ChurchFriendFamily

Okay, so here we are, at the Darden's house (our friends, from church, who are out of town and have offered us a place to do laundry, clean up and rest) catching up on business and facebook. I find that I have a few minutes until the laundry is done drying and I thought I'd update you all (Ha!) here at our blog. It's official. We are out of our house! The keys have been handed over and we are done with renting in the state of Maryland. I have to say that we have been terribly blessed - I'm not sure that terribly is the best word for this situation, but it's what came to mind! - we have had a ton of help and support over the last couple of weeks from our friends here in SoMD. Our church family astounded us again (at this point, I don't know why I am always surprised!) and Katy's Sunday School class came out in force, with 2 adults and 8 teens this morning, to finish up the cleaning of the house! It was fantastic! They were in and out in about 3 hours, and they cleaned that house cleaner than it's been in well . . . quite awhile! They worked hard, and while the cleaning was a huge blessing, it was amazing to see the future of the church at work! What great families we have at LBC, raising amazing kids who love the Lord! Thanks again kids! You were are huge help! We also had a contractor friend from church who replaced the recently broken window, and while he was there, allowed us to borrow his super long ladder to replace some burnt out lightbulbs at the height of the vaulted ceiling. Two days ago, Marie came and the two of us, she and I (Trinette) cleaned out and scrubbed inside and out the two fridges that were at the house. Not an easy task - a total labor of love, but having her there made the time fly! She is a sweet friend, and I will miss her terribly! We have been living in our dear friends' (the Rog's) trailer, and will be staying there until we exit MD. They have been so gracious and patient with us and our weird schedules this whole time! Suzanne threw us a last minute going away party at their house last night. It was so good to have many of our dear friends come and wish us well. We will certainly miss the fellowship that our church family has provided us here. There haven't been too many tears yet . . . Karen Dooley was the first to get me crying, but that was a couple of weeks ago! And then Barb, whose house I sit in now, got me all teary eyed when we left dinner the other night. I'm sure that this upcoming week will hold many tears for all of us, except Karl who will be hunting in Wyoming! Please pray for us all as we transition over the next few weeks. Pray for my health, as allergies have kicked into high gear with the grass cutting going on, which doesn't help the pneumonia that doesn't seem to be getting as "better" as it should be. :/ Pray for safe travels for Karl as he flies out to Wyoming and back, and for me, as the kids and I travel south to the Charlotte area. Pray for our friends as we leave, that they will be happy for us in our new adventure, and that God will meet every need, spoken and unspoken as we depart. Blessings to you all! Love you!

Tomorrow, Today and The last week...

So tomorrow is the day. The moving truck comes and we start getting packed up. It's a bit surreal, and I'm not sure we are ready. We have been sorting and pitching and purging for weeks now. The dogs, chickens and pigs have found new homes and the guinea, well she "found" a new home too (in guinea heaven we'll say.) The kids are hitting panick mode, realizing that they won't see their friends many more times before we drive away. I am hitting emotional mode, realizing that I won't see my friends many more times. For today though, we are packing up what we'll need with us for the next 4 weeks on the road - an impossible task - and finishing up last minute things.

Over the last week or so, we have had some bumps in the road . . . a broken window, a broken 46 inch TV, overflowing septic, and I ran over one of the kids' bikes yesterday morning! UGH!!! Oh, and I am fighting pneumonia! We are actively claiming the name of Jesus Christ over this move, our health and our transition, and we clearly are feeling attacked! But Satan will not win this battle. We are working diligently to have good attitudes and understanding with each other as we all feel a little crazy. We know that God will supply for our every need, and we are filling ourselves with Him, so that when we get bumped, our overflow will be from Him, not from ourselves.

The last week of our time here in SoMD will be really over the next 10 days or so. There are dinners with friends and play dates for the kids, and many, many goodbyes to be said over the course of these days. Please, as you think of us, pray not only for us, but for our friends that will remain here. We know that God is the God of all comfort, and we know that he will comfort each of us and our friends, that allows him to do so. It's hard for some, to express how much they'll miss us, or our kids without making us feel a pang of guilt over the life we have chosen for our family. It's hard not to resent these people in these moments. Especially for me. Please pray that I will be given grace beyond measure for these moments.

So, tomorrow marks the first super obvious step in our departure. What a busy week we will have. Thanks for covering us in prayers. And know that I will happily return the favor, anytime.

Change is truly in the air! Over the past three weeks, our area has suffered some pretty major adjustments . . . between earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding, there has been a lot of rebuilding and cleaning up! Us Wards have been blessed to have come through all of those events really well. No damage to our home or flooding on the property. Some of our friends were not so lucky. I am constantly amazed by God's provision though. I was with a group of my girlfriends the night beofre the hurricane blewn into town, and as we were all chatting about what to expect, one of my friends flippantly said that maybe they'd get a new roof out of it! Well, they are getting one! No one wants trees to fall on their house, ever, but if there were ever any more deserving people of a new roof courtesy of their insurance company, it is them. God provided a way! It is His perfect provision that continues to amaze me. Speaking of provision, God has brought hundreds of relief workers here to our county to help with the clean up process. They are from the Southern Baptist Relief Teams. They are living in our church building, and sending out teams of Yellow-shirted Angels all over our county. There are chainsaw teams, and chaplains, a cooking team, and so many more volunteers! I have had the privilege to get to know a couple of them as I serve in the kitchen, and their untiring minds, hearts and bodies are a miracle to behold. God is certainly their strength! What a testimony of the greatest volunteer act ever. Christ's love is certainly being made know through them. A nice little side bit is that the relief workers have been saving all their food scraps and leftovers for our pigs! Ham and Turkey have never been happier! They need to get as fat as is possible in the next couple of weeks, as we will be moving very soon. Yes, I know, could this one blog post handle any more info??? Probably not, but I'm going to share anyhow. :) We have received orders to transfer to Whidbey Island, Washington. Karl has been out there over the past 10 days or so, and in that time has secured a home for us to move into. It's a fantastic home, and we are super excited to get there and see it for ourselves. Here's a link so you can take a peek!

www.militarybyowner.com/homes/WA/Oak_Harbor/Volunteer_Rd/MBO203229.aspx

We are very sad to be leaving Southern Maryland. We have been blessed with a fantastic Church Family here, and a huge Friend Family here. We are already having moments of sadness as we process all this move will mean for us. Yes, we are excited to be back closer to family, and farther away from things like Ticks and Chiggers and Copperheads (I killed one in the driveway last night!) but we will be missing this place like crazy. We will miss being able to shoot down to Charlotte for a long weekend. We'll miss our youth groups and choir, and homeschool groups and friends. We'll miss 5 months of hunting deer and practically non existent bag limits. We'll miss know there are friends who will run over, for any reason, at any time - even to check and make sure the Copperhead is dead! and friends who are more excited for first deer than I was! We'll miss a church that is the most warm and encouraging people we've ever had the privilege of serving and worshipping with. God is so good to have provided all of this here, please pray that He will already, be preparing in advance of our move - friends for us and especially the kids, in Wa, and a church where we can feel the same welcome and Love of God.

Okay, so I am going to stop now, before I become a blubbering mess right here at the desk! Just know that if you are here in MD, we love you and will miss you all terribly. If you are on the way to WA, I hope that we get to stop by on our way through and see you, because we miss you too! And if you are already in WA - we can't wait to get there and see you all again! Party at the WARDS house!

Open Windows

So it's Saturday, and for any of you that know me, you'll be surprised that I have been up for over 2 hours! Yup, it's 10am and I was up before 8! So there is a reason. A good one. I have a friend here visiting. I've known Diane for almost 11 years, but as we are both Navy wives, we haven't lived near enough to see much of each other over the past 8-9 years. We recently reconnected, and she and I have been exchanging visits between here and where she lives in the Virginia Beach area. This time, she brought her son Reese with her! The boys were ecstatic, and Reese was certainly looking forward to seeing a real live pig - "not like the movie ones." So, Diane had to be up and out of the house for an appointment this morning, so I got up and made them a "real" breakfast. Don't get me wrong - I don't usually feed all this "real" food to my family every day. We had cinnamon rolls, warm from the oven (Oh, the smells!), and we had fried eggs - literally fresh from the nest. A couple of the eggs were even double yokers! And then to top it all off, I made sausage patties from what is left of our "Bacon" sausage. Top it all off with orange juice (not freshly squeezed) and milk (very store bought and pasturized!) and it was quite the yummy breakfast. And while I have certainly enjoyed that our windows have been open for 48 hours or so, I don't want to lose all the yummy smells of breakfast! So now, the major question of the day . . . what's for lunch? ;)

Summer is here!

So, has summer arrived where you are? We got summer, here in Southern Maryland, just in time for Easter! What a beautiful day is was, to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior!

I wish I could add some pictures to show you all how gorgeous this particular day was, but still, our camera is disabled - as is our bank account! Ha! So, you'll have to imagine the million shades of spring greens and the lovely pinks and purples of flowering trees and vines. Don't forget the smell of wisteria floating around on the buzzing wings of bees and butterflies! So lovely a day to celebrate! We spent the morning at church, and then ran home to finish the preparation that was our part of a three-family Easter meal, to be had in the afternoon. Wheat and Daiy free Peanut Butter Cookies, Sweet Potato Biscuits, Apple Cashew Coleslaw and last but certainly not least was our homegrown ham! This was the last 1/2 ham from the pig we raised last year. "Bacon", as was his name, was SO good! (No worries though, we'll be well stocked this year, as we just got two new pigs to raise for food! - The kids named them Ham and Turkey!)

The garden is just about ready for the starts and seeds to go in the ground, and we are already anicipating the juicy warm tomatos straight from the garden, as well as the green beans and peas. Cucumbers and squash, lettuce and spinach, beets and carrots too!

School is becoming harder and harder to focus on, as the days go by, and the sun comes out brighter and warmer each day. Our days are full of school, and church activities, and doctor appointments and well, life. We are so blessed to have to such "Friend Family" around us here, who help us to know how to enjoy the area we are in to it's fullest. We are pleased to have new friends to add to that list all the time. As we anticipate a move coming by the end of the year, we are cleaning out and decluttering - just a little bit at a time. Trying to enjoy the time we can spend out doors before it turns super hot and humid!

Well, I could go on and on, but like I said before . . . there is a doctor appointment with the name ward on it, in the not too far distant future. See you here again soon!

Million Billion Trillion

Okay, so in my last post or two or three, I have tried to convince all my "blog friends" that I haven't forgotten that I have a blog. Well, I pretty much have. Or, in all honestly, it has fallen down the priority list for the time being. Us Wards are super busy . . . in a good way, but still, BUSY! We have all been through the flu and colds. Jojo is getting over strep throat. Karl and I attended the Youth Ski Retreat out church goes to. I am now on a worship team at church. I quit one job, started another (although I think I mentioned that in my last post), and am taking a leave of absence from our farm job next month! The kids are all in the midst of practices for the AWANA games that are coming up very quickly, in fact the day after that all happens, we leave to North Carolina and Tennessee for a few days. That trip will entail fun, seeing family and friends, and even business - as a friend is having a Pampered Chef party that week! We are all excited about that trip. But if you don't mind, I'm going to chat at you about how amazing my life is, in spite of all the chaos!

I am so blessed! I know the Savior of the world! Jesus Christ! He never fails to reveal himself to me, when I need it the most. The ski retreat was designed to be an amazing time for the kids, but it was also an amazing time for me! I was reminded how God has cared for me, all of my life. How He loves me as a daughter. How He desires to know my heart, and for me to know His heart. I was also reminded, that no matter how long I have been a Christian, there will be a room in my heart that needs renovation - the kind that requires a master carpenter. I happen to know the best carpenter around! He loves me more than I will ever comprehend, and when we are in the demolition phase, I can trust that He will rebuild me stronger, for His glory! How great is that?!?!?!?

Then, there's my Karl . . . can I just say - he's perfect! He's perfect for me. I love him (seriously) more than I ever imagined was possible. I pray fervently, that my Katy will meet someone as great as her Daddy. Who loves the Lord, and serves Him. He spoils me with his love. It's not grandiose gifts that make me know he loves me. It's how he looks at me from across the room. Or how he listens as intently as our children do, when I read aloud to the kids. It's that he stays up all hours of the night so that I won't have to stop writing my blogpost to go to bed! It's that he reads God's Word every day. It's that he serves our country despite all it's flaws and failings. It's that he wants our children to know God personally - and that while Daddy loves them more than just about anything - he loves God more. It's that he makes me a priority, even over our kids. (Controversial to some people maybe, but I think it is a living demonstration of Christ's love for His bride, the Church.) I could go one for pages and pages, but I'll spare you all of that. I just love my man!

Then, there's our kiddos!

Katy, my dear sweet daughter. She is scarily growing faster than I can buy new clothes! :) She is turning into quite the little lady, and while we are starting to hear a bit of attitude every now and again from her, she is the best daughter I could ever have asked for. When we were all sick, I was literally in bed for 3 days straight! Karl had to work, so who managed the house and the boys, and even most of the cooking??? That's right! My Katy bug! She is such a joy. I thank God for her daily!

Hunter, my hunter-man. He is growing like a weed as well! He is becoming a fine goose hunter, and that is all good. You see, after deer season, he was beginning to think we named him wrong! No way! We knew what we were doing! He got 6 geese in two outings! He beat all the old veterans of the sport that were with them that day too! Hunter, if you don't know him well enough to know, has the sweetest heart. He cares when someone is hurting, and his heart breaks for people in a way, that I have only seen in adults. He is a friend to the friendless (literally), and stands up for the defenseless. I love him for that! He really wants to invent something really spectacular, but doesn't have any ideas yet, so stay tuned for posts about his inventions!

Andrew . . . well, Andrew is in a stage . . . Hunter was there a couple of years ago, and we are glad to know it isn't so much a personality trait, as a stage. He likes to be involved in every conversation, and he usually thinks he knows it all, and he is right! :) It is a frustrating, but often times very comical stage. I amthough, hoping he will take this and run with it. A man who firmly believes in something, is a force to be reckoned with. It is my sincere prayer, that God will use this to Andrew's benefit, but moreso, to further God's kingdom! Andrew has a willing heart, and I believe that God has big plans for him! I love my Drewly!

Well, then there's Jojo. He is a goof ball! He says the funniest things, at the funniest times! Sure to be the class clown. He is trying to figure out whether he is a leader . . . or a follower. I get the privilege of being one of his homeschool group teachers, and watching him work through that is absolutely hilarious! He has started into the phase of trying to lie to Mommy and Daddy. It's not working out so well. Which is great if you ask me! He recently tried to lie about a candy or cookie or something, and when I asked him "Josiah, are you lying to Mommy?" He just lost it! Crying so hard . . . he knew he had done something wrong, and that he had hurt me. His heart was repentant right away, and I loved every minute of it! He is asking a lot of questions about Jesus, and having Jesus in his heart. I pray constantly for his salvation. I trust he will know Christ as his personal Savior.

Okay, so I have rattled on and on about my wonderful blessings . . . there are so many more . . . it would take a million billion trillion blog posts to list them, and I am sure if I tried that, I would miss a million billion trillion more! So, for now, know that if you are reading this, you would certainly show up in one or more of those million billion trillion posts.

So much has happened, and much to you all's (I'm sure that is not a word, but whatever . . . ) bitter diappointment, there will be no picture with this blog post. I know, I know, my writing is not what you all come here for, but our camera is broken (got dropped on Christmas) and we just found out, the warranty we purchased for it expired on the 28th of December. :( So, pictures will be at a minimum for awhile, as the priority for funds right now is to get our whole family to Oregon again this summer, for what is going to be another fantastic Saemenes' girl wedding. Yup, if you hadn't heard anywhere else, you heard it here . . . Linnaea is getting married! I really don't know a ton of details, but the family is really enjoying getting to know he Tommy, and Bellcastro (his last name) will fit fine just after Linnaea's name. :) Our family is very excited to see all of what God has planned for their lives together!

Hunting season is essentially over . . . there is just some really, REALLY cold bow hunting to be done until the 31st for the die hard or desperate hunters out there. We don't have to be out, as we have 9 deer in the freezer! I got one, my first, a buck, and Karl got 5! Also, we had a friend who gave us a couple to help feed our little, but evergrowing army here. (No, that was not an announcement - we are not pregnant. Our kids just don't stop growing!)

Hunter wasn't so sure we named him correctly, as his deer season didn't shape up like he has imagined . . . each time deer were close enough to get a shot at, he was either snoozing away in the stand, or he was too excited (Buck Fever) to pull the trigger. One time, he told Karl that his finger wouldn't move! :) So, we figured we had to find a way to convince him we named him right . . . so, on to goose hunting it was. Hunter's first time out was last Saturday, and don't you know . . . he shot two! Of twelve guys out that day, he got 2 of the 8 they shot as a group! The smallest went to Hunter, as did the biggest! Oh, and the goose jerky . . . Yummy! It's amazing! I hear boiled goose hearts are good too, but I left that eating to the boys! :)

I did take Josiah (5) out hunting on one day. He was so cute all camo'd up! He wasn't too sure about the sitting still or being quiet thing, but he loved using the range finder to see how close the trees were, as the deer were much to far away to even see! ;) And I loved seeing him enjoy his time with his mommy and in nature!

Andrew is chomping at the bit to get his Hunter Safety Course under his belt! He loves to shoot the bb gun and airsoft guns that we have, but he wants so badly to hunt with daddy! We are excited that next year, assuming he passes the course, will be his first year hunting. We just aren't too sure how we are going to take each of the kids hunting enough to give them a real shot at getting a deer, and still have time to get the deer we need to fill the freezer! We'll figure it out.

Katy, has been saving for almost a full year, to buy an American Girl doll for herself, and she finally got all the money she needed - and then some! So, we have a new doll in the house. She's a look alike doll, that doesn't look a thing like Katy! Katy named her Justine, because she does look like a sweet friend who used to babysit the kids all the time when we lived in Maine.

We have a lot going on this year, and any numbers of changes that could come down the "pipeline" so to speak. I just signed to be a Pampered Chef Consultant - working this business will help us to afford the plane tickets for our entire family to be at Linnaea and Tommy's wedding in June! Then in March, we find out the results of the officer package Karl put in. In April, if we don't get the officer package, we will start looking for our next set of orders - that could lead us - who knows where! In May, we have Hunter's birthday, and who knows what else, and then in June . . . the wedding! (Oh and Birthdays galore and our anniversary - 14 years!?!?!?!?) And then we will get to the summer . . . maybe! :) In the midst of all of that, we plan to get more chickens and guineas, raise another pig, keep our jobs at the horse farm, continue homeschooling and still have sanity! Looking toward the fall . . . the biggest couple of things on the agenda are a hunting trip for Karl in Wyoming (the kids and I MAY be going, but not sure yet.) AND . . . our cousin Abby Michelle, getting married! There's no firm date yet that we have heard, but we just can't wait . . . we have had the opportunity to get to know her Matthew over the past couple of years, and they are a great couple, make a great team, and with them, we are excited to see all of what God has planned for their lives together!

So, as you can read (assuming you can read) we continue to stay busy and continue to love our lives! The busy-ness may make for craziness, but the craziness makes for fun, and who doesn't love to have fun?!?!?!?!

No, I haven't forgotten that I have a blog . . . I have though had little time to invest in it! I mostly come here to get a quick and easy link to the other blogs I follow. Sorry. Not that too many people follow mine, but those that do (Abby) are surely missing my life. Yeah right?!?!?! Anyhow, there is so much to write about these days . . . we have come way past Halloween and Thanksgiving, through the "holidays" and emerged on the other side. 2011! The past couple of months have held many exciting times for us. New friends were made, first deer were shot, and oh - so much more. I will hopefully get to update you on some of the details of a couple of the key events . . . but for now, I guess it's just a request that you few followers not give up on me and my blog . . . at least not yet . . .