Honoring (Grand) Mother

Taken from my mom's blog: Mended-Vessels

To Elizabeth Gray Wells

Oct. 28, 1911-Sept. 29, 2012

Blessed were you, Mother, for you did not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

But your delight was in the law of the Lord, and on his law you meditated day and night.

You were like a tree planted by streams of water, which yielded its fruit in season and whose leaf did not wither.

Whatever you did prospered.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous.

Your husband had full confidence in you and lacked nothing of value.

You brought him good, not harm, all the days of your life.

You were clothed in strength and dignity; you laughed at the days to come.

You spoke with wisdom, and faithful instruction was on your tongue.

You watched over the affairs of your household and did not eat the bread of idleness.

Many women do noble things, but you surpassed them all.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

(Adapted from Psalm 1, Proverbs 31)

Written by Marie Wells Coutu

My thoughts: 

She did. She was. We call her blessed. She died one month short of her 101st birthday. 

We were able to go to the funeral- which required in 3 days: 20 hours of driving (a 10 hour trip each way), 4 states, less than 24 hours in Kentucky (half of was spent sleeping). The people who came / were there for my grandmother: one sister, one brother, 4 adult children & 4 spouses, 6 of 7 grandchildren present (2 spouses), 2 great grandchildren present of a possible 8, and one great-grand child. All celebrated one fantastic lady my grandmother: Elizabeth Wells, whom I am named for. Her full name was Sarah Elizabeth Wells, but I guess in the South everyone uses their middle name. My full name when I was born was Sarah Elizabeth Coutu (try to pronounce that last name!) 

Pizza Night!

It had been a while since we made pizza from scratch. 

So hubby came home to us spreading out the dough. 

Adding the pepperoni

Yum, yum. 

My two pizza boys! 

Home Improvements!

My parents bought us the Nest, it's a learning thermostat, and we love it! 

Easy to install. 

Hubby did good! 

Even our son loves to see the energy savings! Yes, he does ask about this! 

This past Saturday we decided to rip up some carpet on our stairs. 

Padding and carpet are coming up. 

Ripping up the carpet and padding was the easy part. 

It all came up pretty easy. 

The hard part was all the tack strips.... uggh. 

Even our little guy helped, using the shop vac! 

Top of the stairs. 

The stairs, from below. Nice, right? We have done nothing to them- 

this is what was hiding under that gross carpeting. I love old houses! 

Victory Ranch

We took a Saturday afternoon and scheduled a time with Vicki out at Victory Ranch, South of Ottumwa. Victory Ranch is the brainchild of Vicki Baum, our friend and a lady who goes to our church, which happens to be right across the road from Victory Ranch. 

 Vicki and Jazz (the horse), and my 4 year old checking the horse out. 

Learning how to brush Jazz down. Part of coming to Victory Ranch is being 

able to help the horses, and help the Ranch out. 

V is for Victory

Getting ready to ride. 

Such a happy guy. First time on a horse, by himself. When he was 3 he 

took a horse ride with grandma at the farm. 

The welcome center, with my hubby's logo. Bible study is held in here on Tuesday evenings. 

Learning to ride with no hands. He decided to ride without the saddle and did great! I think he was more ready to do that than mommy was to let him do that. There's no stopping this kid! 

The saddle fit him perfectly, and I think he was the first one to try it out. Jazz was perfectly calm, and he's really good with kids, which is why Victory Ranch exists- to help children and families. 

While little man rode around the corral, I took photos until the camera battery died, and hubby pulled some weeds. There's always a long list of things that need to be done at Victory Ranch. It's run by our friend Vicki, who's had this ranch on her heart for a very long time, so it's awesome to see it become a reality. 

Victory Ranch is located at 15603 Copperhead Rd, 52501 

First Day of Pre-School

The first day of school was Tuesday, September 4th.

He's going to the local Christian school, a decision that we didn't take lightly. We asked and prayed for God to provide the money for us to enroll him there. We found out there is a state grant that reduced the tuition for us by a huge amount. Something more manageable for us to handle as a family.

The best part about the local program at the Christian school is that for 4 year old students, it's all day, everyday. But he's so ready. Who was up by 6:45am that morning? Who was ready for school by 7:30am? School starts after 8am. This guy. That's who. He was so excited! He told dad "I just can't wait!" Dad asked "For what?" Little man replied "School, of course!"

I have to pack him a lunch everyday, which he ate 2 of the 5 things I sent with him the first day. He ate his mini-Oreos and his snack and cheese crackers. Guess who was hungry after school? He ate his grapes, his fruit roll-up and a piece of candy from the teacher. He ate his macaroni and cheese muffins for dinner- added with ketchup on top, of course!

 

He wanted a picture of his backpack! 

In the car, with his lunchbox. 

Running into the school. 

Going into his classroom. 

Find the printable I used at the website How Does She? Just subscribe to the mailings and you have access free printables! 

No, mommy didn't cry. Although I figured out I'm a little lonely and it's a whole lot quieter at home, now that he's in school. The funny part is when he got out of the car at school he started running into the school. He forgot his backpack and his lunch. But we made it, and he had a good first day, despite deciding to rip up his name tag during rest time. He must have taken a nap because he was full of energy when I picked him up. FULL.

Women of Faith

I have been scrimping and saving for the past 6 months in order to go to this event. I've never been to a Women of Faith, and I'm so glad I went. When I left Saturday night, my heart was so full. Full of the love of God, full of the love of my sisters, friends, and family that joined me in Wells Fargo for a day and a half of marvelous worship, speakers, and a few concerts. Lots of laughs and it felt like a bucket of tears! Blessed.

My mother-in-law said I should go, and it turned out that she wasn't able to go, so it was weird without her there, but I did not miss her breathing machine Friday night. I didn't get much sleep, but that was because I forgot my earplugs. Weird hotel room, not sleeping next to the hubby and a sister-in-law who warned me she snores. LOUD. I love her, I truly do, and I'm so thankful she has joined our family. I disliked the snoring, though. I threw 2 pillows at her sometime during the night. I told myself I was doing it in love.If she would have been sleeping in my bed, I would have kicked her.Hard. But, I'm still Blessed.

Three sisters in the Lord. Vicky, Suzi and Sarah (me). 

Our group had about 80-some ladies from 4 different states. Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois. I thought it was pretty cool, because in our group I could wave my one arm and two rows would all be family of some kind! Most of whom my mother-in-law invited them to come. Because she was unable to go, she was able to bless someone with a ticket, a hotel room and even a t-shirt and Saturday's lunch of someone who wouldn't been able to afford it. Blessed.

I was blessed by the speakers and bought a book for my mother-in-law, hopefully she'll enjoy the book and share it with me when she's done with it! I bought Angie Smith's book 'Broken' and even got her to sign it, and got my picture taken with her. I also bought Selah's new CD and have been listening to it (in the car, at the church) since I returned. Blessed.

Poor Truck..... Poor Us!

July ended with a bang- literally. Ouch. 

We had just stopped at a stop sign (corner of Mary and Milner for you locals) and it was our turn to go, so my husband proceeded through the intersection, going South- we were heading to our church that's south of town early Sunday morning. 

The lady who hit us did not stop at her stop sign, and hit us- all 3 of us were in the truck. She must have been going 30-40mph. We did NOT see her coming.  Little guy was in the middle in a booster seat, and ended up with a bloody nose, and a fat upper lip. I bumped my head and had a minor concussion, and my neck hurt right away, so the emergency crew took me to the hospital. On a back board, in the ambulance, with a neck brace. Sorry, no photos of that one- also, not something I want to remember! Hubby has had back pain and ankle soreness since the event. 

That's our 'new' 2001 Ford Ranger, after the accident. 

We had just switched vehicles within the last 3-4 months, so we weren't carrying enough insurance on this newer one. The old one was a 1998 Chevy S-10, but it was a rust-bucket, so it wasn't worth much. So, no, insurance couldn't help us with repairs- lesson learned, the hard way! 

Broken axle. Not that I know anything about trucks, or axles for that matter. I was able to get the door open  and climb out of the truck after the accident (I was hyperventilating- and needed some air). Once I got out, I looked at the tire. This tire was originally under the truck. 

The lady who hit us has no insurance. Or a job. Or anyway to pay us. 

Broke the wheel hub, flattened the tire. The repairman has been able to save this tire!  

Not the rim, though. 

That's not how a tire is supposed to look, right? 

Not. Good. At. All. 

Hopefully we will be getting it back sometime this week, or so the repairman is telling us. Thank goodness, it's hard to stay at home all day. I know that's my job, but my job is also to run errands, go grocery shopping, keep doctor appointments, occasionally take my child to the park, etc. Having one vehicle makes that hard, especially when hubby has to take it to work. I have been able to 'get' the car when I needed, and one Friday my son and I jumped on a city bus to go downtown to the library (thankful they run by our house). That was an adventure that I'm not sure I want to repeat. 

Since the accident, our family has been going to the chiropractor- almost everyday. 

I think I'm a more cautious driver now. I'm looking two or three times, making sure other people stop before I venture into an intersection. I've gotten over the fact of freaking out at major intersections. I make sure hubby is NOT driving distracted. 

Several things to Praise the Lord about: 

1. We choose that morning to drive the truck, not the car (could have been worse).
2. The lady could have hit the door (where I was sitting).
3. There was no glass broken!
4. CAT scan came back negative on my head and spine- they let me go home the same day, no overnight stay.
5. God has provided the money for repairing the truck- without taking out a loan from the bank (which we DID NOT want to do.)
6. The truck will be fixed soon, yesterday marked the 2 week mark.
7. Our son has since stopped talking about accidents and being afraid of getting into another one while riding in a car.
8. Due to a friend of the family wedding the day before, my hubby's whole family was in town (both siblings and spouses). They were still in town and were able to be here and support us, get stuff out of the truck for us after the accident and of course, pray for us.  

 

ps. Our church was having Bib Overall Sunday that day, so you can guess what we were all wearing. We think little man hit my buttons on my bibs. We didn't make it to church. We didn't make it to the picnic after church at a local county park. 

Letter F

This week's letter is the Letter F

Fish. Frogs. Firemen.
I'm using some curriculum downloads from Homeschool Creations and 1plus1plus1equals1.

We've been using Totally Tots In My Heart Bible verses and my 4 year old loves doing Calendar from 1plus1plus1equals1. Actually, not so much the calendar part as changing the weather and the color of the day. When he does go to Pre-School it might be hard for him not to change the weather or the color every single day. He misses it when we forget to change the weather for one day. But the good thing is I'll still keep my Calendar at home, so if he doesn't get to do it at school, he can always do it at home.

We'd like him to go one year to a 'traditional' classroom, and we've chosen the local Christian School. We are trusting God in the fact that the money that needs to be there will be there- and we also applied for a state grant, but as of now, we aren't sure if we got it yet.

Summer Movie Nights

Thanks to all the hard working Main Street Ottumwa volunteers who put this on! 

(I should know, I'm one of them)

 This summer has been hot- serving concessions has not been easy in this heat! 

 My son enjoying his flavored ice- at $0.50 a cup, you can't beat it! 

 

The movie was The Cat in the Hat, 

Click on the link to see the poster design I did.

Want to come? Afraid you missed out? One more movie showing- next Saturday night! 

The movie is a classic: E.T.

Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 8:30pm or dusk- Free

Yes, I designed the poster for that one.