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!!

Home School Co-op!

Well. last week wrapped up our time in a home school co-op. I have always wanted to participate in one and we were blessed with the opportunity this last semester. It was a wonderful experience. I got to meet other home schooling parents...to connect faces and voices to names. Elias got to meet other youth of varying ages. All in all, I am very grateful that we got to do it.

It was also an incredibly stressful experience. Having only one vehicle meant that we all needed to leave together at 5:45 in the morning. We would either have Dave drop us off at a church where we waited for the secretary to come let us in; or we dropped Dave off at work and came back to the church. If I dropped him off, then I had to go back to pick him up later. By the time we got home, typically about 13- 14 hours later, I was wiped out. Actually, I was tired long before that.

The evening before I had to make sure we had everything packed that we needed. We needed to have breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc. Although there was some access to a microwave, we had to remember to bring all the utensils, plates, etc. It was very interesting, to say the least. The day after was usually spent recuperating from the day before! The very first day we did it, I came home and just crashed on the couch. I was exhausted. But I would not have traded the experience away! It was worth it!

At the first church, we got to know the secretary who, very graciously, gave us a place to work at while waiting for music classes to start. The music classes were not part of the co-op. They were a different group. Elias took music theory. After music, we either drove or got a ride to the other church where the co-op classes were held.

There he got to take a class on oceans. He also got to do P.E. and art. After the classes, we got to participate in a group dinner. By that time, Dave would be there. That was really nice, too, as that was the time he had to also get to know other parents.

What a wonderful thing to see adults and youth working together to share their talents and knowledge and abilities with each other. All the parents pitched in and helped, whether with teaching, or setup, or cleanup or other assorted things that needed to be done. There was a spirit of co-operation and coming together with a common goal to make things work for everyone.

Lord Willing & the Creek Don't Rise!

Phew! I don't know that I ever thought that phrase would become so real to me. However, since moving onto our land, there are several times when "the creek don't rise" portion has been very real.

I think it was only 3 times last winter that we could not get across the creek. I remember one time Dave could not get home, so he went back to work and spent the night there. Another time I tried, unsuccessfully, to throw his mudders across the creek to him. The first one went downstream and I held onto the second one!

What we did get across the creek was a stick with a rope attached. Dave tied it on one side and I tied it on the other. Then he pulled himself across the creek, getting soaked in icy water in the process. Wet shoes and socks! Wet pants! In fact, the mudders would not have kept him dry...they would have simply allowed him to take off his shoes and keep them dry by carrying them. The force of the water went way up his legs.

At some point, Dave decided to look for a creekside tree to fell so that it would lay across the creek. Admittedly, it is not the best way to get over the creek, but we figured, "hey...in a pinch!" So, off he went with a friend to find one. After felling it, they tied a rope above it so that we had something to hold onto while we crossed. It is not a very wide tree, but it is plenty strong enough. We tried crossing on it. One has to be VERY careful using it to cross, even with the rope.

If the creek is high enough to need to use it, there is still all the water flowing into our meadow from the neighbor's property and the hillside gully to get across, too. It is a bit tricky, but we figured we could do if we really had to. It beats trying to walk through swiftly flowing water that might contain a branch that could slam into us.

This winter, we have been pretty blessed. In spite of the rains, we have been able to get across the creek...until last week. My son and I are going to a home school co-op one day a week. Last week it was raining hard so Dave parked across the creek, just in case it got too high to drive across.

We have cement blocks and pile of rocks to use to walk across onwhen the creek. When it rains really hard, though, the blocks and rocks get buried enough to make it so that we cannot walk across, even when we can still drive across. Well, last week there was no way we could walk it and it is good thing he parked on the other side because he could not have driven it, either.

So, we slogged on over to the new neighbors property. Someone bought the property next to ours and is in the process of putting in a double wide. Part of that package was to build a crossing over the creek. So, we carefully picked our way across the wet meadow over to their property to walk across to the road and back over to the van. That was not too bad, other than the water running into our meadow.

This week, however, it was really bad again. We had our mudders on this time, though. We were prepared! And it is a good thing. We noticed that the water in our meadow was more than usual. As we approached the neighbors property we could see why. His creek crossing was dammed up. You could see the tree limbs sticking up above the road. The water was level with the driveway on one side and barely coming through on the other.

Usually, creek crossings are made a little bit lower than the driveway height so that any overflow just flows evenly across. This was built even with the driveway. So, instead of flowing smoothly over, it was being diverted onto his property at one end of the crossing and flooding it. As it went down the other side it was eating away at the crossing and causing a whole torrent of water to flow along the creek and over to the meadow with some of it going back into the creek on the other side of the crossing. If we had not had our mudders on, we would not have made it through the flooding water to get to the crossing and the road.

So, two weeks in a row, we had our exercise before we even got into the van! But we made it! Thankfully, in spite of some continued heavy rains later in the day, the water was able to do down at our driveway which allowed us to actually drive across. Typically, when the water runs that heavily through the creek, we have some undercutting on one side of our crossing and there is some repair that needs to be done before Dave can drive across. But, thank Yahweh, we were able to drive right across!

We truly believe this is an answer to prayer. We had faithful friends praying with us that we would be able to get home. Not only did we get home...we were able to drive right across! Woohoo!

Long Day and Home Education!

Wew! I made it through yesterday! We have started going to a home school co-op on Tuesdays. We have not been able to go due to no money, no car. Well, God made a way for us to do it through someone who worked things out for us. But it means a VERY long day!

We leave about 5:45 a.m. Yep, you read that right! A.M.! As in...it is still dark. Now, I am used to getting up most days right around that time. However, having all three of us out the door by that time is vastly different! The night before we all need to be showered up and I have to have something packed for both breakfast and lunch.

First I drop Dave off at work; although, when the weather turns nicer, he will be dropping me off instead. That way I won't have to go pick him up. The classes are in two different places. Well, actually, the first set of classes are not really co-op classes, but a lot of the same people are there.

So, my son and I get dropped off at the first church, where the music classes are held. The church secretary is a home schooling mom herself and she has a place for us to work on schooling until the music theory classes start. My son really likes it.

From there we go to the second church, where the co-op classes are. We will need to catch a ride once we start getting dropped off. We go to the second church and eat lunch while we wait for his classes to start. He is taking Oceans, P.E. (for which I am currently a helper), and Art.

He loves all of his classes and he is making some friends. I get to meet and talk with other home schooling parents. Adult conversation! Yay! We are very blessed by this.

Last week, the first week, we were still not up to speed with getting well after being sick. I asked a friend if she would mind dropping us off for the afternoon classes only. She was gracious to do that as it is way out of her way normally. She decided to do shopping that day instead so it worked out nicely for us both.

This week, we did the whole thing. I was exhausted. With PTSD, it does not take much to overwhelm me. I am realizing that I must find a quiet place to just take a quick nap or something during his first class. Yesterday, I was so exhausted that I had my eyes closed most of the way home. I did not even go into the store with Dave on the way home. As soon as we got home I hit the couch. I sort of dozed off and on...not sure if I actually slept at all or not.

Later, I dragged myself off the couch and checked email and a couple of things on the net and then was in bed by 10. This morning, I could still feel the aftereffects of such a long day away from home. But it is worth it! I will just have to take each week as it comes.

It snowed yesterday and part of today, so far. I love watching the snow come down. I just hate that it keeps turning to rain and then sometimes to ice. This is not the winter weather I remember from before. This is like the transitional weather from winter to spring. It is almost as if winter never hit this year. :(

On the one hand, that may be good...saves us the cost of heating and makes it easier to do laundry. On the other hand, it is dreary, muddy and icey. The ice is bad because of how dangerous it is, too.

Today, the sun is shining. I love the sunshine...warm or cold...I love the sunshine!

The mouse population went down again by two (oops...editing in correction...THREE) within the last few days! Sure wish they would just stay outside! My son and hubby get to do the mouse trap duty.

Blessed First Day!

It's the first day of the week. I was feeling so good last night that I thought I might make it to church today, however, the wiser voices in my head said "no". :) Neither I, or our son, were really ready. So, we stayed home while Dave went to church. We are hoping to go tonight to the adult class. Our son can sit in with us there.

It has been raining off and on all morning...a nice gentle rainfall. I love the rain. It is something that Dave and I have in common. We have always both loved the rain. It is something that has made our living situation more difficult. Due to leaks in the roof and the mud washing down the hillside and gullies being created in the driveway, we found ourselves torn between enjoying the rain and dreading it. We finally decided that we have done what we can. The roof is covered. The rain is channeled as best we can through the trenches and gullies we have made. We choose to enjoy the rain and leave the rest in God's hands. He is certainly capable! :)

I like how the rain refreshes the air and washes things. Even in the midst of the browns of winter, there are always patches of green growth. It is kind of like our lives. Even in the hard winter times of our lives when it seems like all is dead and brown, there are the green patches of life in the spirit where we see God moving His hand on our behalf.

We are pretty much landbound because we have only one vehicle. Dave works way too far away for us to drop him off and pick him up. Yet, for one day a week starting this week we are going to do just that. That is because of a blessing being provided to us. Our son is going to start going to a homeschooling co-op. We had no way to do it, but God has provided a way for us to do it. So, on Monday nights we will be packing up Tuesday's breakfast and lunch and everything we will need for the next day. It is going to be a challenge for all three of us to be ready to leave here by 6, but we are going to try and do it.

We will drop Dave off and then go to a place to study until the classes start. Then I will go pick Dave up and we will all come back for dinner. This co-op serves dinner between the younger student classes in the afternoon and the older student classes in the evening. Then we all head for home. What a blessing this will be for us...to finally be able to get off the land and mix with others. He will be taking classes on oceans, art, P.E. and music theory.

It is usually very draining for me to be gone all day like that, so it will be a bit of a challenge. Yet, I know that God will not call us into something that He will not also equip us for. God will work things out for us, meeting our needs for each day.