Celebrate

There's not much snow hanging around us to play in, but we've been quite busy anyway.  These three hulligans keep us hopping.  Keeping up with school papers, snack calendars, AWANA studies, and the general up-bringing of three kids wears this momma out some days.  The photo below was one of those moments where they were so precious but wouldn't calm down and stand still long enough for a picture.

Showing off their new Latham beanies from Nick.

If you know me in real life, you know that this fun little time we call the Sweetheart Supper, is to celebrate some of the ladies in my community keeps me busy for about a month straight.  Our local paper published an article on the event this year which brought more interest to the event:

Lovin' on the Ladies is quite fun though it does take a lot of work to organize.  Yesterday I did a quick count of volunteers who help with the meticulous details.  I counted 22 people who helped make this event a success.  The end result on Valentine's Night is always worth every minute of prep time:

Bethany serves Ms. Wenger.

After a week of Sweetheart Supper details, I was thankful to eat out on Friday night.  Thanks to our local fire department for not only providing emergency services but also for frying up some great fish at the start of the Lenten season.  A worthy cause to be donating too.

This week, the stone gathers no moss at our house.  I wasn't home most of the week nights.  You can imagine how my house looked.  Sure, my husband is helpful and does, but he leaves the fine-tuned details to me.  After a morning of cleaning, we spent the evening celebrating the culture of a Pakistani exchange student from our nearby college.  Saista loved every minute of being in the kitchen again after two months on a college campus.  She was also very patient with her kitchen helpers.  We shared a traditional Pakistani meal, learned about Saista's family, and had a great time getting to know this sweet girl.

Saista and Bethany making the dough for the garmen.

Tuesday through Thursday Sweetheart Supper + Friday night fish fry + Saturday Pakistani night = I was tired.

Sunday would have been a great napping day.  Except that it was almost two weeks after a certain little boy's birthday and we had yet to celebrate with our family.  So Sunday afternoon we were joined by two of Judah's friends, two sets of grandparents, and some good friends who love our children and we had a birthday party.  Complete with cake (for the 3rd time), pizza, soda, and lots of noise.  Happy birthday Judah!

After all the celebrating this past week, I'm thankful for a day off for Presidents Day.  I slept in a bit, lounged around the house, and am now heading out to buy some more beading materials with a girl friend!

farm girl

A note to a friend last week:

I thought of you this morning as I was making my way to work.  There's no way a few sentences can do justice to my farm girl experience this morning but I'll give it a quick shot.  Overnight we had sleet followed by up to 6" of snow and then lots of wind this morning.  I didn't even want to crawl out of bed but I also don't want to waste my vacation time being a sissy about the driveway.  We live in the rolling hills coming in our driveway, one goes down a hill, around a curve where the pone sits on one side and a deep drop off on the other.  Leaving the driveway in winter weather then, one has to go slow around the corner to be able to stay on the driveway, but yet get enough speed to make it up the hill to the highway.  Ryan headed out right away to check the status of the driveway (it's ¼ mile out to the highway).  It's like his 4WD weighted down vet truck floats on the snow.  Not true for our van.  He came in the house this morning and let me know the driveway would be fine.  The van probably wouldn't make it out so he had the old ford running.

 

The "old ford" as we call it is an old farm truck.  1987.  All manual stuff inside – still has the "brights" button on the floor below the clutch.  Our van has nothing fancy but this old ford is even less so.  The rearview mirror came off a few years ago and we've tried to get it back where it goes, but it has found a permanent place behind the seat.  No button selection for 4WD, and I think the hubs are permanently locked in so at least I don't have to mess with that.  A guy side-swiped Ryan a few years ago so the box is dented to high heaven on one side. Can you picture it?  Inside the cab, there is no cup holder for my coffee but I manage to find that it fits tightly in the back of the seat where the arm rest would fold up into.  Please don't spill coffee; that would just ruin my jeans and tshirt and attitude for the day.  Ryan's country-living-guy pals love this truck.  It's old but it has a "newer" Cummins diesel engine in it and the noise it makes would make any guy proud.  Let's not forget that my co-pilot is Ryan's huge chain saw, 2-cycle oil, helmet and face shield and who knows what else.  Since we only live on an acreage, this old farm truck has become a wood cutting truck.  The goose neck is well oiled and well used for a wood hauling trailer.  Can you picture it?

 

Then imagine that I'm headed down our snow covered driveway with old wipers that aren't working the best and I'm driving half way blind at first.  I had mentioned to Ryan that if we'd had a normal winter so far, we wouldn't think much of this storm.  I got out on the highway and didn't meet a single car, followed the plow that last mile into town and saw few people out.  Then I realized my breakfast burrito was still in the microwave… Still following the plow, I pulled into Hardees and wasn't sure if I was in the driveway or on the grass.  Waiting for my healthy breakfast, the snow started falling heavier.  Heading South out of town there was no evidence of the plow, apparently the North/South roads are drifting bad.  Imagine me trying to juggle the stick shift, wipers, and watching the road.  It wasn't a nerve-wracking drive.  It was a tad bit empowering… I'm not scared of some winter storm!  Into the office, our side of the building was dark.  No one in the office… may I should have been a little more cautious about that winter storm...