As Usual......

It has been too long since I posted.

I have a million reasons for this, but not enough time to go through them all.

Our life is busy and full of interesting things, but now that I sit down to write about them, I can’t remember half of what I wanted to say.

Oh well, I will give it a go anyway.

Our summer was great. Colin was working part time, so we had a lot of time together, as well as time to get some things done around here. The garden did good, especially considering the tremendous amount of rain we had this year. Everything is done now, excepting a few fall crops, and even those will be finished soon.

In goat news, things have been kind of up and down. In the spring the goat that we were raising for meat died, and then in September our buck, Leeper, died as well. But in good news, we had the fist baby goat born here on October 5. Her name is Luka, and she is so much fun and really cute!!!

We have also added cows to our animal inventory. Cinnamon is a really sweet heifer that we are keeping to provide us with calves later down the road. The other one we call “dinner” and try not to become too friendly with him.

On the house we are still working on the living room, but it is coming along great. We are almost ready to put in the insulation and then the drywall can go up! I will put up a “beginning to end’ post with pictures when we are done.

Right after we started tearing the living room apart, Colin got a new, full time job at Webco in Springfield. This has been a blessing for us, and we are very thankful for the job. He has gone back to doing electrical stuff which is nice for him, and is also getting a chance to learn some new things. Please keep him in your prayers, as most of the guys he works with and around have very messed up lives. This gives him a chance to be a witness for Christ, but also makes the work environment hard to be in.

Well, that is all for now. I will get some pictures up as soon as I can.

Rachel

Goose-ber-ry, Ber-ry-goose, Jel-lo, Blue.

This title must be read to the rhythm of 1-&-a, 2-e-&, 3-&, 4, and will probably only be understood by those in orchestra, but it is stuck in my head and kind of goes with what I have been doing lately, so I will use it. Besides, it saves me sitting here for the next half hour trying to come up with a clever and witty title.

Well life moves on, and much faster than seems possible. My mind tells me that we are in the month of May, while the calendar proudly displays an arrangement of bright, hot colors, and letters forming the word “JULY”.

We did finally get the garden planted. Now it looks really good, and we are starting to enjoy to fresh produce that it supplies. Although it is not in “full swing” production, we have had broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, radishes, turnips, spinach, and some peppers. I confess that I am most eager for the tomatoes to be ready, but so far they are all still green.

The gooseberries (hence part of the post title*) and mulberries are also ripe right now, and we have been taking advantage of the many bushes and trees that are on this property. So far I have done some jam of each kind, and am working on a batch of Mul-Goose jelly. We’ll see how that one works out.......

We have also been doing some fishing in our river this year. Last time we went, Andrew caught two nice sized bass. Unfortunately, he also caught himself, so the trip was cut short as we hurried home to try and get two thirds of a treble hook out of his hand. It was quite the ordeal (both parts of the hook where in past the barb), and we were all very thankful when it was over. (There is no picture of this event because we were all upset to think about taking one, sorry)

On the house we are working on finishing up the laundry room floor, getting the well fixed, and some other things, and then it is one to the living room. We are both eager to have the whole house finished and looking nice, but there is only so much time in a day......

And before I close, the ever popular Ollie update.

Yes, he is huge. There is no trickery in this picture, he really is that big.

Well I think that is about it for this time. As usual I will try not to let it be so long between posts next time.

God bless,

Rachel

*An explanation on the rest of the title. We have been eating a lot of jello lately. It is very refreshing, and if you buy the plain kind you can put in what ever you want for flavoring and sweetening, then you know what you are eating. I don’t really have anything for the “blue” part, except that it is a cold color which is nice in the summer. It is also just what comes at the end of the pattern so I had to use it. I think ten years of orchestra is affecting my brain.

I'm Back

Hi,

This is just a note to let everyone know that our blog is not dead, there will be a new post soon, and my time on the library computer is at 3 minutes so I have to go!

Thanks for reading what I never have time to post! :)

God Bless,

Rachel

5-6-09

Well as usual life has been so crazy that I have not had time to sit down and blog, and when I finally find the time, there doesn't seem to be anything to blog about!

Basically things are normal for late spring/early summer on a farm. There are way too many things to get done, not enough time to do them, and it has rained so much that I can't remember what the sun looks like. No, wait, it just came out for about three seconds between cloud banks, I guess it really does exist! Anyway, with all of the rain the garden is one big mud puddle and I have no hope of planting anything without several days of hot, sunny weather to dry the ground out. I keep reminding myself that God's timing is perfect, so I don't need to worry about being so far behind in the planting season. If He wants me to have a garden, it will happen.

As most of you know, Colin lost his job at Muller a couple of weeks ago. While we had kind of been expecting this to happen, it was still a little hard to take. The enemy loves to use such times to double up on his attacks, and it is hard not to get fearful. Our God however, is greater than any attack or fear, and this was a time of learning to lean on Him more, and not rely on our own strength. Last week the Lord brought a job opportunity to us, and on Monday Colin started his new job. He gets to work with Owen, and gets to be outside more, and can still go part time when he needs to so that he can also continue working on our house. Question: Why do we ever doubt God?

I also wanted to update everyone on my grandpa in Ohio. His heart surgery has been postponed for a couple of weeks because he is sick right now. My mom has come home for now but will be returning to Ohio for the surgery. Sam is still there and will be until Grandpa is able to take over running the business again. Please continue to keep all of them in your prayers.

Signs of Spring

Spring is officially here! This happens to be one of my favorite times of the year. It is always amazing to me to watch things sprout and grow, and reminds me of what a wonderful God we have! Here are some pictures of Spring at our house this year.

The Daffodils are up and showing off their colors wonderfully





My yard is so full of violets that I have decided to move some of them to the flower beds rather than mow them down each week.












The broccoli and cabbage plants waiting for the rain to end so they can be planted outside.





Our newest arrivals, and a very sure sign of spring!





The only thing cuter than a fluffy baby chick........





.....is a duckling. Unfortunately this little guy belongs to my brother, not me. Maybe I could just go over and barrow him for a while......






This is "Buck" Leeper (think the Mitfford books :) Although he is small now, he will grow up to be the "Daddy" goat of our heard.

Isn't he cute?





Meet George, the (new) official mouser and bird defense system for our milking shed.

Last, but not least, what is a post without an Ollie update? Yes, he is big. Yes, he will get bigger. Yes, he does eat a lot. Yes, he is a great dog, and just keeps getting better!

Our Story

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to write out Colin's and my "story" for a lady to share in her Bible Study. I thought that is might be nice to put it up here as well, for anyone interested. This is not a "look at how great we are" post, I really just hope it is an encouragement to others. Please note that it is written mostly from my perspective. Also, if you have any questions, please put them up as a comment and we will do our best to answer them.


Doing Things Differently


My decision to do things differently in the area of dating was not that hard to make. I didn’t have any choice in the matter, my parents said no dating and that was it. This was not something that was hard for me to accept or something that I struggled against. As a matter of fact, and to be perfectly honest with you, I liked being able to say that I didn’t date and then see the look of shock and amazement on peoples faces. For me the struggle came into play when the Lord showed me what He wanted me to do, and I had to take the steps that He required.

The first serious thought that I had on the subject of marriage came one night when I was 12, while I was lying in bed. It was an overwhelming sense of fear that I might marry the wrong person. I will confess that I did not dwell on the problem a whole lot for a couple of years. I was after all, only twelve, and more interested in pitching a softball game, than in the pursual of a husband. However, there was always a little nagging in the back of my mind saying that one day I would have to have an answer to the problem, and it never went away. This was the beginning of all of my thoughts, opinions, ideas, and readings on how to avoid making such a terrible mistake as marrying the wrong man.
By the time I was fourteen I was really wanting some answers to my questions (and, even more so, to the questions of others). So, if I don’t date, what do I do? How will I know when/if someone likes me? What if I like someone, and then find out they don’t like me? And the ever present fear of messing up and marrying the wrong person. Over the next several years I started doing a lot of reading, talking with others who didn’t date, and watching people that were in "non-dating" relationships. The problem was that every time I thought I had an answer, it would fail me. Dating, defined as "an intimate romantic relationship with little or no commitment" was in my opinion, a vicious cycle of hurt, and a good set up for failure in marriage. It was easy for me to see the pitfalls it held, and I had no problem setting dating aside as not an option. The next most logical step was Courtship, a term that is being used and brought up more and more often as the alternative to dating. At first I was sure that this was the answer that I was looking for. Defined as "a serious relationship with the intent of marriage" it seemed like the answer to avoid being hurt and more likely to get you the right person, the first time. But, as I looked into it more and watched people that were "courting", I saw more and more flaws, and still a lot of hurt. Perhaps even more hurt than in dating, because the relationship is on a deeper level right from the beginning, so that if separation occurs it is even more painful. After seeing some friends go through this process, I decided that courtship was not the answer, I did not want to be hurt like that. So I kept looking and found my next answer in Betrothal, "total commitment before the forming of a relationship". In other words, you are engaged from the very beginning, so there is even less chance of separation and hurt. But here again I watched as a dear friend took this route and then was shattered as the relationship fell apart and she was left with a broken heart.
I was now at a dead end in my hunting for the "right" answer on how to find the "right" man, and was forced to admit the only way, was God’s way. For me that meant bending my will to His. I confess that I knew, almost from that very first night, what God wanted of me. All He asked was that I give this area of my life over to Him and my Dad. This is where things got really hard for me. I knew what the answer to my "dilemma" was, but it was a step that I was not willing to take because, I did not have enough faith in the Lord and in my parents to make the right decision (what if they picked the wrong person??!!!). And, I felt that I could find a better answer than the one that I had been given. However, with the failure of each of my "answers", I was forced to take a better look at what God wanted of me. I was sixteen when I decided that God’s way was the right way, and gave the whole process over to Him. I settled in my heart that my Dad would be picking out my husband, and that the Lord would enable him to make the right decision. The peace that I had was wonderful. I no longer had to worry about making a mistake, and I knew that God would not make one.
I am not going to pretend that everything was peaches and cream from here on out. There were still days when I struggled with this fear, or that fear, and with the courage necessary to stand by my convictions. I did not share my decision with anyone, not even my Dad, for about a year. When I did start telling people that my dad was going to choose my husband, I got a lot of questions and even some "it will never work" comments. Most people wanted to know why I had chosen this way over Courtship or Betrothal, and why one of those wouldn’t work just as well. Aside form the fact that the Lord wanted something different for me I began to see that the biggest downfall of the other two options was that emotions were given and taken, just like in dating, and then when separation occurred, there was pain. The more I looked into this, the more I saw that while churches, parents, peers, and more books than I care to count are working for physical purity before marriage, there are very few that say anything about the deeper issue, emotional purity. Each time someone is emotionally attached to someone else, wether it be in dating, courtship, or betrothal, there is potential for hurt. I knew that for my emotions to become attached it would take little more than someone saying they liked me, regardless of what level of commitment they had (I mean, lets face it girls, when it comes to making something out of nothing, we are the champs. How many of us have turned a wave good-bye into an engagement ring and are naming the kids before he is out of the parking lot? :). Therefore, for me to give my future husband a heart full of love that no one else had ever touched, I did not even want to know that someone liked me until they were ready to marry me. I told my dad not to send anyone to me unless he knew that they were who I was going to marry, and to wait until the young man was ready for full commitment to marriage. If this looks very similar to betrothal, that’s because it is. The biggest difference between what I wanted to do, and what I had seen others do, is that rather than be asked "do you like so-and-so, would you like to be betrothed/engaged to him?" (thus opening the door for my emotions to be drawn to this person without knowing that he is who I would marry), I would be told "here is the man you will marry, now love him with all your heart". By giving the authority of the decision making process back to the person that it really belonged to in the first place, my dad, I hoped to sidestep the emotional pitfalls that are set up all around us and start my marriage on a strong foundation.
Now, I am sure that to some people this whole way of going about things seems insane, and to others it looks good on paper, but does not seem applicable to "real life". I am also certain that there are many others who have doubts and questions. As I finish "my story", let me begin by saying that I am no longer single. I was married on March 29th, 2008. The most exciting thing however, is not that I got married, but the story leading up to marriage.
I met Colin seven years ago, when he joined the homeschool orchestra that I was part of. I will not mislead you by pretending that I knew at once that he was who I would one day marry. There were no fireworks, beatings of the heart, or sudden flashes of deep understanding. As a matter of fact, although I knew of him, I didn’t really know him at all. It was about a year later, when I was 15 and he was 18, that we were both invited to a mutual friend’s birthday party. For me it was just a fun evening and not much else, but for Colin it would become much more.
For the next two years Colin was gone most of the time. He took three extended trips to Slovakia to work with some missionaries there. Meanwhile I graduated high school, and started wondering what it was that the Lord wanted me to do with my life. I did not want to go to collage, and really wanted more than anything to be a missionary. In 2004 when I was seventeen, I spent the summer in Romania, and came home with an even greater desire to serve in a foreign country. The biggest problem that I faced then, was waiting on the Lord to show me where, when, and how. From then until the spring of 2006 I worked at home, and then started an office job, but mostly I waited. This was not an easy time for me. I wanted to "move on" with my life, which to me meant getting married and going into missions. As I went to work every morning, and back home each evening, neither of these seemed to be getting any nearer. But, just because I have limited vision, does not mean that God has stopped working.
In the spring of ‘06 Colin left for his forth trip to Slovakia. Shortly thereafter I had a dream from the Lord, in which He told me that I would marry Colin. I didn’t know what to do with this. Here I was, determined not to give my emotions away to anyone and the Lord gives me a dream so real, powerful, and moving, that I didn’t know how to not attach my emotions. I also did not know that the day before he left, Colin met with my dad in his office parking lot to get a question asked that he couldn’t leave without having an answer to.
For many months I tried to keep my emotions under control and to forget about the dream. When I finally realized that I could not win this battle alone, I wrote the dream out and gave it to my parents. It was not until latter that I learned what their real reaction to it was. At the time, they only told me to give it to the Lord, and if it was His will, He would work it out, but now was not the time. What they did not tell me was that my Dad and Colin had been e-mailing since Colin had left in the spring, and that for them, this dream was confirmation that things were headed in the right direction. For me, it was a time of much learning. I learned to trust my parents even more. I learned that just because you give a problem over to God, it does not necessarily remove it forever. Each time I found my thoughts and emotions going the wrong direction, I had to turn it all over to Him again. I also learned a lot about having grace for others. For the first time I had to practice what I had been preaching. Here again I learned that, while it is easy to talk about remaining emotionally pure, it can sometimes be a daily battle to actually live it out.
Colin came back to the states in February of 2007. He got a job and started working a lot of hours. As I was still working full time, we did not see much of each-other. When we did happen to be at the same event or function, we could usually be found in separate corners, as far away from the other as possible. Remember, I did not know what direction his thoughts were going in, and he was working to keep it that way. In the fall of ‘07 I quit my job and began part time tutoring for a homeschool family. For me this was an answer to prayer, for Colin it was another step in the "right" direction. That November, the day before Thanksgiving, my mom casually mentioned that Colin was coming out to our house for dinner. Although this was slightly unusual, I assumed that it was nothing more than what she said. However, when he got to the house, he only came in as far as the back door, and then he asked my dad if he could take me for a walk. I thought I would faint from pure amazement, and then from excitement and nerves! We went out and walked in the woods and he told me some of what had been going on over the past year and a half, and then he asked me to marry him! Once I knew that he had all of my dad’s blessing, I was only too happy to say yes. We have now been married for almost a year, and I am fully convinced that choosing the Lord’s way, was the best way!

In closing, I would like to say a couple of things. Colin and I do not think that "our way" of doing things, is the only way to do them. We do believe that strong marriages need strong foundations, and that strong foundations are best built when there is no past hurt to overcome, scars to heal, and walls to tear down. We would encourage everyone to stand firmly on their convictions, and not to fear taking a different route, be it courtship, betrothal, or ........... (you fill in the blank). God’s plan for each of us is unique, and it is the best plan possible, no matter how strange it may seem to others!
I would also like to take a moment to answer two questions that were almost always the first ones I got asked, in hopes that they might be an encouragement to you. They were, "How will you know that he is the right one?" and, "What if you don’t like him?"
The answer to the first question, is faith. Faith is easy to talk about, and hard to apply. For me it came down to this: If I am willing to trust God with my eternal life, how dare I not trust Him to bring me the right husband! God did not say, "come to Me and be saved, and then spend the rest of your days fighting out life alone". No! He wants to be in every part of our lives, and every decision that "we" make should really just be the carrying out of one that He has already made for us. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that living in fear that God would make a mistake, was just about the ultimate form of foolishness.
The answer to the second is this: My God is the God of Love. He is not going to be looking around for a man who is unsuited to me, has a bad temper, doesn’t love Him. God desires only the best for me, and if I trust Him, that is what I will get.

I hope that our story has been an encouragement to you, and pray that each of you will find the Lord’s will for your life.

May God bless you,

Rachel

Excuses

There will be a new post soon, I promise. I have been rather busy lately and have not have time to work on the pictures that I want to put up yet. I will get there though, just be patient! :) Also, try taking a look at H2O News where there is a good discussion going on, and if you get a chance, put your own thoughts out there.

God Bless,

Rachel

Additions

Here are some pictures of the latest additions to our "farm".

Bella

Maria (the bigger one)

Lena

and Jack

They are Kinder (pronounced with a short "i", not long "i" sound) goats. A breed developed for both milk production and for meat use, Kinders are not big goats, but are high performers, or so our research says. Jack and Lena are Maria's babies. We are milking her a little, and they are still nursing. We plan to fatten Jack up for meat next winter, and raise Lena to be a mama. Bella decided to have her babies a little earlier than they were ready to come, and in the middle of wintriest night so far this year. Needless to say, they did not make it, but we will give her another chance latter this year (when it isn't so cold!).

Below is a picture of Oliver. He is now bigger than our beagle and almost too heavy to pick up. He is 10 weeks old this week and had no idea what to do with the snow at first. Now he loves it and has a lot of fun scattering it around with his ginormous paws.

Well that's all for now, I have cookies to bake and snow to go walking in (finally!).

God Bless

Progress on our house

We have a wonderful landlady who has not only allowed us to fix up (paint, new carpet, new trim, ceiling fans, etc.) the house that we are in, but has even gone so far as to buy the supplies herself and reimburse us for our time. We are so thankful for her and her generosity.
When we moved in every room in the house was painted with one coat of white paint. The walls, the trim, and even the ceiling had a thin layer of high gloss paint on them. We started by scrubbing everything down (thank-you to everyone who helped us!), and have since then been working on repainting one room at a time. Over the past several months it has been the front room and the laundry room. Here are some "before and after" pictures to compare.




Front room before.....





and after.....

before....

and after.

The next set is of the Laundry Room/Back Porch. As there was no outdoor storage for a while, we kept a lot in this room. Please forgive the mess!

A before picture

and after. The door frame is still a mess because it is not the right size, so in the spring it will be taken out and fixed. Meanwhile we will survive with it like this. :)

This is the door to the kitchen before..

and after.

And a window frame

now looking better.



One final picture of the clean new walls. I really like the green color that we got, not too bright, and not too pale, just a lovely green.

Christmas

Well Christmas is over. I hope it was a good one for all of you. We had a great time. We went to Colin's parents for Christmas Eve and had Aunt Susan's traditional gift game. It was lots of fun with lots of good food.
On Christmas day we got up and opened presents and then we packed the car and headed to Ohio. My mom's family all live up there and we stayed with my Grandma and Grandpa for several days. It was really nice to see everyone, and for Colin to get to meet some of our extended family. Here are some pictures form Christmas. Enjoy!



Our first Christmas tree!

Colin and his Christmas present, Oliver

Me with my present, a beautiful black dress coat.

Three of my siblings, Sn, Aj, & Ea, playing and singing for us.

My youngest brother, Al, displaying his present.

Oliver, after a long day. He is Anatolian Shepard, and is going to be very big.

He is only 5 1/2 weeks old in this picture.

Well that is all for now, I hope you all have had a great new year so far.

God Bless,

Rachel

Finally Back

Okay, I started this post with the intent of putting up some pictures from our life, but blogger won't let me do it right now so I will try again later. I would also like to see if anyone out there still reads this or not, before I spend a lot of time on it. So, leave a comment if you can, and I will go at it some other time, when things are working better.
Have a good and Blessed holiday season and a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

R

Upstairs Update 0.1

I guess it's about time I posted something again, and what would be better than giving a little update on what's going on with the building here?

The above picture is a look at what Daniel and I have spent the past two days working on. You can see the beam above and the old "frame" below. That lower part had to come out so...

...We got out the tools and the electric hammers (like a hammer drill, but not a drill) and went to work. The above is sort of a view of the same opening, but without the lower part. It took us a while, the hardest part being the metal beams that were inside the concrete (which was the white part). They were close together making them hard to cut off, which was made even harder because we wanted the cuts to be [close to] flush with the wall. (Sorry for the dark picture, I'll try and lighten it when I get the time)

We ended up spending a lot of time on those beams (which were really just two "L"s welded together). Daniel worked with the small grinder and cut all the welds holding the two pieces together, and I worked at making the big cuts with the big grinder. I think we went through about four disks on the 4.5in grinder and three on the 7incher (which was due to the fact that the cutting was always had to be done in a difficult position, plus the disks were really flimsy). I was just glad that we only had to do cutting on one end of the beams; the other ends were lifted out/off of the wall.

The next thing that was on the list to do was to attach some rebar braces to the new I-beams. We drilled holes in the walls and then hammered rebar into them (which was my job). Then Daniel welded on some pieces that went from those anchor points up to the beam. The wall we were drilling in had all kinds of rocks in it, so it was great when we would find places where the drill would go in deeper than just 20cm. We didn't get both sides finished, but that's because we ran out of rebar (we had been using pieces we had pulled out of the previous "beam").

Then, after we had finished breaking up, cutting up, and welding together we had to "clean" up. This was done using only a shovel and was accomplished to a good degree of success. The section of wall that has the pile of rubble at its base will be further shortened/narrowed sometime in the next few days; that's why our "cleaning" didn't have to be so great.

The push for us to get this done in the past few days is because the "wall finishers" are supposed to start sometime soon, and we wanted to be ready for them (as best we could). There are still some things that have to be done, like making sure all the cables (of all kinds) are run and making sure that all the boxes/outlets are in the right places. Once the walls are finished, most of the "dirty" work will be done. We really don't know when this phase will be completed, but it should be finished in the next month or so, unless some problem comes up (which I don't think would surprise any of us if something did).

It feels good to finally pick up some tools and start working on what we started on three (3) years ago. It's nice to think that the main part of the building will once again be usable and functioning soon. Between then and now we just have to finish what we can and be glad when the next phase gets done. I'll try and remember to take more pictures when we work next time. I know you'll notice that I'm not in any of the pictures above, but that's due to the fact that, like I've said before, "it's kind of hard to take pictures of myself while I work"!

"What am I looking at?"

"Rouse yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter if there are a hundred and one things that press, resolutely exclude them all and look to Him. 'Look unto Me'..." O.C. Chambers

I don't usually quote other people's words here, but when I read the above I thought it wouldn't hurt to add it today. It touches on the very problem that I've got - I let the hundred and one things in my life distract me from looking unto God. It's a surprisingly easy thing to do - to allow my attention to wonder from the One that's leading and place it on those waves in life that seem like they are going to drown me at any time. "Look unto Me". And what about the hundred and one good things, the things that most people would think "couldn't harm a fly"? They can just as easily distract my attention from the One I should be looking to. "Look unto Me".

Čas beží *

It's already been a week since I last posted. Not a good way to start out my blogging year. I really wish that I did have something to post on a more regular basis, but I guess I'm prone to just looking over things and not seeing anything really worth writing about.
This (almost) past week has been just one of those ordinary weeks for me. I went to the school again on Tuesday and survived through the two classes (two of the easy ones).

Tomorrow I'm going again, although I may be switching my classes from Friday to another day. I rearranged my "office" the other day. It's not really my office, but I've claimed it since no one else was using it (and because I don't have my own room in the building anymore). It's kind of filled with all kinds of stuff: bookcases with books still in boxes on the shelves, odds and ends (old) computers/copiers/printers, a desk, a few chairs, plus the thing that everyone needs in an office: a server case (one of the big ones that looks like a refrigerator). I got rid of (meaning I just disassembled) the computer that I had been using for internet work. The 21in monitor was just a little over-kill on the desk so I returned it to the floor (where I got it from). I took the tower out from underneath the desk (so I wouldn't kick it to pieces) and put it back in the third office. I then rearranged the pile of stuff that was left over in order to create a little more space. Now the desk has legroom underneath and the top is cleared enough so two laptops can be placed on it at once. I'd take a picture of the "new" look, but the lens on my camera isn't wide enough to take in everything at once, i.e. you would get to see the chairs or the desk or the neatly piled stuff, but not everything at once........or maybe.....

* Time is running

Where are I.......?

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I'm going to try and make that up...somehow. Right now I'm a little handicapped in my typing (see below), which is one of the reasons why I haven't posted anything in the past few days. Another reason is that during the past few days I didn't really have any chance to connect to the internet, which, as you can guess, makes it kind of hard to get anything posted. So be happy because I'm posting now!

In my last post I mentioned a number of things that have come to pass. The snow that I bemoaned as not coming finally did get here. The bustle of Christmas has slowed way down, and the quickly arriving new year has finally come. I guess I'll have to kind of fill you in on what I've been doing since I last posted, so here goes...

The picture above probably doesn't seem like anything real great, but it is one of the pictures that I have that best describes what Christmas looked like. OK, so it's not really what Christmas looked like, but it is a picture that I took on my Christmas trip (while I was driving). I spent the Christmas weekend with the Baldis family (Short intro: They are Americans who are here as missionaries and have been here for fifteen years. I met them in the airport when I went home last time, and after getting back into contact, they invited me to spend Christmas with them). I had a good time there and enjoyed learning about their ministry here in Slovakia. It was definitely a different Christmas, but the differences are what made it good. I spent a number of days with them before I headed back to "my" part of Slovakia.

On Thursday of last week I went with a group (comprised mostly of young people from the churches in Trencin and Previdza) to Vienna, Austria for a day of sight-seeing in the city. It wasn't, in my estimation, the greatest time to go sight-seeing, but there was the slight "charm" of being there while everything was still in it's Christmas dress. A little snow would have helped make the cold a little more bearable, but we didn't get that until we were on our way back. Yup, that's right, it started snowing! By the next morning there were a couple inches on the ground, not as much as I had hoped for, but still something.

That was the day that I packed up again and headed off, along with a number of other people, to the chata (cottage) where the youth from NM would spend the New Years weekend. I was told by the people that went before me that I wouldn't make it up the hill to the chata (the van had to be pulled up by an SUV), but I decided to try anyway. To the surprise of everyone in the chata, I made it up without any problems, and with two other people, the trunk and a seat full of stuff to boot! I was then, because of my car's feat, sent back to the city to act as the taxi for the rest of the people who were waiting there. I went back and filled the car up again, but it was much "fuller" than it had been the first time. The car was loaded down with five people, the trunk and all usable laps full of stuff, plus a guitar (in a hard case) and a sled on the roof-rack. Needless to say, I was pretty doubtful that we would make it up the hill, especially since it had gotten colder and the snow was only getting slicker. We made it up the first hard part with just a little slipping, but the second and hardest part we didn't get anywhere on. I then, in progressive stages, had passengers get out and walk but still I had trouble. Then, after trying unsuccessfully to get up, I was backing back down the hill when my car decided it wanted to change directions (which was interesting because it was a slightly sunken one lane road with a nice sharp turn at the bottom). Thank the Lord! it was just what I needed: I simply put the car in reverse and backed up (which was also rather interesting because it was dark and my car doesn't have backup lights). Needless to say (again), there was a little rejoicing once the car got to the top!

The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun and we all got to spend time doing different things with each other. The first night (and following nights) we went sledding on the part of the hill behind the house. It was a great place, especially because it had a little sloping drop-off that ran the width of the hill giving us a little jump for some extra...excitement! On one of the first couple of runs, though, I decided to try and be the third person on a two person sled, and because there wasn't a place to sit, I just stood on the runners. Uh...not a good thing to do! As soon as we hit the lip of the drop-off I fell of the back and whacked my right hand on something (couldn't see what it was because it was dark[!]). We continued sledding for a while, but once we went inside I could tell that I had messed up the little finger on my right hand. It was all swollen and the first knuckle had turned dark in color, looking very much as if it were broken. I used a piece of wood and some electrical tape to make a splint for it, and just hoped that the swelling would go down. It didn't, but now I've decided that I for sure didn't break (as in two pieces) the bone, most likely I just got a stress fracture somewhere in the joint. It's doing a whole lot better now, the swelling having gone down, but the knuckle is still quite stiff so I'm going to leave the splint on for a good while longer.

I'm kind of sorry that I didn't take my camera with me, but I don't really know how I would have taken any pictures of all the excitement if I'd had it. Maybe I just need to get some kind of a helmet with a video camera in it..... Anyway, that was my New Years weekend, plus a couple of things thrown in to make some memories.

That's it! We're now back to the brown and green colors of our unusual winter, and back to the kinds of things that make up most usual days. And yes, I'm going to make it a goal to get some more pictures!

Before

I've been thinking that maybe I need to post something pre-Christmas just in case I forget to post something about/for Christmas. Right now everything is looking like Christmas here: shops with holiday displays; booths out on the square; the smell of hot, spiced wine (which doesn't really make me think of Christmas); the cold air. But there's still one thing that's missing: SNOW! I guess this year we'll be having a green/brown Christmas, even in the mountains. This is a really unusual winter so far, being warm and cold and still no snow (OK, so we did have a little bit on my birthday). I met a boy today who said he was going out to buy some new ski pants with his mom, but laughed when he said that he didn't know if he would get to use them this year. I guess we always have the chance of snow coming in January or February, but Christmas just doesn't seem right without a little of the white stuff. O well!

On a side note: I know some of you will probably be expecting me to post some pictures of Christmas here, but alas, I might not have a camera! I've got it advertised for sale right now, and I there's a guy who said he's really interested in buying everything I've got. This means that I might not have a camera to take any pictures with. Horror of horrors!!! But don't be frightened, I'm not giving up photography, just my old workhorse. (I added the above picture to give this post some "holiday warmth", but also to try and make up for the possible lack of Christmas pictures).

I guess this will be it for now, but if I don't get another post up before Monday......... Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year! (Or something along those lines)

Come and gone

Yes, I know. Once again I haven't gotten the "hot news" posted until after things have cooled down (or are cold).

I went to the school on Friday, prepared and not so prepared. I was pretty much ready and willing to face the sixth grade class, but I still wasn't sure what I was going to do with the eighth and ninth grade classes. The sixth grade class was first with an hour break after it, and then I headed back up to the remaining two classes. To make two hours of class time shorter than they actually were, I'll just say that, although both of these older classes were a little harder, I still survived. The ninth grade was the hardest, mainly because most of the students just listened and didn't try and speak, although they know the most out of all the students I had previously "conversed" with. My conversation was mainly with just a couple of the students, and all the rest seemed to be content with just listening. I knew that this was probably what I was going to be faced with, but still I was a little surprised. Yesterday I went for the last time this year, and everything went just as well as last Tuesday.

Speaking of yesterday... Most of you probably have guessed that I drive my car to Trencin when I go there. Yesterday was no exception, but I also took my bike. After I got done at the school I went to Jozef A.'s house for lunch and then went with him to the church to help move some shelving. I drove my car to the church and once I parked (in an illegal place!) I found out that my battery was completely dead; I had been running on the alternator. We, Jozef and I, pushed my car to a better parking place and then tried to think of why the battery would be dead. I couldn't figure it out since I had just bought a new battery, plus I had replaced some burnt cables that go out of the alternator. (There is a break in the time frame here because I went riding, but it picks up later in the afternoon) We push-started the car and I drove it back to Jozef's house. I spent the night there with the plan to go with him to a couple of shops in the morning to try and figure out either what the problem was or if I could just buy an alternator (and fix the problem by elimination [which is sometimes what has to be done with an old car]). This morning we went and were told by a mechanic (who said he wouldn't do any work on the car because he had piles of other work) that it wasn't the alternator (he checked it) but that the belt was too slack. This was kind of embarrassing for me because I hadn't thought about checking the belt. I had tightened it a few weeks ago (when the battery first started charging right [hmmm!]) but it was already so loose that the idler pulley could be turned without trouble. So... we went to the other shop and got a belt (which the guy gave us because it was "old") and then went back to the house. After changing into the work clothes that I had in my trunk (for such a time as this), I went out to do the first "real" work on my car. Actually, the whole job was pretty easy and didn't take me more than an hour to do (even in the cold!). OK, so that's not the whole truth. The belt that the guy gave us was the wrong one (it was for the first model year which had a generator) which meant that we had to go back and get the right one (which we had to pay for). In all, the work wasn't all that much work. The outcome is that my battery now charges and I'm not so worried about throwing the timing belt (because I looked at it while I had things apart and decided that it had probably been replaced already). How boring it would be to own a new (new) car!

Yea, OK, so that last paragraph was longer than the first (but it seemed like a better story!), and I still haven't mentioned the bike riding. I'll make that...

Up the hill and down the hill. That's where we rode our bikes. Sorry, I forgot to tell you that I went riding with Lukas T. (who is a boy from one of the families that belongs to the church in Trencin). First we went into the woods that are above Trencin and rode some really crazy-steep drops/rises (I don't really know what to call them). This was pretty exhilarating, but soon we headed down through the city and on to the next place he wanted to show me. Then to the next place... then the next. And then, because it was getting dark and cold(er), we headed back to where my car was parked at the church.

No pictures. I didn't have my camera with me for any of the excitement. (I'm going to have to get another small camera so I won't have to lug around my big one) It's a pretty lame excuse for me, someone who likes taking pictures, to not have any new pictures to go with this post, but O well...

Roof-rack: 1.0

I am happy to announce that I finally got my roof-rack finished. The paint that I applied dried smoother than I thought it would, and hopefully it will last under the treatment/abuse it will go through on the roof of my car. I also attached the bike mount and drove "home" (a couple miles away) and back again without any trouble. If the weather is still (unusually) warm next Tuesday, I'll be taking my bike with me to Trencin; this will be the real test.

I'll get some pictures of it sometime, but I'm not going to promise when that sometime will be!

Teacher/Lecturer

Last week I was asked by Jozef A. if I was interested in speaking in some classes in a school. I told him that I was willing to consider it, his reply being that he wanted me to go with him to talk to the principle at a primary school in Trencin (the same school which his sons attend). I went and we talked, the outcome being that I will be going to the school every Tuesday and Friday morning for the English classes held on those days. I would be given some topics to choose from and then I would speak from which ever I chose. In a sense, I was supposed to somehow hold a conversation with the whole class. I knew it wouldn't be very easy, but I was willing to give it a try.

Yesterday I went for the first time. The first class I had was one of the 7th grade classes, and turned out to go quite smoothly. I tried my best to get the students to talk back to me (since talking from both sides is what conversation is about) but without my having to push them to do it. Most of their teachers are already quite "pushy" and do a good job of ruining the fun of learning, so I wanted to try my best to make the class time I had with them a little more enjoyable. After this first class I had an hour break and then I would go on to the next class, which would be sixth graders. This class was a little more fun to teach, maybe having to do with the fact that I was a little warmed up, but also to do with the difference in ages (you could almost read that "egos").

Friday will probably be the hardest set of classes, being the other 7th grade class, plus the 8th and 9th grades. I can see already that my "teaching" style will have to change a little from class to class, but it is nice that I'm allowed to keep the same topic for each of the classes. The whole idea of "teaching" a class is kind of new for me, but then again learning is always part of teaching, right?

I'll be sure to post updates on the outcome of Friday, and in general keep you informed of how this new "job" goes.

Project: Roof-rack 0.3

On Thursday (or Wednesday, I can't remember) I finished up the welding on all the pieces of my roof-rack. I also helped build (I prepared and ground, Daniel welded) some stands/poles to hold up a sheet for our Christmas "shadow play". On Saturday I got some of the bare metal pieces primed.

Just this morning I got the first coat of paint on everything, the roof-rack and the stands/poles. Everything is now a nice shade of gloss black. It's something new for me, but I'm having to paint everything (metal) with a brush instead of the spray can I'm used to using. Needless to say, the finished products will also have a slightly textured look to them thanks to the brush strokes.

Hopefully in a short while I'll have everything bolted together and put on the car. When I test-fitted the runners on the car everything worked out better than I expected; hopefully nothing has changed (although I don't really know how it could). The next pictures will be with the rack on the car. This is like getting an early Christmas present!