Friday, December 25, 2009

Saturday, December 19, 2009

FL trip and cutting the tree

here's a few pictures from the beach in Florida. And from us cutting down our tree this morning. we had lots of family fun today.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Our newest addition to the family........

She doesn't have a name yet, but here's our new little family member. She's just so cute. And the boys love her already.

Friday, December 4, 2009

winter is here





Here are some pictures from the trim the tree party on the base this past week. We decorated cookies, made ornaments and just had a lot of fun.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Moving hotels

here are some pictures of moving the hotels and the work that was done pouring foundations.

Monday, November 2, 2009

The bad, no, very bad haircut


So we've been telling Peter that we're going to take him to get his haircut and he keeps freaking out saying he just wants David to cut it. Last time he had a haircut, David held his head and I held his body. It was not pretty! So I get the sissors and I'm getting ready then David gets the great idea that he can just cut a bowl cut with the clippers. As peters' twisting and squriming. David and I were laughing so hard we could hardly finish. And then I think I teared up a little when I saw just how bad it was. And the best part is the Peter thought it was great. I'm just thankful that hair grows. And thanks to the Garrigan gene's, it grows very quickly. I reminded myself that maybe there is something good about living where it's so cold--little boys wear hats all the time.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The search for a "church"

We live here in a place where we are basically living out "church" as God created it. Meaning we live in true community, have daily worship/teachings, but we often feel the need to go to "real church". So this morning we decided we were up to the challenge. Every few weeks we decided to try another church from the list. So we get up and start the process, some of the conversation this morning was this: no, you can't wear those pants, they have too many holes in them; it's 25 degrees out, no you can't wear shorts; again, it's cold, no you can't wear a t-shirt, long sleeves please; you've been wearing that shirt since fri, no you can't wear it to church. Wew, so then I get Allie dressed. Oh my, I had no idea who complicated tights are. Do they go under the onesie or over? and then do you still put a diaper cover over the onesie which is over the tights? So, we're dressed and loaded up. Doing ok on time and we're off, hoping that maybe we'll like this church and the searching can be over. We're almost there and I hear grunting from Allie, this can't be good. Thankfully I threw a spare outfit. So now i'm in the back of the van with a baby that has pooped all over the tights, the onesie, the dress, oh my! So instead of looking really cute, she's now in an outfit with no feet and has no socks on, and it's still 25 degrees out.
We got situated and the boys were all being good, not so bad i'm thinking. Then it's time for communion, They start passing the plate with the little pieces of really bad tasting crackers and the little cups of juice. Our boys have never seen such a thing. They've only seen where you dip the bread in the glass, oh the excitement. It was at this point that David and I start wondering if we should abort the mission and escape before we cause a scene. Flint is so excited about the little cracker he could hardly stand it and Luke is wiggling around and i'm just thinking i'm about to get a lot of grape juice on me. Luke is convinced that they are little pieces of gum, not crackers. I kept saying, "sush, it's a cracker Luke, just wait". Well, he couldn't. he squeezed it as hard as he could, and yes it crumbled into a million pieces on his lap. It's finally time, Flint's trying so hard to dip the cracker in the little cup while somewhat dancing in the row. David and I each have several little cups in our hands and trying to contain the caous as much as possible. Ok, we made it. Oh no, wait, Allie has pooped yet again. So I take her to bathroom to find that now i've left the wipes in the van. We get back in the service and now Flint and Peter are done. Barrett and Luke have gone to Kid's church, which they informed us was "not fun at all". Allie's crying, Flint and Peter are antsy, and David and I are both outside in the hall with kids. I'm not sure why we do this to ourselves.
It makes me so appreciate our church at home, where we go and just feel comfortable. I so wish we could find that here. Maybe we'll muster the energy again to try again from the list. I think we've been really spoiled in a good way with an church that we really love, but it sure makes it hard for any other church to measure up.

Building remodel update

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Allie's 5 months old


It's hard to believe she's been here for 5 months already. She's such a happy baby and such a joy to our family.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The building's going up

The Bayshore Motel

Exciting times at YWAM Montana

I thought I would send out an update on all that's going on here. I feel very overwhelmed with excitement and hope that I'm able to put it into words. When ywam purchased the "base" in 1985 there was a foundation right in the center of the base. Since then it's been referred to as "the slab". There have probably been at least a hundred meetings about what to do with the slab. Last year, God really gave several people a long term vision of the base, which included turning the "slab" into a facilities/auto shop and then allowing other space to become a bigger student center, cafeteria, and auditorium. Well, one Monday work really began on the slab. There have been teams here over the past month or so helping with foundation work, but on Monday the walls started going up! The level of excitement around here is amazing. Everyone's so excited that it's really happening. God's vision for this place is one step closer.
There's another huge God story that has happened over the past few weeks. A local couple in Lakeside purchased some property down on the lake that was a hotel. They called YWAM and asked if they could donate the hotel to us! Crazy! We're always in a bind with housing and limited as to how many new staff we can take b/c there never seems to be enough housing. Well it gets even better, they have not only donated the hotel, but are also paying to have it moved here! On Nov. 5th the hotel will be moved from the property by the lake to our base. It has 12 one bedroom apts. What a blessing! David has been very busy to say the least. He's been meeting the power company and tree removal men because the building is so large that there are 14 huge trees to be taken down and the power lines will have to be lowered while the building is being moved.
It's really been just an awesome past few months here. It's funny cause when we first came on staff I thought it was great that David could use his skills to make the structures here better in order to have more students and really be apart of this mission that we both love so dearly. But as time goes on, i'm realizing that the "building of buildings" is so not the point of use being here. God keeps giving me some verses in Titus 2 about training young men to be disciplined and training young women to love their husbands and children, be pure, busy at home, and to be kind. I've had the chance to have one of the DTS students come to my house every afternoon from 3-5 for her work duties. Obviously it's so great to have some help with the laundry, dishes, kids, etc. but more importantly i've had the chance to see God change her heart over the past 6 weeks. This is why we are here! To see lives being changed.
I have a bible study starting this coming wed. with a group of 6 girls, 3 are married and 3 are single. we're going to cook together and spend 6 weeks learning about what a Titus 2 woman looks like. I'm really excited. It takes me out of my comfort zone to be teaching, but i'm so looking forward to it.
Well, so much for being a short update, but I really wanted to share the excitement. I'll be posting pictures tonight of the building.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Montana night

These aren't in the right order, but here's a few pictures of Flint from Montana night a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was so funny and cute to watch him with his sandwich.

Harvest Party and First snow

We had our first snow yesterday. Time to get out the snow clothes and do the whole bundle, unbundle, repeat about a million times a day. Uugh. The boys did enjoy playing in the snow today. We had a harvest party on the base tonight which was a lot of fun. We played games and of course the kids ate way too much candy.

The snow is here

Can it be? Is it really already snowing? As i'm sitting here by the wood stove watching David outside plowing the roads and walkways this early. I guess summer if officially gone. I'll post some snow pictures later today.
its been a busy time around here the campus is completely full. There are about 35 people from the Titus school leaving tom. for outreaches to Tailand, Cambodia, nepal, Ukraine and a few other places. DTS and SBS are in full swing. The base has been given a motel which is really exciting and the owners of it are actually going to pay to have it moved to here! God is so amazing. It will be 12 extra suites for housing couples. This is a huge blessing. Also, the new facilities/auto shop is underway being built. The foundation is ready and the building should start arriving in a few weeks.
The boys, and girl are doing great. Luke has a renewed love for school, thanks to a great teacher! And Barrett is doing great in school also. Peter is going to preschool on the base and is the only boy with 7 girls. And he loves it! Such a lady's man. Flint is making us and everyone around him laugh daily. His personality is like no-one elses. That little boy will do anything for a laugh. yesterday he was walking around outside with Bear claw slippers growling at people while wearing his spiderman shirt of course! And Allie is still the calmest, most content, easiest baby ever! Oh we are so blessed with your little ones. Barrett and Luke are getting so tall, their not so little anymore. I'll get some pictures up very soon. We're having a harvest party tonight which should be fun for the kids. Which reminds me that I starting making a flower costume for Allie and have yet to finish it. I should get sewing!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Fire in Lakeside


Here are some pictures from this past weekend. We are in the clear now after quite a scare of a fire. It is a good reminder of what's really important when you quickly go through your house and put what's important in your car. It reminds me of how quickly we can get attached to "stuff" and yet when it comes down to choosing it's so easy to leave it all behind. I'm so thankful for all the firemen and women and volunteers who worked so hard to protect people and their property.

Monday, August 31, 2009

First Day of School



End of summer camping trip

David and Jeremy took Barrett Luke and Samuel camping this past weekend. They had a great time fishing and hanging out.


Where did the summer go?

I just realized that's it's been a month since i've posted any pictures. We had a crazy August. My parents were here for the first week which was a lot of fun. We went up to big mountain and rode the ski lifts and rode on the new alpine slide. We also had a little adventure on water. We went out in a friends boat and a wind storm came up and it was quite the trip which ended in someone coming and picking us up at a different dock then we took off from.
David's granddad passed away August 7th, and so we loaded up in the car and drove 36 hours straight to Kentucky for the funeral. It was nice to see family and for them to meet Allie finally. We also decided to skip on down to B'ham to go to church on friday. Funny how after driving 36 hours, a 5 hour drive seems like nothing. I used to think it was such a chore to drive up there.
The trip was true to Garrigan style, after about 15 hours of driving the engine light came on, then after about 30 hours, i'm driving along chomping on some pita chips when I realize that i'm missing half of my tooth! So when we got to KY we got the car fixed and I spent David's b-day getting a new tooth. does a wife with a full set of teeth count as a b-day present? I guess it will this year. Once we got to b'ham we were ready to head home and the computer crashed, so we thought we should fix it while we were there, since we bought it from there. Long story short, someone was able to fix it and then we car fixed another 3 times.
So, we finally leave, towing a trailer with the beloved Amerigo in tow (the beautiful truck camper that was left there last summer). we made it almost to South Souix city, Iowa when the car messed up yet again. The boys liked my suburban now sounded like a hot rod. I personally was a little embarrased. So, we were able to get it fixed yet again, and then just drove the rest of the way to get home.
wew! it's nice to be home and try to get back into the swing of things. We arrived home on Sunday, and monday afternoon we started staff training for 3 days which was a blast. So that just about sums up the past month. Sadly, I don't think I took a single picture over the past month.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Thursday, July 30, 2009

A day on the boat


A friend let us borrow their boat and we had such a blast.

Summer pictures


A friend, Libby took some pictures down by the creek yesterday. They turned out great.

Trey's b-day



We went a party across the street and some pictures

Monday, July 13, 2009

Summertime fun

A New Mission at Lakeside Base | Flathead Beacon

Here's an article that was in our local newspaper this past week. I think it sums up what we do here really well.

A New Mission at Lakeside Base | Flathead Beacon

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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Dorm transformation

4th of July

God's faithfulness

I thought I'd share a little story about how faithful God is. Even in the little things. A few weeks ago I went through the closets and packed up all the summer clothes that were too small for Flint. I took them over to another family's house to see if they could use them. She then told me that she's been worried, because they had no summer clothes at all for their little boy and she didn't know how she would get them. So I thought that it was really neat how God provides.
There is a couple who are here this week with this team from Washington, who was also here last summer. Well, the other day, her husband walked up with 3 trash bags full of clothes for our boys. In there, were all kinds of winter clothes to fit the boys this coming winter. It may not seem like a big deal, but when you're starting from scratch trying to get warm clothes for 5 kids, it's a big deal! There were ski pants, snow suits, 2 winter jackets and several sweat shirts all that will fit Barrett. What a huge blessing. And then, one more little thing. This past week it's been really warm here and we don't have air conditioning in our house. It hasn't been bad, but the past few nights peter and Flint have just slept in diapers and pull ups b/c I don't have any summer pjs for them. Since all of our added medical bills this past month, with Allie, and Luke's little ride in the ambulance that wasn't covered, pj's are the last thing on my list of things that I'm going to spend money on. Well, last night we got home from a meeting and there was another bag of clothes at the front door that someone had brought over and in it were several pairs of summer pj's that will fit Flint and Peter. I just think it's so amazing that God cares so much about the little things in life. Today, I'm praying for the resurection of the dishwasher. If God cares even about clothes, then surely He cares about dishwashers too.

Monday, July 6, 2009

A busy week in Lakeside

I'll post pictures soon from a funfilled weekend. But I wanted to give an update cause there's lots going on this week. A work Team arrived from a church in Washington State this weekend. It's a program called VWAP (Vacation with a purpose) There are about 60 people total. Families come with their children and work for the entire week which really blesses the base in a huge way. There are a lot of skilled workers and just today they got almost all the windows set in the dorm. They are also ripping out the old heaters and painting and other interior and exterior work.
We have meetings Sun, Mon and wed. at night with worship time and a speaker will share. thurs night we're having a campfire in our backyard and making smores. It's fun to have the boys involved too. They have been playing with some of the kids who were here last summer also. It's a very busy, crazy week but we really enjoy getting to know the people and it's such a blessing to everyone who lives in the dorms that people would take their vacation time to make this place look better.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Southern Yard Art

What is Southern Yard Art? well, some parents spend money on fancy swing sets or playgrounds, but not us. Why bother when you can put the frame of an old jeep in yard and the boys think it's the greatest thing ever! Seriously, they play for hours on it.
We had quite the exciting Father's day around here. Luke was riding on the mini motorcycle and he came around a corner and when he tried to hit the brake, he hit the throttle instead which then hit the curb and sent him flying over the handle bars, in the air, did a flip and landed flat on his back in the neighbors yard. So, in Montana if there's an accident with a child and any type of motor vehicle, they automatically send the helicopter. much to Luke's disappointment he didn't get to ride in the helicopter, he just got to go in the ambulance.
But he's ok, just banged up and he did get 5 stitches in the chin. I'm sure it's just one of the many trips to the ER that we will make by the time the boys are grown.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

boys will be boys

WARNING: these videos may scare grandmothers!!!
ou neighbor Mark bought this at a yard sale this past weekend. The boys had some serious fun. Peter rode it too and while he was riding was yelling-- make it go faster!
barrett and David went on a trip to Billings and did some fly fishing. They feasted on sunny D, marshmallows and doritos. Barrett enjoyed the food more than the fishing.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Friday, June 12, 2009

Flint turns 2

We had a great party for Flint on Wed. There were 2 friends, and about 20 grown ups who wanted cupcakes! He had a blast with all his bubbles and new riding toys

Allie's 2 weeks


Today was the last day of school for the boys. Summer is officially here! Last night, we went to bed at 10:30 and it still wasn't dark out. And when I got up this morning at 4:30... already light! The boys love it. They just play non-stop.
Allie went for her 2 week check up today. Here's the stats:
7 lbs. 4 oz
21" - 75th % go figure!
We did discover that she has a broken clavicle which is healing but is still just sad to think about her being in pain already.

Monday, June 1, 2009

A pink explosion!

Our house has officially been taken over by pink ! From pink blankets, clothes, towels, passys, even socks and hats. who knew you could have so many pink things. The boys have enjoyed having a liitle sister to hold. Flint wants to hold her all the time. Her first week has been great. She is by far the easiest baby ever. We've yet to hear a really mad cry, not even when Flint tried to pick her up. And she's a great sleeper. Last night she slept from 11-4 and then til 7:45! that's better than some of the boys in this house. I think she's definitely a keeper. Mike and Dotty are here visiting and we are just enjoying the beautiful weather. the went to school in shorts today. Mike made the comment this morning that its too cold to be alive. Barrett laughed at him and said, "cold? this is hot!" I thought that was pretty funny.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Allie is here

Here's some pictures of our new little girl. the boys are so excited about a sister, even though she wears pink. We're home and doing great.

Here are her stats:

born May 26th 1:35 pm
6lbs. 6oz.
20"

Monday, May 11, 2009

Still waiting!!!

Just an update.... We still have no baby!! I know it's bound to happen sooner or later, but sooner would work better for me. The boys are getting excited, wondering if it's another brother, or the girl who will wear pink. we're still working on the whole name thing. Peter's still sticking by his favorite - chicken nugget. we'll see. Hopefully we'll work good under pressure.

Monday, April 27, 2009

The 4 seasons

Apparently the weather here is very unpredictable. Yesterday the boys were out riding bikes in shorts and t-shirts and today their bikes are actually burried in the snow! I was up having my hourly bathroom trip and walked in the kitchen and took a double take. I couldn't believe how hard it was snowing. Barrett and I were scraping the snow off the car this morning before school, and it was falling faster then we were scraping. If this is spring, i'm so ready for summer.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Nesting begins

We're at the 4 week count down and the nesting has begun. Only I can't figure out why it's called nesting, because although I want to get all these things done and in order, really I just want someone to do it all for me. I start out strong in the morning but by lunch i'm done and in need of help. My big project that I wanted done was to move the bunk beds into the other bedroom. The story of the bunk beds began when David built them in the dorm when we were going to move in the fall. Of course he can't just build free standing beds, these were custom, built into the walls, quite impressive. So he moved them into our house in Nov. and I was determined that they should go in the small room and then I'd put the other 3 (baby included) in the big room. I guess I was having a mental lapse when I thought that would be a good idea.
So saturday began with David taking down the bunk beds, yet again and moving them into the bigger room. He then patched all the holes left from the removal. Sunday he got up and started painting the baby's room. I had some paint in the closet and thought it would be great to paint a kakhi color, that way, if it's a girl, throw some pink in there, and if it's a boy, i'll finally get to use the cute lime and blue bedding I bought for Flint but never got to use. So the boys and I played outside enjoying the perfect weather, while David kindly slaved away at painting the room, his less the favorite thing to do. he was thrilled when after 2 coats of paint I walked in and realized that I had actually given him the wrong gallon, and instead of a nice kahki color, we now have a sage green room! He was delighted at the thought that there's good chance i'm going to want it re-painted in a few weeks. I think i'm going to have to bake a lot of blonde brownies for my penence for this one. i'm still not sure if I'm convinced that putting 4 boys in one room was a good idea either, but it's all i've got for now, so we'll see how it goes.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Easter Day

We had a great trip to Birmingham. It was so good to see friends and family. We landed in Bozeman on Wed. to find snow everywhere. It was a little disappointing to say the least. Thankfully once we got west of the divide, it was sunny and warm and absolutely perfect weather. it's so good to be home again. The boys have been playing outside, finding toys that were buried in the snow for the past 4 months. Who needs christmas? just have snow covering the stuff that got left out and then you find them and it's so exciting.

Dyeing Easter Eggs

We had this great idea to have all the kids dye easter eggs on Saturday. Dotty, Katie, Anne and I got the tables all covered in newspaper, we made all the day, and spent about 30 minutes getting it all ready. We put big paint shirts on everyone, and then, for about 10 minutes, maybe they dyed eggs. I guess it was fun while it lasted.

We had a great time on Easter. We went to church and saw all our friends, and then went back to Mike and Dotty's for lunch. The weather was absolutely perfect! the kids played outside all day and we all ate lunch outside and enjoyed the sunshine

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

BBQ, Sweet tea, and Sonic slushes













Flint getting in touch with his feminine side on the princess bike and strawberry shortcake helmet.









Oh it's good to be in the south. We flew into B'ham last tues. night. We started the day at 4:30am, leaving Lakeside in the snow and driving 5 hours to Bozeman, MT, a 5 hour drive to the airport. The boys loved flying and did amazing on the plane. We've been in B'ham enjoying some nice weather and some good food. Luke turned 6 on Monday and we had a cold birthday party at the park. The boys have had so much fun playing with their cousins and friends.

Our bug scout, Luke found a dead snake that David had run over with the lawn mower. They were fighting over who got to play with it.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Another snowy day

We've had sick boys in our house for over a week now. Saturday was occupied by taking 3 of them to the dr. Luke, Peter and Flint were all sick. After a long weekend, and then Barrett not feeling well yesterday, I decided to just keep barrett and Luke home from school. but I think I was been played by my boys! By about 9:00 they were running down the hall playing, I'm thinking they weren't really sick. anyway, so today I got them up earlier then normal cause I wanted to send them on the bus so I didn't have to get Peter and Flint out since they both still have a fever and it's a brisk -19 this morning! So we get all ready, and the phone rings a few minutes before I send them out the door. Apparently school is cancelled due to the weather. Ahh! I just can't seem to catch a break! So, it's still snowing and I don't want to send the boys out when it's this cold, so another day of being cooped up in the house. Of course, it makes me so thankful that we're not in the camper. Just the thought of that depresses me a little. I'm hoping we're on the mend around here. I'm sure looking forward to our trip to the south. Last night at dinner Barrett out of the blue got real excited and said, "I sure know where the first place we're going to eat in B'ham is" I looked at him and he matter of factly said. "full moon!" So I guess that's where we'll go.

Barrett and look both lost another tooth sunday night. They were so excited, but somehow the tooth fairy didn't come??? I think she must not have wanted to get sick, or maybe there was too much snow? They were both very happy when they realized this morning that she finally came. I hope they don't realize that it's only at our house where it takes a few nights for the tooth fairy to actually arrive.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

David's trip to Santa Fe, NM














Here are a few pictures of the work that David did while in Santa Fe, NM. They were adding on to a house there, which serves as the YWAM base. The addition will serve as staff housing.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

A Valentine's day to remember

I was hoping for a nice peaceful Valentine's day. I had about 8 single girls over for dinner, since David was out of town, I figured we should do something fun. Well, I don't know why I think any day will be peaceful. First, back it up 2 days, Flint again with the fire. This time he put a coloring book in the fire and then pulled it out. So we now have a nice burn in the carpet the size of a coloring book. I called David crying and that's when I realized I was starting to wear down. So yesterday, I'm getting stuff ready and Barrett and Luke are in their room yelling. I go in to find that Flint has climbed their ladder all the way to the top and has his hands on the ceiling! So after several spankings he finally quite climbing. For toady anyway. Then they were all wrestling and Luke somehow did a back flip over the couch and hit his head on the coffee table. He hit it so hard that the table actually broke. Then we made it til bedtime, I sent Peter in to go to the bathroom. For some reason he was on top of the countertop and fell off head first. I still can't figure out how going to the bathroom involves needing to climb on top of the sink, but he now has a nice golf ball sized bruise on his forehead.
So we survived Valentine's Day. The boys spent about 5 hours sledding today which wore them out nicely and they were all sleeping peacefully be 7:30. Ahh, the joy of a quiet house.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

What's in a name???

I've been trying to think of baby names and as usual I've got nothing. Whenever we have picked a named we always look at the meaning and want it to be a strong name with a good meaning. Well, the name Flint means "to spark a fire". Sounded like a good, strong name. however, I never really wanted him to literally live up to the meaning of the name. But apparently he's going to. David's been in Santa Fe, NM this week, so i've been single momin it, which I don't know how single mom's do it. Anyway, the other day I started a fire in the wood stove and went to fill up the dishwasher, I look in the living room and realize that Flint has gone and found a stick that Barrett's been widdling and has stuck it in the fire and is now running around the living room with a torch! He hit the fleece blanket with it, which burned a nice size hole in the blanket and i'm yelling and frantically chasing him while he just looks at me with a look like, "what's the big deal?" oh my! So I recover from that and then yesterday, the boys had gotten home from school and one of them had gone to the bathroom. I can't understand why it's so hard for little boys to flush the toliet, or close the seat cover, or shut the bathroom door, but apparently it is. So I realize that Flint is in the bathroom, I run in to find him swirling gloves around in the toliet, which if full of human by-product. Again, I'm yelling and totally grossed out, trying not to throw up as I fish out poopy gloves. Flint has run out of the bathroom and into the living room. I come out, and realize that he's thrown yet another pair of gloves into the fire!! If we can somehow harness the love for gloves and fire into something good, then we're onto something, but for now, this little boy can just wear me down.
So, for this next little one, i'm looking for a name that means sweet angel that sits in the corner and reads books and doesn't provoke his/her mother to anger! If anyone has a name that means that, then by all means please share it with me. So the lesson for the week is making sure the meaning of the name is a good one. At least Flint is giving me lots of good stories to share.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Luke lost his first tooth




So I gave the boys a bunch of carrots for the snowman that they were making, and I came outside and realized that Flint was just shoving them all in his mouth. Luke was so proud of his first lost tooth. Lately, Flint is found all over the house wearing my boots. he can hardly walk because they go up to his knees, but he doesn't care.




Here are some pictures from Welcome to Montana night. It was a lot of fun for the boys. They all dressed up in cowboy attire and we had some BBQ.













The boys had their first "snow day" on Friday. Except it didn't snow, just rain, which then turned to a thick sheet of ice on the roads. They were so excited to not have to go to school. I didn't have the heart to tell them that they'll have to make it up in the spring. They spent a few hours today sledding down a hill of ice/snow in our yard. Only problem was that there was no snow on the street, so they would go down the hill and land on the road. They just kept getting hurt. Apparently they thought that I was kidding when I said it doesn't work real well to sled on the asphalt.
David left today to go to Santa Fe, NM with a few guys from the base here. They are going to frame in a building which will be used for staff housing at the YWAM base down there. It's a 22 hour drive so they'll have a very long night and day tomorrow.
Every quarter when a new school comes we have International Night at our weekly community meeting. They've decided this time to have a US table and have asked me to make the food for it. So of course my plan is to make some sweet tea, fried okra and boiled peanuts. One slight problem: I can't find okra or raw peanuts. I called every natural food store within 30 miles. One guy actually asked me what I was going to do with raw peanuts with the shells. I told him I was going to boil them and then, no joke, he said, " and then what will you do with them?" Are you kidding me? he acted like I was a crazy person that I was going to eat peanuts after boiling them. It's a little sad if you ask me. These native montanaians have no idea what kind of good food they've been missing out on. The past week i've introduced 2 people to sweet tea. And they're both hooked now. My goal is to intoduce these westerners to some good southern food. I'm hoping to make some fried green tomatoes soon.

Friday, January 9, 2009

A busy week in Lakeside

It's been a very quick, busy week here in Lakeside. The weather has warmed up a bit, which is nice except for the think layer of ice that covers everything. David and his crew have been busy to say the least to try to clear the ice off of roofs, sidewalks and streets. We welcomed a new DTS (Discipleship Training School) there are 27 new students from 8 nations. We had a big welcome morning on Monday to welcome them to the base. Tuesday, we took Barrett to a Mongolian Grill for his birthday dinner. He loved it, you can watch them cook your dinner in front of you. Wednesday was his birthday party at school. Everyone in the class made him a birthday card and we sent cupcakes for the class. Thursday was eventful, started with taking Flint to an Orthopedic hand specialist. His broken finger was not looking right, so they did x-rays and the dr. said he thought it was fine, still broken, but straight and they could see new bone growth. Then I had a dr. apt, we got to see baby ice cube on the ultrasound. we're happy to announce that we're having...... a healthy baby!!! We didn't find out, I think it's a boy, but of course at one point I thought we were looking at the face and it was really the kidneys, so i'm not banking on my predictions! I'm hoping for a calm weekend, I think the boys will go skiing and I may try to paint a wall or two and get rid of the white color that covers this house.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Barrett turns 8

We had a great birthday yesterday. We all went up to the ski slope, Flint and I hung out in the lounge, Flint ate everything he could possible find on the floor. Peter skied for the first time, which was quite the adventure for David as he took 3 boys by himself down the slope.
After a day of skiing, we made pizzas and had a bunch of people over for cake and ice cream.
It's crazy to think that Barrett is now 8. It seems like just the other day we were so thankful for a healthy baby and how things could have gone so different if the dr. hadn't been right there on the floor. He's such a blessing, his kind, gentle spirit humbles me. We had friends over the other night and she said that she hopes her little boy is as kind as Barrett when he grows. The way he takes care of his little brothers is amazing. He got his first pocket knife for his birthday, and we prob. should have included a first aid kit, but he sure loves it.

bathroom re-do

here are some pictures of our bathroom before and after David's handy work. It's so nice to have a clean bathroom, getting rid of the moldy, 50 year old nasty stuff that was in there.

Friday, January 2, 2009

I think this is enough snow!

So we've had a little bit of snow the past few days. Our poor little light up reindeer, his head is now under the snow. David, Barrett and Luke have found they're new favorite sport, snow skiing. There's a ski area about 10 miles up our road, and kids ski free which makes it even better. They've gone several times this week and all Barrett wants to do for his birthday is ski.