We don’t often have anybody sick around here, but the youngest was out-of-sorts this morning, and then started feeling hot. By lunch time he was obviously sick, with probably an ear ache and fever, and he’s been laying around all afternoon—not like him at all. Poor fellow. I’m afraid it’s a nasty flu that’s been going around, which we were exposed to three times last week. I’ve gotten to cuddle him more than usual!
July Pictures
I saved a grand total of four pictures from the memory card in July! Apparently, we didn’t do much during that month. We’ve basically been doing school and looking at houses.
Cats, as you know, like their comfort. This one found a sunny window out of reach of the chickens where he could keep warm one afternoon.
This is a model heart, made of homemade graham crackers, marshmallows, and icing. It is supposed to represent the circulation of deoxygenated blood into the heart and out to the lungs; then oxygenated blood into the heart and back out to the body. Of course the most fun part was eating it. Looks like the little brother in the background is afraid he won’t get a taste! (This was Seth and Elijah.)
Who can say no to that little face asking sweetly, “Pwum?” Of course, he got one!
Why We Pray for Protection on the Way to Church
We may have the most beautiful drive to church in the world, but it is also dangerous. We’ve had two vivid illustrations of that in the past three weeks. Today, we saw this on the way to and from church:
The pictures aren’t very good, because I snapped them quickly as we drove by. It looked as though the truck hit the rock cliff on the other side of the highway, and rolled. The tractor and trailer ended up unhooked, and facing each other, both quite a mess. It’s hard to imagine anyone getting out of that truck without serious injuries. The only news article I could find about it, however, didn’t have any real information except that it happened late last night and one person was thought to be injured; the highway was closed for a few hours.
Three weeks ago, on the same route but several miles farther south, there was a horrific accident, also a truck. The truckie had apparently crossed the highway and crashed through a guardrail, plunging 45 meters (150 feet) down a very steep cliff into a deep ravine, and taking 35 tons of soil with it. The terrain was so rugged that rescue workers could not reach the site on foot but had to be lowered in a cage from a crane. They had to pull the truck and two trailers up with a crane, also, and it took three days to locate the truckie’s body. Very sobering reminders that God has our lives in His hand.
Our New Baby!
We were given a new baby yesterday: this little orphaned lamb. He’s about four days old right now, and got a good start from his mother before she was put down because she was old and sick. Our two littlest, especially, are in love with him. I’ve taught the four-year-old how to mix the milk powder for the lamb’s bottle, and the two of them are taking charge (under supervision) of feeding him. 
Our New House
As I promised last week, here are a few pictures from the next house we’ll be moving to. This is the front of the house, towards the road. The light isn’t the greatest here, because this side faces east and we were there late in the afternoon.
The door to the left goes into a bedroom, which will be our spare bedroom/schoolroom/library. Next is the door opening into the hallway, and then our bedroom. The third bedroom is just down the hallway from our room, on the same side of the house. The schoolroom will be cold in winter, but nicely cool in summer.
This house was the first maternity house in Cheviot. It was purchased for that purpose sometime soon after being built, in the few years just before 1915. A woman named Mary Davidson was the local midwife, although she never had any formal training. She ran the maternity home from when she bought the house, just before 1915, until about 1930. She never lost a mother or baby! At that time, the house only consisted of the three current bedrooms and the living room. The living room was apparently the kitchen, with a coal range where there is now a logburner. The room we’ll use as a schoolroom was apparently the parlor. They would put mothers in there when both bedrooms were occupied (of course, back then, women usually stayed in bed for two weeks, if I understand right). All the water they needed was heated on the coal range, and to have enough they put it in a “copper”—a metal cylinder—in a corner of the wide hallway, camouflaged with a large wicker basket. When a baby was expected, the home was kept in readiness night and day. The story I read said that was not hard during the day, but nighttime was much harder—that was when the store of hot water in the copper came in handy! The hardest thing for mothers was to get to the maternity home, as the only transportation then was horse and buggy, and it’s not exactly smooth terrain here! I found this history quite fascinating.
Esther is planning to make this sleepout into her bedroom. She’s quite excited about making it attractive inside, and having her own space. It was originally a railway hut, and the present owners of the house moved it here.
When we move, we’ll work on getting more pictures of the place. It’s not as beautiful a location as the one we’re in right now, but it will work for us for a couple of years.
Horses
I know I’m posting a lot about this little one lately. This stage of life is so precious! I so much love watching them learn at this age, and it’s so fleeting!
I was taking a short break at the computer this afternoon, and he brought me a chunk of wood, saying, as he handed it to me, “Baby”. Then he took off for the door again. He came back dragging a large piece of wood. It turns out that the large piece is the mommy horse and the small one is the baby horse!
For other news, we have a house to move into. We signed the tenancy agreement on Saturday, and included that we will have the house for two years, at the end of which time we’ll reevaluate and decide if we want to stay on, buy it (which I suppose would be an option at any time, really—at this point we don’t have enough money and don’t think we want to stay in that location too long), or move somewhere else. Anyway, we have stability for two years. We plan to move on the 6th of September, assuming they get moved out by the end of August as they plan to. Sometime this week, the boys and I are planning to plant some blackcurrent bushes and rhubarb that we have in pots over there, and maybe we’ll get a few pictures. The place has a fascinating history that I’ll try to tell you some of when I post the pictures! It’s a beautiful old house. We are thankful and relieved to have this sorted out!
Head Under!
Our littlest came running in tonight, all excited, and told me, “Head under!” while pointing to his wet hair. I asked where he got his head wet, and he explained and demonstrated that he had done it at our water tank. We get water from the county water scheme, a certain amount per day. It comes into a huge concrete tank which is up on a tower. I guessed that he had stuck his head under a leak, although it’s a slow enough drip that I couldn’t imagine how he got so wet. Later, I found out that one of his older brothers had been getting water from a tap at the bottom of the tower, and that is where he put his head under! This video is him telling me about it the second time.
Baby Lion
Our youngest, as I’ve mentioned before, has a very vivid imagination. One of his big things lately has been that there are lions in the house. He seems very fascinated, and a little scared, of his imaginary lions. The “baby lions” (pronounced yi-yuns), however, are a different story. Usually, they are invisible, cupped in his hand, and he’ll show them to you or let you cuddle them. Sometimes, depending on his mood, he’ll smash (hmash) them, then throw them away and get another. Where did such bloodthirstiness come from? I don’t know!
One day last week, he had a visible “baby lion”—this toy plastic goat! 
In the morning, he wrapped it up in a bunch of small cotton clothes we use for wet wipes, and played with it for quite awhile. After his afternoon nap, though, he couldn’t find it. That was sad! He told me, very sorrowfully, “Yi-yun ate it.” (The big lion ate it.) 
I remembered having seen it on a couch, however, so I told one of the older boys to go look for it. What a relief when it was found! He then located his pile of wipes again, wrapped up his “baby lion”, and all was right in his world again.
The baby lion, aka a goat, is wrapped up in that bundle of cloths.
June Pictures
We haven’t taken very many pictures this month. Mainly, we’ve been doing school and trying to recover from the shock of being told we have to move again, and of course, I’m dealing with morning sickness (although that is getting better, thankfully!). We have not found a house yet; there isn’t anything available to rent, and especially not anything that will suit us. We’re still praying about what to do, and pursuing any option that we are told about. We’re wondering if it is time to buy a house, although we really wanted a couple more years to save first. We’ll see what God opens up for us! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the month.
I dug one parsnip—but what a parsnip!
We went to Christchurch one day, and on our way home got to watch the moon rise. What a sight! Esther asked me to pull over so she could get a photo. Later that evening, I saw on Facebook something about the “honey moon” that was happening that night!
A hollow log across the creek, just before the digger pulled it out when our landlord cleaned out the creek.
One Sunday afternoon, Gayle took the children walking along the shore for a little while after church, while I rested in the van. They rolled down the steep bank in the gravel.
While the digger was here, we asked the man to move our container out of the paddock to the road, where it can be picked up by a truck to move it, when we move. We have no idea yet where we’re going, but we plan to pack as much as possible into the container, then get a truck with a crane to move it all to the new house. The paddock will still be too wet, so this will make it possible.
I had a lot of lemons to juice one day, and these two helped—until the juicer burned out.
The two little boys get pretty bored during school, so one day they invaded Esther’s room. They rearranged the jars on the shelves, then made themselves “beds”!
My little helper. I was making peanut butter, and he ate handfuls of peanuts!
Hot Wire!
Our 2-year-old has an incredible imagination. He really has a thing about lions right now, and frequently shows us a “baby lion” in his hands (invisible to us). He also loves playing with “hot wires”, which are to keep his animals in. Don’t touch the hot wire–you’ll get shocked!