tidying up, new couches, track, haircut/contacts for Noah

Back in March/April Terry and I watched Marie Kondo's Tidying Up on Netflix. We liked Clean House back in the early days of Gburg and thought we'd see what all the hype was about. It motivated Terry to declutter and clean his clothes out! Here he was trying to figure out if Luna "sparked joy" or not. 

Again with the joy sparking. 

A few weeks later we both went through our boxes of old things in our upper closets. 

What is it about cats wanting to lie all over whatever it is you're doing?

Continuing the theme of tidying up, we got rid of two old couches, this green one we've had since 2007 when Noah wasn't even two yet. 

And this gray one that was only five years old but was too cold for the schoolroom...and not durable enough for pets.

We bought a set of practically new and very gently used couch and loveseat from our friends Suzie and Eric. 

We moved the old green loveseat and chair to the school room because they are in better shape and warmer. 

I took the littles shopping one day during piano and got us all a snack to share. Look at them running for the Starbucks Java Chip frap. 

It was funny how they were sharing. 

I got them gluten free donuts and they were so pumped. 

Back in November when Luna was last in heat, I threw out a plea on Facebook and Craigslist for a miniature poodle stud since the kids and I would love to have puppies once (notice how I didn't include Terry). I got a reply too late for that cycle from a local woman who has a mini poodle/mini Australian shepherd mixed male dog. She texted me in April to make sure I was still interested! This is her little guy. 

I think they'll make cute babies. I hope it works!

Noah began spring track practices at the end of February and three of his seven meets were cancelled due to cold or inclement weather. His first one was March 28th at Sioux Park. My parents even came.

Noah ran the two mile in 14:26. 

Some video:

He's getting so big and strong and fast. We raked the yard around that time and he was actually a great help. Genuinely good help!

Keeping with the theme of Noah growing up, I was going through old pictures while we were tidying up and loved this photo my sister took when we were hiking at the ranch. 

Noah got his braces off on March 8th. On March 15th he got contacts. On March 22nd he got his first professional haircut (ie, not done by me). 

We also got a driving manual that day too. He's growing up so fast!

Evie's 11th birthday

Evie's 11th birthday fell on a Sunday, March 31st. The day before she saw a five or six year old Facebook memory of her mini-self standing next there next to the stovetop with her birthday cakes and she wanted to remake it. At the time she had hardly been as tall as the counter. Stop growing!!!

Singing on Sunday morning. 

The littles gave her a small Lego gift.

She hugged them both. I liked Ezra's pleased little expression. 

We had a Mexico/L.A. mission trip meeting after church but when we finally got home Shari and the girls came to give Evie a gift.

Evie's choice of dinner was quiche yet again. I'll only make it for special occasions since I can no longer eat eggs. It still makes my mouth water... 

She enjoyed it!

My parents came over after dinner to celebrate.

"Happy birthday to you...

...happy birthday dear Evie, happy birthday to you!" 

Dad checking out Evie's pen.

A Barbie.

Mom and dad got her a mug...

...and a watch, and a pillow.

We got her the party bus from Lego Movie 2.

She put it together the next day.

My dad the cat whisperer. 

She got slime as a gift too and they had a ton of fun with it. See video...

Birthday video

Fast for a Family

On Friday and Saturday of March 22nd and 23rd, 2019, Terry did a youth fasting event at the church. Originally the primary purpose was to raise money for the family we're building a house for in Mexico, and I guess some people did get donations, but we also took part to learn about hunger around the world and what the Bible teaches about fasting.

This was our crew, a pretty good sized one!

Fasting just means not eating for a time. When the Bible talks about fasting, it's for a purpose, usually to seek God more urgently and whole heartedly or to express sorrow. But unfortunately a great many people around the world are forced to "fast" simply because they don't have enough food. We learned about one such girl in Africa from some World Vision 30 Hour Famine videos. 

We started out the evening with some games featured in the World Vision videos. 

There goes Noah. So tall and lanky!

Terry has done a 30 Hour Famine twice before, once in Gburg in 2010 and once in 2013 when we first moved back to Rapid. Both times I think the kids slept in cardboard box houses. 

I crawled into one of the girl's houses to get a shot and accidentally caught the exact moment of Sarah cutting her finger with her knife while trying to cut a window out. If you zoom in super far I think you can see blood.  

Nurse Eva took over and between me and her parents, who arrived later, we got her fixed up pretty well. She hardly has a scar now though she definitely could have had stitches. 

Next up we played some more games involving handicaps to illustrate how difficult it is to do daily tasks when you're sick with hunger or injury. 

The teams competed with one another in various silly little games, like knocking cans over with rubber bands. My handicap was a missing hand so this was incredibly difficult...impossible. I kept shooting with one hand after using my teeth to pull the rubber band around the back of my hand onto my thumb, and I never came close. 

Hanging hangers.

Trying to toss a half empty water bottle and stick the landing. Noah is on the left end with his face covered. 

I'm on the right side.

A lot of 9 Square in the Air was played a lot during downtime. 

Our fast began on Friday noon, after lunch. Between all the fun and games, we had teaching and study time led by Terry or Steven to learn about fasting from the Bible. 

The other side of the room.

Eric was particularly exhausted but we all felt like this. About 20-24 hours in I started feeling uncommonly cold, even if I was active. It was the hunger. Also I couldn't think or speak straight (more than normal, ha ha, since I'm always forgetting words). Plus, no one slept well. I think we're done with sleeping on the church floor for events. We're too old for that. At about 2am I went to try to sleep on the couch in the foyer but even that didn't help because I'm an awful sleeper. But then again, that's part of the experience. I don't think you usually sleep that well if you're hungry.  

Near the end we cleaned the church. David mopped the entire sanctuary. 

We read the Bible aloud for an entire hour on Saturday afternoon. That was my favorite part. 

Getting ready to teach. 

Steven did great! 

We broke our fast altogether at 6pm Saturday evening. We made a peanut butter concoction meant for malnourished children called Plumpy Nut for us all to have our first bite of food after the 30 hours were over. That's what Sarah has on her fork. Sarah, Prae, and I made tons of pancakes for everyone to break their fast with but I didn't get any pictures since I was busy cooking. I was so glad to go home that night! 

Meanwhile Evie was at Shari's with her cousins making silly photos. LOL. 😂

She made them all by herself and was adamant that we get the photos from Shari. 

Ice cream...?

Fake crowns.

Grace in jail. 

Stamps for Sarah's face.

Wings! 

This is my favorite. Evie's face cracks me up.