Promotion time!

It's official. 

We had a party, so that makes it real!

Andy has been in Captain's Career Course since January, even though he wasn't technically a Captain yet. He has been training in anticipation. 

There were four other soldiers in class with him who promoted to Captain in May also.

We all joined together for a celebration.

 In alphabetical order :)

 Andy's parents came to visit and were able to "pin on" his rank. 

Happy times!

 I am so proud of my hard working man!

Such lovely smiles!

Sadly, I left my camera at home, the cupcakes I made were horrible, and my hair would not submit to me. 

Luckily, other people have cameras and are willing to share, other people made cupcakes that were delicious, and everyone is use to my hair. 

So, even with my less then stellar contributions, "A good time was had by all!" 

Blessings, 

Miller Cave

 Friday evening Andy and I met some of his classmates for dinner at a local bbq place. While we were all chatting one of the couples told us about a local cave, open to exploring, right here on post.
 She gave us the basic directions of how to get there and said, "If you come to a part that looks like you are about to drive off the edge of the earth, you have gone too far."

We found that part. :)

(This picture does not do it justice. It really does look like you are going to drop straight down!)

We turned around.

 At first we thought this lovely little overhang was the cave. 

 So we enjoyed the view for a while.

 But there was more!

 This lovely little window...

had a beautiful view!

 I adored this tree, and how it adapted to the situation it was given. 

So inspiring, and simply beautiful. 

There were two entrances to the "main" cavern - 

 Up and through...

or down and through.

We tried them both. 

I had to take the camera bag off in order to fit through, but I made it!

 I didn't get many pictures of deeper inside the cave. I don't have fancy enough equipment for that! There was a good bit of water, several neat little tunnels, and an unfortunate amount of trash. 

 Canaan "discovered" a part that Daddy didn't fit in, and Mommy wouldn't try to fit in. He got deep enough in that I couldn't see his light anymore! Fortunately for the sanity of mommy, there was a spider blocking the way and he came back. I am sorry that he inherited that fear from me, but this one time I was glad for it! 

Just a few hundred feet away was another cave,

 but it wasn't open for exploring.

 So I made my boys enjoy a few flowers instead.

I love my boys. 

I love their daddy. 

I love the adventures we discover, right around the corner, every day. 

Life is a little crazy sometimes, but life is good. 

Enjoy your adventures my friends!

Blessings, 

Bike wrecks and Brake repair

The boys and I spent some time this morning taking apart Canaan's bike. After the big wreck he had last spring during our "Adventures in Missouri" his bike has never really worked right.

 Just this weekend I had helped Andy clean the garage and organize his tools, so the location of and difference between standard and metric tools was fairly fresh in my mind. Truly, I am not sure I really care about the difference. One uses fractions, one whole numbers. There is a slight difference in the shape of the part that attaches perhaps? I just knew that I had carefully put them in size order.

 So I knew where to look. And we proceeded with the surgery. We loosened. We shifted. We tightened. We found a part that had somehow escaped, so we loosened, shifted and tightened again.

 Amazingly, the horrible grinding was fixed. The "thunk, thunk" was gone. And the brakes still worked.

 After that wreck we knew that it was really important for Canaan to just get back on the bike. The longer he waited the harder it would be, and the scarier the ride would seem. The details of fixing the bike could wait. And when you are thinking literally about bikes and young children I think that is probably good advice.

 But I started talking to God about it.

 Or, I suppose more accurately, He started talking to me.

 How often do we have a bike wreck in our lives and then think it is necessary for us to jump back on the bike immediately? We are so afraid that we will never ride again. We fear failure, in it's many forms.
 And so even though the bike is squealing, or grinding, or has a terrible "thunk, thunk" we jump right back on.

 Our busted knee and scraped up elbow heal. We were wearing our helmet (of Salvation) so our head wasn't injured. We didn't break any bones. There were only a few bruises. Big deal.

 But that bike is still squealing.

 And God is saying, "Rest my child".

 Maybe we're not supposed to be riding that bike anymore.

 Or maybe that bike needs a complete overhaul.

 And maybe it is time to get off wheels all together and try walking.

 Just because we have healed, doesn't mean we are supposed to be doing the same thing we were doing before.

 Sometimes change is good.

 Sometimes sitting still for a moment is needed.

 Sometimes God just wants our attention and squeaky brakes and wobbly wheels seems the only way to get it.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28


 I'm not sure why I was supposed to write this. I'm not sure it even makes any sense with all the squeaky wheels and grinding brakes. I just know that Canaan's bike has a smooth ride now.

 All things are possible when we leave them in hands that are bigger then ours.

 I know who I trust!

 Blessings, 

It's a small, small world after all

 My sister Emilee is addicted to Pinterest. She recently decided that she should introduce me, and try to make me addicted too.

 It may be working... but that isn't the point of this discussion.

 What struck me while roaming around the amazing world of Pinterest is how very, very small the world is now that we are all connected through the internet.

 You see, on Pinterest you create "boards" where you "pin" things that interest you - things that you want to remember. One of the boards I created was, surprise, "green living". When I searched Pinterest for green living ideas I stumbled upon MYSELF.

  I cannot express how extremely weird that was.

 Someone had read my blog about homemade bodywash, pinned it, and it had passed through the Pinternet world.

 I wondered why I had gotten two comments on it lately!

 In some ways it made me want to remove my children's names from my blog and quit all discussions about where we live. I understand now why my sister quit blogging when she had her daughter! But we are out there already, and I cannot quit now. Some moments the words get stuck, but it is impossible to keep them contained completely. I need to write. So we stay...

 Right now - these pictures from a few days before we left Missouri have been begging to come out and play.

This dew covered spiderweb is what started the adventure.

This field of beauty in the midst of construction was only one street over - just a direction we had never ventured.

Hard at work

Enjoying the sunshine

And sharing nicely, at peace with the world around them. 

We weren't thrilled to be in MO. The 4 months there were a stressful, crazy, random. But, we were together, learning, and, I hope, remembering to enjoy the beauty around us. 

 Blessings, 

Into the wilds

 Last week we decided to explore a little more of our backyard.
 Down at the bottom of the hill, just past where Canaan had his adventure on the bike, is a dry creek bed. Perfect for exploring.

Almost immediately we found interesting things.

  Paw prints. Dog, I am pretty sure.

 Raccoon perhaps?

An humongous bug.

 I thought Canaan had found something educational. A bug to study. A print to photograph. A leaf to ask about. 

 Nope. 

He found man made trash, abandoned and covered in mud. 

However, it was "fascinating to an 8 year old" trash.

 In the meantime, Zion had meandered his way down the creek bed, exploring on his own. 

 Until he discovered our first roadblock. 

 Over...

 Under...

through every obstacle that comes our way! 

Onward we go...

Around a corner, and suddenly, gasp!

 What in the world? It is a dead... something. I never did figure out what it was. It was pretty much just fur. Very little else was left. Ewww, but kinda cool too.

 After that I was ready to take pictures of pretty things.

These little bits of color, trying to hold on to the last piece of summer. 

This is what Zion thought of the beautiful yellow flowers.

I took a ridiculous amount of pictures along the way.

 Canaan enjoying his new "toy",

 Zion trying to research what sort of tracks we were discovering,

 and the generous sharing of the rolypoly bug from one brother...

to another.

 I, literally, ran into this. Well, actually backed into it, but still...

 Not Cool!

 I haven't gotten around to researching it yet. 

Anyone want to tell me what it is, so I don't have to go to the trouble?

I think this moss and fungus covered log is my favorite picture of the day. It shows such a beautiful expression of life, growing even in death. It is a beautiful, colorful reminder that nothing is wasted in the purity of nature, the way God intended it. 

 On the way back the boys decided to have a picture taken with "their" animal. 

And we end at the beginning. Over, and under once again - where it leads to this time, who knows?

 On a closing note: Today I asked Canaan to write 5 sentences about our expedition into the woods. He decided to write a multiple choice questionnaire for my blog. Here it is, in it's original spelling. (which is atrocious)

I found a hammer. Win we got home i? 1) i found it 2) i ate it, 3) i clingd it
 (The answer is 3, cleaned it)

We had green thigs on us. Wat woor the green thigs? A: Leefs, B: grubas, C ants
(the answer is A, and they were those little green sticker things that feel like velcro)

We found a hous. Wat culre was it? A: Broun and Green B: Green C: cat
(According to him the answer is A. I don't remember. After about 1/4 mile we left "the wilds" and reached a subdivision. We could see the back of a house up the hill and he says it was green and brown)

I love his attempt at humor. Every question has a comedic choice. Mostly I love that this was his idea. A simple writing assignment turned into a desire to be "published".

 My little ham! 

I hope you are having some adventures in the wild, even if it is just the wild of your backyard. 

Blessings,