Summer Summary

Summer finally arrived after many days of rain broken by only an occasional burst of sunshine. During the winter, as we shivered by the fireplace, I wondered what it would be like to feel completely warm. Then the temperature soared to 100 degrees in a few days and I couldn't remember what it felt like to be cold. :-) Now it has moderated somewhat and the mornings begin chilly and frosty and the evenings are balmy and warm.

With our summer break comes a new schedule. We decided that instead of wasting away our summer, we would spend it as productively as possible. Our bedtime is 10:00 and we get up at 6:00. There are a few days here and there that we haven't been quite on time, but we have been fairly consistent with the early to bed, early to rise goal.

Leisel and Lynnae have been fixing delicious breakfasts: French Toast, Eggs and Grits, Coffee Cake, Granola just to name a few. One morning we decided to have a simple breakfast of oatmeal. However, they did set out heaping bowls of marionberries, strawberries, and raspberries, along with brown sugar. It was the best bowl of oatmeal I have ever had.


After morning devotions, we all make a dash outside and begin working. With 5 acres there is never a lack of work. We have weeded the perimeter over and over until we are sick of weeds. The garden has to be carefully watered and the sugar snap peas harvested.



Our cherry tree bore wonderful Rainier cherries and we all enjoyed picking and saving the red and yellow fruit.

We discovered that our garden needed more water spigots and so Lynnae, Jonathon, and I dug a trench a foot deep halfway around the garden and Jonathon inserted an irrigation system. Digging a weed barrier around the garden has been another monumental task. There is enjoyment, though in watching everything come together.

Jonathon handmade all of the bean and cucumber trellises and we put them up. We are looking forward to a nice crop of vegetables.



And then in every family there has to be a drone bee and Cosette gladly volunteered for that position.

Just kidding. She and Kayleen have taken turns holding the fort indoors while we work the outside. They make sure that we have cold drinks, lunch, and watch the little ones and keep the house in order.

Our garden is growing very well. Corn is getting tall and the tomato plants are filling out nicely after a very poor start. Zucchini is already growing and the squash and beans are not far behind. We are looking forward to a good harvest if the Lord continues to bless us with this perfect weather.

On top of our garden and yard maintenance, we bought 20 baby chicks who are now well on their way to becoming full grown chickens and we have been canning apple sauce by the quart. I will try to post more pictures soon.

After Terrible Twos...

...Comes perspicacious threes.















Ania is growing apace. Almost every day she has us all laughing with some clever phrase or quick retort that is of an intelligence beyond what is normally credited to three year olds.

Recently she watched the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It is one of those silly, classic musicals that you watched when you were growing up and somehow it manages to endear itself in your mind despite the more ridiculous aspects of the film. Actually, my Grandpa and Grandma saw the movie at a drive in theater when they were courting. They watched it from a seat in my Grandpa's propane truck. :-)

Anyway, Ania promptly formed a three year old crush on the youngest brother Gideon. Maybe she identified with the common plight of youngest siblings, or maybe it was his curly blond hair and crooked smile, but whatever it was, we love to tease her about Gideon and watch her cast down her eyes and turn her head away with a half smile.

The other day Ania was talking to Mommy about the movie and she stated emphatically that she did not like Adam. Mommy asked her why she didn't like him and Ania's quick reply was, "Because he marries this girl and makes her do all the hard work." Well, she may not fully understand the entire plot of the story, but I would say she has a pretty good grasp of the situation.

She will be definitely wary of any backwoods hillbillies that come her way unless, of course, their name is Gideon.

Trip Through Oregon

We took a family trip down to Ontario, Oregon for a friend's wedding a couple of weeks ago. The trip took over 7 hours, but everyone in our family, including the little ones, are great travelers. In fact we all enjoyed it immensely. It meant that we had 14 hours together as a family within 3 days. Everything has been so busy lately that it felt so nice to just be able to relax with no pressing responsibilities.

I must admit that I had no idea that there were so many beautiful landscapes in Oregon. The scenery was as varied as anything I have ever seen before. It reminded me of the scenes from Lord of the Rings varying from the snowy peaks of Caradhras in the distance, to the Misty Mountains,

or the rugged plains of Rohan.

I almost expected to look up and see the Tower of Amon Sûl.

Sometimes we would come upon a sweeping panorama of lush green hills and we thought we had somehow crossed the ocean and ended up in Ireland.

On our way back, Daddy paused and caught a snapshot of the glorious sunset silhouetting the miles of windmills that stood on the hills. As we drove, we sang hymns together as we watched the sun sink over the horizon in a splash of golds and purples.

Spring Busy Season

Much has happened within the last month and I have been a poor blogger. However, when things get busy, somehow this moves down on the list of priorities.

Our cousin Christopher came here from Utah for a weekend for tests, drove home on Sunday, and then drove all the way back here a few days later to spend the week studying here so that he could take a test on Friday. We have been having a wonderful time with him and enjoy every minute that we are able to spend.




While he was here we had our Spring Bible Conference. Dr. Varner from Master's Seminary came and spoke on the Messiah in the Old Testament. He focused on Genesis, which he called the seedbed of the Bible, and the clues that it provided as to the identity of the promised Messiah. The messages were wonderful. We were able to have him over for dinner on Tuesday night and we had a lot of fun visiting with him.



We have begun gardening. Tomatoes are over an inch high in our laundry room. Peas are sprouting up and the onions are covering over half of a mound.








It is a beautiful Spring and we are all enjoying our first spring in the country.

Venture Academy

A year ago, this week, Daddy and Jonathon took a trip across the states to Tennessee to attend a week long seminar for aspiring entrepreneurs. They came back filled with excitement, new ideas, and plans for the future. If you know Daddy and Jonathon, then you know that when they get expressive about something it must be really amazing. :-)

The lectures were wonderful, filled with wisdom and insight from men who have years of experience behind them. The fellowship with likeminded men who share the same goals and vision for the future was unbeatable.

Over this past year the Lord has continued to lead and guide our family. Some of the dreams that were born out of the conference have come to fulfillment already and others are directing the course for our future.

In the year since the conference we have sold the home where I had lived since I was five years old, we have moved twice (first to a rental and finally to a "permanent" home), we have spent hours as a family discussing goals and plans for the future, and seeking God's leading when the path seemed very obscure. Now we are living on 5 acres of beautiful land, preparing a large garden, and looking forward to where God will lead us in the future.

Wade Myers is organizing another conference for September 20-25. If you have any men in your family or acquaintances that have their own business or are considering starting a business, I would definitely recommend this conference. The information and wisdom they would gain would be invaluable. See the following for more information: Basic Entrepreneurship Training Class.

If you can't attend the conference, there are a set of videos from the last conference. We just started watching them as a family the other night. I am really looking forward to seeing all of them. [For Sale on Amazon]

It is amazing how God brings certain things into your life at just the right time and for His perfect purposes. The conference encouraged us in the direction we were going as a family and renewed and challenged our vision.

Flu, Fevers, and Fun

The flu has hit the Spafford Family. The family room has been turned into an infirmary, the thermometer rests nearby, and Mommy attempt to keep track of when she gave what medication to whom at what time.

Thankfully Daddy has not come down with it so far and Jonathon did not get it to badly (he is studying for finals now so that would be very bad). I have stayed well (so far), I can't afford to get sick until some of the other one's get better. Mommy doesn't have a very severe form of it, so that is good. Poor Cosette had it very badly yesterday; it hit her stomach and made her very ill. Kayleen has had the bad fever (between 103 and 104) and headache. Annalise had the fever and then it went into a really deep cough. Mommy's keeping a close eye on her. Ania and Austin are both doing better, but they are at the ages when they need care sick or well, so we can't really harness their energy for doing the dishes that pile up or making lunches.

Leisel and Lynnae were supposed to come home today, but Daddy and Mommy decided it they would have them extend their visit a few days. It would be rather unfair to have them come home and immediately fall ill. If we can keep two family members well that will be a blessing. :)

I put these two pictures of our property in just because I couldn't resist.

The weather here has been so strange. It has alternated between winter and summer in just a couple of days. On Saturday it was beautiful, over 60 degrees, blue sky, sunshine, and a warm breeze. I went outside and played with Bear and couldn't resist lying down in the sweet smelling green grass willing spring to hurry up and come to stay. Then Sunday it started to cool down and it has been around 42 degrees and this morning we got some snow. It didn't stick, but still...it's March. Spring is teasing us and winter persists in pushing it off.

Hike to Angel's Rest

Kayleen went on a hike to Angel's Rest on Saturday with the Bystroms from our church (before everyone got sick). :-) She had so much fun!

She found an sport that she absolutely fell in love with: boulder climbing. Now knowing Kayleen, I was quite surprised that she took such a fancy to that particular aspect of a hike. Kayleen is pretty cautious and not daring, but she wanted to climb every boulder she saw. The day was beautiful and she made unforgettable memories.

The pictures from the hike are beautiful. There are over 500 of them so I had to pick and choose. I love the breathtaking panoramic views that they got from the top of the rocks. The creation of God just takes your breath away. Especially standing on a height, looking down at a beautiful landscape, it always fills me with an inexpressible feeling, perhaps awe is the best word to describe it.



Anyway, that is pretty much an update on everything that has been happening lately. Just so you know, our house is under quarantine right now. This flu is pretty contagious. :-D

Annalise's Trip to Grandpa and Grandma's

Every since Jonathon and I were about 10 and 12, we have been taking yearly trips to Grandpa and Grandma's house. As each child comes of age that is one of the things they look forward. Over the years, Grandpa has worked on Daddy and Mommy and brought the age down to 8 years old. Annalise has looked forward with eager anticipation to her eighth birthday when she would be old enough to travel down to Grandpa and Grandma's for a week long visit.
A few days ago, Annalise and I got back from our wonderful week long trip to our Grandpa and Grandma's. It was everything and more than Annalise had expected. She got to take her first plane ride since she was a baby (which doesn't count). She loved it and was full of questions from the time the plane took off. It was the start of a very memorable trip.
Annalise got to go to Chucky Cheese, to the book store where she picked out two books, she was able to take a personal tour of the Shasta Dam, she payed a visit to the Shasta Museum and, last but not least, she got to eat two bowls of Fruity Loops every morning and drink a can of Dr. Pepper every day. The big no-no's at home become permissable at Grandma's house. Sugar overload is not an unlikely consequence. For those of you that know Annalise, you know that she does not need any sugar to keep her going.
Grandpa's favorite story of Annalise was of her visit to the Shasta Museum. They walked around the museum looking at the various artifacts from life in that California city during the era of cowboys and wild west towns. Then they moved down to the underground section of the museum where the jail was located. Annalise walked over to one of the cells and it was empty, then she turned to the other cell and looked in. As she did so, she stepped on the mat that triggered an animated man that they had put in the second cell. This "prisoner" was complete with audio and visual affects, but as soon as he started to yawn, Annalise took off like an arrow from a bow. She rushed for the stairs, she fell, her feet kept running trying desperately to get traction; as soon as she regained her feet she continued her mad rush up the stairs where she stood shaking at the top. However, she has since recovered from her fright and would like to revisit the scene of her fears.
Her energy was boundless and she spent much of her time in asking endless streams of questions. She watched the news and heard about the Killer whale that lived up to its name in Sea World and so she got on an internet encyclopedia to study killer whales. It was a wonderful time for Annalise to get to spend some time getting special attention from her Grandpa and Grandma. She ate up every minute.
I think Annalise had a very memorable first trip to Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Brief Update

Wow! I can't believe almost a month has past since I blogged on this sight. Nothing of great significance has happened in that space of time, but life has been full and I nearly lost track of time. I will try to be more consistent in the future. As spring and summer come with the busyness of a garden and chickens, hopefully I will have more pictures and events to relate.

Right now school is moving in its regular routine. Jonathon is doing well at college and Daddy is busy with his job.

Our Bible Memory Group at church started up again in January and we are already half way through with our memory books. It has gone so fast, I can hardly believe that we are nearly done.

Bear is getting bigger and more in need of daily exercise. He is being a little more responsive to commands as well, so hopefully we are making progress in the training issue. Our kitty Cinnamon continues to be a superb mouser. She has taken to country life amazingly well.

At the present moment (today) we have split up into groups and set to work on a variety of projects. Leisel and Daddy are working on roughing up the cellar floor preparatory to covering it with an epoxy coating, Lynnae and Mommy are attempting to straighten out our garage (the one place that has not been in order since our move), and Jonathon and I have been hanging shades on various windows around our house.

I will try to do another post soon. Pictures are woefully lacking on this post so congratulations if you have read it this far. :-) I will try to make it more interesting next time. I just wanted to give a brief update so that all of you did not think that I had dropped off the face of the earth. I've just been temporarily distracted by the mundane tasks of daily life in our house, tasks which I wouldn't trade for anything.