Happy New Year 2011!

Justine

Rambles

Since it is nearly the new year, I have been thinking over this one. What have I learned? What have I done? Has it been useful? Or have I spent a lot of time wasting time? I have grown in some ways: learning not to be shy, not that I ever really was shy, but learning not to be afraid to talk to people, for one thing. From February to May, Allison and I took a Canadian History course with our homeschool group. It was different learning in more of a classroom setting, with homework assignments, deadlines, and such. Back to the meeting new people/talking to strangers thing, we did a lot of fundraising so we could go on a trip. This involved knocking on doors selling pizzas, concert tickets, chocolate bars, etc. We had to present our products and reasons for selling in a clear and concise manner. By the end of the fundraising, I had grown quite comfortable doing fundraising, though I can't say I liked it.

In June I started going to Young People's Society (YPS - the young people at church aged 16+, who meet every Sunday after the evening service for either Bible study or a time of fellowship.) In YPS, I started to get to know older people. I used to only talk to people about my age or younger, and was practically scared of anyone older.

At the end of August I went to a YPS camp. There were about 180 campers there, so I met a lot of new people. It was fun making new friends of a variety of ages, from many different places. I did feel somewhat bewildered for a while, though, trying to keep names and faces straight, especially running on a low amount of sleep.

So, as a result of those experiences, I am much more comfortable talking to people.

This summer, working for my dad, I learned to enjoy painting. I think what helped was that the weather was warm and sunny for most of the summer, so we did quite a few outside jobs. Somehow working out in the fresh air where we could watch cars and pedestrians, feel the sun on our faces, and climb scaffolds :) was much more pleasant than working in a dark basement where the paint fumes tend to hang around rather than blow away.

Ongoing lessons I am learning would include accepting change and not stressing about things. With regards to the first, I have come to realize that no matter what, life is going to change. Things never stay the same. People move away, new people come. Children grow up. Sometimes people die. But change is irreversable. We cannot live always wishing for the past. That is a waste of the present. We cannot always stress about the future. Right now, where I am, I need to live to God's glory, realizing my time is not my own - it is God's. He owns it. I have to live in the here and now, loving and serving the people who are in my life right now, not worrying about whether these same people will be the people I will know in twenty years.

In regards to not stressing, I have to learn how to handle unexpected situations and how to handle stressful situations, like driving. I work best under a schedule, so I have to make a schedule for myself and discipline myself well enough to stick to it. The sticking to it is the hardest. :)

If you've really read this far, I'm surprised. :) I did not set out to write this much. I just knew when I started that since I haven't posted in two weeks, it is time for another post. So I wrote ... and wrote ... and wrote. And it was fun.

Justine

Snow!

We have about a foot and a half of snow! Lots of fun for romping in. Yesterday we were running and jumping in the snow, but whenever we fell down we had to get up right away so Casper wouldn't lick our faces. He liked to run through the snow, too, and would come up with his face covered.

Today I started work at a nearby chicken barn. I gathered 21 900 eggs, though not singlehandedly since I was training. Actually I only stack flats, load carts, check for cracks, and supervise. The rest is done by machines and conveyor belts. I will be working every Thursday morning. Allison will work Wednesday mornings, and several other people do the other days. I enjoy the work, since it is on a farm. The only thing I don't like is that Leah has to take over the care of our chickens, to reduce the risk of potential spread of disease.

Justine

Some Things We Have Been Working On...

Warren and I made scented and coloured bath salts the other day. It was fun experimenting with different colours. One combination we tried was green and red. It turned a funny grey colour so we added a lot more red to make a pinkish colour. We didn't think anyone would find grey bath salts very appealing.

On Thursday Allison baked a gingerbread house. Decorating it was fun...after we held it together for a long time, hoping it wouldn't fall apart. Eventually we propped up the roof with Duplo blocks. After a few hours we took them out and the roof stayed on.

We covered the house with icing and candies. In the evening we ate it up. It was delicious. Definitely something we'd like to make every year.

This is what happens when you turn your paper over to paint the other side.

Nadia dug through a drawer to find a beater to lick. Problem is, when it comes out of the drawer it is clean - no sweet whipped cream. But she went around licking it for awhile anyway.

What have you been doing lately?

Justine

Nadia's First Snowball of the Season

This was last week. There really wasn't much snow, but we scraped some off the deck for her. She was delighted. A few minutes later she dropped the snowball. Warren threw it against the wall to see if it would smash (it did) and the dog ran off with the rest. That made Nadia mad! But we found enough snow to make her another.

The sled Nadia is sitting in is one my parents bought used when I was little. Warren brought it down from the barn to pull her around on the deck in. She likes it, especially when Warren swings her around the corner.

Justine

It's December...

...and it's snowing.

Inside by the fire it is cozy warm, though.

Justine

This and That

It has been below freezing all day. Right now it is -3 C with a wind chill of -10 C. We saw a few snowflakes today, but not enough to stick.

As for the chicken that was hurt, it is still alive. It eats and walks around (with a major limp). Meghan is still faithfully tending to it.

Meghan and Leah have gone babysitting. Our parents are shopping. The rest of us are at home, enjoying movie night.:)

Tomorrow Allison and I are going to a concert put on by a local choral society. We will be handing out programs. I am glad for the opportunity. I saw a poster for the concert and thought it would be nice to go. And now I get to go for free.

Last night I went driving with my driving instructor. We did the big city/major highway run. Definitely glad the rain and drizzle was rain and drizzle and not snow. Driving on the highway was easy and fun. The city was harder to drive in, but a good challenge.

Here are some pictures of a handsome cowboy and his pretty little lady.:)

Pretty good for having been taken in the basement using a camera whose batteries were dying, eh?

Justine

Quotes from Thomas

Thomas: "Can dogs see in the dark?"

Me: "Not that well."

Thomas: "If they open their eyes they can."

"It's getting froggy (foggy) out here!"

Thomas: "These are my gravy pants."

Me: "Gravy pants? What are gravy pants?"

Thomas: "Like my Sunday ones."

Me: "Oh, navy pants."

Justine

A Link

My mom posted a youtube video of a beautiful performance of the Hallelujah Chorus. You can see it here.

New Experiences

You learn something new every day, right? And not necessarily when studying either.:)

Yesterday we found out our dog likes to chase chickens. So that day's new experience was doctoring up a chicken. One of the younger hens flew out of the pen and we found her huddled in a clump of grass. She has an open wound on one side under her wing. Some of us went out on Friday night and bandaged her up. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to feel a thing. And now she can eat, drink, and get out of the towel we wrapped her in. Meghan has been keeping an eye on the hen. We are not sure if the chicken will live, but we'll see.

Today I learned to mix cement. Allison and I mixed cement for a farmer nearby. He was setting up some new water buckets and needed to get them up off the ground. So now I know the ratios of cement, gravel, and water to make cement. Anyone need cement?

Wednesday evening Leah, Meghan, Emily, and I did our hair up in rags to make it curly. (This was not a new experience - we've done it before.) My hair didn't get curly because my hair was too wet when we did it. The other girls had lots of ringlets and curls, though.

(Emily took this picture of herself in the mirror.)

(Leah took this picture of Meghan.)

Justine

Chickens

We have 36 chickens. We bought eight of them as day-olds two and a half years ago. This year we bought 25 laying chicks and 20 meat birds as day-olds. One of the laying chicks disappeared, so there are 24 of them left. One of the meat birds died and fifteen went to the butcher at the beginning of September. Now we have four left to be butchered, and we plan to try to do it ourselves.

The older hens lay one to four eggs per day between the eight of them, and the 24 younger hens lay between two and six. The eggs from the older hens are extra extra large, but the younger hens have been laying medium to large eggs so far. (By the standards of the regular eggs that can be bought at the grocery store. By the standards of the eggs we are used to from our hens, these eggs are small.)

The shell in this picture is from an egg from one of the younger hens. Though not very large, this egg had two yolks. Since then we've found a few more double-yolkers.

I just took a break to do the chores and found seven eggs from the younger chickens. It's getting better everyday.:)

Justine

Kale

On Thursday we washed, chopped, and froze kale.

We had 41 plants and it made enough for 57 large meals and several smaller meals for our grandparents.

We stripped the leaves off the plants on Tuesday, gathering 5 1/2 garbage bags full.

The first step on Thursday was to wash it twice in the tub. Meghan, Warren, and I started on the first bag.

When we were finished washing we took it down to the kitchen, where we chopped it in the blender. We filled the blender with kale, added some water, and chopped just until the leaves were all into the water. Meanwhile, Allison and Leah started washing the next bagful.

(Leah chopping)

We put the kale through the strainer to get rid of the water and then packed it into freezer bags.

(Emily filling bags)

It took most of the day to get all the kale done. We worked in teams, so we weren't necessarily all working at one time, but it was a good day's work. We listened to a radio drama of The Chronicles of Narnia while we were working, which made it fun.:)

We eat it mixed with mashed potatoes. The kale is boiled for about 10 minutes before adding it to mashed potatoes. The real name for this is kale stumpot, (EDIT - I was corrected. The proper name is boerenkool stampot, literally translated kale hash) but we call it green potatoes. It tastes delicious topped with mustard and served with sausage.

Justine

What We've Been Up To

On Saturday, Leah, Meghan, and I cleaned a church. Another girl we know used to do it, but she moved away so we got the job. In the afternoon we did stuff around the house. After supper my dad took me to the city to practice driving. I am pretty confident driving in the country, but there are so many more things to watch for in the city. I drove for more than an hour and even got to see a place where my dad is going to be working.

On Sunday we had some friends over for lunch. After the evening service the Young People's from our church came. The last people left at about 10:30, so it was kind of late. But I had a nap this afternoon, so that's okay. :)

This morning when we woke up it was a bit chilly, and it was cozy to go downstairs to the warm living room where the fire was burning brightly. When the sun came up we saw that we'd had a good, hard frost. We have already had one frost but it wasn't so hard as this one. Warren and I went outside to let the dog run around this morning and I took the camera along.

Warren ran and slid on his boots across the grass. Here you can see his tracks. Where the tracks start is where he started sliding. The tracks beside are from the first time he slid.

Later we tried sliding on the deck. I couldn't slide very far, but Warren could. When the others saw him sliding they decided to come out and try it, too. My mom got some video of it.

It's just about time to get the winter coats and hats and boots out. We did get boots out for the three little ones this morning. We put on their winter coats, too. Since Nadia's was in the wash, they all had to bump up one - Gavin wore Brent's coat, Thomas wore Gavin's, and Nadia wore Thomas'. They looked so cozy, bundled up in the too-big coats. Nadia's mitten was a bit wet by the time we came in because she tried to suck her fingers through it.

Gavin is being generous, handing out his Sunday School candy. That is his weekly practice. :)

Justine

This and That

Gavin lost a tooth! He must have worked on it a lot, because it went from slightly wiggly to almost ready to fall out, in a few days.

Brent isn't signing peace here. He was talking about two police cars. The boys were playing trucks and cars on the living room floor and I came and took pictures of them.

John Deere tractor pulling 1964 Chevy pickup

When I go outside with the little ones, they like me to tell them stories. Some of their favourites are "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". Today I told them stories from real life, like what I can remember from the day they were born or about when we moved four years ago.

Warren and Brent can read well enough to read aloud now. Brent read "Little Red Riding Hood" and then Warren read "The Gingerbread Man".

This red balloon is supposed to be a heart. But as it turned out more like a round thing with ears, someone drew a pig face on it.

Warren and our new puppy, Casper. The puppy showed up at an empty house around the corner from us. The owners were selling the house and didn't want a puppy around. So now he's ours. He quickly learned to love Warren, who spends the most time with him. When Warren comes outside, Casper gets all excited and starts jumping around.

Nadia loves the dog, but Thomas is still afraid of him. There is one good thing, though. Thomas was scared of the neighbours' dog, which is smaller, but now he doesn't mind it because Casper is so much bigger.

Justine

Nadia...

...is getting so big!

She can sit on a swing like a big person. She isn't afraid to swing, either.

She is learning to talk. The other day when Mom was calling Allison for something, Nadia was hollering, "Ayee! Ayee!" And whenever she wants something, no matter who's around, she calls, "Emy!" and Emily answers from wherever she is in the house.

She can say "Wan' it!" or "Need!" If she's hungry she'll dig through the cupboards and find crackers or applesauce cups.

In her eyes, she's an adult. But she still needs us. When she is angry she will push us away and hold on at the same time.

I used to think Nadia was annoying. It seemed like she was always whining or getting in the way. But when we started schoolwork, we made a schedule of who takes care of her when. This way she is never left to make mischief, so when we are doing something else we don't have to worry about her, and when we are taking care of her we're not doing anything else and we can just have fun with her. When I take the three little ones outside I am glad Nadia is a girl because even at her age she likes girly-er things than the boys.

Love you, Nadia!

Justine

Family Pictures

My mom put some family pictures up on her blog. You can see them here.
Justine

Thanksgiving Weekend Hike

For Thanksgiving weekend, we went to visit some friends for a few days. On the way up, we stopped at Eugenia Falls and at Metcalfe Rock.

Eugenia Falls is not very wide, but it is tall. From what I could see, it looked like a small stream flowing gently through the woods. Suddenly the ground falls away to a valley between two cliffs and the water goes crashing to the bottom.

On this picture, the falls is to the right. The valley turns and seems to join another valley running perpendicular to the first.

This is a closeup of the far hill in the previous picture. Wouldn't that meadow at the top be a delightful place to build a house?

Here is Metcalfe Rock. Walking up to it through the forest, one wonders how such a big chunk of rock ever managed to be plunked down there. It looks like it must be solid right through for quite a distance, but in reality there is a crevice running parellel to the face of the rock only a few metres in.

We walked around the face of the rock and climbed down into the crevice. There were many small crevices running into the rock. Some were actual tunnels. We climbed from one part of this really big crevice to another, and then found a tunnel that led to a small hole in the wall of the first crevice. It was fun, but somewhat difficult, to climb through a low tunnel guided only by the light of a flashlight.

Emily sitting on a ledge near the end of a crevice.

Looking back into the crevice we had just come out of. The air down there was cool and damp, and it felt good to be out in the warm, fresh forest air. When the breeze came from the right direction it blew cool air up in our faces. The wind was really neat in the crevices, because sometimes it would come from the warm forest above and other times it would blow up from the cool, damp crevices.

The whole place was beautiful and awe inspiring. We thought about how God is our rock and salvation. The rocks are so solid, it makes us think about how God is forever and unchanging.

(All pictures taken by Allison. Used with permission.)

Justine

Cheese Men

During the morning, some of us older ones take turns doing things with the little ones. Allison gives them a snack, and sometimes they do a "craft snack". Today they made cheese men.

Here they are, lined up on the counter while Allison is getting things ready. (We have a "shortcut" between the dining room and kitchen. I took this picture from the dining room.)

Eager anticipation

Three cheese men

Justine