Cool ice pics

For those who can't imagine having ice in March (K, you know who you are ;-) here are some very cool ice pics. The flooded river receded during the night (when it was below freezing) and the ice that was left behind had the neatest ripple patterns and ice formations.

You know it's almost spring when...

Spring fever hits! It's been ccccold but sunny and it just looks so inviting outdoors, at least until your nose gets red as you step out the door ;-)



This week held the annual leaving of the ice. A river borders our property, tho we're on a high bank and don't have a direct view of it unless it floods onto the woods on the other side. Anyway, Wednesday morning when I got home from work, dd9 met me, excited that the ice was going out. Well, actually it wasn't, quite yet. It as jammed up on a few bends and waiting to break free. Looked like it got pretty thick, probably a good 6-8" (which is good, if you knew the geography of "our" river ;-) About 1/2 hr after I went to bed, they said it creaked and groaned and cracked and it all broke free. My dad and the kids were eating their breakfast outside by the maple syrup cooking fire. (This is last year's picture.)

So they left their breakfast and watched the ice, and then ran over to the neighbor's and watched the same ice floe pass in front of their house, then came back to cold waffles ;-) Hey, whatever, they were having fun, right? And I love their little "traditions" with Poppa--eating breakfast by the fire, getting excited over the ice going out of the river, helping with sap collection, and just all of those fun things that we love to drop school and run out to do.

Career Aspirations

My kids have both made career decisions in the past week or so. Not that they're binding, of course...but they think they are, LOL.

DD9's prayer experience(s) have led her to feel called to be a missionary doctor. She'd like to be a pediatrician. I'm not telling her that she has to be good at math and science, LOL. She'd make an excellent, open-minded ped, if that's where she ends up when she's grown.

DS4 has decided he wants to be a scientist, because "scientists get to find out how things work." LOL, he's very serious about this. He's got The Big Book of Tell Me Why in his bedroom so he can "study to be a scientist" and everything we do that's remotely related to something scientific gets analyzed to the nth degree. Oh, and the questions. Oh yes, the questions. Always the questions about how and why. Yes, he's very analytical, LOL. We used to joke when he was a baby that he would work in the space field because when you walked outside with him, he was always looking up at the sky. And you know what? He frequently mentions wanting to be an astronaut, or study the stars and moon. He's really jazzed because Sunday evening he and dd9 were outdoors playing, and he spotted a meteor streaking across the sky. (I'm researching it...I've found evidence that other people in Ontario and MI also saw it so I know the kids weren't imagining things when they came storming into the house all excited that they'd seen it, and I know dd9 wasn't fibbing when she said it had a long tail because other people saw the same thing!)

So that's what's happening in the Career Tales of Our Household this week...stay tuned for further developments.

Scary stuff close to home

Well, it happened in our community. A school shooting. At least it was outdoors in the parking lot, not in the building, but still...you think it'll happen somewhere else, not where you live. The school is 1/2 mile from where I work...I pass it almost daily, and I know a couple of girls from my church attend that school. The incident involved 17 year old girl and boy who had recently broken up. The boy shot and injured her (but she'll be ok), then fatally turned the gun on himself. The whole incident was witnessed up close by the girl's mother and other family members, and from farther away by students that were in the cafeteria.

No matter how you train and drill for a day like this, it still hits you right in the gut and hurts to think that a young kid would do something like this to a fellow human being.

Awed by the presence of God

I blogged recently about dd9's increasing prayer life and how much I'm enjoying that side of her, and of our relationship together. Well today I was in the hallway and she came to the door of her bedroom with a dazed look on her face. I had to speak sharply to her a couple of times before she even responded to me. She had been sitting in her new Ekorre swing, doing her schoolwork. Her Bible assignment included prayer to God, asking for guidance and direction in planning for her future. She said that when she was praying, she really felt His presence in the room close to her. She was so awed to have felt that, she was almost in tears--and so was I. I hugged her and told her how proud of her I am, and that she's been reaching out in prayer and study to God and that is when you feel close to Him and can sense his presence. I hope she keeps it up!

Grandma brag

My mom had my kids for part of this weekend while I was at work or sleeping. She was so pleased...they were good, didn't bicker, played nicely, and were sweet and helpful to her as well. (Usually my dad is around to help but he had gone out of town...and my mom was worried that she might get dizzy or not be able to tolerate their noise.) They even fixed her lunch yesterday! They ordered her to the basement and told her she couldn't come upstairs. She could hear them and knew what they were up to, tho ;-) The menu included artichoke hearts for an appetizer, pasta, and fruit for dessert. I think they were so good that she almost hated to turn them back over to me in the afternoon, LOL.

Hey, a much better report than some I've gotten, when their haloes have slipped a bit ;-)

Before & After

OK, here are the promised pics of dd9. She donated her hair to Locks of Love.

Before
After

She's insanely pleased with how her cut turned out, and she just loves her flippy short new do.