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

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

Where in the world do I begin?

Ok, I spent 10 days in VA and don't have any pictures to show for it because #1. I had Sam's camera and he forgot to get all his barn pictures off his camera before I left and I didn't want to delete any. And #2, well, I just didn't have much time to take pictures. I did take some of Mom's yard to show Sam, but they've since been swallowed up in the abyss of Sam's art pictures, so there you have it.

But what a great visit home. I thought I could go and help Mom and Dad, but it always switches on me - and they did an amazing job of taking care of me!!! I suppose you never stop being a parent.... They are great though. Just got back from their cruise to Alaska and had a ball! Wish I could have been there. Mom is visiting the Dr. today with her choice on what she is doing for treatments... Her options: well, she can do chemo, radiation, and hormone therapy OR she can skip chemo and just do radiation and hormone therapy. She's just waiting to hear from one more genetic Dr. But she's doing great, she looks great and I know that she make just the right decision for her. Isn't it great that we serve such a great God and that He cares about us so much and He loves us so much??? He's really been teaching me a lot about that lately!

Well, my precious, precious friends from home threw me a baby shower when I was home and it was such a special time. Just all the special ladies in my life were there. I even got a huge surprise! Brenda Huggins (who was helping throw the shower) said that she saw an old friend in town today and told her to stop by if she got a chance and do you want to know who walked in???? My AUNT GAYLE!!!!! I haven't seen her in forever - she flew up just for the shower and it's so happened that we had a family reunion the next day - but how special is that??? So seriously, the Lord worked it out so that so many special people could be there. Another dear friend, Noreen, changed her family visit and drove all the way down from DC just to be there too - I could go on and on... Got to visit with my three best friends from high school - they came all the way from Texas, Lynchburg and Fredericksburg!!!! Let me tell you what - I am one special gal!

The next day we had our family reunion, where I got to see a bunch of family from the DC/FL area and also my cousins from AUSTRALIA! Look at me, people are coming from all over the world just to see me! (Well, maybe not exactly! But still....)

It was definitely hard not being able to see or even talk to Sam for those 10 days while he was in Guatemala, but it turns out that he had the best mission trip ever! He's got tons and tons of pictures to share - I'm not sure if you'll be able to see his pictures posted here because they are on his facebook, but if you can, Have a look at a little of the trip to Guatemala with Charity Youth! I can't wait to go myself sometime!!! To tell you the truth - I'm a little jealous - but everyone tells me that once the little guy Coleman arrives, all my sacrifices of the summer will have been worth it - I'm sure that's the case!But did you see these pictures?

Anyway, getting up to the pictorial journal of my life - Sam and I were reunited on August 5th - and made the big drive back from Minneapolis on the 6th only to find this....



And that's kind of weird, because we DON'T park our car like that in the driveway. We thought, what the heck was Johnny doing with our car? So then we got out of the van and walked AROUND the car to find this....



And guess what? We knew exactly who'd been to visit us! Let me tell you - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see Erik, Bridget, Tiffany, and Brittany's hands all over this little project.... Please follow me as I take you on a little tour of the rest of our yard...



Oh, and I couldn't resist - how could you not love THIS waiting for you??? After 12 days, I think he thought we were just a dream that he wouldn't let himself believe...



Anyway, continuing on...



Even some new visitors made their way to our yard....





And finally, 340 plastic forks later....



Needless to say, we felt very cherished! How special are we?? Anyway, we have such a great group of kids and it was great to come home to see this - Shhh....I think we may turn it into a fundraiser - anyone out there willing to pay to have someone else's yard forked???? If so, let me know!

Well, I still have our next week left to blog about, but I'm not going to include it in this post for fear it will get too long! So I'll save this and start another one! Hope you enjoyed!!!!

Feeling loved in the Tundra,

Sarah

Guess what?!

That's right folks - That's a picture of me - taking a picture....with my brand spankin' new birthday present!!! True, it's not an SLR - but here's the deal... Sambo got me a digital Canon Rebel for my birthday - tangibly held it in my hands and everything. But when I took it all out of the box, turns out they changed the look of the battery. So before we go and start buying all new accessories - we decided to take it back and do a bit more research. We already have two canon batteries, why do we want a totally different one? We are all about being able to inter-change. So after thinking about it long and hard, this is what we decided to do. Take it back. That's right, after all this time, I wanted to take back my beautiful birthday present! But in the meantime - isn't it nice to have a point and shoot. Especially for your purse, especially for "gotta-capture-this-moment-right-now,-not-look-for-my-bulky-camera-and-switch-the-lense-and-get-the-settings-right", especially for UNDERWATER - yeah, ya heard me!, especially for your husband who goes through cameras like most people go through underwear, especially one that's crushproof for up to 220 lbs., yeah, especially one that's shockproof for up to 6.6 feet - that's right - you can drop this baby - sit on it - leave it in your pocket while you are swimming (only to 30 feet though!) - it's practically indestructible! When I saw it - I thought - this is the camera for us! Especially with Sam getting ready for a trip to Guatemala - gasp, he couldn't go without a camera, we are way to limited in our finances to have him use film - can't afford to develop all that film! and there is no way in you know where I would let him take his good camera! So this is the perfect solution to our dilemma!

Anyway, yesterday turned out to be about one of the best birthdays ever! I came home after work to the most beautiful roses EVER!



And that's when I got to check out my new Rebel, even if for a short time! Then we headed off to Paradiso's, where you get a free meal on your birthday! So after that, we ran a few errands and took back Camera #1 for Camera #2!!! Then Sam says we had to get home pretty quick because some very important friends of ours were coming to see us! I asked him who and he said it was a surprise!

Well, we roll into our driveway and surprise, oh surprise - who's car was there - you might have seen it before.....



That's right - Erik!!!! So we went in and couldn't find those kids anywhere - they were hiding all the way in our basement (never mind that my house is a total mess!) Luckily kids don't care! We found them, Erik, Bridget, Brittany and Tiffany!!! How sweet is that???? They spend their morning making me a cake! (Bridget is quite the chef/baker extraordinaire!) And then they came over and surprised me for my birthday! How special am I that a bunch of Sr. High kids would give up their afternoon for me???!!! The only problem is that I don't have a picture of them, because we had to charge up the new little camera, but lucky for you - I have a picture of the cake!!!!



(For those of you who missed the earlier postings on the pictures of Sam's pond, here it is - forever imbued on my birthday cake!) That's right folks, there is the Love Pond, right there - in living icing!!! Isn't that amazing??? Can you believe these guys decorated this so perfectly for me??? How cute is that - there are even some fish in the pond! (Shhh....don't tell Sam, but they are probably bigger than any fish Sam will ever have in the pond! HA!) I crack myself up!

Then, we sat down and played some serious hands of Ultimate Solitaire! Erik was confident that the score keeper always won, just because I keep the score and I always win... But I proved him wrong - he took score this time, but I still won. I know, it's a hard life, but someone's got to live it! So maybe we aren't all pro's at blongo ball - but we've all got skills, right, Erik?

Anyway, then we had to had off to Childbirth Preparation Classes, or whatever the heck you want to call them! (Much to Sam's dismay.) But it went a lot faster than last week and I thought it was pretty fun - I mean, seriously, how often to get that much of Sam's complete attention completely uninterrupted? Ok, a lot, but that's besides the point. We got to practice relaxation - so I got lots of hand massages and back massages, that was fun!!! Ok, one more night, one more night, you can do it Sammy!!! We actually got out a little early and there were some pretty epic clouds, so we took off - storm chasing! Luckily Sam had his camera and so we took a little drive. It was really beautiful! Then to end the night - Ruth, Sam's aunts Barb and Jane all came over for some yummy ice cream cake from DQ and to visit - so you can see - how does a birthday get much better than that, I ask you? (I have yet to cut Bridget's cake because I wanted to take a picture of it and was planning on doing that last night before an ice cream cake came - unfortunately I have a glucose test today at the Dr. so hopefully I don't throw them over the edge with all my celebrating!) But I'm definitely looking forward to tasting a bit of the pond - Bridget's version, of course!!!

Ok, for Rhonda and the rest of you, just going to post a couple more pictures and then I'll be done for today, ok? This is taking way longer than I thought!!!

My hottie husband, as if I had to tell you - pshaw!


Yes, a very pregnant me....


And this is the crib set that my good friend, Lori gave us.... And the yellow fabric is another fabric I found to do some accents around the nursery - It's not the best picture, but I was anxious to show you!


Ok, well, that's all for now folks! But tune in next time...for some better pictures, once I figure out what I'm doing! :)

Loving the day after my birthday in the Tundra,

Sarah

If I could be so faithful as this in attending the YMCA!

Anyway, that's a side note.... Guess what? I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but.... My dad is a fugitive of the law! Ok, not really, but he did tell me about getting stopped by a cop for the 3rd time in his 67 years of living - did ya hear me??? Is that impressive or what?! I don't really think my mom has actually gotten stopped all that many times either but that's because she's faster than the radars that the cops use! ;) And for the record, my dad didn't get stopped for speeding - it's what you might hear tell of - a California stop; a rolling stop... Yeah, isn't that insane, so he's waiting to call to see how much the ticket it, but overall, he thinks it's going to be no less than $70. Can you believe that??? Sam says it's one more reason not to move to VA! It's true, we'd probably go bankrupt - although Sambo has definitely gotten better with his driving skills. Lots of people may argue with me on that point, but trust me!

In other news, my mom is doing well! She continues to thank the Lord and others for praying for her. She's healing well and trusting the Lord to take care of her. She got word that she is eligible for some testing that will tell whether chemo will even help her, so she's hoping that will come back saying no. I'm getting excited to go and visit and I know that they are getting excited for their trip to Alaska! Wish I could go as well!

We had a few days of McVBS last week - which means, VBS down on the Reservation at McLaughlin. That was really good. I actually took a day off of work to head down there and help, it was a really fun time actually! Then this weekend, Sam had a car wash and a Family Fun Night fundraiser for kids going to Guatemala and it was a blast.

I'm interrupting this newsy post for some thunder! Don't you just love days like this? They make you want to stay in bed a little longer, true, but it's only 57 degrees and rainy. It makes you not feel bad for staying inside and working on some much needed projects, like painting the nursery, because ready or not, your baby is going to come. And it would be helpful to at least have the room painted if nothing else! :)

This week, we are taking it a little easier. Have a meeting tonight - birth class #2, much to Samuel's dismay, tomorrow night and then he heads out on Friday for Minneapolis. I'm not sure whether I am going to go yet. Too much to do here. But it should be a good time. I'm really thankful for this time of rest though. It's much needed!

Well, I should wrap things up!

Enjoying the rain in the Tundra,

Sarah

Almost Friday....

More to come tomorrow - spent my day in McLaughlin, SD on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation doing VBS! Fun times were had by all!

Enjoying an amazing summer day in the Tundra,

Sarah

Thought I'd enlighten you with more pictures....

You did it - you asked for it! Here is a picture of the... MANVAN!



Oh, and don't forget the Anti-theft system!



And so the other cars don't feel left out, here's my van...this beast took us 4,500 miles in one week!!!!



And the new kid on the block - we've yet to see what it can do! But for right now, we are more than content in the fact that it gets us around town safely and quickly! :)



But wait - who is this???



Oh, it's only Erik trying to get away from my stealth picture taking skills!!! Ha, I gotcha....twice!!!! HA!!!



Man, I'm good! Anyway, what else....

Well, as Erik would say - it's been kind of a fluff week for me. Not too much exciting stuff going on - I did get mutilated by some amazing Blongo Ball players last night. It's not really a memory I'd like to relive or even talk about, so please, stop bringing it up!!! Sorry, Tiffany! But I did get to hang out with some of my favorite people in the world last night - and had such a great time!

I did make some strawberry rhubarb jam yesterday - we'll see how it turns out - It all sealed, and that's a good sign! But other than that, not too much else going on. I'll try to get a picture of me when Sam comes back, so just hang in there! Thanks!

Getting ready for the heat in the Tundra,

Love, Sarah

Just to ease your minds....

after much agony and mind altering, though provoking deliberation - I've come to a conclusion. I just have to change some stuff. #1 - the bed has got to go. It's too big and just takes up too much space, so in it's place, we'll be looking for a fold out couch or daybed... #2 - Got to paint. I realized the tan just drains me - it's like the most boring of all colors - it's not even a color - it's just tan. So we've got a bunch of yellow left over from another project, we'll be painting it yellow and that way, we can incorporate whatever bright colors we want! Sam picks red for the accent color. So that's how that goes. I went to JoAnn's for some fabric inspiration and didn't find any for the crib skirt. But praise the Lord, He's provided a crib! We just have to go and pick it up! Another wonderful family from church has finished having kids and they are ready to get their crib out of their house! God is so good to us for providing so much! Without the bed in there, I'll have room to make a book/toy section, still have room for a rocking chair (which I have to recover) and a dresser! It's coming together quite a bit better than yesterday! But I still would appreciate your thoughts. I have a perfect space above my closet that I think I'll write a verse with maybe some bumble bees - whatever is bright and colorful - it's definitely jiving quite a bit better with me!

On another note - My mom just called and her surgery is scheduled for July 1st. I have a few prayer requests:

1. Peace
2. Wisdom
3. That they will still be able to go to Alaska in August.
4. Quick Recovery
5. And however else the Lord leads you to pray!

Thanks!

Other than that, still looking for opinions from all you experts out there - should I have bumper pads on the crib? I've read a couple different opinions on the subject. But I'm going to make them, so I need to figure out if I need to worry about it at all! :)

Enjoying the most perfect beautiful day in the Tundra,

Sarah

PS. Just for the record - I beat Paige, Tiffany, Bridget, Erik, Sam and Morgan at Ultimate Solitaire last night. Ok, so it's true that most of them had never played before, but I've got to take my moment. Thank you, thank you very much!

Low Key day....

Not too much to say today - had a pretty low key evening - My firecracker came back to VBS, but he wasn't very fire-crackery. He lost a game during game time and all of a sudden, he wouldn't talk and had a "headache". He was very sulky. Even though I'm not too sure about chasing kids all around, I REALLY don't like it when they are sulky!

Oh, I do remember one really funny story to share! We went to Bible Time first - that's the one that Sam teaches. And we were learning about the plagues that God brought down on Pharaoh. Well, Sam and Paula did kind of a Fear factor and Hot Potato. They had representatives of the plagues in brown bags and passed them around and when the music stopped you had to touch or eat whatever was in there. There were crickets and worms and cups for water that turned to blood. But the kids were so riled up, it was hard to tell them that the crickets stood for locusts, etc. For lice and flies, they had made up some rice and mixed raisins in with them that the kids had to eat! Well, after the first kid got Flies and Lice, Sam started being funny and saying Flied Lice! Well, he was just yelling "Flied Lice, Flied Lice" the whole time! Then we went to games and the pastor was leading that and he was going over the Plagues again. Asking for people to tell him what some of the plagues were - the kids started shouting out "Crickets!" And Randy was like - weeeelllll, there weren't crickets, but locusts and he goes on to explain locusts. Then a kid yells out - "Worms!" And Randy was like, weeeelllll, no there weren't any worms! And for the kicker, another kid yells out "Fried Rice!" And Randy just about died - he didn't know where that came from at all - he couldn't stop laughing - One of the plagues was NOT Fried Rice! One of our Seniors looks at me and we just started laughing - I hope Sam didn't get in trouble for not teaching these kids about the correct plagues! But at least everyone had a great time!!!

Anyway, that's about all!

Waiting for Summer to arrive in The Tundra!

Sarah

Family, Friends and Fires....

Good Morning all! Just wanted to give you a quick update!

My mom visited with her Oncologist yesterday and basically she has an MRI and Genetic Testing on Friday. Depending on those results, we'll know better where we stand.


1. If there is no cancer, there will be a lumpectomy and 6 weeks of radiation to follow.

2. If there is cancer in the breast, not the lymphnodes, there will be a mastectomy with nothing but recovery to follow...

That's about all we know for now. It will take 2 weeks to get the Genetic Testing results back, so if there is no cancer, it will still take a couple weeks to get going, because depending on those results, Mom could be eligible for a partial radiation instead of full radiation to the breast... Which would be nice.


If you could continue to pray for -
1. The Lord's peace
2. My mom's decision
3. The Dr.s wisdom

That would be great!

Other than that - we had a bonfire/camp out at the River last night with a bunch of kids. The only bad thing is that #1 - there was a freeze warning for last night. But I don't think it froze. I'm sure they were just fine. And #2 - there was this gigantic dead deer laying by the water - and if you can imagine the worst smell in your life and multiply it by about 10x - you might have started to crack the case on just how bad this smelled! And the wind was in the wrong direction! So Sam and one other kid grabbed the deer by the feet to chuck it into the water - and while I'm on the subject, why is it that dogs feel the need to roll in dead stuff? Sometimes Tonto can find some pretty rank stuff, but this was OVER THE TOP! Anyway, I wish I could bottle up the smell and let you sniff it, because, I've never, in my whole entire life, smelled something so bad! Lucky them for getting to camp there over night. Not me brother! I was at home, had a nice warm shower, snuggled into my nice warm bed and slept like a baby! I haven't talked to Sam since 10:30 last night, so I have no idea how everything worked out, but I do know that it's a beautiful morning today - I'm sure they had fun!

Well, off to work I go, hi ho, hi ho!

It's a beautiful day in the Tundra!

Sarah

Good Morning!

Well, I just wanted to let you know how my last week went!

First of all, we started out taking 30 kids up to Lake Metigoshe! It's always a fun trip because it's pretty relaxing. We take 6 canoes and we have a boat, we set up camp for our tents and food and just hang out. The kids are pretty excited to go fishing or canoeing, or just hang out! We make them take a shower on Wednesday and we take at least one trip into town for ice cream during the week! Does life seriously get any better than that????

The first day we got there was pretty cold and rainy. Well, drizzly. But we got everything set up. I was lamenting on the fact that I didn't bring more clothes! In fact, WHAT WAS I THINKING?! Oh yeah, I'm pregnant and can't fit into most of my clothes, that's right. Anyway, I survived. We brought an air mattress, I shared a tent with two other people that got settled onto the air mattress first because I wanted to be close to the door - I knew I'd have to make at least one trip out in the night, if you know what I mean! Well, by the time I got settled, I had a good 12 inches - which worked because I have to sleep on my side anyway, then my hip started throbbing and one of my bed mates started curling up as she slept, which gave me about 10 or less inches! So as I turned over, I fell off the edge of the mattress... Now I was stuck on the flat ground pinned between the door and an air mattress. And it was COLD - I mean, like Burrrrrr - cold!!!! So I thought to myself - "Self, what the heck are you doing here? Get up - the van has got to be more comfortable than this." So I was smart and listened to myself and got up and hiked up to the van to sleep the sleep of kings and queens on the last seat of a 15 passenger van...for the next 2 nights as well! It was like having a room to myself!

The weather kept getting warmer and warmer and so that made it really nice! Since we had such a large group, we had to divide them in half for our canoe trek into Canada. That was pretty nice, except paddling against the wind with 4th-6th graders definitely provides some challenge! It was really fun though - canoeing is definitely one my most favorite things in the world!

Well, we got back around 3pm on Thursday but by the time we got everything put away, including stuff and kids, we got home around 5pm. And like I said earlier, it was Judah's birthday! So Happy Birthday Judah! We had volleyball, pizza and friends to celebrate his big day! And that went to late. I was definitely wearing thin!

Oh, did I mention that I caught a head cold on the trip up to Metigoshe? I probably forgot that part! Still trying to get over it! So my energy was doubly low.

Then on Friday, we hung out with Katie and Mike who were in from Washington for the week and went rummage sale-ing. Then we went out on Mike's boat fishing/boating - it was a beautiful day! Then we needed to make it back in time for the boy's State Baseball Tourney Game #2 - not too much to say there, it was kind of a hard game and the boy's first loss of the season! That was really too bad! But then Judah and Charlie wanted to head out to the movie "Up" - the new Pixar movie - we are all pretty crazy about Pixar movies! Anyway, this was our only opportunity to see it with the boys for the next 2 weeks or so - we went and the theater was packed with all kinds of kids! In fact, we couldn't even find 4 seats together. So the boys went higher and Sam and I sat in the middle of some kids.

The continuation of this story makes it into the "Top 3 Most Embarrassing Moments" of my life. The sad thing is that 2 of them now happened in a movie theater! Anyway, did you catch the part where I was exhausted and moving like one more step was comparable to climbing Mt. Everest? Just in case you didn't catch that part, I just thought I'd make it a little clearer! Also, we needed to rush out of the movie theater because we were expecting weekend guests. Yes, on top of everything else! Sleeping in a car for 3 nights, going, going, going, head cold - and now I have the opportunity to sit in a theater - in the dark - with 3D glasses on. Well, "Up" was a great movie, but there were definitely some slow parts and here's the kicker. There was a point where the ENTIRE theater was quiet, not even talking on the movie and all of a sudden, I hear SNORING!!!!!! And the worse part, it was ME!!!!!! I woke myself up snoring during a cartoon! Does life get any more sad than that??? Sam just looked at me and we started laughing, I dared not look at the lady on the other side of me - Sam said she had been staring at me for a few minutes before. Embarrassing!! So anyway, after the movie, I asked the boys if they heard that annoying person snoring during the movie - they said No - Whew... I told them it was me - They had a laugh. At my expense. But oh well, what are you going to do? :)

Then we head out to meet our weekend guests and took them home and visited for a while. I think we got to bed by midnight - maybe. We had a nice breakfast on Saturday morning, and a drive, and a picnic and headed off to the final game of the boy's baseball Tourney. They ended up with 4th out of 8 for the State Finals! Yay for them! This is the first time they even made it to State, so I'd say they did a pretty darn good job! Then we all headed over to Katie's in-laws for a Salmon and Prawn dinner - some real seafood! Yuummmmmyyyy!!!! Got home late again and then Judah and some of his friends came over to celebrate his birthday again with some yummy cake - thanks to Bridget and Tiffany for the delicious Monkey bread - I just about put myself over the top! :)

Sunday dawned bright and clear - another beautiful day in the sunny Tundra! We had a great day - went to church, then out to lunch with Eric and Kat and then they headed out to start their long journey back to Alaska - it was so much fun having them - I wish they lived closer! But it was just so much fun having them! I hope they enjoyed it as much as us!

We started our Church V=ball league on Sunday night. We have lots of great players! I sat out because we were rotating so many in and it's more fun the more you get to play. But we won all three games! Hopefully that will put us in the top bracket! Usually what happens is they determine who goes in the lower bracket and top bracket based on the first week... But we usually have VBS so most of our people are gone for the first game and we usually loose, therefore getting down into the lower bracket. But we'll see. Charity has two volleyball teams! And that is fun, especially when we get to play each other! We are getting quite a collection of trophies piled up in Sam's office, so if anyone has a good idea of what to do with them, we are willing to take ideas!

Anyway, other than that, we are getting back into the routine of things. Now that June is here, Sam is getting ready for his Boundary Waters trip which will be so much fun. I'm bummed that I'm not going to get to go this year, but the little monkey will be worth it! Seems like he's a morning guy, no jumping around last night, none that Sam could feel anyway.

So anyway, that's about all going on right now. I'll have more news regarding my mom tomorrow. Her appointment is at 2:30 EST today if you would pray for her, we'd all surely appreciate it!

Well, hope you are planning something fun and exciting to do this summer - let me know what your summer plans are! I'd sure like to know!

Loving life in the Tundra and getting rested up for the next adventure!

Love, Sarah

Hey there!

Friends and Family!

Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments over the last week! I really appreciate them! Let's me know you are still out there despite my being away! I'll definitely fill you in on the last week, but for now, a quick overview!

We left Monday morning with 30 4th-6th graders to the Turtle Mountains up near the Canadian border for a 4 day camping trip! Lots of fun, but more details to come later.

Then we got back late Thursday for Judah's 18th birthday! Ahh, I just can't believe he's 18 already!!!

Then we had some friends come in on Friday. They are missionaries from Alaska - Eric and Kat and Jude Rozeboom! It was such a great weekend, but it's time to buckle down and get caught up on everyday life - thankfully, our house is semi clean from getting ready for those guys! I can focus on laundry and bills! :)

Let's see - an update on my mom - Well, she sees an Oncologist tomorrow and then we'll know better what the options are, so keep in touch and I'll let you know. If any of you are so compelled to send her a message - she's kind of bad with the computer, but her email is forresters1967@hotmail.com and their home phone # is 804-472-3694. Address: Janis Forrester, 53 Weatherall Drive, Montross, VA 22520. I know some of you wanted to drop her messages, I know she'd appreciate it, thanks!

Other than that, I think we're just about up to 23 weeks tomorrow and let me tell you this funny story in closing and then I need to head out and get started on that mound of laundry. Anyway, I've been feeling this little monkey jumping around and I just can't wait for Sam to be able to feel him too! Well, today, I was just sitting here and work and he was kicking up a storm - or something, but then I pushed down on my belly and sure enough, I felt a good hard kick! I got so excited that I wanted to tell Sam, I was about to pick up the phone to call him, when the phone rang here at work, and instead of my greeting "American Capital Investments, This is Sarah", I just said, "Hello?" Oops! Luckily it was Sambo calling me! Ha!!! Anyway, hopefully he'll be just as active this afternoon and Sam will be able to feel his little guy moving all around! I just thought I'd share. Well, I've been off the computer for so long, I've got to post this and go look at my ultrasound pictures again, it's been ages since I've seen my baby, so now, if you'll excuse me - I'll catch you up later!

Exciting moments in the Tundra,

Love, Sarah

Tie-Dye Extravaganza!

Well, HELLO from the Jolly Green Giant!

Yes I was wearing gloves, but they must have been cheap, or I must have gotten so excited to be tie-dying and maybe went a little crazy...nah.... I'm sure the gloves were cheap! My fingers are green. But at least they aren't as bad as poor little Sam's hands. He looks like he's got gangrene in the worst possible way! Oh well. Someday it'll wear off!

Well, last night was the last night of Confirmation - and everyone was all revved up!
We had Wood House for dinner last night and for those of you who haven't ever heard of Bismarck, ND, much less been here, you probably wouldn't really understand. Wood House has the best burgers EVER! Oh, and hot dogs. But they are red. Really red. Like, SCARY red. So anyway, I was having a wonderful dinner with some very wonderful friends, when one of our Sr. Highers says to my friends, the Peske's (Nicole, here is where I would insert the link to your blog - if you had one!!!)that he would like to see their 2 year old stick the rest of his hot dog in his mouth at once. Silly, crazy Sr. Higher..... It was about an inch of hot dog and guess what said 2 year old (Ben) did? He stuck it in his mouth, the whole thing! We were all amazed, just watching him, then he was having some trouble chewing it all up - Mom to the rescue, Nicole is trying to get it out of his mouth and Ben began choking, wailing when he got a breath and then the grand finale - (by the way, the rest of this post is not for the faint of heart) he starts puking! I mean like not just little bits of hot dog, but like breakfast, lunch and dinner!!!! I turn away immediately because imagine this, I'm still eating dinner - and I have a plateful of mashed potato salad (another story) left on my plate. And I WASN'T going to let that go to waste. Well, after that entire episode, said Sr. Higher felt awful. He felt so bad that I think his night was just completely ruined. But I told him not to worry, it happens to the best of us - I'm sure all of y'all out there have wonderful regretful choking/puking stories of your kids, or heck, maybe even of yourselves! Anyway, there is a lesson here - don't try to get a 2 year old to eat a gigantic chunk of hot dog. They might just do it! But, no Thursday is really complete without a great choking/puking story, so there it is for the day! Enjoy!!!

Aren't you looking forward to me having my own kids to share these stories about??? Let me tell you what, they will be a lot more frequent! :)

Other than that, tie dying went well. It was fun, the front parking lot of our church is now several different colors, but I can only imagine if we had to end up doing that inside! Ugh!!! By the time the Sr. Highers got out there, it was getting cold and so they all headed home pretty early which left Sam and I and our cutest little Sr. High friend, Tiffany, to clean up the mess! Thank the Lord for Tiffany! (not the same Tiffany mentioned in previous post, although I'm thankful to the Lord for her as well!) So we are going to have the most colorful little baby at 3-6 months! He/She has three new tie-dyed long sleeve onsies. And they turned out quite nice if I do say so myself! Sam's t-shirts turned out great as well! I think he's been practicing.

I guess I need to wrap this up since I know that most of you don't have all day to read my ramblings, so I'll catch up with you later...

From yet another overcast and nasty day in the Tundra,

Sarah

Oh.....what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!

(It's not really, but I keep telling myself!!! I'm trying to learn to be more optimistic like my adorable-little-crazy-man-husband!)

So. I got to meet Dr. Jan Bury yesterday. And boy oh boy is she a little ray of sunshine! Everything went well - we're at 152 beats a minute for the little monkey! While she was trying to get the heartbeat, she'd zero in on it for a few seconds and if that little monkey didn't squirt over somewhere else! He/She was all over the place. That confirmed my fears that this little one is going to take after his/her father! Oh well, what did I expect! :)

And....as the old broadway, Oklahoma, says, "Spring is busting out all over!" I'd have to agree - I AM TOO! Focus on the all over part! No cute little basketball belly for me! Oh well, I didn't really expect that would happen for me anyway! So, since I am new to the whole pregnancy realm, I was wondering if I might solicit the advice of some of you veterans out there!

Tell me what are some of the "must have's" that you just couldn't live without! Also, any great ideas on maternity wear! Definitely liking the idea of summer dresses, but open to suggestions!!!

Well, tonight is the last night of Confirmation for the year! We've survived!! I just can't believe it! Well, it's not too difficult for me to say that since I've been in a Bible Study for the duration. But good for Sam, we are finishing up the year with a gigantic tie-dying evening! I'm pretty excited because a good friend of mine, Tiffany, gave me some white onsies and I can't wait to get them all dyed up!!! We are going to have one styling baby!!!! :) Anyway, I love all that color. Poor Sam usually tries so hard to get his so perfect and I'm just throwing color all over the place! And they turn out great! The key is LOTS OF COLOR!!!

So that's about all - we've got a new pond pump on order now! Sam said we were just going to have a dry waterfall bed for a while, but he ordered a new pump the very next day! hehehe! We did find the jack pot of all rock piles yesterday! And so hopefully pictures to come of the new pond! As soon as more greenery pops out, people tell me that with all this moisture, as soon as the sun comes out, we'll be in full bloom, but shhhhh.... don't tell anyone I said this, but shhhh, come closer, I don't want to have to shout it - I don't think the sun is ever going to come back out. Phew... I said it, that takes a load off, I feel so much better! Anyway, you can pray about that!

Alrighty then, from the overcast Tundra,
over and out - Sarah

The end of a chapter....

That would be the 2009 Ski Season!!! Yay - bring on the Spring!!!! Couldn't have ended with a better trip - actually, with better weather! We were skiing in Red Lodge, MT and it was 50 degrees!!! So beautiful - I actually got to feel sun rays beating down on me - I even got a little bit of a sunburn!!!! Yeah! Well, besides, the mountain, there wasn't much snow in MT, mostly gigantic mud puddles, which is what I'm expecting here in Bismarck till July! No seriously, it must have been nice here too, because I was pleasantly surprised with the melt down around here!

Well, it was a pretty crazy trip to Red Lodge. We ended up taking two 15 passenger vans and 3 other chaperones came later with their own vehicle - which is good... (see more later on that.) We left at 11ish on Friday and had lunch at Miles City and got in to Red Lodge around 7pm mountain time. We had a great lodge called Bannock Trail Lodge - it was 5 stories, with two complete kitchens, 2 hot tubs, and tons of wildlife around the outside (that's not counting the 30 wildlifes INSIDE!) We played games, ate dinner and had some devotions! It was great! Then by bedtime, everyone had a spot. That was kind of tough, trying to find spots - when Sam booked the Lodge, they said it slept 33 people, but then when he checked in Friday, they said it slept 19.... Uh oh!!! Anyway, we squeezed all 34 of us in, some on the floor, couches, futons, beds, I got a love seat!!! I was so thankful I didn't have to sleep on the flagstone floor! :) Ah the simple things....

Anyway, we had a couple great days of skiing, there were bumps, bruises, lessons and experts - nothing major, until the last run on Sunday.... And leave it to Judah - he was going off a jump and caught an edge with his ski and landed on his shoulder, therefore breaking his collar bone! I told him he just wanted to be like Sam! Well, I actually told him a whole lot of things, but I won't go into the details! :) So we got to ride back in the car and Judah was mostly laying down and sleeping the whole time and when I think about riding in the car for 6-8 hours yesterday, I can't believe we actually made it back! We did get back in around midnight and then Judah took a special ride over to the ER and hung out there for about an hour or so...

Now, here I am at work, regretting the fact that I came here at all today - and ready to go home and have a nap! I wish I had pictures to load, I did receive the most beautiful gift from my sister-in-law, I want to take pictures of it to show you because her amazing handiwork is absolutely gorgeous! Let's see if I can add a link - I don't think I've done that before, but it's time to refer you over to Cindy again! You've just got to see her work! Let's see if that worked! Have a great week! PS. I didn't ski. Although we did have a chaperone along who was 5 months along and snowboarding both days - that makes me feel kind of like - well, I don't know... But anyway, I'm still doing well!! Thanks for asking!

Heidi

While we were in wonderful, majestic Big Sky, I took these quick shots of Heidi just for fun! Everyone else was off to the top of the mountain and it was really cold and I wasn't really dressed appropriately, so it took about 10 minutes, but I think we got some fun shots!!!











Let me know what you think!!!

I'm back!

Greetings friends and family! Got back from Big Sky last night - what a great trip! A really really great trip! And surprisingly enough, I actually missed skiing more than I thought I would! I had a great time by myself in the lodge working on different projects; actually the time flew by! But still... It was beautiful out there! Aside from all of that - I had such a great time with the kids and adults who went along on the trip - I don't think I've laughed so much since...well, probably last week! Just kidding! But hey, I do like to laugh! Anyway, it was such a great time!!

Other than that - I must put a little plug in for the most wonderful husband in the whole entire world!!! Sam knew that I was going to be working on his computer while everyone else was out skiing and we took off on V-day, sooooooo....... That sweet thang wrote me a V-day letter so that I would see it first off when I turned his computer on! So that took up much time - reading his sweet words of love and affection and getting all teary, and if that wasn't the icing on the cake - he told me about his Christmas/V-day present for me! (Side note... it's Christmas/V-day because he ordered this present for me before Christmas but it was on back order and they said they would let him know when it was available again - and that's not till now! So I get a Christmas/v-day present!!!) You wanna know what it is????? A Cannon Rebel Xsi camera body!! You wanna know what that means??? As soon as it comes in the mail, I will be posting pictures!!!! That is, if I even take the time to stop taking pictures long enough to come to work to start posting pictures! :)

So side note - Sue - how awesome is that????????? Turns out I'm the most blessed girl in the world - although I've known that now for a really long time - but the reminder is always nice!

So stay tuned! Pictures coming!!!!!

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! :)