Sadie Rose and Patch the Pooh Bear

Once upon a time there was a little black dog named Sadie Rose, who had adopted a little, old, forgotten, stuffed animal Pooh Bear as her very own.  Sadie LOVED her Pooh oh so much.  Whenever she was allowed to come inside she would run and find her Pooh. She played with Pooh, took naps with Pooh, and gave kisses to Pooh.  But as with the Velveteen Rabbit, "Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."   

So it was with Pooh Bear.  Sadie's love is very zealous and a bit violent at times, and eventually he lost one of his eyes, and a little stuffing.  But Pooh didn't give up so easily, he was quickly whisked off to the medical surgery, and in no time at all was back, with just a fancy a patch to testify of the accident.

~Chs

P.S I also just realized that this was the 1500th post on this blog!!!! :)

Moving Onward and Upwards!

We have an odd tradition in our family.  One that we didn't really create or lay down, but one that has been strangely consistent throughout the years.  For some reason, we have as a family never stayed in one house more than 7 years.  That's right, sometimes less but usually around every 6-7 years we pack 'em up and move 'em out. I guess you could say we are wanderers of sorts, that we get restless, at least you could say that if you just looked at our moving record and not at the reasons behind each move.  The reasons have ranged everywhere from: we no longer fit in a house, needing a larger home to take in our Grandpa, moving nearer to the church we were attending, to the last and current reason, wanting to use the talents, and desires God has given us by working the land, and providing for our family.  In other words... we need more land!

So after much prayer and debate, we finally had the nerve to list our house on the market.  We are very grateful to be able to have a good friend of Faith and mine, Jan Nierzwick (who we met and work with at Banbury Cross) as our Realtor.  You can find our listing here.  Please feel free to share with friends and pass along the news!

Of course, we realized just how much fix up there was in our house before we wanted someone to look at it.  Thankfully nothing major, just a few touch ups painting wise. 

We are also planning on giving our girl's room a complete new and different coat of paint.  It's only a shame we have lived with that striking pink for 7 years only to change it right when we are leaving. ;)  I will be sure to post before and after pictures of the room once it is finished! 

 We are trying not to get our hopes up, because in our experience it can take a while to sell a house (a few years last time).  But Jan has assured us that the market is very much in favor of selling, so we are simply trusting that God knows the perfect timing, and has the exact place He wants us to go to on the other end.  Exciting, a little scary, but also relieving knowing that we don't have to worry about it; He holds it all in His hand.

~Chs

Hope-Spring

Yes I am in Michigan, and yes my window supplies me with the same snowy view as yours, and yes I realize that the "warmer" temperatures I am overjoyed with are STILL below freezing.  But in defiance of all those "cold" facts, I still get the feeling that we are over the hill and progressing towards spring.  Here is some evidence. 

Your eyes are not deceiving you, that is an actual Robin, and the photo was taken on January 31st.... this year. :)  Apparently the Robins were sick of the weather down south and decided to send up a delegation (5 were spotted in our yard) to see what it was like up here.  We have since seen all 5 messengers heading southward to report.  And though I am afraid we won't see them again anytime soon, it was nice to hear their hopeful little warble and see their cheerful rust colored chests for a short time.  We shall be awaiting their return! 

~Chs

The Farmer Boy's Birthday

We had just re-settled in after our "once-in-a-life-time" trip, and before we knew it, we realized it was Josiah's birthday.  We are so very thankful for this young man and all he does as a part of our now household of 6.

Josiah has a very detailed and artistic mind, and sometimes can be quite particular about the details.  His requested birthday breakfast was a January breakfast menu from the The Original White House Cook Book, 1887 Edition.  It consisted of: fried cornmeal mush with maple syrup drizzled on, hot apple sauce, fried ham slices, squash fries, Parker house rolls, and cocoa.

We were a bit busy that morning, but we managed to make time in the afternoon to go for Josiah's annual birthday hike. 

We made our way (well bundled) to Beaver Lake Trails. 

Our goal this year were visit two lakes.  They were rather off trail, and we had never found them before. 

{On the first of the lakes} 

One of Josiah's early presents was a pair of Binoculars; they came in handy for sighting some birds. 

Despite the chilly weather it was very beautiful, and we enjoyed our time in God's creation. 

This year there have been many happenings.  Earlier last year Josiah was able to purchase his truck from our dear Aunt Myrt and Uncle Warren.   The first week in January our Uncle Warren passed away.  We miss him very very much, so partly to honor him we created Josiah's cake in the shape of Uncle Warren's truck.  

Josiah has become a wonderful young man, who loves the LORD with his whole heart, is a hard worker, and such a blessing to us.

Happy Birthday Josiah Thomas!!

~Chs

There and Back Again: A Sauve Adventure Part 5

The last day in Texas had arrived.  Sunday morning we went to John and Mandi's church and then out to a Mexican Restaurant afterwards. (We had to have a well rounded taste of Texas right? ;).  We quickly packed up everything into the minivan and were able to capture a family photo before we left.  It was truly a delightful 3 days, and we are very thankful to John and Mandi for their hospitality.  We miss them and (Hercules of course!!) already and are praying that someday, somehow, we could all be closer.

So off we went, with 8-9 hours ahead of us till we made it to our destination in Texarkana, where we would stop for the night and then hope to make the grueling 18 or more hours home completely the next day. Or at least that was our plan.  We didn't have our friendly buzzing hornet strap problem, but apparently God didn't think we had learned enough patience, or complete reliance on Him (which would be entirely true) because He set another challenge in front of us.   Before we had left MI on this venture, we had known that our driver side window was being a little persnickety about coming back up, but while we were in TX, we hadn't had an issue with it at all and had pretty much forgotten about it.  Well, Sunday afternoon, right after lunch at "Senor Jaimes" we swung by the post office to drop some post cards in the box.  Of course we rolled the window down... and of course it refused to come back up. All the time we were packing, the guys were playing with the window, wiggling it, hitting it, taking it apart, fiddling with it.. nope nothin' doin'.  

Not wanting to be too delayed on our departure, and thanking God for the 60 some degree weather we drove northwards with a lovely breeze blasting us through the open window.  But the direction of our driving and the time caused us some anxiety.  That's right I said northwards, of course, and it was late afternoon so the temperature was dropping, and besides all that, Dad was having a hard time hearing anything, and the rest of us were looking a little bit like dogs in front of a blow dryer. (maybe not that bad, but it wasn't lovely) 

We had just made it through Houston and took an exit to get gas. As we tried to locate the gas station, we caught sight of a Home Depot sign.  Quickly we swung over and Dad and Josiah ran in to buy some heavy duty plastic, duck tape, and scissors (those guys think of everything :P).  We then went on to the gas station where us girls ran in for a restroom break, while the men tried to tape up our window.  When we came out, a nice gentleman was helping them fit the plastic in and tape it properly.  It turned out he was homeless, and we were very thankful for his assistance.  So we took off, Arkansas bound again... but  very quickly we were made aware of a problem caused by our solution.  There was no more breeze but... it was deafening.  Despite our attempt to tape it super tight, the plastic acted as a drum, serenading us with a horrible symphony of pounding.  Faith (who was driving) was going bonkers, and the rest of us were getting sore throats from trying to talk over the noise.  Finally Faith shouted above the cacophony inquiring if we had an extra pillow.  The pillow was passed up, and we all sighed with relief.  Silence, or at least close to it.  A second pillow completed the remedy, but of course entirely blocked the view out the left window, making driving rather stressful.

Just after midnight we crawled into our hotel in Texarkana.  We tumbled into bed only too aware that we would have to get up early enough to find a mechanic to fix our window.  That was a must.

The next morning came all to soon, as we gathered our things and headed out to our taped up mini van. One of the Hotel staff told us there was a Orr mechanic just down the service drive, so we took off south.

We didn't find the particular place so we kept on going.... back into Texas. :P  

We never did find the particular shop, but God led us to "meineke" car care center. They didn't specialize in windows but they said they thought it could be fixed, so we all  trooped into the waiting area and we waited and waited.

Thankfully they had some very interesting books (on birds and planes :) to bide our time with, and soon enough the man came to tell us that the motor was busted, but that they were able to pull up the window, and tape it.  They also in his words "put a wedge in so that the window won't fall down when y'all go over any bumps.  It's not the prettiest thing, but it'll work."

... This was our wedge. :)  They most likely found it on the ground out back, but hey, it did work, and it provided us with some really good laughs!

So we drove and drove... through Missouri... 

...over the Mississippi river...

and through Illinois, laden with the hope of Spring.  As darkness fell and we made it closer to Chicago, it began to snow, almost a white out.  This of course slowed us down some, and our ETA was moved to 3 AM.  Yes a bit late but we would rather just drive through than stop at a hotel and have to drive a little way the next day.

Finally we sighted this friendly sign.  Ahhh... Home sweet home, Oh Michigan my Michigan! :)

4 or so hours later we pulled into our snow covered driveway.  The temperature, in stark contrast to the high 50's of that morning - a blazing -1 degree! 

We were so grateful for a delightful trip and safe travels, but were glad to be home, and now our visit to that warm sunny land almost seems like a transient dream...

~Chs

There and Back Again: A Sauve Adventure Part 4

God truly answers prayer even about simple things like birthday celebrations.  7:30 Saturday morning, I received a text from John.  They had fixed the problem at work, and he wasn't needed any more; he could come home!!!  Hooray!

We had a lovely relaxed morning starting with a special breakfast of cinnamon bread french toast drizzled with our own homemade maple syrup.

Later that day we went out to the park right on the gulf.  The water rivaled the sky for blueness, and beat it for beauty.   

Angie was at the park with the Selah and her boys; Valor and Honor.  It was fun to get to meet Honor (who adores his Uncle John) who wasn't even born last time we were down at John and Mandi's wedding 3 years ago.

Hercules was a very good boy at the park, and got LOTS of attention from passersby. He's just so handsome they couldn't help asking to pet him I guess! :)

Honor wasn't so sure about Hercules, as he had been played with a little roughly by him before, and he thought it was pretty goofy that Uncle John let Hercules give him a hug.

We enjoyed walking out on the pier (though it smelled a bit fishy) and looking down at the water.

"Happy Birthday, Uncle John!!"

After lunch John, Mandi, Dad, Faith, Josiah and I headed out to see the USS Lexington museum.  It was magnificent.

They said that the deck could hold 3 football fields.

Below deck, the quarters were a bit cramped, but there was so much down there.

There was a barber shop.

Tight little metal berths.

A very interesting Pearl Harbor exhibit, a cafeteria, a chapel, and the list goes on and on.  

We spent over 2 hours there, and barely looked at half of it.  Definitely an amazing museum.  We had noticed the fisherman down below the ship.  It was amazing how shallow the water was there.   

Mother had made this amazing cake while we were gone.  Banana Chocolate Chip cake, in the shape of Texas... but his heart's still in Michigan. :)

We had such a large supper (Homemade Pizza) that we did presents while we digested. :)

And so ended our last full day in Texas.

The story is almost complete.

~Chs