend time with the family and it also allows him more freedom to create the environment in which he works. He is very happy with this decision and aside from some of the health issues he is going through, he is very content.

We can hardly wait to join him. We are taking this month and going through boxes that we haven't gone through since we started this whole "round the country" move from Maine to Arizona to Wyoming. Now, thankfully, our last move takes us to Connecticut. This will put us halfway between both of our parents, mine in Virginia and his in Maine. The land is beautiful, and it is in a rural enough area that when we are ready to once again start our farm, we will be in a good location. Our move is scheduled for the end of this month and the children and I are excited! We understand that there is a fairly large homeschool group in the southeastern part of CT, which is where we will be - Griswold. Plus, we will be close enough to see the ocean again, which is something I have missed terribly. God has blessed us incredibly with the beauty of His creation we have been able to see on this side of the country. I can find no suitable words to describe the majesty of the mountains here. However, the Northeast is "home" for us and I long to see the pine forests and the rocky coasts once again.

Scott was able to be home for Christmas which was a blessing. It was a nice time to spend together. We recently got a digital camera that can be put on a timer, so we finally were able to take a picture of the whole family at one time! All of the children had been passing a cold/virus around and in this picture Mae-Marie was right in the middle of it. But she was quite a trooper and tried to manage a smile!

New Dress for Mae-Marie

For Christmas this year I made a few things for the children. I made a doll quilt and a dress for Mae-Marie and a "sports" teddy bear for Tucker. I will post pictures of the quilt and bear later, but here is Mae-Marie's dress. I used Jennie Chancey's Girl's Regency dress pattern. Her site is http://www.sensibility.com. It goes together very nicely. I have made many dresses out of this pattern. This dress I altered just a bit to enlarge the area where the sleeve sits in and I lowered the neckline, front and back, a bit.

The print on it is hard to see, but it is a print of little violet flowers. I have enough left over to make a regency dress like this for myself. Hopefully, I will have it done by spring. When I get it done, I'll post pictures of it.

I haven't sewn much at all since we moved, but after the beginning of the new year, I intend to start back up again. I'm almost finished organizing my sewing room, which is nice to finally have. Now I won't have to completely put a project away when I am in the middle of it. I will just be able to shut the door. Less clean up time - more time to sew!

Gingerbread Houses and Christmas

Well, having just recently moved, and not being completely unpacked (boy does that take a lot of time!), we didn't decorate the house much, only a little here and there. We did take the opportunity to make cookies (lots and lots of cookies) and hard candy (caramels and strawberry hard crack candy) and gingerbread houses. I have always made one at Christmas, but this year we started a new tradition. The children each made their own, small version of a gingerbread house out of graham crackers and a plethera of candy that Daddy brought home for us. We spend hours, and made a big mess, but we had Lots of FUN! Sometimes I get so caught up in the daily grind of what has to be done when, and chores and schedules that I forget to just relax and have FUN! This was a great reminder. We enjoyed it so much that we have decided to make it a new Christmas tradition! Anyway, here are some pictures.

These are the children's houses: Albert's, David's, Scotty's, Mae-Marie's and Tuckers (left to right).

This is my version of the gingerbread house. I copied the basic pattern from Martha Stewart's book - Homemade Christmas. It went together really easily this year (too many years of total frustration paid off, I guess), but I like to decorate them differently each year. Next year I think I am going to try for a "mansion." We'll see how that works!

This is our mantle in the living room. Like I said, we only decorated a little, plus I couldn't find half of our decorations (mismarked boxes!), but at least it was something. We put a few things on the mantle in the kitchen too. Just enough to feel a little like the holidays. I've decided to decorate my living room here for Christmas in red, gold and black bears, so my husband bought these two to start my collection. What a sweetie!

Our Christmas tree. It has a story behind it, too. We are accustomed to going out the week before Christmas and picking out a fresh cut tree for Christmas. This year, we went out only to find just about all of the trees gone. We were told they had sold out for a couple of weeks. Wow, was I amazed. We looked at the alternative of an artificial tree, but it was always a tradition for us to get a cut tree. What to do?! My husband managed to find one place left that had a few trees. Actually, some fairly tall ones. The area where we wanted to put the tree could handle a 10 foot tree. So, that is what he got us. However, we could not find our tree stand. So, Scott went out and bought a new one. When we went to put the tree up, we realized that the base was too skinny for the stand and it was too tall for the stand. Our tree kept tipping over! Ack! Being fairly adaptable individuals, we explained this to the children and our tree, although nicely decorated, stood leaning somewhat into the corner for Christmas. Truth be known, our poor Christmas tree ended up looking very similar to a very tall "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree. But it was still just as beautiful to us!

Anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Remember as the year comes to a close to thank God for what blessings and experiences He has allowed into your life this year.

We Moved to Wyoming!

After they came and packed all our earthly belongings into boxes, the moving company loaded it all on the truck including our van on the 15th of November and took off for Wyoming. The next day we drove to the airport in rented cars and boarded an airplane bound for Denver, CO. Then we got on a little "puddle-jumper." It was TINY. It only had the capacity to carry 19 people! When I first saw the plane, I did not want to get on it. I am a bit nervous about airplanes as it is, but I could not imagine getting on that tiny plane.After some loving reassurance by more devoted husband, I climbed aboard. I wish we had pictures of how small that plane was. One seat on either side of the aisle with three seats across the back. We sat in the back, Mae-Marie and Tucker in front of us, then Scotty, David and Albert across the back. Talk about bumpy! For a while I thought I was going to be ill. But I prayed about it and relaxed and realized how well I got to see a view of God's earth. Unexpectantly, the ride turned out to be a blessing to me. We flew over mountains and open fields. To the right of us was open plains, we could even see the spirals on the ground from the path of the waterers. To the left were the mountains. They were covered with snow, but in small areas the pine trees peaked out from under the snow. It was the most beautiful plane right I have ever been on. We arrived in one piece, albeit a little shaky from the bumps coming in to the airport, but we were on the ground. We picked up our rental vehicle, went through the town (it is absolutely beautiful - just like a small town from years ago) and drove to our new home. It is in a little community outside of Sheridan, named Story. It is nestled at the base of the Big Horn Mountains. You drive up a winding hill and as you come around the bend at the base of the mountains, there is the town. The area is thick with pine trees. It is like we live in the woods. It is so peaceful. Deer are everywhere and apparantly don't seem to care if people are around or not. They just wander around along with the turkeys that are everywhere. David, who is chomping at the bit to begin hunting, has asked many times now if I am sure that he can't hunt in the back yard. LOL. It is great! Hopefully we will be here for a while (at least for a few years). Welcome to our new home!

Tribute to a Beloved Friend and Companion

Skeeter came to us four years ago. We had an outdoor cat that visited us every day because we would leave her a bowl of food outside. She became pregnant and when she had her kittens next door in the barn, a large dog killed all but one of her kittens. One evening she left the last small black kitten under our back porch and left never to be seen again. We tried for two weeks to get that kitten inside the house. My sweet husband would lie on the back porch waiting for that kitten to take the bait of food so that he could catch him. Try as he might, though, he continually evaded him. Scott got more mosquito bites than imaginable trying to catch that cat. We changed our tactics and tried to lure him into the house with the food while we hid. It did the trick. He came in and we had a new member of our family. We called him Skeeter in honor of how many "squiter" bites Scott got. He hid under a cupboard and when we got him out, we put him into a large coat closet until he could acclimate to us (and learn to use a litter box!) Many months later, he decided that it was safe enough to start coming out. He was always a scaredy cat - he preferred to sleep on the beams in the old house. He would come into the kitchen occassionally and sit on my lap in my rocking chair or on the back of the chair and look out the window while I was in it. A year after we got him, we thought we would get him a girl cat so that we could have kittens. We bought a beautiful grey and white cat that we were told was a girl and we named her Duchess in honor of the name we gave Skeeter's mother. However, Suprise! she ended up being a "he" and we changed his name to Spot. When Spot was full grown, we started having all sorts of territorial problems and they both went in to be "fixed". At that time we found out that our scaredy cat had a heart murmur and the vet told us he was lucky to be alive. When we moved, he seemed to adapt alright at first, but with the dogs and the other cats, Skeeter started living more and more under the bed. We did what we could to encourage him to come out but it was difficult. One day last week, he came out and went to his bowl in our bathroom and started meowing oddly. He never left that bathroom again. For the first day, he just seemed to have a bit of an upset stomach, but he couldn't use the bathroom very well. The next day he could hardly move and a day later he died. It was horrible and it was so quick. I am not sure what happened to him or why he died. He did seem to be in a lot of pain the last few hours, though, and I am glad that it didn't last long. Out of all of our animals, he was mine. I will miss him. He was a good friend. Goodbye Skeety. (Summer 2002 - Oct. 10, 2006)

Our Garden Experiment

Well, it's fall and it should be harvesting time. It should be. Not this year. Arizona and I are at war. In the spring before I got sick and discovered I had arthritis, we planted a garden. Not a giant one, mind you. Not like our last one in Maine. We thought we would start conservatively. Corn, pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe and a few squash. We watered like we were supposed to. You know, I actually thought it would be lack of water that would keep my garden from growing. But the weather was not my enemy. No, it couldn't be that easy. The water was the problem. Let me explain. Where we have moved to, it was barren. We live in the southeastern part of Arizona and except for mesquite trees, there was nothing except sand. Sand everywhere. We couldn't even leave the windows of the house open for all the sand and dirt that would blow into the windows with the slightest breeze. But put a little water on it and, well, that is a different story. In my garden area, so picked because there was nothing else growing in it, grew weeds that were indestructible. In the beginning of my illness I was still able to weed because the weeds were still small. Then the boys started doing the weeding, but the weeds won. Soon they outgrew my poor plants. Now, we were able to save some of the plants. But then the pesky little critters, you know birds, squirrels, raccoons and who knows what else, decided that my little plants looked like good food. So little by little, the plants disappeared leaving only small holes in the ground. A few plants did survive the giant weeds, and starving critters. I was actually proud that I had a few corn stalks left and what I thought were watermelon and pumpkin plants left. Last night, apparently, something ran off with the baby corn. Was I disappointed! Well, my other plants have started to produce. But they look nothing like watermelon or pumpkins! Some weird long curled up green type of wild squash, I guess. What an experiment! Quite different from my garden in Maine where I had so much I had to give it away, I couldn't put it all up. Well, that's life - at least out here anyway. But my dear husband tells me that maybe another move is coming - to Wyoming. Oh, today I am especially excited about that one!