Just some random pictures from the past month around here.
Catch-Up Time
Work Begins at the New House
I knew I’ve been neglecting this, but didn’t realize it’s already been nearly a month! Can you tell we’ve been working at the house? That’s where we go when we can spare some time at home (which isn’t often, as it turns out). We’ve been over there two days a week, so far. It’s a good thing we can’t move in for a few weeks yet–it will take that long to get the place cleaned up! Here are a few pictures of what’s happening so far. Click to enlarge them.
Budding Photographer!
Our eight-year-old borrowed a camera yesterday from his sister and went around the place taking pictures of anything and everything. He wants to make a book of these pictures so he can remember this place! I asked if he would let me post some of his pictures, and he was happy to grant permission. So, enjoy his first set of pictures!
In other news, we’re working towards moving. I’ve packed a grand total of five boxes this week (up to 32 altogether), and did a lot of sorting and pitching. That feels good! We’re still working on sleeping quarters; we have a bid in on a sleepout. The auction closes in 44 minutes. I’ll report on the results another time!
Update: I had a phone call, so didn’t get this finished, and now the auction has closed. We got the sleepout! Someone else wanted it, too, but weren’t willing to go as high as we had decided on. It is a 20-foot shipping container that has been insulated and lined, with a glass sliding door in one end. Just a plain shipping container is more than we’re paying for this, and then we’d have to convert it yet.
Dead Boring Concert 2013
Our children participated in the annual Dead Boring Concert on November 2nd (for those who don’t know, Dead Boring is the name of our homeschool writing group). They sang two songs; I’ve included the lyrics in case it’s hard to make them out.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KoBlUfaVgM&w=560&h=315]
The Value of One
Could it be that up in heaven, God is sitting on His throne
Anticipating another sinner will soon become his own
Years of wasted living and years of toil and strife
Are just about to be over as he receives the gift of life
Chorus:
Go sound the horn! Strike up the choir!
A sinner is saved – saved from the fire!
No more in darkness, he’s received My Son,
All heaven’s rejoicing, that’s the value of one!
The Holy Spirit has been working to soften up their hearts
All He needs is a willing servant to simply do his part
Can you imagine up in the heaven the joy there will be that day
As a sinner bows his head to pray, can’t you hear the Father say?
Start construction on his mansion there on hallelujah’s street
He doesn’t know yet what is waiting when the Savior he will meet…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZaS5oQmIJA&w=560&h=315]
I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin
I wouldn’t let my dear Saviour in
Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night
Praise The Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
Just like the blind man, I wandered along
Worries and fears, I claimed for my own
Then like the blind man, that God gave back his sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I was a fool to wander and stray
For straight is the gate and narrow the way
Now I have traded, the wrong for the right
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
November
Here I am again–no new posts for awhile! So, you can enjoy a random sampling of photos from the past couple of weeks.
Milking Time
Every morning and evening, I go out and milk the cow. It’s a great time to be outside (most of the time), and very peaceful. Most of the time, I get to be by myself out there! Right now, I’m milking along the roadside, because we have her grazing there. Here are a few little glimpses of milking time.
And the news of the week? We have to move. Our landlord’s son wants this house, so within 2-3 months we have to find somewhere else to live.
Kaikoura Peninsula
We went to South Bay, the south side of the Kaikoura Peninsula, after leaving church yesterday. We walked up the steep path to the top of the peninsula, and then Gayle offered to go back and drive around to the other end to pick us up if we wanted to walk across the top. Sounded like fun to me, so we did that! I had never been across the entire top; we’ve walked around at sea level twice. It was a gorgeous day! The sun shone part of the time, and part of the time clouds came over. The colors were so vivid. A sailboat left South Bay about the same time we did, and we watched it tacking around to the north side of the peninsula. It arrived about the same time we did.
Haircut Night
Saturday night I finally got around to doing haircuts–long overdue, for some of our fellows! Even with a fast, efficient set of clippers (bought when I was in America several months ago–we haven’t found a good set here yet), it takes awhile to cut seven heads of hair! Yes, seven. I got tired of hearing comments about putting ponytails in Baby’s hair, and having people make it into Mohawks with water, and people fussing at me about how messy his hair was. So, I cut it. I don’t like that first haircut. He’s not a baby so much anymore!
Butter
It’s too windy to work outside this afternoon. I tried to plant garden, but kept loosing my balance because the wind was blowing so hard! So, I ended up in the house, not knowing what to do because my plans weren’t working out. I know, that’s a weird situation for a mother of several to be in. Yes, there are lots of things I should be doing, but when you have your mind fixed in one direction, and that direction changes, it takes awhile to redirect. Anyway, I finally remembered that I needed to make butter. Then, when I was most of the way through the process, I decided this might make a half-decent topic for a blog post, so you get pictures starting partway through. I love that cow of ours–she gives us so much!
Conversations
As a mother of seven, ranging in age from 1-15, I end up with quite an interesting range of conversations throughout a typical day. I was working in the kitchen a few minutes ago, and burst out laughing as I thought about the last three conversations I had with my children, over the past 15-20 minutes. First, I was sitting at the table, reading a lesson in a sourdough course I’m working through with Esther. I am quite interested in using sourdough, so I decided it would be a good Home Ec project for her. We are having fun reading it together, a lesson every few weeks, and trying out the recipes. While we were doing that, the 4-year-old came in, holding something in his hand, saying, “It can stretch out!” Turned out he had an earthworm, and was intrigued by how it stretched out longer. He laid it on the table, and we watched it hitch itself along, and discussed it for a few minutes, and then I was able to persuade him to take it back outside to the dirt where it wanted to be. Esther and I went on to discuss the sourdough artisan bread we were reading about, and then she went to work on a blog post and I went to work on straining broth off of beef bones.
The next thing I knew, she was telling me, “I need to hack into our printer!”
“What!??!” I said! Well, she had written a post for her blog several days ago, and set it to publish tomorrow. Today, she discovered that it had disappeared! The only way she can get it back is if she hacks into the printer, because she printed a copy for her dad and I to proofread. That’s what really struck me funny–earthworms to hacking a printer, in a few minutes! Whether she can accomplish it or not, is another story–we’ll see.
And now, the two littlest boys just came through again, saying hi, and the 4-year-old says, “The sky is straight lines, like stripes! Isn’t that neat?” The only reason I haven’t had conversations, simultaneously, about cows and sheep and ride-on mowers and motorbikes and chain saws and Laura Ingalls Wilder and you name it is that the other boys are away with Daddy right now! Sometimes I feel like my head is about to explode from having to carry on (intelligently) three or four wildly different conversations at once–but at the same time I really wouldn’t change anything. This time of life is anything but boring!