August 2009 – Preparation Education

What Am I Doing Anyway?

August 25, 2009prayingmother

I’ve been so negligent about my blog this summer. Sigh. Our plan is to start school on Monday so maybe life will start feeling more structured.

In the meantime, this is what I still really want to get done before Monday. Some of it I have to.

Can and Freeze 180 lbs of peaches (They’re sitting in the garage, so that’s a must.)
Wash all of the windows inside and out.
Get caught up on the bookkeeping for my husband’s business (Working on that right now.)
Type up my school plans that are only sketched on paper right now.
Empty my ironing and mending baskets.
Oh yea, make 15 meals and clean up the kitchen and do half a dozen loads of laundry and vaccuum and mop and…

Wish me well!! (I do have help on the window washing and the canning. My teenage sister is going to help me out on those.)

But I’m quite happy about what I have accomplished this summer in the way of things around the house.

Got my husband’s bookkeeping all caught up–oh that was a few weeks ago.
Totally reorganized the school area. It feels so clean now.
Moved two children into different rooms and redecorated both rooms.
Cleaned out all but two drawers in my whole house and all cabinets.
Took two trips with boxes of stuff to Goodwill!!
Reorganized the pantry (which is a full size room in my house.)
Oh yeah, did some laundry, lots of laundry, and cooked a few meals, I’m not even going to calculate that.

I always look at my list of accomplishment and wonder why I get so little done. I used to be such a productive person. Sometimes now I feel so unproductive. I don’t know if I’ll make it, but I’m giving it my best shot!

So long, until next week!

Glacier National Park

August 12, 2009prayingmother

As I said in my last post, we were very privileged to spend a whole week at Glacier last week. My parents and my three youngest siblings also went with us. We had hoped to do some backpacking while we were there, but we ended up doing car camping and day hikes. We discovered that there are enough day hikes there to keep a person busy for weeks, we weren’t shorted a bit. Our longest hike was on Tuesday and most of us hiked 12 miles. A few went more. I nick named my brothers on this hike. One was Race Horse, because he talked Zippy and my sister to go an extra 4 miles with him. (Okay, I’m a bit proud of my 9 year old daughter for hiking 16 miles with quite a lot of elevation change, all in one day.) My other brother, I nick-named Pack Horse, because he took on the very honorable job of carrying G’tums on his shoulder for probably 4 miles, my husband carried him a couple more of the miles. G’tums walked around 7 miles of the hike–not bad for a three year old. The name of the trail was the Highline Trail. Here are a few pictures.

That was a tiring day, but we all thought it was awesome. It ended up exciting for Zippy and JD Boy and my siblings and my dad as they came face to face with a bear at the end of the trail.

The next day some of us got to go on another trail. (I stayed with G’tums and gave him a nap.) It was a 9 mile hike (roundtrip) to the Iceberg Lake. It was no less stunning. Here’s the lake.

Zippy hiked around 35 miles last week and JD Boy 30+ miles. Not to bad for a couple of youngsters, and both did quite a bit better than I did! There was lots of beauty from the road side too. There whole park had wildflowers galore and vistas that would take your breath away. Here are few more shots from around the park.

Upper Two Medicines at Sunrise–This was where we camped the last half of the week.

Wild Goose Island–close to where we camped the first half of the week.

A beautiful waterfall!

We also got to see quite a bit of fun wildlife. Unfortunately the birds were a bit sparse, but we saw bear, deer, mountain goats, long-horned sheep, marmots, ground squirrels and more. Here are a few of some of the animals.

The kids watching Mountain Goats.

An adorable Columbia Ground Squirrel eating wildflowers. (This might be my favorite shot of the trip.)

And last, but not least–The Natives!!

There are many, many more pictures that I’ve posted on Flickr (around 60). Some of them are outstanding too, so I hope you’ll stop by my album and check them all out. Here’s the link.

The Outdoor Classroom

August 11, 2009prayingmother

We had the privilege of camping at Glacier National Park all last week. It was stunning and I have tons of pictures to sort through to share with you, but I’m just going to post this one today, because it’s so neat.

We owe a thank you to a fellow hiker who loaned us this chair that he had hauled up the mountain with him. I may make it my banner (when I have time).

"While the Bible should hold the first place in the education of children and youth, the book of nature is next in importance. God’s created works testify to His love and power. He has called the world into being, with all that it contains. God is a lover of the beautiful; and in the world which He has fitted up for us He has not only given us everything necessary for our comfort, but He has filled the heavens and the earth with beauty. We see His love and care in the rich fields of autumn, and His smile in the glad sunshine. His hand has made the castle-like rocks and the towering mountains. The lofty trees grow at His command; He has spread earth’s green velvet carpet and dotted it with shrubs and flowers." Ellen White, Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students.

P.S. If you want a preview of our pictures from Glacier that I’ve started uploading, click on this link.