Prayer Needed

Hey guys. Yesterday was my grandma- Nana's 96th birthday! Right now she is in hospice care and not doing so well. She fell and has broken bones that they cannot fix. She has a really bad bed sore that won't heal. She cannot get up or walk without pain. She is lying in bed in pain. Please pray for her and also for strength for my mom who is visiting and taking care of her everyday. I don't know how she is doing it.

Thanks and love,

Jen

Slide Show

The first few pictures are of the Museum of the Rockies. The family of one of Summer's friends took us there. They had a pioneer day where they had a working farm and demonstrations. The rest of the pictures are from are our hike. Enjoy!

Hyalite Reservoir

Here is the place that our neighbors took us to a few weeks ago and my camera battery ran out (I am such a city girl taking pictures of EVERYTHING. I think Summer gets embarrassed because I am constantly taking pictures while "normal" people are just looking). We decided to come back and this time we brought Asia. We were thinking she would be scared once we got to the waterfall but she did great! She even scaled up the rocks up to the top! She navigated all by herself through some pretty big rocks. She was so happy when we came back down. It was like she knew she had accomplished something (well of course it helped when we kept saying good job Asia!). She was running around smiling and wagging her tail when we got back down. When I was taking pictures I was thinking wow that doesn't even look real!
OK I need to go make a slideshow cause there are too many pictures!

God working in my life...

I am truly humbled by God's love and generosity in my life. We have been through so much these past few years. Lives pulled apart and mended together. Tests of friendship, family, and love. Much of the drama created by our decisions. We have learned a lot about our Faith and living by it. I have learned to let my worries go when it gets to a point of overwhelming my life. I literally close my eyes and imagine the worries flying up and away. When I go through a hard time I figure that God is trying to tell me or teach me something. If things don't work out the way I planned I figure that "it wasn't meant to be". If you have spent any time with me this past year you know that is my motto. I don't fight against what it isn't "flowing". We have truly realized the value of the material things- we were ready to let it all go-literally. God pulled us up once again. Why did I have so little faith? Day after day it was hard, not knowing what was going to happen tomorrow. But every time God pulled us through. Now I know we will go through hard times again, but I feel that our faith is strengthened. For the first time in our marriage we prayed together. We read the children's Bible together almost every night. My kids know the stories. We pray together every night. We still have a long way to go. My kids will be tried and tested but at least they will know what God's will is for them. I am sure they will stray but hopefully they will remember some of this. Besides its not my job to save my kids- God will do that- but at least I can teach them what I have learned. We prayed together every night for God to help us. And He did. Hopefully when my kids get older they will remember God's faithfulness during that hard time. Sometimes I worry if I am doing what I am supposed to be but I know in my heart God will lead me. I just let it go...into the atmosphere. I am so thankful we are here together and that I am blessed to be able to stay home.

Our Encounter With a Bear!

OK so now we are real Montanians (is that a word?) Yesterday we (me, Adam, and Ali) were getting into our car that was parked in the garage. The garage door was open. Adam had already gotten into the backseat. I opened the driver side door to get in and out of the corner of my eye I saw a large furry figure walking by probably about 20 feet away in the street right infront of my car. At first my brain said it was just a dog (we have lots of those roaming) then I did a double take and it was a baby bear walking by! I quickly went into don't-panic-teacher-mode and very monotone and quietly said "there is bear" opened the door and got in. Ali said "what?" and got out his camera phone and walked out onto the driveway. I was too scared to get out! My heart started beating so fast! He said "pull out -it went in someone's backyard!" so he got in and we pulled out and drove one house away from ours and sure enough there he was! He stood up on his hind legs and jumped over someone's fence. It was awesome to see him stand up like that. We pulled around the corner and saw an older couple walking and talking so we stopped to ask them if we should call the police. They said someone had already called and they were tracking the bear. We left and went on with the day. Later, Ali called me and said that Summer's school called and he had to go into to sign her out because they weren't letting the kids walk or bike home because of the bear. We watched the news but we never heard what happened. The picture I attached is exactly what it looked like. Could you imagine getting in your car and seeing a bear walking down the street!? Could you imagine sitting in your backyard and a bear climbing over the fence!?

An explanation of why some old people are crabby

Notice I said "some". OK here is what I figured out. Since I have not been working I have had LOTS of time to observe people. When we go out I am not rushing around to meet deadlines and finish shopping so I've had plenty of time to watch people. This is the exact same scenario as some old people right? (By the way I love all old people I am not racist against old people in fact I have lived in 2 neighborhoods with old people and I have always said they are the best neighbors) Now some old people observe and do not get agitated so much. I have been agitated by some behavior of people ONLY because I have had the time to watch, absorb, and process information (in comparison to running around with a chicken-with-her-head-cut-off trying to meet deadlines at work, school, with kids, errands, and just all around keeping the house running while trying to be skinny, funny, pleasant, healthy, the best wife all at the same time- you know just the average american mom). Anyway- what I have observed is disturbing to say the least:

Parenting styles: OK so here is what I observed at the library. A little baby crawling over to Adam. Another boy (whose mom is sitting RIGHT there) scootching over and bopping the baby on the head. The mom not saying anything and watching. The mom of the baby scooping her up and walking away quickly. Then, the sister of the brother aforementioned coming over and taking over Adam's toy. The mom not saying anything again. I know there are different parenting styles but does that mean you cannot teach your child manners?? I don't get it.

Dog owner styles: I cannot tell you how many times I have talked to moms about the fact that so many people here just let their dogs roam unleashed. This is a HUGE dog town. If you really cared about animals wouldn't you want them in the safest environment? Isn't the safest environment for a dog ON A LEASH? OK so you trust your dog but you do not want the dog to run away, get hit by a car, or attacked by another dog or animal. So, we had a dog wander into our yard and let me just say that Asia WILL ATTACK another dog that comes into our yard if I am not there. So this dog wanders over and the owner tells me that Asia was being aggressive to her dog but OK why is your dog wandering all over the neighborhood? Isn't that your fault? Another time we (me and Aisa) were walking and a dog wanders over to her. She gets into her self-defense mode (she has issues OK there is nothing we can do but love her) and I am holding her down. The owner who is about 500 feet away calls her dog who is not responding. Meanwhile my ipod falls off into the dirt, I am restraining my dog, and the other dog won't go away. Finally for what seemed like forever (after I am struggling, lost my ipod, all dirty) the dog leaves. Is this my fault?

Sorry just had to vent :0)

So my point is when you have time to watch people you can get annoyed.

Today's devotional

"In your spirit, as well as in your aim, you should differ from the world."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

I love this: it's OK to be different. In fact, that's what God wants us to do! Isn't this what we want to teach our kids?

Life update and thoughts

Well, we are starting to settle into a routine here which is great for me. That's what we all needed. Summer likes her school and the girls seem to be very nice and not clicky (my biggest worry). I think it helps that this is a brand new school and everyone just started although a lot of these kids knew each other from other schools. Adam is going to a preschool program twice a week for an hour just to get out of the house. I will post him being on TV if you did not get the email. We are also going to story hour at the library and the biggest news is that I signed him up for ice hockey. He is bursting at the seams to get out there! He can't wait. We went to Play It Again Sports and boughts some used skates and stick and he will be renting the equipment which is nice because its a pretty big investment and I would like him just to try it. I am a little weary about the amount of injury involved in this sport- but they are peewee's right? I decided at the moment not to put him a preschool program mostly because of the cost and I can work with him at home but I think he was ready for kindergarten already and I don't want him to get too far ahead because then he'll be bored when he gets there. Because of this we are searching out for friends to play with and this week there doesn't seem to be a loss of that. Summer made a friend across the street and her sister is the same age as Adam. Also, there is a little boy across the street who is a little younger but they play nicely together. This brings me to my next subject....friends....

If you read my previous post I was writing about my lack of pursuing friendships. God must have read my blog because moms have been literally throwing phone numbers at me! It is so funny how I just posted about that and I have had several moms really make an effort and extend themselves to me. It is incredible how God works and can read our hearts. Now its just up to me to pursue it. We got together over labor day with another family in the neighborhood and they took us to a place where there is a short hiking trail. EVERY DAY I thank God for sending us here and showing us so much beauty. This hike was 15 minutes and we saw the most beautiful waterfall and driving back we saw a beautiful lake surrounded by trees. Darnit my battery went dead in my camera or I would have posted pictures. Whenever I take walks with Asia I am overwhelmed with the beauty. Someone at Ali's work told him that God was here....that is so true. There is something spiritual about being so close to the awesome beauty and wonder. Sometimes I get in my car and I am in my own little world and then I get around the corner and see those awesome mountains and then I say Oh ya I am here! This morning me and Adam said "Good morning mountains!"

I signed up for a moms group which will completely take me out of my comfort zone. Again those reaching out issues... but I figured I have to do it for Adam too. If I don't like the people then who says I have to stick with it right? I am also thinking about going to a Bible Study Fellowship for women. I guess this is a national group and they meet once a week here for Bible study class. Does anyone know anything about this? Two people mentioned it to me so I thought I would check it out. It disturbed me when I googled it and "Bible Study Fellowship Cult" popped up but then with further reading I did not see anything alarming. I also went to my first "PAC" meeting tonight - its the parent teacher group. It was OK- I think I will help out at the fall carnival. It was a little weird cause I was the only one who brought kids (Ali was working) out of about 15 people but they were good. I was feeling a little sad today because my phone was SILENT.

Where's that hot dog lady????

My mom is known as the "hot dog lady" (I bet you can guess why) because every time she comes to see us she would give Asia a hot dog. This made my mom a very popular lady with Asia. She (dog not my mom) has been moping around. At first I thought it was just the big change or maybe because I don't give her a lot of "treats" but now I think she really misses that HDL! I know I do!

Some thoughts from a new stay at home mom

Right now Adam is watching some show where the cars talk so I thought I would take a moment to write some thoughts. This is the first year in ten years (besides maternity leave) that I have not been working. Here I am with my dream come true and I am worried that a) am I putting enough effort into reaching out to people? I tend to stay in my "nest". I like to be in my own world. I don't like extending myself socially. I like to be around people, I like meeting new people, and I like to talk to people. I like to be friendly and volunteer but I guess I don't know how to build ongoing social relationships with people. I meet people and have a lot to talk about but then when it comes to the next step (making phone calls, inviting people over etc) I just stop. I guess I am so happy just to be with my family but I know that is not healthy. We are starting to volunteer at the shelter and I know I will get involved with the Parent teacher group. It makes me nervous when I have to involve other people with our schedule. Is that weird?

I am also worried about b) am I structuring Adam's day the right way? I guess that will get better when he starts a preschool (which I have not been successful with finding one yet). Right now we get up, take Summer to school, come back clean up, make breakfast, clean up, he gets on one of his computer programs, watches PBS, plays, I clean do laundry etc. by that time its 12:30-1:00. Then we run errands and its time to pick up Summer. Somewhere in there we read, do some learning activities, bike or walk. Is there a "right" way to be a stay at home mom?