A City Life For Me

November 28th, 2016.  I don’t think I will ever forget that day.  Just two days shy of 35 months on the road, and we pulled into the driveway.  For the last time.  Deputation was done.  It was a long haul.  Not as long as many missionaries spend on deputation, but it taxed me to the limit. We started when the twins were but six months old, headed to Alabama to be appointed with Baptist World Mission.  Then I was pregnant with Henry while on the road, and we took only a six week break for his birth.  I have homeschool Elaine in Kindergarten, First Grade, and part of Second Grade.  I started Nolan in Kindergarten. Did not anticipate doing that. I potty trained Liberty at rest areas and in other people’s homes.  I tried to potty train Nehemiah, but we are still walking that road.  Most of deputation has had us with three in diapers, and me nursing at least one baby. We learned a lot of lessons.  We made cherished friendships....

Almost two weeks ago, my Elaine girl turn seven.  S-E-V-E-N.  Wow.  That makes me feel old!  Assuming she lives with us through college, that means we are about 1/3 done with our time with Elaine!  That is scary… I feel like there is yet so much to teach! Elaine is really a great big sister.  She is a helper and a teacher and an example, to Mommy and her siblings.  She is nearly always happy.  If she isn’t busy and involved with her brothers and sister, she is probably curled up with a book somewhere.  I used to be like that.  My Grandma was always getting on me for bringing a book everywhere.  Elaine brings three or four! I snapped a few pictures on the morning of her birthday. This was one of the few moments during our three weeks in Vancouver, BC that it wasn’t raining! Finally got her to smile! Elaine picked out her outfit for her birthday.  She loves purple, so the dress choice was easy.  The shirt is one that...

On one Saturday, my parents took the kids and I to hike Devil’s Head to the Fire Lookout station.  It is the only one of seven original fire lookouts still in use in Colorado.  We hiked this as kids, so it was fun to take my kids back.  They got very distratected  by the sticks and stones, but we did make it to the top!   I love the mountains! My parents and the granddog, Sadie At the top of the fire lookout station. Can you see the city of Denver? After hiking to the top and back, we drove down to the South Platte River so that we could have a picnic and swim.  It was a little busier than expected,  but the kids enjoyed the water.  When we were finished I sent Elaine to get in the van first.  She started screaming, so I investigated.  I found a baby garter snake slithering away.  Nolan chased it across the road, and Grandpa (the snake guy) helped to secure it.  Once Nolan touched it and didn’t fall over dead, all the...

Our fourth day at Yellowstone was a take-it-easy day.  We had seen everything on our list, enjoyed some hiking (thanks to the RV rental we were able to spend more time in the park and less time commuting to a hotel.  We asked the kids what they wanted to do, and we just had a leisurely day! Elaine wanted to see some of the geysers which we had passed on previous days.  While on our way to one of the geyser areas, we got stuck in a line of traffic.  Someone coming from the other direction said it was shut down up ahead and a 2 hour delay.  Later we found out that a car tried to pass and hit an RV or motor home head on.  The two people in the car were “messed up” and had to be transported elsewhere for medical care. We turned around and went to a different geyser basin, and had a picnic next to the Firehole River! I think the geysers are mostly a little boring, and have a very bad odor.  But I was pleasantly surprised with this section.  The color...