Trying to Finish Well!

Well we have made it through Shane's last semester of Seminary and my first semester! He is walking tonight to get his Masters of Divinity with an emphasis in Theological Studies. We honestly could not have done this without God walking beside us all the way and the support of Family, Friends, and the Faculty. Wow what a ride for 3 years! We know that God isn't done with us yet and in His timing He will open the door for the next step that we are suppose to take together. Thank you for the prayers and encouragement as we pulled through the months of losses and triumphs. Our kids are still healthy and adapted enjoying school and life. We have had a busy day thus far with Chapel and pictures this morning, Marie made it into town last night for the Alumni Banquet, then tonight is the graduation. Here are some friends of ours Armae who started with Shane and is finishing, she's a great young lady full of God! Roger Trautmann whose been mentoring both Shane and I th...

As always it's remained busy for us this last month. We enjoyed a few days away from Portland at the end of March with Dawna, Kurt, and Girls; and Neva, Jason, Thomas, and Katherine. They are all getting so big, it was a treasure getting to spend time with all the nieces and nephew. Unfortunately, Kelli brought headlice home from school. Ugh! We are still battling this with the kids. I'm remaining vigilant. We had a great Easter with sunny weather, and school friends coming over for dinner. The kids dyed some Easter eggs Saturday afternoon which was fun to do. They all looked great in their new outfits. School is gearing towards the end of the semester so we are staying busy. It's been a good year thus far and we are looking forward to the journey of continuing.

Long awaited update, we have made it through 7 weeks of school both for the kids and ourselves. It's been a productive semester, God has been guiding our steps and we're continually thankful for that! He has also been growing us and peeling off bandages of hurts I haven't dealt with. Through it all He remains faithful and I am most grateful for that. We've had a slew of birthdays roll through our house these past months. Dakota had hers on the 30th of January! She got some really pretty outfits from Grammie & Grandpa Aunt Nelma,Uncle Paul, and Cousin Steve. She also got a coloring book and sunglasses, another little doll, crown from cousins and neighbor kids, sorry if I forgot anything. We had a little party for her with homemade pizza! My little girl is now 5 years old, scary when she was once so little. My little boy Seth turned 3, February 15th. We had a family party on the day of his birthday. He got some great outfits, and cool cars from Grammie ...

What a crazy way to Start the New Year! I can finally slow down, which for most is medium pace. To start, Shane arrived home from North Dakota January 4th around 4 a.m., it took about a week of adjustment for him to get back to somewhat normal sleep schedule. God blessed his time there which we are really thankful for. That Saturday the 7th we loaded up the kids and drove to meet my newest Niece Katherine. My Mom was still there so we saw most everyone. That night we drove down to Dawna and Kurt's who were great host, and feed us well the next morning before heading home. We had a great time chatting when the kids went to bed that we stayed up quite late. That Monday it was to school for me, I took an Introduction into Chaplaincy, which gave me a basis on what this entails and I got to pray and think about how far I want to go. I'm thinking that I will slowly work on this degree, until I get Seth into grade school, and then continue into this occupation of Chaplaincy for...

Where to begin,...had a good time when my parents came up to Portland for my graduation! I appreciate everyone support and am excited to be done with my Bachelors degree. Shane & I took separate vehicles down to Idaho, so that I could come back to Portland when I needed. He headed to North Dakota the evening of our 11th Anniversary. We got to spend most of the day together, so that made it special! He made it there safely, and is keeping busy along with trying out new jobs that he can do to keep busy. He finishes there the morning of the 7th, then heading back. The kids and I had a grand time at the grandparents house and playing out at Uncle Tad home. The received many great toys from Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, and Parents. They've been playing well together on and off as expected. Neva and Jason had there little girl Katherine Lee-Ann on the 21st, she is anticipated to go home Friday, so today! Mom rode home to Portland with us on Wednesday, then we took her to ...

The blogging silence has stopped for a while, it was a crazy month of November. It started with me getting an answer to prayer on what I'm going to do with my education from school? The answer, go into a Masters in Chaplaincy! The reasoning is that I can combine my love of God with my love of Fire! The direction God is putting on my heart and after much discernment, prayer, and seeking advice, I have applied to the Masters program here at Multnomah. It took four weeks of this stage before I am happy to announce that I start my Masters program in January, after I graduate with a Bachelors in Arts this Friday the 9th! I had truly thought I was done, but not for a while longer. The next step in our journey is that we will be done with Portland this coming May after Shane graduates, and the kids are done with school in June. Our plan thus far unless God directs us elsewhere is moving me and the kids to Idaho to be near my folks. Shane is planning on getting a job with one of his ...

It was a fun Mid-semester break for Shane & the kids. We took off Friday afternoon after Kelli's well child check up. She is 4 foot 4 inches and 50 lbs. Doing good health wise. We drove up to my sister Dawna's house and surprised the kids with Grammie being their also. They had fun playing with their cousins Bryn, Ansely, & Paige. Shane & I enjoyed visiting with Mom and Dawna. Kurt was on the East Coast so we were unable to see him. That night we finished the drive and spent the night at Neva, Jason, and Thomas' house. The next day at lunch time, Dawna and crew came up so we were able to spend the day with family. The three musketeers had grand time with Grammie letting cars slide down the driveway slope, and the oldest girls played inside and out all day with the slew of neighbor kids. The bonus was we decided we could make it to Portland the following morning so we could spend another night with N & J so Neva and I played a video game together befo...

Latest happenings in my families lives since last time I posted. It has really been acting like fall here in Portland, Shane & I are still running full speed trying to hurdle obstacles that have been placed in our path. Kids are still all healthy, we've been pushing airbourne with the normal everyday vitamins to keep kids immune systems up to the crazy weather. Finished up my hectic week of writing final paper and journal for Hebrew-Revelations, the final project was prepare a lesson using the 6 themes of perserverance, Christ is coming, purity, hope & encouragement, reward & recompense, and giving Glory to God. Yeah! talk about a intense project but it was a great learning experience once I was able to see light at the end of the tunnel. I also started Church and Future things with a professor who likes to see your thought process out in writing. So that was extra work but once again well worth it experience and learning wise. I have 9 weeks of class done until I ...

Seth and Dakota being silly when we were watching the neighbor kids. Seth and Dakota now fit the rain jackets that we got for Kelli and Daniel when they were 4 & 2. It's crazy to think of the years that have passed and the experiences we've had as a family. Dakota trying to sneak past me when she isn't suppose to be wearing her dress to play over at a friends house. Points for being very creative in the covering up. Well we are in to October with rain and cooler temps. I picked all the tomatoes off of the vines before the went moldy and have set them in a box top to ripen. We'll see how that experiment goes. I'm at my mid semester, switching classes this week so it always crazy this time in my schedule. I have 10 weeks left of school before I graduate and am done. Yippee! Shane's mid semester is the end of next week. It's amazing that we've made it this far, but only by the grace of God and good communication between Shane & I. Kids are al...

Well the kids have all been in school for over a week now. Everyone is thoroughly enjoying themselves after the initial getting things figured out. Seth and I have 2 hours to ourselves in the morning after we get everyone else off to school (Dad included). Shane takes Kelli and the neighbor boy to school every morning. I take Daniel and Dakota most mornings. We are trying carpooling with one of our neighbors whose son goes Tuesday and Thursday. Then Kelli gets picked up by a neighbor, and I pick up Daniel from school. I've been walking every morning for at least an hour then home to do dishes or laundry. We've about got a reasonable schedule set for Shane's needed study time to make it through this semester. We are also praying that God shows us were we are to go after we are both done with school in May. As always should be interesting, and the finish line is in sight but may obstacles in the path. It been a beautiful couple of weeks here but Fall is in the air.

Update on our lives beginning were I left off from my last blog post; Shane didn't have work for a week so we made a trip down to my folks house to pick & can greenbeans, & apricots. The kids played on the rope swing, and in the ditch. We made a trip up to the Southhills to see the Copper Butterfly's and just enjoy the peace & quite the Hills provide to our lives that are surrounded my noise & chaos. We were able to go camping again last Thursday-Saturday in Mt. Hood National Forest I'd say we finally found the perfect spot to go camping, it was secluded with limited number of people, lots of trees, no plugins or a spiket for water, we had to hand pump our water from a central location. It wasn't as refreshing as I'd like, but it was most enjoyable to enjoy the trees. Shane starts school this coming Monday, Kelli starts Tuesday, Daniel & Dakota start Wednesday, Seth will be the only kid home for two hours everyday. I am wrapping up P...

The finish line of being done with school is slowly showing over the horizon, I have entered the last semester at Multnomah and I'm on schedule to finish December of this year. As I told Shane last night it feels like I have senior-its but it's been so long since the last time I was this close to being done with school. Then we wait till Shane is done in May and the kids in June before moving somewhere else. We have been enjoying Summer since it decided to make it's appearance here in Portland, we've been camping again and taking short trips out of the city to enjoy the area. My garden is doing good, I've picked peas a couple times and green beans yesterday. I feel like I need at least 8 more rows besides the two I have of either crop to make it worth canning. ;-) We've been fighting mice since we got back from Idaho in July, so far we've killed or captured 6. I've done plugging of holes, and cleaning up messes, we haven't ever had this kind of ...

It seems like God is stretching me of late, once I get a handle on one thing He seems to say, "Good Job, however the middle of that test your faith isn't were I'd like to see it, so I'm giving you a similar test to pass well and true." Right now Shane and I are being tested, being stretched in the passing of yet another loved one, this one closer to my heart like the passing of my Uncle Keith. My Grandpa Buck passed away this last week unexpectedly from a fall. Even though I hadn't seen him in the last years since Grandma passed away he was still special to me and I have fond memories of the years I had with him growing up. He and Grandma had to make sure that I knew Shane had their approval and that if I wanted to marry him one day I could. :-) And when I was younger and would be visiting him and Grandma in Clarkston with my sisters Grandma would send me with him to run errands, and somehow we'd end up in Lewiston getting ice cream. I'm glad he ...