School Interruption!

Our kids like any, are always looking for a way out of doing their school. SO, it was with half a heart that I responded to Kristin's excuse of not being able to read her bible devotion this morning!

This is what I found....

Yep--kind of hard to do your school!!After a few minutes of love, Ashley was content to get off of Kristin's school book, and move on to other things! Kristin reluctenlty, went back to her school work!

Today is Bill's appointment with the DR to try yet something else to help with headaches. Please keep us in prayer, and pray for the Dr's wisdom. Thanks!

Full House

Friday the O'Hara kids came to stay for the weekend! Bill stopped on his way home from work and and brought everyone home (except Alyona, who had basketball pictures--Sean & Tracey brought her after supper). We had pizza for supper, and then an evening full of Wii. The kids did really well sharing, and taking turns. Sean & Tracey stayed to visit with us for a few hours, and then they headed out, and we rounded everyone up for bed. We put three in the living room, two in Kristins' room and two in Ryan's room. Ironically, the three in the livingroom were the first asleep! Declan had the giggles, and Kristin & Alexis were just enjoying visiting and having some "girl time". At 12:30 I finally went in & told Declan unless he could shut off the giggle box, he would have to sleep with the girls downstairs. It became silent very quickly!! I am glad that he & Ryan have such a good time when they are together.

The kids got up around 7:30-8:00, and someone quietly shut our door (how sweet). Alyona & Ryan helped the younger ones get their own breakfast, and we enjoyed sleeping in (or laying in bed quietly!) until almost 9. It is so nice to have the older ones to help the younger ones.

We had a great morning and afternoon....some playing house, some playing a Nancy Drew game, some playing Wii, some enjoying music, and overall, everyone got along great trading where they were, and who they were playing with. For having seven kids in the house, it was pretty quiet!! At one point, everyone was either in the basement playing or outside. Bill & I even got a short nap!!

We had supper, and then everyone watched a movie. After the movie, it was shower time...thank heavens for the tankless hot water heater!! We had some girls that were singing, enjoying their shower, so much, I had to peek in on them, and tell them the'd probably been through 800 gallons of water (OK a stretch, and I'm glad they were having fun, and are squeeky clean!).

Alyona came into our bedroom for some help with homework, and she, Bill & I worked on a fun story with her. She did really well...and we helped her work through her "modifications" to her story. The gang all made candy necklaces, and had a blast doing it! Of course, it's always fun to eat what you make!

Everyone headed to bed by 10...and once again, the downstairs was fast asleep. The girls upstairs were next and the boys...were still awake at 11:00. Declan was having some breathing issues, and the antihistime nor the humidifier were doing the trick. We finally called Tracey at 11:15--more because Ryan was so worried, and the fact that we did not have Declan's inhaler. Sean came out & picked him up, and headed back home. All those sleeping in the livingroom slept through it all. It was funny this morning when the girls got up and could not find Declan!!

We headed to church...very good service....Bill home suffering with another migraine, but feeling somewhat better this afternoon. We keep praying for an answer from the doctors that will help him. We go again on Friday...pray for an answer!!

Have a great week...

Washburne Weekend

We headed out Friday AM in route for Corvallis, as Bill had an eye appointment. He's been having a lot of eye pain, and the Dr wanted to rule out eye pressure before attempting any further diagnosis. Thankfully, it all turned out OK there, and the Eye Dr feels that it is a muscular issue, and not ocular migraines as the Dr feels it might be. He has enough migraine issues, and we are praying that this is not yet another form for him to deal with. The Dr called on Friday to discuss some ideas, but we were gone, so will see what she has to say tomorrow. Please keep this in prayer!

We arrived at Washburne around 4, to find the park had a fair amount of people in it. Word has spread that they park's electrical (which used to be only 20 amp service) is now upgraded to 50! We found a spot on the back loop where we like, and then went to visit Harry & Flo. We were sad to learn that this will be their last year hosting at Washburne, for various reasons, but mainly due to park rule changes, and not being allowed to keep up the park as they were used to doing. After a good visit with them, we headed to Florence to get our usual Friday night Taco Bell fix, and pick up donuts for morning.




Saturday, we woke to beautiful sunshine, and a surprise in the cupboard. The mouse that I caught two days prior to leaving had ventured farther than I suspected--so Bill helped me tear the top cupboards apart and clean them. It was an all morning venture....and between the two of us, we came up with a much better layout when we figured out we didn't need 24 coffee cups!!

Just as we were about ready to put everything back in the cupboard (we had a mess everywhere!), my friend Connie from Ford Credit, along with her husband Jeff showed up. They said they figured anytime they were on the coast, they had a 50/50 chance of catching us at Washburne!! We had a great visit, and had I not had so much to put back together in the trailer, we'd have loved to invite them in for a longer visit. As they left, we looked at each other, and Bill said we could have met them for supper in Florence, and Ryan tried to catch them, but they had already left the park. Bummer...next time!! Hopefully, we will eventually get together to camp and have a good long visit!

Sunday brought another beautiful day. After a faucet leak, and a trip to Florence to see if we could find part or another faucet...we met Harry & Flo for lunch at a great Chinese place in Florence. It was YUMMY!! Needless to say, the portions were huge, and we had enough for supper last night and lunch again today!!

After a good meal...we headed to the beach. Bill and Ryan did some metal detecting, and Flo, Kristin, the dogs & I had a great walk on the beach. The kids ended up at their favorite place, and of course got soaked in China Creek!

We had a nice evening of games and then Bill & I had some quiet time after the kids headed to bed. We woke this morning trying to decide whether to stay another night, head home EARLY and drop Bill off on the way, or head home and get a good nights rest. We had a good walk to the old Washburne homestead, where we played in the field, and Bill did some more metal detecting.




After our walk, we visited with Flo & Harry, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the trailer. After lunch, we had a quick nap, and hooked up to head home around three.

The ride home was nice, and it was beautifully sunny. The temps got much cooler as we got toward home...but still nice. We arrived home to a belated Christmas gift from Tam & Eric....via the O'Hara's. Boy were we surprised, and we can "Feel the Love"!! Still missing you guys.

All pictures updated now!

A Week After Georgia

We've been home 10 days now. The first three were very mopey, as we were missing the Jenkins' family terribly. We were happy to be home, but also missed the warm of Georgia, and of course the family we love so much.

Sunday, Jan 4th--We all were up at 6am....ready for the day....by 8am, were were ready to go back to bed, as the three day drive from GA had finally caught up with us. We napped, unpacked, and Bill set up the Wii for the kids. It was a day of laundry, preparing for the week ahead, and a recuperating day!




Monday, Jan 5th, we returned to work & school. It was an exhausting day for all of us! Tuesday through Thursday we resumed our normal schedules and fell back into our regular groove.

Friday, Jan 9th, Bill has his two lower wisdom teeth extracted. He does very well and we spend the weekend allowing him to rest.

Saturday, Jan 10th--The kids go to the O'Hara's to play, and then they all head here for supper. It was great to be back together again. It was way too long! We had a great visit, and the kids did great sharing the Wii....we will have to have a Wii marathon soon for the kids to get some good time in. Seven kids sharing two controllers was interesting!




Its Tuesday, and we are finally back in the groove of homeschool, home life,and work. Bill is feeling much better, and his first solid meal was two White Castle cheeseburgers (from the freezer--as we don't have them here!),and tonight he wanted nothing more than french fries. God must have known this was on his heart because we received a coupon book from McDonalds in the mail today.

We will be heading to the coast this weekend to visit friends Harry & Flo at Carl Washburne. We are all off on Monday, and 4 days isn't enough to make it to GA & back again! Stay tuned for more pictures soon!

Home from Georgia

(pictures added this AM--Sunday)

Thursday, Jaunuary 1st, 2009
We woke with heavy hearts, as this is the day that we leave my sister and her family. We packed our things upstairs, and left them so as not to ruin our last morning of coffee together. We visited until about 9, when it was time to get things gathered for the truck. We had packed most everything the day before, so it wasn’t too much. Tam & Eric helped with lunch & drinks, while Bill loaded the truck, and we got the last things rounded up.

It was tearful for Shawnna & Tammy….and I must say that the gas station on hwy 96 at Moody road is a good place to get it all out! Washing windows and having a good cry is always productive. It was tough day as we traveled, as each time I thought about them, I cried. The mood was mopey for all of us the rest of the day. I’m sure the empty house syndrome was worse for the Jenkins’. Ryan cheered us up with this silly pillow(it's an around the neck travel pillow). He has a bit of his father in him!

We traveled about 850 miles on Thursday, a full 14 hours in the carz and covered GA, AL, TN, MS, AR, and mae it halfway through OK, staying in Oklahoma City. We ended up in a somewhat OK room, but the room next door ended up having a party, so needless to say, we did not sleep but a few hours. At 4am, we were debating whether to call the front desk, or just get up & go. Being the nature of the people next door, we decided best to leave.

Friday, January, 2, 2009

Being we had an early start, the kids slept in the car for another few hours, and Bill & I traded off during the day, napping and driving. We wanted to put as many miles on, so that we could make it home on Saturday, and get into either our own bed, or the trailer bed…depending on our arrival time…as we did not want to kick our house sitter out of our bed!

We “found” two more hours of Kristin’s lost hours from heading East…she was hapy that we located them. It was nice to gain two more hours of daylight as we chased the sun through the rest of OK, TX, NM, AZ and finally, we hit the CA border around 7ish. We were blessed with a beautiful sunset, safe travel and good weather…with temps around 65 today. We stopped for supper at the last Cracker Barrel on our journey, as we don’t have them at home, and debated long and hard over the double rocker we found there….deciding we had spent enough!! After supper, we headed through the Mojave Desert, and stopped around 10:30 at a very nice hotel—we had very comfy beds, a quiet hotel, and a very peaceful night. Regardless, we were still on GA time, and were awake at 4:30 (7:30 GA time), and were anxious to get home, so we woke the kids, and headed out.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

We spent most of the day in California….great weather again, and other than the wind (the kind if you take your hand off the wheel, you head in another direction! We fared fine, and crossed the Oregon border around 5. The pass had snow either last night or this morning, so we were feeling grateful that we came through in the daylight, and before the temps dropped below freezing. The rain they were calling for in CA/OR have not occurred, and we are feeing very blessed to have made the trip in 3 days.

We arrived home at 8:30—very glad to get out of the car! We are thankful for safe travel, no car issues, no weather issues, and the kids did awesome, never complaining about the long days.

It was a great trip….one we will treasure forever. It was some great family time for us, as well as the blessing to be with Tam, Eric, Erica & Nick. We haven’t been together in a long time, and not only are we family, but great friends as well. (Some of you remember that Eric & I were friends long before Tam & Bill were in the picture!). The laughter, stories and fun we shared was great. The kids did great being together for 9 full days, and a huge thanks to Nick & Erica for sharing their rooms and all their stuff…and to Tam & Eric for having us, and showing us around GA. If you haven’t read the blog for our time there…do so…we learned tons, had a blast, and can’t wait to do it again!! (Hopefully, not driving 3 days non stop!)

We want to thank all of you for your prayers for us for safe travel….God was so good to us….

Here are the pictures from our drive home. It ws 3078 miles one way!