Busy like a bee.......

It's that time of the year again... What time? you might ask? Time for Sarah to start blogging again? Yeah right! HA! I had such good intentions of creating this amazing blog that people from all over the world were just waiting on pins and needles for the next edition.... But it turns out, I don't exactly think I'm blogging material. First off, you have to do it a little more often. Second, you kinda have to have a purpose. And thirdly, you have to edit your photos BEFORE you post them on your blog for people to actually see stuff. I have been working on lots of projects... for instance: Gabe's nursery. It's finally finished...kind of. But when do I blog - during his nap when I think about going in there to take pictures... Doesn't really work that way. Otherwise, my project include writing a big long list and marking them all off - plus I don't think you want pictures of my mound of laundry - before and after. Or maybe the "before", 15,000 ears of corn that Sam buys because they are on sale and then the "after", it's all chopped off the cob and safely stored away in two cup amounts in the freezer just waiting for Mexicali corn to come into fruition.

One thing I do have a picture of that I've been working on - S2 Photography has been at it again...

Here is a collage of Ali.... Isn't she beautiful?



And here is Erinn!!! She's quite a beauty too! It's not hard to take great pictures of such beautiful girls!



So I'm in the midst of doing some editing for a family and I'll get those up. These two girls are Seniors this year and it's been tons of fun to get pictures done for them. We get to meet with both of them for a few more shots in the coming weeks, which will be great! It's awesome that we have so many people taking chances on us and our emerging photography skills!

One of the great things is that I finally got my Digital Rebel! So I'm very excited to come alongside Sam and really learn from him. With every person or family, we are learning so much more!

On another note, the little Gabe man turned 11 months a couple of days ago - can you believe that???? I can't! I'll have to upload some new pictures of him, the summer has been busy and we've been all over the world between the three of us... So hopefully things will settle into more of a routine... One of my problems is that we are still on the one computer, so whenever Sam is home, he's usually using it for painting and he's got a show coming up pretty soon. He's been painting like a maniac. The other night, he started painting at 10pm and finally finished up around 6am. I know right, crazy!! But that's the time with the least amount of distractions for him. Maybe y'all can pray for us. He still needs some sleep! Thanks.

Well, from my research, this entry is already about 100,000 too many words and waaaaay too little photos. So I'm going to be working on that. Hopefully learning a little more about blogging and getting a little more user friendly sight or at least to LOOK a little nicer! Let me know what kinds of information you'd like me to include and I'll see if I can make it happen!!

Trying to keep up in the Tundra,

Sarah

End of another week....

Ok, I know that I promised pictures of the nursery at this point, but I just remembered I have a baby shower on Sunday and maybe I'll be getting some treasures, so why not make you wait a little longer! It's not going anywhere, and besides, I have maternity clothes flung all over the place in there and nothing on the walls yet. So I am going to make you wait a bit! I still have to find a place for some things and I want to give you the grand tour!

On another note, for those of you participating in my Giveaway and are anxious to find out how I'm feeling - still good. I know that I've passed at least one of your dates, so I'm sorry for your loss in the Giveaway, but don't give up on me - there will be more! :)

It's still summer here. As in, summer came last week and it's still here - miracle above miracles!!! I was telling some friends of mine last night that I think I got jipped. I honestly thought we'd get weather like this when I wasn't quite so pregnant. I was counting on some serious fall weather by now! How can I even decorate my house with corn stalks when it's stinkin' 80 degrees outside? There is something VERY wrong with that!!! Oh well, I think next week, it's suppose to cool down a little. I really have nothing to complain about except for the fact that I can't walk out of the house without pouring sweat and that's just plain disgusting!

On the home front - Sam, the main man, has been painting! Oh man, you should see some of his work. Last night, he got home from guys Bible Study about 9pm and started a painting, while we were watching Hannah Montana, the movie (I know - side note later) and he ended up staying up till, well, frankly I don't know - 3am maybe? Anyway, I looked downstairs this morning and he had completed this whole huge painting and it's just BEAUTIFUL!!! I know that I'm a bit biased, but seriously, this is a keeper. There are some of the ones he does that don't really tinkle my bell, but this is a beautiful one out in the badlands with some yellow flowers in the fore ground - amazing and so real to life!!! So how about that - I really think the Lord is blessing his diligence. Please continue to keep him in your prayers as he is feeling the crunch time to get these paintings done for his one man show in October. I know he can do it though! So, yeah, the Hannah Montana movie... well, remember #1 that we deal with youth on a regular basis and it's good to keep up with Youth Culture! And for #2 - Sam loves Hannah Montana - HA! I think that's so funny! He thinks she's the funniest thing. So here we are watching this movie last night and laughing away! It was so lame in a lot of parts that we couldn't even help rolling our eyes and laughing! But let me tell you - Hannah Montana knows how to put some good music in her movies! :) I did keep me awake all the way till midnight and that is more than I can say for about 99% of the movies we rent. That might be pretty sad, but it's a fact!

Well, I guess I'll close for the weekend.... The street fair is this weekend, maybe I'll get out a do a little walking! Should be a good time! I'll be checking in Monday, so have a great weekend!!!!

Waiting for Fall to hit in the Tundra,

Sarah

Waiting to find out if I won some amazing boots....

Ever the optimist. Trying to win something on Pioneer Woman! One day, I will succeed and I'm afraid it might just be one of the biggest highlights in my life!!! Is that sad? Wait. Don't answer that. Guess what? It's POW WOW weekend - do you realize what this means? Only the biggest yard sale weekend of the YEAR!!!! Nevermind that we haven't gone to a yard sale the rest of the summer. We decided we have too much junk in our house as it is and we don't need anymore. I did a little the beginning of the summer looking for some baby treasures and that's what I plan on doing this weekend! I'm not exactly sure what I need, but don't you worry, when I find it, I'LL KNOW! My one brother in law, Judah, thinks it's all junk, but my other brother in law - the kindred spirit, Charlie, he sees it all for what it really is - a treasure!!!! Sorry Judah, but I'm sure you'll come around one of these days! :)

Well, we are on countdown for a lot of things. #1 - Rally Sunday, that's this Sunday and that means Sunday School starts back up again. So after being gone from church for too many Sundays to count, we'll be back, full fledged! #2 - Rally Wednesday is this coming Wednesday night (16th) which is the start of Confirmation! We are switching things up quite a bit and so Sam's got a lot on his plate right now. But it'll be nice when that is over. The first one - you just never know how it's gonna go, but we have a lot of people that have put a lot of time into this service and I'm pretty sure it's going to knock everyone's socks off. The only dilemma I have is that my Women's Bible Study is at the exact same time. So I just don't know - I'm so torn. I need the fellowship, but I might have to skip the first one just to gain the momentum of the back to school spirit!!! We'll see. I'll keep you posted. #3 - Thursday night (17th) starts Sam's league Men's Volleyball. Yes, he signed up for a weekly league to play V-ball with the boys and have a Bible study afterwards. Good for them. That goes till December or something. #4 - Friday night (18th) is our back to school kick off for Jr. High Crossfire. #5 - Sam is starting back to school with Liberty Theological Seminary. I don't know when his class starts exactly. #6 - It's time for the annual Papa's Pumpkin Patch family fun day! Which crazy enough, Sam is in charge of! But he says that he's pretty much handed those responsibilities over to someone else, but we'll see. #7 - Sam's got a big commission art piece that he has finally started on and I pray he feels like he's got a good start, because I think it looks great! Don't know exactly when that's due. #8 - Sam's also got a one man art show the last week of October! Hmmm.... I should be working on some invites for that. At least getting some labels ready for that. Thanks for the reminder. He just has to get 30 originals ready to put up... No big deal, right? #9 - We have 2 senior and 1 family photo session to edit and 2 more seniors to take during the Fall. #10 - Oh, I almost forgot - we have to squeeze the birth of our first born son in there somewhere between #6 and #7. So you can see, we've got a lot going on. Any prayers you've got to spare, we'd sure appreciate it!!! And winning the oh so cool cowgirl boots on Pioneer Woman sure would help! But I'm not going to hold my breath! (Pretty much winning anything on Pioneer Woman would help!)

I know I need to add a few more pictures, I will. I actually got the nursery straighten up yesterday. It looks pretty close to being ready to welcome a new person! I've got laundry washed, books ready to read, diapers ready to put on, and who knows what else? I don't really have a clue what I need for a new little baby, but we'll figure it all right? I've decided that you can really get inundated by all the "things" to do to prepare for a little person. You've got people telling you that "life is never going to be the same" "you'd better sleep now - you'll never sleep again" "you've got to change everything that you ever knew" "you'll never have fun again" "this little tiny person is going to take over your life" "your whole entire world will be turned upside down" "Sam will finally have to grow up" "you'll never have peace and quiet for the rest of your life" "you won't even know what hit you" "you better do whatever you want to now, ie, travel, etc. because you won't be able to do it again for the next 18+ years" "you'd better get out of your system everything you ever wanted or hoped to do it because now you have to do whatever your kid wants to do" - but.... "it'll all be worth it." Yeah right. No wonder parents are super heroes. It's been about 9+ months to get all of this hysteria out of my system and actually look forward to meeting this little guy. I have to remember all the advice is coming from other people with other lives and they aren't me. Sure, I'm sure some of it is legitimate, but I think we'll figure out how to adjust to our new little addition. There might be bumps along the way, but I have an amazing husband, who is surprisingly a lot more grown up than a lot of people give him credit for. And most of all, we have a God that loves us more than anything and has already filled our life with lots of loving people that have already offered to come along and help us. He's given us this little blessing for a short while to raise in the nurture and admonition in the Lord, and we will do our darndest to make sure that happens, even though I know we'll screw up - we always do! But God is bigger than us! So that's about where I stand these last few weeks as we look forward to meeting our new little guy! (PS. I know you think I'm kidding about all that advice, but it's true, I heard every bit of it and more at least once in the last nine months!)

On another note - please continue to pray for my mom. Her radiation starts on 09-22-09. And she'll have it for 5 days a week for at least 6 weeks. So if you work out the math there, it means, we're hoping she'll finish up before Thanksgiving and that also means, no time to come out when the baby is born. We will be heading back to VA for T-giving as we have a lot of family coming from all over to meet our little fella and fellowship. So there is no sense in Mom and Dad coming out. That also means our projects get put on hold for another year probably. It's quite disappointing, but I want mom to get better and healed up! So please pray for her during this time as well. Thank you!!!!

Sorry for all the writing and not so many pictures... Pictures will definitely be coming! Thanks for your patience!

Fall is on it's way in the Tundra,

Sarah

Good Monday Morning!

Well, hello there! How are y'all this fine sunhsiney Monday?

Well, partially sunshiney anyway. Turns out I survived the snow. I know, I didn't really believe that I would, but I did.

Anyway, I've been swamped today - nothing to exciting this weekend. Sam spent all of Saturday getting the waterfall doing the right thing into the pond. Judah had the Jr./Sr. for Shiloh on Saturday night and so we went and took some pictures there.

On Sunday, Sam did have the Quick Draw where he started and completed a picture in an hour. It turned out great! He also ended up getting People's Choice on "The Crossing" which was a nice award. He got several awards actually on that particular piece. I was surprised that only one of his paintings sold besides the Quick Draw, it was the Crocus. And a good friend of ours bought it. So that's really nice.

Anyway, I have 28 minutes to get a whole lot more work done!

Until next time!

From the Tundra.....
Sarah

What now?!?!

I have been on such a roll this week updating you on my less than normal life and don't you worry your pretty (and handsome) little head's - I won't disappoint!!! I should really entitle this entry - Living life outside the Asylum - A walk on the Wild Side!

Let's see, where do I even begin? Ok. Big breath. Sorry if I loose you somewhere along the way, I'm exhausted... Anyway, I'll need to back up and give you a bit of history first. Sam entered the Mandan Art Show sometime back whenever the deadline was; I believe in February... As you know, he was deep in the throws of ski season and also the preparation of the ACC Art Show and so he was feeling very pumped but didn't have much prepared. So as he's frantically filling out the registration in order to get it in by the designated time (a race against the clock - who would have thunk it?!) I walked away and came back to look at his list, all of sudden, he's got the list filled. Granted, it only costs like $2 to enter each piece, but I'm like - "Sam, what is this? You don't have that much art here. What is this? A piece entitled 'The Best Ever'? I've never heard of that, much less seen it?" He says, "I know, I just made it up - I made them all up!!" He's very positive and optimistic for those of you who don't know him! Eight all together. Eight, count them 1-2-3-4..., you get the picture...

kas;jdg;ajg;aklfjh;kldfj - oh sorry, I must have dozed off and woke back up just after my head hit the keyboard!!!

Ok, fast forward to April 23rd, the day to turn them in because the show starts on April 24th. Look at this picture with me - I get home from work about 2pm, you can turn your art in from 1-6pm on the 23rd. Sam gets home around the same time and says, I'm going to start.... "Spring's Song". Ok, let me re-write that sentence, because I'm not quite sure you got that - Sam gets home around the same time and says, I'm going to start.... "Spring's Song". Did you catch that little tiny bolded word? It holds a lot of power! Remember a couple days ago when I said that Sam got up at midnight to paint and I woke up to the beautiful picture of crocus'? He had to do that in acrylic so that it would dry fast enough to get it in the show.... So out of those 8 paintings, let's see how many he has as of 2pm yesterday.

The Crossing - 30X40 started but not finished, no frame
Spring's Arrival - 5X7 crocus';finished, although not signed and no hanging stuff on the frame
High Prairie Parade - 18X24 not done, external hard drive died, no hope of finishing
Spring Song - 9X12 just getting started at 1pm
High Country Cowboying - 9X12 started, not finished, no frame
Blue, White and Brown - 5X7 not started
God's Country - 8X10 done, but not signed
The Best Ever - 8X10 not started

Well, it was going to be a busy afternoon! I don't want to drone on and on, but I will also point out that the registration form had underlined and bolded - NO LATE ENTRIES ACCEPTED. So that answered a lot of questions. Well, our local Hobby Lobby and last minute framing shop closed at 8pm and oh, by the way, did I tell you we had a dinner to be at 6pm where Sam had to say the Opening Prayer? So that meant that Sam had approximately 3 hours to finish all of those unfinished paintings, get them framed, and the backing put on all those pictures, plus, they needed to be delivered before we left for our dinner since there was no possible way we'd make it back by 7pm! An impossible feat - you might say!!!! But alas, you are no Sam Coleman, the ultimate optimist on the planet! (By the way, I'm beginning to see a pattern here, my craziness blogs are all induced by Sam...hmmm....makes a girl wonder....)

Anyway, to make a long story short, he got an extension till 7:30 this morning to turn in his art and so we headed off to our Campus Crusade Dinner and got home around 10pm last night because we had to squeeze in a trip to Walmart to get some picture hanging supplies! So I started right away on putting the backing on some pictures, finding another couple of pictures that he could substitute with those titles, even though, this is a lesson - when he registered with his make believe names, he made up random prices and the art he ended up turning in was some high quality stuff! People would be crazy not to purchase those amazing pieces of art for so low of a price! If I had some money, I would even purchase them! Sam came to bed at 4 this morning and the alarm was set for 6:30 to finish up some stuff, take a drive into town and still get back by 7:30 this morning!

Guess what!!!! Done. Actually we only got 7 out of the 8 delivered, all signed, all ready to hang, all with frames on them, I don't know how he did it, but that crazy man did it! Then to celebrate, we headed out to Dakota Farms for breakfast - this little restaurant down the hill from our house, which I don't really recommend. We'd never been there before, but wanted to go sometime and took this as a great opportunity! We had a server (I don't know what's politically correct, but she didn't fit the bill for server - she was a WAITRESS!) Let me just describe her, Sam wanted to take a picture of her - First of all, she has worked there for 30 years! She was wearing a long sleeve turquoise shirt, a short sleeve royal blue and fuchsia pink one over the long sleeve with a denim vest over that - she had on jeans that had pink and blue hearts on the back on them and a gigantic star down at the bottom of one of the legs, with her turquoise cowgirl boots sticking out - bright blue eye shadow and bright pink blush with tons of pink and blue do-dads in her hair! Oh, I can't forget to mention the rhinestone bracelets up and down her sleeves!!! And she told us she'd been up since 5:30 to get to work on time at 6am - I was thinking - "Go girl - you are dressed to the nine's in half an hour!" I don't know about you - but that's my kind of woman!!!! Did I mention she was probably in her 50's at least?

So what next? Well, Sam is at home, snoozing away and I'm at work - addressing over a hundred invitations to a Seminar in a couple of weeks - oh, and the highlight - talking to all of y'all!!! I know I mentioned a little snippet of snow yesterday and haven't mentioned it again, that's because I'm in denial. Yes, it came. It's cold again. It's dreary. It's time for Parent's Night Out tonight - that means 5-10pm, Sam, me, and a bunch of Sr. Highers taking care of however many little people there are! Snooze. I think it's nap time for me! Almost!

I'm tired just after writing all that! I hope your day started at a little slower pace!

Until the next snow storm in the Tundra.....

Love, Sarah!

Correction...

I need to make a minor correction - when I do my giveaway, (ie. whenever Sam's art show is over and we have the chance to look through what he has and what he's willing to part with) it is for those of you FAITHFUL readers, not to see who is reading!!! Some of you have been faithful readers over the years of my sporadic blogging without pictures, some of you are new readers and I appreciate all of you! Especially when all I do is share about my life! But I'm going to find some good purpose - a meeting of the master minds? a recipe or two? a craft pattern? (as soon as I can come up with one) ummmm.... a gardening tip? how to survive playing walleyball with the Colemans? what the weather might be like in the Tundra? You never know what kind of useless information you might learn on this blog! If nothing else, it helps me stay connected with the outside world! So it's a big THANK YOU for staying in touch with me, even though it seems I've dropped off the face of the planet! (Even though 50% of you are my good friends enduring Tundra life yourselves! So to you - well, there aren't enough thank you's, you not only have to put up with seeing me all the time, but you ask for more by subscribing to my blog and listening to me all the time! Can't help but say - God Bless Y'all!)

I've learned a thing or two since yesterday.
#1.I need to start proofing my blogs. I get so excited and I write so fast that I make so many typos, it's a wonder you can even decipher what I'm trying to say! So I promise, from this day forward (picture me holding my hand up in the boy scout oath position) to start proof reading my blogs so that you can better understand what's going on in my world instead of being subject to what's going on inside my head. Phew. I did it. That wasn't so hard. Ok, moving on....

#2.It's really hard to build a raised bed for the garden when your wood has warped in ways that are just plain inhuman! But if you set your mind to it, employ your super strong manly husband, ignore his frustrated phrases that you really can't repeat anyway, be super sweet and hold the screw while he drills it in, then you can make it to work! So we cleared out the little bit of debris that didn't get inflamed before the Fire Truck came and put our first raised bed in the garden! It's looking very good. Now just for soil, plants, sunshine, water, TLC and hopefully I'll be blogging about canning veggies before you know it! :) (I'll keep you posted on the progress, we just have about 3000 more raised beds to make!)

#3.Sometimes it's scary playing walleyball when Coleman's are competing against one another. But it really makes you work hard and want to win. Because if you are the missing link on their team and heaven forbid, you loose to the other brother, you may be excommunicated! (I'm not sure about all that, because we won, but it's just a hunch I have!) Otherwise, the 2nd part of this lesson is that Senior Highers have some crazy insane walleyball endurance!

And I think that's about all. So before I quickly hit my "Publish Post" button, allow me a couple minutes to go back through for proof-reading! ;)

Until next time - by the way, it's getting warmer in the Tundra, but I heard a nasty rumor that it was suppose to snow this weekend!!!! :(

Got so much to say, I guess!!!

Well, yesterday wasn't quite as productive as the day before, but today, I'm hoping to get a start on our raised beds, we'll see if that actually happens. Wednesdays are kind of tough that way!

Anyway, yesterday, finally got home and got some lunch fixed, it was such a beautiful day, we had about 7 of our girls from Rock Solid (Sr. High Ministry) playing tennis yesterday, so we headed off to watch a bit of that! It was great! They did a terrific job! Then Sam had a meeting at a Bed and Breakfast with his ACC committee... I didn't think I should go and crash their meeting, but I've always had my eye on this house and was just plain dying to get inside to see what it was all about! So I went and got a tour and everything. What a terrific house, it just set my mind to thinking about all kinds of things! Decorating, hospitality, cooking, art, so many things... I just sat their day dreaming! Then we headed off to dinner with the in-laws. Gotta check up on those boys, you know! Whew.... Still going.

Got home a little after 9pm (finally dark) and Sam decided he needed to plant a couple things. And the neighbor (5th grader) decided she needed to come over and start her school project! I don't know if I already posted this, but we told her about a month ago, we'd help her with it and the deadline is fast approaching, so I told her to bring everything over! So I took Morgan inside while Sam was finishing up planting a couple more things - side note - this is so funny! My OBSESSED husband said "I think I need to plant a little everyday so I don't get sick of it!" HA!!! He can spend 64.2 hours a day outside planting and never get sick of it - so I think he was trying to make up some sort of excuse to be outside planting in the dark because he spend all day inside painting! Just for your information, he doesn't need to come up with any kind of excuse as far as I'm concerned! Ok, back to the project - here's the directions I look at (mind you, it's 9pm):
Mix 2 cups of flour
2 cups of salt
and enough water to make it dough like consistency
Then: bake at 150 degrees (my oven only goes down to 200) for 2 hours! (emphasis added) (Did you remember I said it was 9pm?)

Anyway, then you paint it with poster paints and add all the extras. Here's the kicker - Morgan ended up with the state of Rhode Island! That's right, that means, we had to mold it into the shape of Rhode Island, which, by the way, we learned is mostly made up of the ocean! Go figure! So by the time we got the dough all mixed up and Sam finally came in, I had him put his artistic talents to use and draw the itty bitty state of Rhode Island, it was time to mold it into the shape and pop it into the oven - it was 10pm! Rhode Island is not only the smallest state but because it's made up of tons of water, we had a lot of dough left over, so we shaped the rest into the state bird (Rhode Island Red - Chicken), the state flower (a violet) and the state tree (an oak leaf)! Morgan was all very excited about her project and the direction it was going and I just kept an eye on the clock wondering when I might get to bed! Anyway, we popped it into the oven, got the timer set, Morgan went home, and Sam and I got ready for bed! By then it was about 11 and I started doing some reading for about a half hour, and Sam decided the thing had baked long enough and turned off the stove. Well about half an hour later, Sam gets up and decided he hadn't painted long enough today and would get some painting done! I was like, "Um hmm, snore, sounds good, hmmm, make, snore, you come back to, snore, bed soon! I love, snore, you....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................... " Well, I guess he painted till 2am and boy oh boy did I wake up to the most beautiful crocus' looking at me! What a great painting! It's just a little one, but oh so cute - precious even (in a good way, that is!)

Well, I've just realized that I have gone on and on and on far longer than you #1-had time for, and #2-even care! So until next time!!!!

From the Tundra,

Sarah

PS. I'm thinking about doing a give away for some of Sam's art, just to see how many faithful readers we have out there, so keep posted! I might just get discouraged and give up blogging altogether, thinking no one cares - but I have too much to say, even if it's not all that important, so you probably won't get that lucky!!! :)

Drama, drama, drama....

Not really, but I made you start reading, didn't I?! Let's see, I know it's been forever since I blogged, and seriously, I'm not even going to look back to see when that was. I just think my life is so much more interesting with pictures and now we are COMPLETELY without a camera. That's right, Sam ruined his in the Boundary Waters. Now we are in the market for a new one. It's an expensive one, so we are waiting till the very last minute to see exactly how God is going to work that one out! By the way, it's a Digital Canon D40 - so for some reason, if there is someone out there with a camera or a lot of money that they are anxious to give away - there you go! Just to give you a little head's up - there is a second camera that we want for such trips as Sam's previous Boundary Waters one, and this is just a little one - it's an Olympus something. But it's nearly indestructible. I think the people who made this camera must have spent some time with Sam. It's digital and goes waterproof up to 33 ft, can withstand a 6.6 ft drop, and also can withstand up to 220 lbs. of pressure, making it "crushproof!" I think this type of camera would be just about perfect for us in our everyday life - but it is $379. The Canon D40 that Sam is looking to buy is for the business of art and photography, oh and, 5 times the amount of the Olympus! Hey, when we ask, we ask big!!! :)

So that has been the drama with the search for the camera. Thus, an empty and ugly post, once again. Well, the Lord helped us sell our Blazer. I know, just a year ago, I was writing about how the Lord provided a car - a blazer, Sam's "Dream car..." which I wasn't too excited about with the gas prices going higher and higher, but what are you going to tell a man who has his heart set on it?! Well, just wait and see what he learns. One year later, we sell our blazer for more than we bought it for and what a blessing that was! Sam decided he couldn't handle the gas guzzler! So as of Saturday afternoon, we are down to one vehicle. Which I don't mind too much. But poor Sam has to chauffeur me around, like I said, I don't mind! :) Now we are in the market for a new vehicle as well. When it rains, it poors! That's especially true of finances, isn't it?! But one of our pastors at church is selling his minivan, we love ours, and it's really nice. I think we might go ahead and get it since it's right in out budget! God is good! It's a nice van that has two sliding doors. And now, to most of you, you are probably thinking - those vans came out like a million years ago - what kinds of cars do you have?! Get in the century! Oh well. The van we have has been a God send. Only one sliding door and the handle is broken, I like to call it our anti-theft program! But the van was $300. That's right, I didn't miss any zero's. So there you go. And it's taken us EVERYWHERE, nearly from one end of the country to the other, not quite, but almost! We've camped in it, hauled up to 15 kids at a time in it, hauled the dog around in it, taken it hunting, taken it to all kinds of places. It's great. So that's what's going on in that department!

Let's see - our confirmation group is exploding! Sam just called and in the 7th grade alone, we've got 18 girls already! We've probably got nearly 80 kids in confirmation (7th-9th) alone! Which is great, but we just added on to our church, but there is definitely NOT enough room!!! It's a great problem to have but so frustrating when you don't have the tools that you need, you know? We are having trouble finding enough teachers, but we have an amazing group of adults this year and the Lord is really restructuring our ministry. I've stepped down from teaching confirmation to attend a Bible Study for myself, which I'm really excited about and I know we have a great group of adults taking over!

****News flash*****
OH man - God is AMAZING!!!! Just like 2 seconds ago, Sam called to tell me that he thinks he found a camera... Here's the quick run down. Sam found the camera he wanted in the Classifieds here in town. We met with the guy and he had this amazing deal - selling his Canon D40 and 4 lenses, including a 50-500mm, tripod, flash, 2-4 gig cards, filters, two camera bags, etc. etc. etc. He's only used this camera like 4 times in his life, just bought it in Feb. Anyway, he got a job cut and has to sell out - this whole package is worth $4000-$5000. But he was selling it for $2100. So we talked about it and got the necessary funding and talked to a great photographer friend of ours, he said it was a steal! We told the guy we'd take it! So that night after youth group, we went to give him the check and pick it up and he said that he got back and checked his computer and it turns out that it sold two days ago. That was that. Sam was in the depths of despair! It just seemed like this opportunity just went poof! But Sam just called and it turns out that things with Ebay didn't turn out so well for this seller and it was a nightmare! So Sam is meeting him today at 11:30am to pick up his new camera and all the goodies that go along with it! You all just witnessed God working in a amazing way, right in the middle of this blog! Now Lord, just a car and another camera - oh, and a few bills! Wink, wink! ;)

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled blog - I don't even know what I was writing, I'm so excited for Sam! Confirmation - yeah, anyway, so we are focusing a bit more on our leadership and allowing them to focus more on the kids. It's a great move in our ministry. Sam is starting his 5th year as a Youth Pastor and I can't believe how the time has flown! I know a lot of people don't even make it that long in Youth Ministry, which is so hard to believe when it only feels like we are starting to get a handle on things. Our church is so supportive and wonderful!

Let's see - I can't think of a whole lot more. We are just hanging out here this weekend, I think. At least I am! Then next week, we are heading to the Tetons, Yellowstone, and Jackson Hole for an art weekend. And now that Sam will have a new camera, I'm sure we'll be stalking all the animals we find. This is perfect timing for Sam to get sooo motivated to finish up the art he needs to have done for his show... He's plugging along on that. He's just working on this beautiful painting. I love it and think it should be done, but he says he's still got lots more to go on it - I'm sure it'll show up on his website here pretty soon.

Oh, that was another thing I was going to share with you. Sam ended up taking a kid out hunting for Elk this past weekend. Getting an elk tag in ND is a once in a lifetime opportunity and this senior from our youth group got drawn. Anyway, there was a bit of drama involved in that, but I just want to share with you another way that God showed Himself this past weekend! Anyway, Sam took Zac out last weekend scouting and didn't see any Elk and then this was the opener this past weekend, and they didn't see anything on Thursday night - opener was sunrise on Friday morning. Still didn't see anything, they hiked about 12 miles through extremely harsh terrain in the badlands and Sam was just praying the whole time. They took a dinner break around 5pm and talked to a Taxidermist who said that no one had been spotting them all day.... Everyone was a bit discouraged, then Sam and Zac decided to go for a drive and Sam asked Zac if he'd been praying and Zac said, "No, but you've been praying for us." And Sam was like, Man, you have got to pray, I've been praying because I want to see an Elk, if you want to see one, you need to pray too man. And so then he said that he could tell Zac prayed because it was a little quiet in the car. Then as they were racing along these gravel roads, all of a sudden, Sam flew by this field, where there was an Elk standing right there! Zac had a tag where he could shoot a cow or a bull, but he really wanted a monster bull! Sam thought this was a cow, so they turned around and then noticed it was a bull - a 5X5 - not very big for an elk, but still a bull, there is only a 50% chance that you can even see a bull, much less have the opportunity to shoot one! So Zac decided to take it. Here are all the amazing things about it - it was standing in a flat field right by the road. That meant, they could drive right in there and wouldn't have to drag it out - that is if Zac could drop it in one shot - normally you have to shoot an Elk 2-3 times and meanwhile they are running away... There was an oil rig about 100 yrds away, so the Elk couldn't even hear them. It was perfect. Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, Zac shot and dropped the Elk with one shot - he was aiming for the heart and lung and got it in the jugular. If he had gotten the lungs or heart, he definitely would have shot a couple of times. The elk dropped and it was about 30 min. till dark, so it was cooling off - they had to wait for Zac's dad to come out from Bismarck with the truck - about 2 hours. And they started cleaning it. They were going to drag the elk, but Sam said the guts weighed about 250 lbs. alone! They tried dragging this Elk and made it about 5 ft before they were completely exhausted - Sam said it was like dragging a cow! So anyway, he got back by 2:30am on Sat. morning, in enough time to get up and go rummage saleing with me! :) God taught Zac a lesson about relying on Him this weekend and it was just perfect. If Zac had seen the size of bull that he really wanted to take, it would have cost him about $1200 to mount it and he wouldn't have been able to fit it in his room and as it is, he will European mount it, and it will cost him about $100 and he will be able to fit it in his room to be completely proud of! So that is just awesome! God is good!!!!

Well, this post is way too long, so I need to go! Later - until next time - maybe I'll have more amazing news on God's goodness! :)