Slow & peaceful January days
Sunday, January 5
Hello to y’all! Last Sunday we went to Princeton for church. It was interesting because there were lots of visitors in church, children and siblings of the people we’ve learned to know from Princeton, home for Christmas. We were happy to get invited to Dennis and Rachel Unruh for lunch:) Once again we had amazing food, including Rachel’s delicious freshly ground sourdough bread! We so enjoyed being there. Dennis is my relation on the Becker side so I heard stories about Grandpa Eldon and also about their time being house parents in Halifax. Kalen and Sami were there too (Les and Judith’s daughter for you Kansas people) and also David and Mary Giesbrecht.
We were invited to the valley on New Year’s Eve with the Glenn and Princeton youth and some of the parents. So after Shelby’s good supper of chicken tortilla soup we headed down for an evening of playing ball (for the youth) new years cookies, and lots of other good food. On New Year’s Day the guys went up in the mountains around Buck’s Lake with hopes of fishing, but everything was closed because of snow. So they did some sliding around on the slopes with what they could find in the pickup to slide on. The ice chest lid for one thing. They had so much fun, that yesterday they wanted to go drive up in the mountains and find snow again, so we took a different road up northeast further into the Sierra Nevadas. We didn’t get left until around lunch because Jake and Logan and Landon decided to build a snowboard. I would have to ask Jake about the technicalities, but it involved pvc pipe and the boot lacings off of a pair of drywall stilts (I had to ask Jake for that last bit of terminology). It actually looked pretty cool and professional when they were done, BUT I have a very untrained eye when it comes to snowboards so I’m probably not one to give an opinion. Anyway we ended up driving quite some time before finding snow, but the drive was breathtaking. Think snowy mountain peaks, a rushing river running alongside the road through the canyon with little waterfalls trickling down the mountain, plus the old gold mining remains here and there, then we would come upon these sweet little valleys with farmsteads or red barns and cows, which made us a bit (or a lot) homesick for Kansas and the midwest. The good thing is we did eventually take the right winding road that led us up high enough into the pines to find some beautiful snowy views, as well as nice slopes where the guys could chuck snowballs at each other and try out their snowboard. (it worked, although not amazingly, I was told) Max and George got to go sledding which they were extra delighted about. They kept saying on the way home, “That was so worth it!” I had thrown some ingredients in to make a very unfancy disco and we had the tailgate blackstone so Ryan and I cooked up some disco that tasted delicious honestly, but I’m sure it helped that we had been tramping around in the fresh cold air and we were all starved!
Today was our day to be home for Sunday. We had our normal church service at the house. The boy who’s turn it was for the sermon seemed to have put a lot into it, plus then we got into a discussion on answered prayers. It was really a good hour we had in the living room! Had grilled shrimp and grits plus green salad for lunch. It was a lovely sunny day so everyone did various activities outdoors in the afternoon. I asked the guys what they wanted to eat in the evening and Landon said orange julius and nachos. And he even made them:). I got inspired to make soft pretzels…so we did not go hungry! Matt came for the evening and the guys sang for a long time. It was a very relaxing, and happy Sunday!
Tuesday, January 14- here it is over a week later…The last week was pretty uneventful. I guess it’s just January and we are all kind of in calm and relaxed mode. Saturday was a fun day! We had been hearing about the Deja Vu Breakfast Company, a little restaurant in Chico, and we wanted to try it out so we headed down Saturday morning. Quaint California vibey place with big sunny windows and lots of viney plants. For those of you against microwaves, they do not have one in the place; everything was very fresh. They serve normal breakfast food with a delicious twist. Max and George shared cookies and cream pancakes, I had eggs benedict, extra delicious with the whole wheat artisan bread made in Chico. I’m already dreaming of going back. Then we did some shopping, Costco, the mall, an army surplus store, and an RC store where we watched RC races happening on a miniature track. Even I was entertained. One of the purchases made this day (by one of the young men we live with) was a turban. Yes, the middle eastern kind that you wrap around your head. And he has been wearing it to work and around the house etc. etc. No I do not know why! LOL. We came home and decided to do pie irons over the fire pit for supper because it was a beautiful day! Mid afternoon tho, Jake ended up taking one of the guys into urgent care because he had hurt his foot the evening before and it was not improving. Kinda turned into an ordeal. They weren’t back at supper time and the rest of us waited quite some time in hopes we could all do pie irons together but eventually ended up just eating without them. By then it was dark and cold and windy out and I had 2 hungry, extra naughty kids and I completely blackened both of their pies. The guys tried to help out, but I was glad when Jake and Shelby made it back home around 8. We were all glad they found nothing broken on the foot, but they did give Shelby an extra tall pair of crutches to use, he seems to be about back to normal by now tho thankfully!
Sunday we were invited to Keith and Michelle Friesen from West Valley. It was lovely to go there. I would describe being there as comforting and comfortable:) They have 7 children, 4 still at home. Also they had Alex & Bethany and a young couple from West Valley, Mark & Lindsey Giesbrecht. We had yummy comfort food for lunch and it was a gorgeous day so everyone migrated outdoors to drive the old yellow mail truck that ironically came from the city of Paradise before the fire, fly drones, view the cute little pony and the goldfish, etc…they sent us home loaded down with 2 bulging bags of oranges picked straight from the tree. We headed back up to Paradise late in the afternoon. A former unit boy from Bredenbury, Zack Wolgemuth is now married to Katie from Princeton. They were still here in California on an extended Christmas vacation and were up driving around in Paradise Sunday afternoon and wanted to come see the house and see how things had changed or stayed the same over the 4ish years since Zack was here. They pulled in right after we got home and toured around the place and chatted…and we all convinced them to stay for snacks. We did a rerun of last Sunday evening and made nachos and orange julius again, plus chocolate chip cookies. It was a fun time, it’s always interesting to hear about things that went on at this unit long before our time here. After they left the rest of us sat in the living room discussing aliens, UFOs and the government, the flat earth theory, if we will know one another in heaven, whitening strips for teeth…it was random. I would say everyone in this household thinks quite traditionally on subjects such as aliens and the government just in case anyone is wondering.
Tuesday, Jan. 14- Today I worked on getting ready to start kindergarten with Max. I’ve been a little low on inspiration, but it seems like it’s finally coming together! I pulled out all the books and worksheets that Heather so kindly sent with us when we came, and waded through it all. Thankfully it looks like it will be very simple to follow Jeannette Nightingale’s curriculum. She has down exactly what you do for each lesson, I should be able to manage it. lol. We set up a little spot in a sunny nook under the eve upstairs in the reck room. I made a very simple bulletin board with a tent and a campfire and camper for the wall. Max keeps telling me how much he loves the picture, glad he’s still the age where simple is totally satisfactory. We set up the card table and I ran to dollar tree for a few “essentials”. That was fun, I found all kinds of neat doodads including a workbook and flashcards that will be right at George’s level. He is sooo excited about “starting kindergarten” too, right along with Max. We plan to start tomorrow morning, I’m guessing it’ll be pretty low key, but hopefully fun for them:)
It’s time to sign off, it was the guys turn to cook this evening. They totally forgot and so we are just now eating at 7:45. I’m not complaining tho, the smell in this house is totally amazing. Logan told me butter steaks were on the menu. grilled and finished in butter in the skillet. The amount of butter he had waiting in the skillet when I walked through the kitchen was quite unreal so they should taste fabulous! Also they are cooking up garlic toast and fruit salad.
Love from all of us over here…