Christmas Preparations

Our Christmas was a little quieter and less busy than usual. I'm thankful for that. I wasn't able to send out a family letter this year. We were a little short on funds and I was a lot short on energy.  We decided to focus on keeping our Christmas celebration simple and centered on the real gift of Jesus and His salvation.  Even the gift-giving this year had a special place as the children each participated in sharing gifts with each other and others. They learned in a whole new way what a blessed feeling it is to bless someone in the name of Jesus. 

Elizabeth handmade many gifts this year. This is one she hand-stitched for Nana in California. Isn't it just darling?

Susannah and Ruth love the kitchen.  They loved helping with baking and made some yummy treats to share for gifts.Ruth's "Famous" french toast. Not really a Christmas treat, but she sure was proud of her culinary accomplishment!

More table decorations by Elizabeth.

Our Day of Giving Thanks

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner in our home this year. It's been a few years since we've done that. I remembered it being a time of cooking, baking, and not a little stress trying to get all that accomplished. This year, with the children being a bit older, I was so wonderfully surprised at what a Blessing it was to prepare for such a special day. We enjoyed all of the food preparations as well as decorating. Every little detail was such a joy to me because I was sharing the efforts with the children. Elizabeth, who is particularly gifted in the area of hospitality, put together most of the lovely table decorations. 

We were joined by David's parents, sister and her husband and our niece and nephew. They brought even more food and, wow, did we have a feast!  It was a lovely day spent with family in prayer, laughter and sharing.  We hope to continue making each Thanksgiving Day just as special in the years to come.

School Days Fun!

We "hit the books" hard once we got settled in from our trip. Now, hitting the books doesn't look the same in every home. At our house, some of our favorite ways to learn involved taking what we've learned in the books and making it fun.  Here's a few things that have kept us learning, smiling and busy in the last couple of months:

A Christopher Columbus Party

Punch with Floats - The Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, 17 Egg boats that accompanied his second voyage, "Wormy" biscuits and plenty of vitamin C-rich fruits to keep away the scurvy.

Columbus meeting King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Their "advisor" is sitting nearby the King.

The Admiral and his Captain praying as they find land for the first time.

The new settlers on the way to the new land.

We were invited to visit a rock quarry. The children had a blast digging for micah, quartz and other treasures.

Our little artists also had fun painting the Cistine Chapel like Michaelangelo during history lessons.

A Hard-Working Team

Keeping life tidy and smooth requires a team effort around here. It also requires some creativity as we work to fit a growing family in a cozy space. We're all in progress, but occassionally some of us do some pretty good work. Every so often we take before and after pics to motivate us and celebrate our accomplishments.

These are pics of our side entryway/mudroom. Benjamin is showing the custom closet built by David and designed by Tracy. It helps, in a small way, to keep all those shoes, hats, gloves, and other accessories from taking over the house!  With all that organization, it still requires daily cleaning to keep it all together. Benjy did a great job this day getting the shelves and entryway in tip-top shape!

Joshua did a great job painting our room this fall in the second big Room Switch-A-Roo we've done this year.  He rolled out three large walls in our bedroom with only a few holidays to speak of.  He's on his way!

Here are some pics of  our new School Room. We haven't had a designated school room in years. We decided to put in a magnetic chalkboard wall and found some great used matching desks for the boys.  I just love having all these great projects to keep me decluttering and organizing.

The last link of our trip was a little more hurried. As the terrain changed and became more familiar, I think a lot of the family were getting anxious to be home. The weather also took a dive.  Traveling in the RV when it's cold and raining every day isn't so fun.  We meant to spend more time in KY than we did, but in the end, the Lord worked out the timing just right. David had some jobs that needed tending at home and our very last leg of the journey, from PA to NH left us with a broken brake master cylinder. (I don't exactly know what that means, but I DO know it was a scary drive home!)   Most of what we saw was from the windshield. Good thing it gives such a great view!

View from our campsite in the Ozarks

Crossing the Mississippi. You'd think a girl who grew up on the Mississip' wouldn't be taking pics of barges, lol! But, it was exciting to see them after all the years I've been away from the midwest.

We made one last stop in PA to enjoy meeting yet another family I've met through my internet connections. We were so blessed to spend Sunday morning (and all day!) in worship and fellowship with these new and dear friends.  No pics of our visit, but we did get one of an Amish buggy driving down their street. That was a treat for Elizabeth, especially, since she longed to see and visit the Amish communities on our way.

And the drive home. We made it a straight shot from PA through the night. Praying all along the way that our brakes would hold. I only wish I'd have gotten a pic of the children's faces when they woke up to see we were parked in our own driveway. It was PRICELESS!! We crawled into our luxurious, big beds and crashed.  The next day felt like Christmas as we all relaxed in our pj's and savored the feeling of living in such a "castle" as we do. At least, that's what it felt like after over a month in the RV. Thanks for sharing our trip with us!

We actually did make it out of Texas...and it didn't take two months to do it!  It's just taken me that long to find a minute to update the blog since we got home.  Our access to wifi was minimal on our way home. When we did have it, I wasn't always able to update, since we were pretty worn out.  We did have an amazing experience, however. We're so thankful for the wonderful people we met and the great adventure we shared!!  Here are some more highlights...

Cadillac Ranch on Route 66 in Texas. Now, how many people get to see the cars covered in ICE!!

Oh, REALLY??!!  Heehee!

We cruised into Oklahoma next. We found some more great stopping points on our tour of Old Route 66.  Our visit with Harley and Annabelle was most memorable! We were welcomed to great conversation and serenaded with some favorite gospel songs. What a unique experience! Our hosts were more than generous. We're so glad to have met them!

Movin' along, we stopped at the Route 66 Museum. There was also a great history museum included.

We loved Oklahoma. We looked around a bit, seriously considering it as a future relocation spot. The countryside is beautiful and the people very friendly. We spent one evening with a friend of mine I met on my favorite online community. She and her family were so kind and generous to host us for dinner, share their home and driveway for us to rest for the night. It was a wonderful stop for me, especially. I LOVED being able to chat in real life with my friend Kristin. Too bad I forgot to take pics!

Our last stop in Oklahoma was a Must Stop for the kids. In our research of Route 66 before we left, the one place they all agreed they wanted to see was the Blue Whale. What a treat to be able to see it for real and have fun climbing all around it. Just thinking back to the days when Route 66 and all the businesses and attractions on her way were thriving is such fun for a sentimental, nostalgic fool like me!