We have a new house!!

Well, it has been quite a journey. . .literally. But, once again, God has taken our small faith and showed us just how BIG he really is! Our house here in Orange City sold June 8th. We spent a week looking online at houses in Tennessee and then traveled down there early Father's Day morning. Eleven hundred miles is quite a journey! We've gotten pretty good at doing it in one day, though!
We spent Monday looking at 12 houses, I think we did it in record time! Tuesday we explored around Sevierville & Pigeon Forge (only 40 minutes to Pigeon Forge from our place). Wednesday we went back to look at our top 3 choices, which God sought fit to make only our top 2 because one of them sold on Tuesday! We were able to visit with the owner of our top choice and I guess we made a good impression because she was very easy to deal with after we made our offer! By Wednesday night, around 10 o'clock we had reached an agreement. God is good! All the time!
So, here's some pictures of the new place. Just a few regular details: it has 3 bedrooms, two baths, an attached main floor garage, a shop, a canning kitchen in the basement, a three season room and a very nice backyard with a place for a garden! The perfect house for us! It also has a view of the Appalachian Mountains out the backyard.

The Front:The backyard:The sitting room off of the dining and kitchen:The three season room:

So, we now have two bathrooms and a well appointed basement! (Anyone who's been to our house in the last 5 years knows how important that is!) So come on down! We'll be moving in around July 26th and would love to show off our new geographic features!

Beautiful Smiles!!!

This happened a week ago, but. . .

One week ago, Thursday, June 7, Savannah started her day looking like this. . .

A few hours later she looked like this!!!!!


The metal you see now is just a retainer. Hooray!!!!

The Bathroom is DONE!!!!!

Well, the bathroom project is officially-nearly-finished! (I just thought of 2 more things we are going to do, but can't until they come in.) We started this mess at Christmas if you will recall and we finally finished it this last week! You wouldn't think that such a small space could take so long. I guess we underestimated it! Here's some photo's so you can enjoy the visual fruits of our labors. If you come visit you can enjoy the actual fruits!

Blizzard of '07

Well, we really did end up having a blizzard! They extended the Blizzard warning until Saturday, March 3rd at 6:00am. The college asked students not to leave on Spring Break until Sunday afternoon because the roads were so bad. So, here's some pictures to remember all the mayhem by.

We really do have some concrete under there don't we?

Just a physical reminder of exactly how much snow we had in the alley!

The drift around the back door. And that is after we shoved and pushed to get out!

The north side of the house. Even the barrel was completely covered!

In Like a Lion. . .

Well, it's been threatening for the last 18 hours, but it looks like March is going to begin with a roar! For the first time in our 12 years in the Midwest we are in a Blizzard Warning for the next 36 hours. Needless to say, the kids don't have school today. They probably won't have school tomorrow either, but the school district won't announce that until late tonight. Now we just get to hope that the electricity stays on!

Installing Husband

Dear Readers, Do not think I am this clever, I copied this off of Shalee's Diner and thought it was a scream! Enjoy and feel free to share.
-Melynda

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance -- particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed, Desperate

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter the command: "http: I Thought You Loved Me.HTML" and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might considerbuying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck,

Tech Support

A New Adventure

We're off on a new adventure! We have accepted a job at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee. (All this cold weather has finally driven us out of the north!) So, if you are ever in East Tennessee, look us up. Just don't try to visit before August because we won't be there yet!

It wasn't an easy decision to leave Northwest Iowa. We've made some wonderful friends and great memories, but God has opened a door that we needed to walk through at this time, so here we are. Sean will be able to teach actual Physics majors and have a 2 person department for the first time in his career. And, we'll get to live in a beautiful place with TREES and GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES! (That's a pretty big plus in case you couldn't tell from the all caps.)
So, keep us in your prayers, and especially pray that our house will sell quickly! It was so easy last time we moved and we would like to have a repeat of that experience.

Short, But Sweet

Savannah has also participated in Large Group Speech this winter. She was a part of the JV Improv Troupe, (can you believe it?) She had a great time doing improv, I think she enjoyed not having to memorize any lines - and practices were a lot like playing games! Her group didn't make it to the state competition, but they had a good time and did a great job! It was definitely a fun experience.

Honor Orchestra

I'm a bit behind, obviously, but Duncan participated in the Northwest Iowa Honor Orchestra on January 25th. They spent the entire day rehearsing with the guest conductor, who is the conductor of the Sioux City Symphony. Then in the evening, they put on a beautiful concert. Duncan had the honor of being the first chair bassist! One of the songs they played was one of the movements from Carmina Burana. When Duncan got the music in December he felt pretty ripped off that the basses had such a boring part, but when we heard it all together the bass line really added alot to the piece. It was great fun to listen to them and see him up there playing.

All Grown Up

High School seems to be full of firsts and this last weekend we experienced another one. Savannah went to her first formal! Her friends Amy & Ranell decided that they were all going to go together and have a great time dressing up, which as you can see, they did! Finding a dress was an adventure, but we managed to do so within budget. Savannah had a wonderful time getting all "dolled up" and mom and dad survived the late night.

Funny Things People Say

Here are some funny things I have heard the last couple of days:
"What a heat wave, it's nearly freezing!"
"I can't believe how warm it is today, it must be about freezing."
Of course, these things are only heard during the winter time around here! But we've had a 53 degree warm-up since last Tuesday, so it really does feel warm!

Am I really out there?

Thanks a lot Jennifer!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Well, if I take this at face value, I don't exist. But, I think I will defer to Descartes, because I know I think! And I know my cats think I exist, though the reason I exist at least in their view is quite selfish. :-)

Dreaming of wool

Days like today have me dreaming of wool: wool socks, wool mittens (double layered), wool hats, wool sweaters, woolen underwear. After nearly 2 months of above average temperatures, northwest Iowa has decided to be below normal! I don't think we made it above 0 degrees yesterday (and that is not celsius believe me). It was about -2 when I shoveled the drive yesterday afternoon, but at least the sun was shining!

Today on the way to school the kids and I played the "how low can it go" game with the thermometer in the van. The record lowest temperature this morning was -25! At least this blast of artic air isn't supposed to stick around very long!

We finally received a measureable amount of snow Sunday. I think we got around 6" maybe a little less. When the temperature is this cold the snow glistens like someone poured a bunch of glitter all over it! It will be quite a while before this snow is warm enough to try to make snowballs or a snowman out of it. Snow this dry doesn't pack unless you get it wet, and I wouldn't recommend spitting outside right now!

Maybe I will go and see if I have any wool yarn around!

Christmas 2006 Family Photo

Here's the whole gang! Pretty soon we are going to have to give up on having the kids stand in front of us! They have grown so much in the last year!

We leave tomorrow for East Peoria. May you all have a very blessed Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

'Twas the week after finals and what did we do?
Musical concerts, solos & home projects too!

A two hour High School Extravaganza,
A french horn "Finale",
A bathroom in scraps,
And don't forget the borrowed zoo!

As per our usual vacation plans, we have a home improvement project going on. The bathroom wallpaper is coming down this year! We haven't quite decided on a color for the paint, but we'll be sure and put a picture up when we get it done.

This week has been full of musical activities! Savannah had her first High School concert Monday night. She played in the Symphonic Band and the Full Orchestra. She is 4th chair clarinet in the Symphonic Band (quite an accomplishment for a freshman). One of the upperclassmen recruited her for the Full Orchestra position.

Duncan's french horn solo was last night. Sean was busy getting the accompianment down this weekend! Duncan did a good job. His horn hasn't been getting much of a workout this fall, the bass has been much more of a priority. We'll have to work on getting them a little more equal time this next semester. And, speaking of the bass, Duncan was named the 1st chair bass in the Northwest Iowa Honor Orchestra! We are so proud of him! They will have their concert in late January. Tomorrow is the last day of school and also the Middle School's Christmas concert, assuming of course that the weather doesn't mess things up. The kids had a 2 hour late start this morning because of icy roads.

What's up with the "borrowed zoo" you say? Well, we are pet sitting for some friends of ours over the break. Let's see, there's a dog (pictured at left), 2 hamsters, 3 fish, and a morning dove. Add all of that to our own menagerie of 2 cats and 2 hamsters and we have quite a houseful. The cats have been in hiding since the dog arrived, Jaker's occasionally ventures out only to hide under Savannah's bed once again. However, the dog is just as scared as the cats, he hasn't gotten a good enough look at either one of them to know just what is staring at him from under the bed! All he knows is that there is something very scary under there! As you can see this is a very interesting looking dog. His name is "Shadow", but we like to call him the "Pirate Dog". One of his eyes didn't really develop so it is mostly shut, while the other one is very large, so he looks like he is saying, "ARGHH!" all the time!

A Cat's Life

Oh to have the luxury of seeking out and spending all of your time basking in a winter sunbeam! The cats love catching rays in the TV room. Usually there is some controversy about who gets the best sunbeam, but today all seems peaceful. Jakers seems to be the most relaxed, but Anastasia's old bones spend more time in the sunbeams. I love that posture with the head turned nearly upside down!

Transformers!

Purple Flower Day 1:
Breakfast time, November 24, 2006
"I think the carnation might need some more water," said Mom.
Lately we had been noticing that the carnation I got at the play from my friend Amy Korver, was not as bright a pink as it had been when I first got it. You see, at the play, which was The Music Man, there is a tradition on performance nights for people to bring flowers, candy, and random presents for different groups of people or individuals in the play. These gifts can be from friends, family, or other people in the play who wanted to give presents to everyone. I was on the props crew in the play. Me and some of my friends who were Wan-Tan-Ye Girls, I don't think I spelled that right, all got flowers from Amy. I, aside from my carnation, I also got a pop, lots of candy, and truckloads of chocolate, some of which I still need to eat. The best gift that I probably got was the carnation. It's been sitting on our table for several weeks now, and doesn't look that much different than when it started out. The only differnce is that it is now a lighter pink than when it started. We decided that we should try to make it turn purple. So we filled it up with water and then put 4 drops of blue food coloring in the water. So far, nothing has happened, but it's only been about 15 minutes. We hope to see some purple by tonight.
Signing out,
Agent 007 (sec)

Recent Musical Successes

Well, we've finally got some new news and a chance to sit down and tell you about it! October was a busy month. Savannah finished up Marching Band season the last weekend in October. The band competed at the Youth in Music Championship in Minneapolis, MN. They took first in their class and nearly swept the caption awards (best drumline, best guard line, best hornline). Now she is focusing on the concert band season.

Duncan has also been busy with his music. He auditioned for the Northwest Iowa honor band and made it so we were in Storm Lake this last Saturday for the concert. It was a long day for him, but I think he enjoyed it! The middle school also had their fall concert a couple of weeks ago and Duncan played in the band and orchestra. The french horn hasn't been getting much of a workout lately, but he has a solo contest in December so he has something to challenge him. He also auditioned for the Northwest Iowa Honor Orchestra this last week and should find out in a couple of weeks if he made that.
The semester continues to march on for Sean and I. We'll really feel like it is nearly over after the Thanksgiving Break. Everyone is starting to feel the drag of tests and assignments. The students really need a break and so does the faculty!

Serious Competition

Well, you think we would have figured it out several weeks ago, but marching band is serious business around here! Savannah had her first competition last Saturday in Sioux City. It was an all day affair, as in 18 hours! We went down for the evening finals and had our first marching competition experience. It was quite fun and also eye-opening. It is amazing to see a complete show and know how hard all those kids have worked to make it look so great. The POD placed 3rd overall at this competition, losing to 2 schools that are probably twice MOC-FV's size or more.

This Saturday we were in Sioux Falls for the Festival of Bands competition. The middle school marching band (7th & 8th graders) marched in the morning parade. They received a participation award since they were the only middle school band that marched (they don't let them officially compete against the high schools to save morale in the high school bands). :-)Duncan wasn't very positive most of the week about their sound, but they did a great job Saturday morning! We could hear them over the band that was in front of them and they were still 3 blocks away!

After the parade we spent some time with Duncan at Falls Park. Yes, there really is a waterfall in Sioux Falls, SD! And then we headed to the stadium for the field competition pre-lims. The high school band didn't march in the Sioux Falls parade because they had to march in a state mandated competition in Cherokee, IA in the morning. Then they rushed up to Sioux Falls for the field competition there. Everyone kept telling us how good the bands would be here, but it was still incredible! We placed 3rd in our class and made it to the evening finals. We ended up 4th overall (10 bands competed in the finals) and we were the smallest school once again. The kids really poured it on for the night show, especially since it was the 3rd time they had marched that day! Savannah is the band member to the right of the 30 yard line in this picture. We are finally figuring out how to pick her out of the crowd!

Great Circle of Life

It is now mid-September and our garden is starting the final leg of its journey in the Great Circle of Life.

Our tomatoes were grown on single vines, with a few plants reaching heights of over seven feet. They were "Big Boys" and Melynda says they are splended. (The kids and I take her word on that.) On the right, you can see that the taters (that'd be "poh-tay-toes" for all you Golem types) are well died back; each twig of a stem marks the hiding place of two or three fist-sized Yukon Gold beauties.

Hear you can see the raspberries and one-half of our world-class organic pest deterence system. (Don't forget: flossing with grass can keep your teeth shiny and sharp.)