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12.30.07 | Blessings of the year
Last Saturday, on my 16th birthday, I was in for a great surprise. The Wall family of SK, Canada arrived at our front door. What a tremendous surprise for me and wonderful birthday gift from my parents and the Walls.
Rebekah Wall and I met through an article I had written in a Christian magazine and have been corresponding for two and one half years. We have much in common, and the Lord has greatly blessed our friendship. We dreamed of someday meeting in person, but thought it would probably be a long time because of the distance between Kansas and Canada.
Early December, the Lord laid it on Mr. Wall's heart to visit our family. It was a complete shock to his wife, and as Mr. and Mrs. Wall discussed it, they felt led to go ahead with the idea, and contacted my parents about it. They arranged for a surprise arrival on my birthday.
Above: This was the picture Dad took when I opened the door! I thought it was pretty funny to see Mr. and Mrs. Wall peeking around Dad's truck to see Rebekah and I when I opened the door!
How indescribably blessed and awed do I feel when I see God's leading in all of this! When I opened the door to find Rebekah standing there, it was such a shock to be face-to-face at last.
Rebekah had brought all of the letters I had written her in the past 2-1/2 years, plus all the pictures. That was neat.
"Us Girls" went to the Tea Room in town Saturday afternoon. We thought we would not be able to go since there was a new snow storm coming through our area. Dad was able to safely get us to and from the Tea Room; what a wonderful time of fellowship we had together. L-R: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachael, Mom and Mrs. Wall
It was as if we had known each other all our lives. We felt right "at home" with each other, and had lots of fun together playing instruments (harp, recorder, piano), sledding, (after they arrived,we received another big snow), and laughing.
 
Rebekah and I had fun sledding together! Mr. Wall loved sledding with us, too!
Once Mrs. Wall and Mom came out, we persuaded them to ride in our big "toboggan." Though I didn't think to get a video (I sure wish I had, now!) this is a motion story in pictures...
After our three-day visit with the Walls, our desire to see each other in the future increased. Mom and Mrs. Wall enjoyed visiting, and Dad and Mr. Wall enjoyed many theological conversations which I enjoyed listening to, also. I feel the Lord abundantly blessed our relationship and time with the Wall family. It is exciting to see how He will lead us and the Walls in the future... In the mean time, thank you, Walls, for the sacrificial visit; thank you Mom and Dad for the wonderful surprise, and for all the work I know you went through to keep it a secret; thank you Lord for blessing us.
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12.20.07 | Power On!
This past weekend, I started praying the power would be back on Wednesday. Coincidentally, things seemed to hint in that way. It was as if the Lord was telling us that it would be back on, so we trusted and waited.
On Wednesday, we were gone all day running errands. When we arrived home late afternoon, guess what...the power was NOT on. We were going gift shopping that night. As the hours passed, and darkness began to fall, as the house was getting darker, we lit our lamps, started the generators, and prepared to leave. I looked out the window and my hope began to fall with the sun. I realized that the day was closing, and our power was NOT on!
As we began to load the van, I noticed a power truck drive past. I longingly watched them pass, really wanting to jump up and down and wave them down. :-) A few minutes later, they came back by, and my excitment grew as they slowed down and turned into our drive. My heart was overflowing with gratitude to God. It was almost too good to believe. I don't think it was because I really missed the power that much, because I had gotten used to it. I was looking forward to our life getting back to normal. God had taught me so much through these past 9 and 1/2 days and I was grateful for the Lord's faithfulness,
When we got back from shopping, we drove up to...a very dark house. We wondered what happened. Dad went inside, and came back out. The power was not on, but the line was back up. I was so disappointed! What happened?? Those guys knew how to test the line, didn't they?! I felt confused...God seemed to indicate the power was to be back on today, didn't He? And the power company
HAD showed up. What was going on?
As we got ready for bed, two power line trucks drove up this time. Ok! Maybe the power would be back on tonight. I excitedly jumped into my bed clothes...
As I crawled in bed, what a joyous sound it was to hear our washing machine beep when the power came on.
And life today is getting back to "normal." Or as normal as it ever is! Praise the Lord!
~Sarah, for the
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12.14.07 | Power Out!
Monday night it rained for a long time. It was 30 degrees, and we knew that it would freeze on the trees, so we were awaiting the results. Tuesday morning we woke up and to an ice-covered world. Ice covered everything outside. Tree branches were down, all over our yard, and as we watched more were falling from the weight of ice. Over 1/2" of ice was layered on every little twig and limb.
Then the power went out. As one branch fell in our neighbor's yard, it took down the power line connecting our houses. It continued to rain. We decided to go to the store while the roads were clear in order to stock up on food in case the power was out for awhile... were we in for a surprise!
Our huge mess, and more limbs falling all the time!
The best part of the ice is it's beauty! Well, the mess is not exactly beautiful in our eyes.
This is our fourth day without power...and rumors are that "they" are hoping to get the power back on before Christmas Eve! Oh, the lessons we have to learn!
Our house has been pretty cold and dark. It is still below freezing outside, so when the children come in from their chores, it is difficult for them to warm up. Plus, sanitizing milk equipment in cold water is well, cold! The cold is tiring. We finally decided to go to town for dinner the other night. Dad bought two generators yesterday to hook up to our four freezers.
It was quite cold in the garage heating our water over a kerosene burner!
Our firelight dinner
Tonight, Dad had a Christmas work party in town, so Dad and Mom decided to leave us children at our duplex we own in town (which has power). So I brought our laptop so I could update our blog and my website. This power-outage has been very tiring, especially for Mom and Dad--just the bare necessities of living is more difficult. But, we have, as always through these adventures, learned a lot!
Children eating at our duplex
~Sarah, for the
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12.07.07 | Change of Plans
Well, today was supposed to be the big day of harp rehearsal and preparing for the December recital that was to be held tomorrow. This morning the recital/and rehearsal was cancelled because of another storm coming through.. We were really disappointed...it is postponed until January! We'll have to unpack the harp again until next month!
Even so, the children enjoyed sledding this afternoon. One of the funniest parts of watching them sled is seeing them try to steer and control their new "toboggan": an old cow feeding trough! It's long enough for half the county to fit in! It's Samuel's favorite sled and it is even funnier to see him in it flying down the hill by himself, twisting, turning, laughing...and often ending up 15 feet into the woods. It has the amazing capability to keep going: over brush, sticks, up trees, and straight into trees. Once, he persuaded me to take a ride in the black sled. I have to admit it was the scariest sled ride of my life: I was headed straight toward a huge tree. All I could do was cover my head and scream, awaiting the colision. I came out, miraculously, unharmed!
All of us can fit into the sled...if we are brave enough!
The boys bringing "The Sled" up the hill.
We have had several accidents during our sledding, but not enough to stop us from sliding again. The worst wreck---which happened to most of us before we were smart enough to do something about it---was hitting a stump that was hidden in the snow, (but only until you hit it full force) right in the pathway of our sleds. I hit it as it was getting dark, so I couldn't see where I was going. Before I knew what hit me, I was thrown through the air, and I landed face first in the snow, with my glasses smashed into my head (it felt like it), gasping for breath. It HURT! It knocked the breath out of me! That was the last trip I made that night. The next day, we land-marked it, so now we all steer--or try too--around it.
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...sledding...notice Jonathan's "headlight"
~Sarah, for the
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12.06.07 | SNOW!
It's snowing! Really snowing. That's pretty early in the year for us. Sometimes we have to wait until January for a good snow!
The boys are so excited they are nearly jumping out of their skins...they want to go sledding. If there is enough snow by this afternoon, we kids will go out and sled, or maybe have a snowball fight. :-)
Our outdoor cats aren't too excited about it, though
...Hope the roads are okay for transporting the harp tomorrow to ensemble rehearsal!
Tonight we packed our harp into the huge case to take to the harp ensemble rehearsal tomorrow.
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12.05.07 | Concerts, Trailers, and Bucks
Today was music lesson day in Atchinson. We take lessons from four teachers (three are Sisters): Nathan & Samuel, Violin; Jonathan, Rachael & Sarah piano and harp. Our lessons are in a Conservatory run by Catholic Benedictine Sisters at their monestary. We have enjoyed getting to know some of the sisters; they are always friendly, show us around, and tell us about their jobs in the "community" of Sisters.
Jonathan, Rachael and I are going to participate in the December recital at the music Conservatory this Saturday. We all are excited about participating in the harp ensemble. This will be a big ordeal since we have to take our own harp, tune, rehearse together, etc. I enjoy playing with other harpists as it sounds so full and beautiful. This is Jonathan and Rachael's first public harp performance.
After lessons, we went over to the monestary nursing home to visit with the older Sisters for a minute. They just recently were given a grand piano...it was absolutely beautiful!
Mom asked the staff if we could play for the nursing home while we are there for lessons each week. The activites director said the Sisters enjoy music and that we were welcome to play at their lunch hour each week. Mom asked if we could play a few minutes since we were already there. I played some of my classical pieces on the piano (since that's the only music I had with me) and Nathan played his violin. Then, Rachael and Jonathan played the piano, too. It was neat...the music drew Sisters from everyhere and they asked for more... We ended up playing for forty-five minutes!
After we left, we looked at a cattle trailer for sale. We've needed a trailer for six years, so we are always on the look out for one to purchase.
Right along there with 'em, isn't she?!
When we got home this afternoon after a full day of music lessons, a neighbor came and picked up our buck (billy goat) that she had bought from us. We're glad to be rid of him...he "had a strong odor." The lady tied him into the back of her truck...and drove off!
Getting the goat into the truck.
...and down the road!
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12.04.07 | Schooling
I have been called to help my two brothers with their schoolwork lately while Mom has been unavailable. It is interesting to "teach" them (or attempt to). And probably a funny sight...
Jonathan and I, trying to figure out a tough math problem.
Nathan strongly dislikes English, while it is my favorite subject. I always enjoy "doing English" with him!
...my sweet little brother, Samuel, was the photographer.
~Sarah, for the
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