Robber Fly Closeups!

OK...I am editing in here that I had to change the name of this post. I thought these were horseflies. They are not...they are robber flies!

I was outside the other day and heard this loud buzzing. These guys were the source. At the time, I did not know what they were, but I had my suspicions.

One was staying on the rail while the other one would look like it was trying to fly away. Then it would come to land, too. Next thing we knew, it was in the air again. I could not get pictures of it in the air, but I did get pictures of them linked together on the rail.












Then I captured them in a plastic bag.
At that point, they separated. I tried to take pictures of them in the bag, but the camera kept wanting to focus on the bag.

So, I have one fuzzy picture of the female.




For some reason, I was able to get it to focus on the male...once.

Stained Glass Window!

OK...here they are...pics of a beautiful stained glass window at our church. I so love the thought of Yeshua/Jesus holding the little children. It is a very comforting thought for the "little girl" inside of me!

This first one gives an idea of how it sits. The bluish green you see below it is the baptismal tank they have there. There is usually a huge bouquet of silk flowers, but I took it down to get the pictures!


These next two are closer up.

Louie Giglio & Laminin!

I saw this and it made me cry. I hope it touches you as deeply as it did me.

Here is the link:
Louie Giglio - Laminin

Or you can watch it here:

Catching Up & Guests!

Well, I think I forgot to post that our son has been back in his sleep area. We got his mattress cut down and wrapped heavily in plastic. We put out a call for some fitted twin sheets and have been blessed to get some. We also have a couple of double size ones coming for Dave and I. Woohoo! We are grateful!

We are still disappointed that we cannot go to home school co-op, but are trusting Yahweh God for what we most need. He, apparently, has other plans for us.

I have pictures I want to share! However, I have been SO busy! I am hoping I can get them up soon. I have a beautiful stained glass window to share, a cicada, a very small (baby?) praying mantis, and I don't remember what all else. I really need to get going on that!

We are actually having someone over on Sunday. We don't typically invite people over. Our living situation is...well...to people who are used to room and a house and nice yard, etc....it is kind of embarrassing. We have stuff all over outside because we have not been able to get the laundry room finished yet. It is neater than it was...but still. If it is really hot...or rains, we have to all try and fit inside. That does make it difficult.

Having such a tiny space means the bathroom is right there. Need I say more? :P This couple that is coming over have been missionaries, so I am trusting that they have been in some rather primitive situations before and won't be as bothered by it. We have gotten somewhat used to it. Although, not so used to it that we would not GREATLY appreciate being in a house or apartment again!

That reminds me...I started a Dreams and Wishes blog. It is for any one of my friends to share their dreams and wish lists. I think I will add a "regular" dwelling to it. *smile*

Changes in Plans & Trusting Yahweh God!

No home school co-op for us this semester. I have to admit that I am disappointed for both of us. Yet, I do know that our heavenly Abba knows all that we truly need. He apparently does not think we need this, as He has not provided for the gas for us to be able to go.

We are praying that He will some day provide a good fairly economical small truck which would enable us to sell our van. We had to borrow on our van to put in the septic. The plan was to sell the van and keep the car. When the car got totaled, we got stuck with a van payment we never planned on.

It is one of those Catch22 things. We cannot sell the van unless we have another reliable vehicle. We cannot get another reliable vehicle unless we sell the van. In the meantime, we just keep plugging along and have to accept that we simply cannot go much of anywhere. Even our church is in the next town about 12 miles away.

Rural living = being far away from everything! Yet, it also equals nature and privacy and lots of room for our son to run around outside in. Pros and cons. Of course, it would be nicer if we actually had a house to live in! That would at least take some of the sting out of not being able to go much of anywhere.

Learning to be content in difficult situations can be a definite challenge...but it is not impossible. Through all of this, we have had to really keep our eyes on Yahweh God...and our hearts. If we are living for Him...and keep that perspective...it really helps. If we are living for ourselves, then it gets really tough.

Still, even in the best of times, there is so much to do here just to try and have a somewhat healthy living environment that it often does feel very overwhelming. There is only so much that one couple in their fifties and one 12 year old boy can do. So, we have to keep on working on being content with life being a struggle and a challenge.

Struggles and challenges are not bad...they make us grow! Boy are we growing! *laughing*

From our little RV on the hillside to you in your home, I hope that you are not running from the struggles and challenges that can make you grow! Embrace them and trust Yahweh God to help you through it.

Celtic Thunder!

OK...I confess. I happen to like the group Celtic Thunder. No, I don't have any of their cd's. I just happened to catch them one night on PBS. I love celtic music. I had missed the Celtic Women special the week before, but I stumbled onto Celtic Thunder.

Today, I was looking for something and they came to mind. So, yes, I did spend some time browsing their videos on youtube. There is one that I don't remember seeing on the show. I watched it and it really touched my heart. I thought I would share it here with you.

This is the link: Christmas 1915



There is another one they do that I really like. In it there are some Irish words:
A thiarna dean tracaire (Irish for: Lord have Mercy)
A chriost dean trocaire (Irish for: Christ have Mercy)

From the time I first heard it, I had a feeling about the meaning of the words. I did not know until today what they mean. This is the link for the lyrics:
Heartland Lyrics

Here is the link for the video:
Heartland

The video runs into the next song called "Raggle Taggle Gypsy".

Excavating Glow in the Dark Shark Teeth!

Elias bought himself a kit for excavating two glow in the dark shark teeth. They were embedded in some of kind of plastery substance. He really enjoyed doing it.

The kit gave him what he needed to make two necklaces...one for him and one for Dave.

I took a short video of him while he was doing some of the scraping to try and release the teeth. This will be the first time I have uploaded a video here. Let's see how it goes!

Well, it seems to have worked! Woohoo! I had a longer one, but it kept bombing.




Here are a couple of pics of Dave's tooth on the necklace.

A Crazy Week & a Right Attitude!

Man...what a week this has been! It feels as if too much has all been coming together at once. Over the last 8 days, I have had one friend have surgery, one friend go into detox, one friend I felt I needed to distance myself from, started our next home "school" year, registered and tried to understand a job site, took my son to the doctor for a tetanus shot, discovered that someone I love very much was deeply hurt by someone else whom I love very much, pulled apart our son's bed area and cleaned up mold and mildew, caught up on finishing recording last "year's" school information and started proofreading the final proof on a book for someone.

Hmmm...was that everything? I have to laugh at all of this. There are times when it just seems like a lot of life hits all at once. It can feel overwhelming. When that happens, it helps to sometimes remind myself of how overwhelming it must have felt for the Son of God to have to take all of our wrongdoing through the ages onto Himself. Wow! He was perfect, sinless. He never blew it. I blow it all the time and He took all of my blow its and all the blow its of everyone else throughout all of time all at once on that dark day.

Well, it was dark for Him, but light for us. Because of what He did, we can have light and hope in our days now...even in the midst of what seems like total darkness. I lived for many years in a dark place, even as a follower of Yeshua/Jesus. He was my only hope during that time. I made it out alive. I made it out with some semblance of sanity; but I never would have been able to if not for Him.

I owe so much to Yahweh God. I owe Him my life. I am grateful that He enabled me to survive. Yeah...I still have PTSD. Maybe I always will...I don't know. I just know that it does lessen quite a bit if things are not happening to stir it up!

I have hope in Yahweh. I have healing in Yahweh. I have been blessed by Him in so many ways. It says that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights. Well, I know that my heavenly Abba/Father has sure brought light into my darkened world.

There are many who wonder at our ability to live in our current situation. This little RV is very tiny. Yes, we are crowded. It does get to us at times. However, we are also able to see how much we are blessed. There are a lot of people across the world who have less than we do! Even in this country, we have more than a lot of people.

So, we work with each other. We try to each esteem the other more highly than ourselves. We try to remember that each of us has our struggles. We love Yahweh and we love one another and we try to keep that love in the forefront.

It is only by the grace of Yahweh God that we are able to live as we do. It is He who helps us to have a right attitude about things...something we do NOT do perfectly by any stretch of the imagination! But we do try...and it is well worth the effort!

From our little RV on the hillside, I hope that you are able to take the things that are bringing you down to Yahweh God. I hope that you are able to receive the healing and love He has for you. I hope that, whatever your situation is, you are able to keep a right attitude about it.

Shalom and blessings!

Catching Up, Cleaning Up & a Tetanus Shot.

Phew! We have been sooooo busy!

I started us back to "school" this week. On top of that, Elias scratched his toe with a rusty machete (silly boy) on Monday. He was also due for his tetanus booster...so we spent Tuesday getting him his shot.

On Sunday, we had Elias pull all of his stuff from out of his sleep area. He keeps on letting stuff get up against the walls and that tends to let mold grow in the winter. We needed to clean it up. That has been a process running over a few days.

The mattress is shaped like a sort of "U" with a separate piece that inserts to make it a rectangle. We pulled the separate piece out and cut off the "arms" of the "U". He now has a narrower (almost the size of a twin) piece of mattress to lay on. However, we cannot put it back in until we finish cleaning out the area. We are taking the foam off of the separate piece and replacing it. Without the foam, it will be easier for us to put back in there the things that need to go there.

The shot on Tuesday and two commitments on Wednesday have interfered with getting things done. At least the mattress is wrapped in several layers of plastic and the area has been sprayed with bleach. Today, I hope to wipe it out so that we can get his mattress back in there.

So, where has he been sleeping? Well, on the "kitchen" floor with his head up by the kitchen sink cabinet and his feet sticking into the bathroom. Yep...he is almost as tall as me. I am 5'2" and that is how small our kitchen area is! He has spent two nights sleeping that way. Hopefully, tonight will be different.

Well, I gotta run. I have lots to do today. Hopefully, I will get back here later...or tomorrow...to post some more. I have some pics to share, when I can have the time to get them ready.

If You Think!

I got this link from Pat's blog. It so touched me that I just had to share it with you all, too.

If You Think...

It really made me stop and think about how very blessed I truly am. May I always remember that...and may I do what I can to make someone else's life easier!

A Broken Dragonfly!

My son found a broken dragonfly. He held it up so I could take a picture of it. We are not able to get any of the living ones to stay still long enough for us to get any pictures. This is not exactly how I like to get pictures, but I figured something was better than nothing!

Here are some closeups...one of the "whole" thing





and two of the wings.

A New Business!

I have taken the step of registering at a business site online. I am hoping to be able to get some jobs proofreading and editing. Since bad grammar and misspelling always leap out at me when I read things, it is something that comes pretty naturally. I am sure that having a love of the English language and of writing does not hurt, either!

Right now, I am finishing proofreading a book by some pastor friends of mine. I have also been helping to edit it a bit. It is my gift back to Yahweh God in thanks to Him. I love doing it and am hoping that I can start doing it for hire. It would be a nice way to earn some gas money. *laughing* Who doesn't need extra money for gas these days??

I was also blessed with a couple of transcription jobs recently. The timing was perfect...as our Abba's timing always is! Although I can do it, transcribing an audio into a written copy would definitely not be my first choice of work...but I can do a good job of it. It was very interesting to do, but my first love is really proofreading and editing. That comes right after writing, but making money at writing...well, that is a different thing entirely to me.

BTW...the book is fantastic. It is called No Slaves in His Kingdom: Recovering From What Life Throws at You. I have been so blessed by reading it. Hopefully, it will be out within a month or two. One of the places you will be able to get it is here: Salt River Ministries

There is another book they had already written when we met called
The Power of Brokenness: The Language of Healing. It is available at Salt River and here at this link: Amazon.

A Bold Mouse & Untimely Demises!

Last week, we were visited by a very bold mouse! It ran across Dave's feet while he was in the bathroom. Later, while he was sitting at his computer in our "living room", he looked down and saw a mouse (presumably the same one) sitting there grooming...bold as can be! As soon as he moved, the mouse ran toward me and the front of the RV. I missed out on seeing it and, no, I don't have a picture!

Well, I believe it was the next day that Dave saw a mouse outside the RV right by the laundry room. The laundry room faces the front of the RV. So, we wondered if it was the same mouse. If it was, it met its demise for Dave stepped on it. :P

We have mouse traps beneath the bottom drawers in our "kitchen". I try to remember to check them...but I forgot. Yesterday, we started to notice this awful smell. I did a trap check and, sure enough, we had caught another one of those critters.

We don't know which of those mice was the bold one. It is possible that it was neither..or even both! Such is the life of RV living on the land. We keep those traps set and baited!

From our little RV on the hillside to you in your home...I sure hope you don't have any regular furry little visitors like we do!

Red Skelton & the Pledge of Allegiance!

I found this online and it really touched me. I have heard it before, but I think this is the first time I have ever seen it. I want to share it with you all.

The link is here: Red Skelton's Pledge of Allegiance

You can watch here in the blog:



I hope you enjoy it as much as our family did!

More Fossils!

Sickness, Healing & Yahweh's Goodness!

Well, I felt really good on Monday. I was up very early and had energy all day long. There was still a little bit of a cough, but nothing bad. Tuesday, however, was a different story. I dragged myself out of bed around 10:30 and did not feel well. I was coughing, so I ended up taking a Claritin. The Zygal the doc gave me did not work, but I think the Claritin may have...so far as the cough anyway. It can be hard to tell.

Today, I am feeling better again...not 100%, but better than yesterday. I hope this will eventually go away for good. I hate the thought of being allergic to where I live. :P

I have been getting more into God's Word again, lately. That is a good thing. I always do much better, all the way around, when I am spending time in it...and with Him. Yahweh has been good to me. He has helped me to survive many things and has done much healing in my life. I look forward to His doing more!

I am so very blessed. This land is beautiful. I have a good marriage. We are all fairly healthy. We have the freedom in this country to worship Yahweh openly...for now.

From our little RV on the hillside to you in your home, I hope you are able to recognize your blessings and freedom!

Curriculum Found & Photos!

I am so jazzed. I found some long misplaced curriculum! Yay! I spent Monday correlating some workbooks I had and putting together lessons. I batched them and have enough for almost two months lessons. At that point, I have more that I can switch to for some subjects and I will be evaluating where our son is at for other ones.

I feel good about ramping up his education this year...and so does he! We are both excited about getting started.

I have also been sorting through my photos, renaming them and organizing them. It is a lot of work, but worth it. I have so many photos...over 8600! I am also deleting some...leaving the best ones. I take several shots because I never know for sure how they have turned out until I put them on my pc. The little screen on the camera does not show it big enough for me to tell...although...I did discover that I can zoom in on them even while in the camera.

More Butterflies!

Here are some more butterflies we have found on our land. The little whitish colored ones are very plentiful.








These are not as plentiful, but there are still quite a few of them!

Other Bugs!

I have pictures of a couple of other bugs I found on our land. I don't know what they are.













This is a water bug in our creek:

Grasshopper Wings!

We have so many grasshoppers flying around. It is amazing. I kept thinking they were butterflies because I would see this color strip on their wings. Plus, duh, I never knew they flew! I cannot believe I am admitting this, but I always thought they just jumped. Never mind that they had wings! LOL

I managed to catch one and had my son hold the wings open so I could get a picture. Here it is:
They are actually quite striking. They really catch they eye and they are everywhere. I can see them easily when they are flying. On the ground, however, they are VERY well hidden!

Here is a close up of the wing:

Celebration, Carrot Cake and a Timeline!

We now have a 12 year old in the home! Woohoo! Today, I am making him a carrot cake. I am still feeling pretty under the weather, but since it's a mix...hey, I can do it. *smile*

Our microwave/convection oven is smaller than the one we had before. The other one was rectangular and fit a 13 x 9 cake pan. This one is square and rotates. I was thinking I was going to have to divide the mix and bake it in two stages. This oven does have a rack, but the one time I tried using it to cook two layers at a time, it didn't turn out quite right, so I am a bit leery to try it again.

Well, I looked at the mix and...what do you know? It includes using a bundt pan! Well, I don't have a bundt pan, but I have something very similar...an angel food cake pan. So, I am trying that. We will see how it turns out. OK, I hope! I know that it sure smells good and seems to be baking OK.

We were recently blessed with a blank timeline. It is one of the ones from Homeschool in the Woods, by Amy Pak. Our whole family is excitedly looking forward to filling it out as we look at history this year.

Dave is going through our stuff. We have some curriculum that I have been unable to locate. Hopefully, this month we will find it. I think I have most of what I need already. It is just a matter of getting my hands on it!

Repairs, Make-Do's, Gas & Transcriptions!

Well, Dave's bike is up and running again! Yay!! He has been taking it to work all week...which really helps with these awful gas prices! If it were not for that, we are not sure he could actually afford to go to work. The gas prices are driving up the price of everything, including food. I know a lot of people who are getting hit really hard by that. I wish I could somehow help them.

It sure is noisy around here. We don't know if maybe there are some cicadas, or if it is all just other insects. I love hearing it, though. I really like the sounds of nature. If/when we ever move back toward city life, I will really miss it.

I was blessed with two transcription jobs. They were both audios of business talk radio interviews. It was very interesting. Having never done transcribing before, the learning curve was huge, in spite of my ability to type fairly fast. Of course, it did not help that I had to use my laptop keyboard for the first one.

Typically, I use an external keyboard, but the PS2 port my keyboard plugs into got pulled on and it does not work right any more. By the time I started the second job, I was so frustrated that I figured I just had to find a way to get it to work. So, right now I have the keyboard cord taped to the top of my laptop in just such a way as to hold it in the right position for the port to work.

I know the problem is the port because I can plug my keyboard into my PS2 to USB adapter and it works just fine. However, I cannot use the adapter because I need it for my mouse. Laptop mice drive me nuts! My mouse does not work in that port, either. I tried another adapter, but it did not work. Dave tells me that a lot of them don't. So, my setup looks a bit wierd, but hey, it works for me right now!

I am praying that, someday, I will be able to replace the laptop. There are too many things going wrong with it. Amazingly, it is cheaper to replace it than to fix it. I was floored to find that out. We can do neither, at this point; but so long as it keeps working, I will keep writing! *smile*

From our little RV on the hillside, I hope this finds all of you finding ways to work around the gas prices. I also hope that all of your technical marvels, whatever you may have, are working correctly!

"Sick Valley" & a Virus!

I went to the doctor today. He's a really nice guy...one of the heads of our home schooling group. However, as I joked with his assistant, I would much rather see him OUT of the office, thank you!

I have been sick for about a week and a half. Some days in bed. Some days not quite sick enough to stay in bed, but not well enough to stay up. It is dragging on...and I am dragging as a result!

Apparently, I have two things going on at the same time. I have a virus and I have allergies to stuff that lives in the region. He gave me an antihistamine (free - woohoo!) to help the symptoms for now. It could take up to another week and a half for the virus to clear.

The Native Americans from this region used to call this area "Sick Valley". What does that tell you? They have identified organisms that grow here that make people sick. Even people from as close as two hours north of us notice it when they come down here.

So, I will just keep plugging along. Praise the Lord my lungs are clear! That was one concern that I had...that it might be turning into pneumonia; but Doc says it isn't. I have some things to keep an eye out for. If they happen, then I will call him back up.

Prayers are very much appreciated. It looks like this is going to be an ongoing battle due to the area we live in. I did not used to get sick this often, nor this severely. So, for as long as our Abba has us here, this is life...unless He chooses differently. Dave often feels like he is fighting something and Elias has been getting sicker more frequently, too. *shrug*

I also had him check out one of my bug bites. For some reason, there are some bugs that I have a hemorrhagic reaction to. Not all of them, thankfully. He says I am, apparently, very sensitive to a number of things, including meds. He told me to take half doses of the antihistamine.

So, that is life for now. Tomorrow night we are doing something special for our son's birthday. It is a surprise. Shhhh!!!

Quick Update!

I am giving a quick update because I am sick, sick, sick! Ick!

I don't often get bed sick, but I have been in and out of bed for three days now, or has it been four? It felt like I was getting better, but I am not sure. Today I feel pretty poorly.

One thing about being sick in a tiny environment is that it helps bring out the "closeness" of the space we live in. This is especially true if I am too sick to make the bed into a couch.

If one being sick is hard in this tiny space...two is worse. Now, our son is also complaining about being sick. Yet, we will get by. We always do! I am washing our sheets today and will lay on the couch. He can lay in his sleep area above.

On the upside, Dave got the wheel back from the motorcycle shop. They replaced the inner tube and balanced the wheel for him. The tire is good and the rotor is good. He is going to pick up brake pads after work today and, hopefully, get the wheel back on this weekend.

Our son is signed up for the homeschool co-op. One of the leaders very graciously got us signed up since I had no van to get there with. Woohoo! We signed him up in faith that Yahweh God will make a way for us to get down there once a week when it starts. I do have an idea on how I might be able to do that, but I am not sure if it will work out, yet.

Fom us "sickies" in our little RV on the hillside to all of you in your homes, I hope you are all very healthy!!