Micah Mischief: 2009

Thursday, September 10, 2009

I'm confusing myself...

Long, Long, ago in a world far, far, away....

....I started this blog to chronicle life with our son. Since that time our world has changed & we are now beginning a new life as missionaries. As many of you know, we have been running two different blogs: one chronicling life Whit our kids & the other our journey towards full time mission work. Well I keep posting on the wrong blogs, so it's time to condense it to one. I'm going to miss Micah's Mischief...but it's just not working. So if you want to read more about our adventures check us out at: http://fastwonderings.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your interest in our lives!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Life in Hayfork

From Spring '09

It's usually during the springtime that I LOVE living in CA. Spring seems to come here earlier & the sunshine always feels good. Last week, I even had to dig out my sprinkler & Micah loved running through it:

From Spring '09

Recently I went house-hunting in the new community we are moving to. I was so excited to be closer to civilization!!! But I was reminded also, of the beauty of living in the "middle-of-nowhere." Here I frequently have 15-20 deer (I'm not kidding) eating or sleeping in my front yard, or I will run across a fox or cayote on my way home. One of the neatest thing is our local albino deer. I never knew that there was such a thing...until I saw it one day (and almost drove off the road). A few days ago he was right outside my back door & I couldn't help but shoot a few shots!

From Spring '09

Finally, last weekend we traveled to the Bay Area for the CHEA homeschooling conference. We had a great time sharing with young people & their parents about the opportunities with TMI.

From Spring '09

After the conference we took the "long way" home & drove up the cost (across the Golden Gate Bridge) and saw a part of California that is absolutly beautiful & free of the tourist crowds & only 30 min north of San Francisco!

From Spring '09

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

April Sunshine...

So I haven't been too good at posting lately, 'cause I've been having a lot of fun with the kids (which I think is, OK!). So here is just a snapshot of what's been going on for the past month:

On our way to the airport last month to fly up to Portland do have Ryan's wisdom teeth out & do promotions at a conferece the Lord protected us in an amazing way. We were hearing some thumping in our car...got out and looked, nothing was wrong. Kept driving. At 60mph on I-5 I lost TOTAL control of the car & it was all over the road (definatly did not respond the way it suposed to with a flat tire). We pulled over & discovered that 3 of 5 lugnuts had sheered off & our tired was crooked & barely hanging on. We are greatful that the Lord protected our family, provided a dealership which took responsiblity for the problem & resolved it quickly, and my Dad was in the are & was able to drop what he was doing to drive us to the airport so we didn't miss our flight.

From Spring '09

Ryan, Abby & I represented TMI at the NW Ministry Conference.

From Spring '09

My family took their annual motorcycle trip to Stonyford, CA. Micah loved getting on the bikes & hanging out with his cousins & uncles!

From Spring '09

This year I decided to let Micah dye eggs for Easter. He absolutly loved it & wanted to do more. We took the dyed eggs to the brunch at church on Easter morning, which was fine with me 'cause neither Micah or I eat the eggs & I didn't know what I was going to do with a dozen hard boiled eggs.

From Spring '09

Monday, March 16, 2009

The many adventures of a 3 1/2 year old!!!

From Spring '09

I love having a 3 1/2 year old. Micah has been discovering so many things lately! He has discovered that he LOVES to be read to. He gets absorbed in the story & will often reenact the adventure throughout the day. The latest book we've been reading is, "Looking for a Moose." Micah has discovered that he is a moose. We made him some moose antlers, which he wore proudly as he walked around the house on all fours making moose calls.

From Spring '09

I also will find him "reading" to his sister. It's soooo precious! Micah absolutely LOVES his sister. She has been interacting so much more lately too. She is ALWAYS smiling & laughing! We recently tried to give her some rice cereal, but she wasn't too interested...although she's VERY interested in eating. She continues to be in the 95% for her weight :-)

From Spring '09

My final observation about a 3 1/2 year old is that they have an AMAZING! imagination. I enjoy to just sit back & listen to the adventures that his toys have. It's amazing how a shark, horse & Buzz Lightyear can tackle all of the world's problems :-) One of the cutest things he has been doing this week is acting like he is "Handy Manny"

From Spring '09

Manny is a cartoon on the Disney Channel where he is a handyman who fixes things in his community with the help of his tools, which are "alive." Recently Micah thought that he would get loaded up with all of his tools & go outside to cut down a tree. He worked long & hard to get that tree down...and didn't seem deterred at all when nothing budged :-)

From Spring '09

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Ryan is writing again :-)

Well Ryan picked up a pen again (ok, typed on a computer :-) But if you want to read what he's saying check out our ministry blog: http://fastwonderings.blogspot.com/

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Big Florida Vacation!!!

From Disney World 2009

Every year we look forward to our annual "vacation" to FL. Usually this involved a little time at Disney World & then about a week at Teen Missions. This year because of the amazing deals to Disney World right now, we were able to spend a week at the amazing Animal Kingdom lodge for what we normally spend at the Pop Century Resort for 5 days. It was great. We were able to see the animals around the hotel & relax around the pool (although it was a little cool a couple of days...28 degrees at night one night). This year we chose to bring Amanda V., a youth from our church in Mariposa, along with us to help out with the kids, it was wonderful!!!

Animal Kingdom Lodge Lobby

From Disney World 2009

Disney's Hollywood Studios

From Disney World 2009

Magic Kingdom

From Disney World 2009

Character Dinner at Epcot

From Disney World 2009

Teen Missions

From Disney World 2009

Visiting Ryan's Family in Lithia Springs

From Disney World 2009

Road Trips!!!

Well it's been way too long since I added some pictures to this blog, so excuse the fact that these are a little outdated :-) Abby is growing up way too fast & sometimes it seems hard to cherish those little moments. We have lead a VERY busy winter, but it's been great. I was able to spend most of the month of January in Portland doing promotions for Teen Missions & allowing Micah to go to preschool. In the midst of that Abby & I took a "little" plane ride out to Denver to visit Ryan who was out there for his annual PE conference (for work). We were able to do TMI presentations at three different churches, one in Gillette, WY & the other in Thornton, Co and we made an appearence at our old church in Lakewood, Co. It was sooooo nice to spend time with old friends and remember how much we LOVE Colorado.

Here are some pictures from the month of January:

Ella's 4th Birthday

From Winter '08-'09

Abby's first trip to Colorado

From Winter '08-'09

Our growing kids - Micah is absolutly in love with his little sister. He is often "protecting" her from other kids by telling thm not to touch her :-)

From Winter '08-'09

Abby is a HUGE smiler!! She will smile at anyone, about anytime! People love the reactions she gives them

From Winter '08-'09

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

thoughts from "the dark side" (a.k.a. Ryan)

Erin has often accused me of being the “writer” in the family. I don’t know if this is really the case, but I do love to communicate and just about any opportunity to do so I rarely pass up. So here goes my first ever “blog posting”…

In a recent phone conversation with my sister (Tamarah a.k.a. TA) we found ourselves on the topic of control. Who really has control? Sure, the Christian world view demands that we believe God is in control, yet so few live like they actually believe this. As TA and I dialogued I found myself saying to my sister that in my reality I simply don’t believe that I can control anything, so in my mind only God controls anything. I’ve learned when I make statements like this God tends to say “Ok…prove it!”

As I’m sure all of you know Erin and I have begun the official process of going into full time missionary service. The fact is we’ve been about this process for many years, but now we find that all the little steps of faith have finally culminated into this last and final step that requires quite possibly the biggest step yet. God has always been very gracious to us, and I’ve never doubted that my God will provide all our needs. Yet in some small way I have taken comfort in the fact that I was bringing home a paycheck that was used to take care of the family that God had given me. Yet when we’re talking about becoming missionaries we’re talking about relying on God and His people to literally put food on the table for my family. I find humility to never be an easy bite to swallow but the fact is the pride I used to take in “bringing home the bacon” is now gone, and once again humility is being experienced in a new way. This process is very overwhelming, but yet I know that God will provide. All the things I’ve taken for granted all of my life, things like food, shelter, healthcare, etc. are no longer things that I control but rather God does. The question I find myself asking is was it ever within my control to begin with?

Please pray for us as we take these steps of faith, and pray that we will continue to trust in God and not in our own understanding.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

SNOW, SNOW, everywhere there's snow!!!

From Winter '08-'09

This year we were excited to find ourselves in the NW for the giant "Artic Blast!!" It was great we arrived up in Portland in the middle of their "big freeze," where temps didn't seem to get above freezing for two weeks.

From Winter '08-'09

And then on top of that they got over 18" of snow (I think my parent's had closer to 24") and it didn't go away for a couple of days, which is VERY unusual for the NW. This weather change gave Ryan & I a chance to show off our Colorado snow driving skills in our Subaru as we ferried people around town & enjoyed some peaceful days up at my parent's house enjoying the snow. It's amazing how in the pre-Christmas frenzy all is set aside when you can't go out & go shopping & you "have to" stay at home & just spend time with family. We enjoyed snowshoeing, sledding & "hookie-bobbing" as my Dad likes to call it. Micah & Ella play at Grandma & Grandpa's!!