Sand Dudes

Yeah, It's Almost Summer Holidays

Well seeding is done and we just have to spray pot holes and then we hope to take some holidays! We are looking forward to lots of family time. The last few days we have been hunting for a camper. We feel our hotel days are over as there are too many of us for 1 room, and it gets too costly. So we are going camping, yeah! We are hoping to get a camper early next week. Ta, ta for now.

The Owl Episode Continues

So here's whats up with the owls. Last week when we thought our owl adventure had come to an end, the owlette's kept popping up all over the yard. We weren't sure what was happening with them. At the end of the week 2 of them had found each other and were cuddled under the boys treehouse. Every day they seem to move a little higher in the tree and get a little braver. And just when we were wondering if the mother was actually taking care of them, we saw she had left a dead rat for them. So we were happy to know she was actually feeding them, but not to happy where she left the food. On the platform of the boy's treehouse! In the words of Jennifer EEEEWWWWW!!! The next morning when we went out there, the rat was gone. So either the little owlette's ate it or some cat got a free meal. I have also noticed the mother hanging around on top of a really tall tree close by, but not too close, just keeping an eye on them. What's really interesting is we have friends who had a robin build a nest on their childrens tree house. She said they can't even play in it anymore because the robins swoop at them and pester them. And here we have a huge owl who doesn't bother us at all. So that proves that size doesn't always mean everything. Just a note of encouragement for all us vertically challenged people!!

THE BIG PICTURE

This is to all you homemakers out there. I have been thinking a lot lately about my calling as a wife and mother. I think society and even the church is missing the biblical patten for motherhood. Sometimes I find myself adopting the world's views of a homemaker instead of my Creator's view. So I ask myself What is the big picture? I want to be a submissive wife, I want to teach my children to love God with all their heart, soul and mind, I want our families actions and beliefs to follow God's Word and be honoring to Him, and when I stand before God on judgement day, I want Him to say 'Well done thou good and faithful servant'. So every day's duties, wether it be washing dishes, changing a diaper, making a meal, getting a part from town, looking at a spider, dealing with disobedient children, giving a hug, reading a story, getting up in the middle of the night with a sick child, grocery shopping ect., every act is part of the big picture. "Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands." So the question I need to be asking myself is, am I building my house, or pulling it down? Am I building my house by godly words and attitutes. Or am I tearing it down by grumbing and complaining about what God has put on my agenda for today. Am I building my house by being a submissive and loving wife, or am I tearing it down by belittling my husband in front of others and grudgingly doing what he desires. Being a homemaker is hard work, it's 24/7, but it is also very rewarding. The other day I saw a wall hanging that I wanted to throw in the garbage. It said "Housework makes me ugly" and it had a picture of a woman looking very 'unkept'. As I thought about it I realized this quite often the impression that society gives to homemakers. If you don't have a prestigious job, if you aren't busy with ministry in your church, you are somehow not quite 'beautiful'. Well I strongly disagree. What a job we have! Think about the responsibility and ministry that we have. We have the opportunity every day to encourage our husband in their calling, and raise little humans into godly adults. WOW, WOW, WOW. If that's not a job, I don't know what is! As homemakers we need to get to the place where we love our job and we are not ashamed to say so. I love being a homemaker. Does it mean sacrifice? You bet! Does it mean denying myself? You bet! Is it hard work? You bet! But think about the big picture. What an amazing opportunity! We may not be able to do everything that a single woman, or a woman with a job may be able to do. We don't leave our job at the office. But the rewards are eternal. Look at the big picture. Children and even husbands today are often viewed as a hinderance, an intrusion, or a burden when in fact they are our ministry. When we see how valuable our contribution can be, we should be overwhelmed with gratitude to God for being 'blessed' with such an opportunity. Making a home, serving a husband and raising children is an amazing privelage. LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE!

This Week's Advice by Brooke

Take time to smell the flowers...

Or EAT the flowers?

The rest of the story...

Another owl update: On Friday I was working in the garden and I heard Zachary yelling "There's an owl in our sandbox!"

Right away I knew that an owlette had fallen out of the tree.

So I went over there and sure enough,

there was an owl in the sandbox.

He puffed up and made a

"clattering" sound with his beak.

Sounded kind of like when you click your teeth together. He was terribly intimidating,

but when I went to pick him up with gloves he didn't do anything.

We then realized his "clicking" was worse than his bite

and we all had a good look and feel of him.

Then we set him up on the playstructure hoping the mom

would come and find him in the night. Close to dark when the girls were jumping on the trampoline,

they spotted the other owlette on the ground close by.

He appeared to be a little older than the first one

and a little more 'testy'.

We caught him and put him on the playstructure with the other one.

And then went inside hoping that the parents

would find them by morning. The next morning we were happy to find that one owl was gone,

but the other one was still hanging around.

We were leaving for the day so we just left him on the grass. On Sunday morning he still hadn't left. We left for church and when we came home he was gone! So our owl adventure has come to an end. Face to face with

'little owlette'

Isn't he

adorable?

Brooke & Owlette

being introduced UPDATE: Just as we were writing this post, Mark's mom came over and said

she had a visitor! GUESS WHO?

The owl is back.

So right now he is sitting on our deck watching everyone as they go by!

I guess we will put him out in the bush again tonight

and hope he either learns to fly or his parents start looking for him!

There's Been A Sighting!

Here is an update on our owl visitor. We are now sure that she has babies. Two owlette's were spotted on Sunday. I am sad to report that we were only able to get a clear shot of one of these fuzzy little creatures. If you look carefully to the right of the little owl, you can see another fuzz ball. This is the other baby. So far the only action we have seen from them, is poking their little heads out once in awhile. We will bring you more photos when we have them. That's it for now.

It's planting time!

It's that time of year again.

This year we got it almost all the garden planted in one day!

Here are some pics of the fun we had.

Megan planting onions

Planning, Planting, Planning, Planting

Kerri has an casual way of planting!

The boys play on their race track.

The boys make good use of the time

Looks like their having fun

For those of you who wonder if we have a big garden, this is part of it, behind the raspberries, is another nice size plot. We also have another plot in the back of the yard that we plant our crop of potatoes in.

We're Being Watched!

This owl took the libery to make her home in a tree in our front yard! Up until now I haven't been able to get any good pictures. But yesterday she was very cooperative. So guess what we've decidec to learn about? Owls!!! This ones a great horned owl. They are the largest owl in North America. The "horns" are actually just tufts of feathers. They weigh about 3 lbs. and have a wing span of 18-25 inches. They fly almost silently. She can come back and forth from the nest and we hardly notice except that she is gone. When we were cleaning up the bush she stayed through all the tractor and people noise but got "scared off" when she heard a large tree crack. We thought she might not come back, but she did. Owls do not build nests. They find nests abandoned by other birds like hawks. This nest looks very rickity and I wonder how it can hold the mother and her little ones. They lay between 1 & 3 eggs. Both the mother and the father incubate the eggs. (So I guess I shouldn't keep calling them a she!) The eggs hatch 26-35 days after they are laid. We saw a broken egg on the ground under the nest a couple of weeks ago, but so far we have seen no baby action. At 6-7 weeks the young venture out onto nearby branches. By 10 weeks they are learning to fly. The first summer the young owls continue to live in the same area as their parents. By fall they will fly off to find their own territory. So I guess we will hear a little more hoo, hoo, hooing around our yard this summer. The parents split up when the babies are on their own. They are solitary animals that prefer to live alone. Right now we enjoy listening to them 'talk' to each other back and forth. So that's all for now. We will keep you posted on future happenings with our owl friends!

Building A Playstructure

Over the last couple of weeks we have been cleaning out our bush that had many fallen trees and we made a playstructure.

This was a great family project as it took lots of hard work, lots of thinking

and lots of cooperation. Here are a few pics of the beginning, during and the finished product.

Well almost finished, we have a climbing wall to add yet! The beginning Burning the many branches You mean it has to be level? Everyone has their part Armed and industrious The slide is finally done! Here comes the sand Even Nathan found a job Finished Product

Spring Smiley Faces

Jennifer and cousin Isaiah Caleb and Brooke enjoying the view Finally got Josh on camera Nathan & Jesse Cuddling It's not hard to catch Brooke smiling! Nathan enjoying the morning sunshine

Nate turned 2!

It was Nathan's birthday on April 4. He is the only one that I can remember easily what year he was born. 04/04/04 Nathan is a very fun kid! He makes sure he's heard and usually has lots to say. He has his little sayings, like 'hello' kind of said with a grunt (hard to explain), he calls Joshua 'fafua" and says he's going to ride on a chicken! He is such a blessing to our family and we have many laughs because of what he does. He is very strong in what he knows he wants and we look forward to how God is going to use this someday. He likes animals, but only from a distance. If they make any kind of noise he is out of there! Thank you God for Nathan.

Being Content

Yesterday I was reading a story to the boys about a little boy who wanted a new coat. His mom was poor and so she couldn't buy him one, but she mended his old one. That wasn't good enough for the little boy, and he went to bed sulking. While he was sleeping he had a dream that a policeman came and took him out of his warm home, into a cold stormy night and showed him two little boys who had no home to sleep in and no warm coat. The moral of the story was to be content with what you have. So a little while after reading this story to the boys, the girls and I were in the kitchen, baking and making supper. Well it didn't take long before we ran out of counter space. And the first thing that came out of my mouth was "We need more counterspace". Realizing that my little boys were listening to my discontentment, I talked with them about what my response should have been. It should have been 'thank you God that we have so much food to eat that we do run out of counter space, and that we have a house to live in.' It was a great lesson for all of us!

"For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content." Phil. 4:11b

BABIES

Babies are such nice ways to start people!

It's Zachary!

Those of you who know Zachary, know how this happens. In his life so far he has cracked his elbow, had 5 stiches and knocked out 3 teeth. He has LOTS of energy and I could never keep up with him all day even if I tried. The good in all this? I am learning to trust AGAIN! When it happened the first thing we heard was 'I can't walk.' We have learned from experience that when Zachary says he is hurting, He is hurting! So we prayed for him first thing, waited about an hour, asked him to stand, and he still couldn't walk, so off we went to ER at Boundary Trails. He was a little trooper. Yesterday we went in to get xrays done to see if it is healing properly and it is. So he will have to have the cast for 3 more weeks. Another good thing out of this is Zachary is learning at a young age the consequences of his whims. As soon as he had his cast he asked if we had a really big boot so he could play outside. We told him he could sit outside but wouldn't be able to play. At that point you could see it all sinking in! And then the other day he told his almost 2 year old brother Nathan (who reminds us a lot like Zachary) not to jump off of things because he might end up with this~and pointed to his cast:) It was neat to see the compassion Zachary's brothers all had toward him when he had to sit still for the first couple of days. They would always bring what they were playing with and sit beside him. It's times like this when you see how close their bond is! So that's the update on Zachary!

The Last Guess Who Was...

Nathan!!!

Guess Who Has a Cast??

For Our Home Schooled Friends

TO BE EDUCATED

(by Carolyn Caines)

If I learn my ABC's, can read 600 words per minute, and can write with perfect penmanship, but have not been shown how to communicate with the Designer of all language. I have not been educated.

If I can deliver an eloquent speech and persuade you with my stunning logic, but have not been instructed in God's wisdom, I have not been educated.

If I have read Shakespeare and John Locke and can discuss their writings with keen insight, but have not read the greatest of all books-the Bible-and have no knowledge of it's personal importance, I have not been educated.

If I have memorized addition facts, multiplicaion tables and chemical formulas, but have never bee disciplined to hide God's Word in my heart, I have not been educated.

If I can explain the law of gravity and Einsten's theory of relativity, but have never been instructed in the unchangeable laws of the One Who orders our universe, I have not been educated.

If I can classify animals by their family, genus and species, and can write a lengthy scientific paper that wins an award, but have not been introduced to the Maker's purpose for all creation, I have not been educated.

If I can play the piano,, the violin, six other instruments, and can write music that moves men to tears, but have not been taught to listen to the Director of the universe and worship Him, I have not been educated.

If I can run cross-country races, star in basketball and do 100 push-ups without stoppping, but have never been shown how to bend my spirit to do God's will, I have not been educated.

If I can identify a Picasso, describe the style of da Vinci, and even paint a portrait that earns an A+, but have not been guided into a career of God's choosing for me, I have not been educated.

However, if one day I see the world as God sees it, and come to know Him, Whom to know is life eternal, and glorify God by fulfilling His purpose for me, I have been educated.

TO BE EDUCATED

GOD GIVE ME WISDOM

God, give me wisdom to see that today is my day with my children, That there is no unimportant moment in their lives. May I know no other career is as precious, No other work so rewarding, No other task so urgent. May I not defer it nor neglect it, But by Thy Spirit accept it gladly, joyously, and by Thy grace realize: That the time is short and my time is now– For children don’t wait. Written by Helen Young