I am just playing with this. Trying to figure out how to post my weblogs on facebook. Anybody know how? or have any advice?

we spent a day at Leogane soon after we were here. There is no guys there right now, so Loren was maintenace man for a day. We didn't get everything done, but we did get all the door knobs changed, put water in the batteries and fixed a few other things here and there. The children and I just hung out with the little girls, played, talked and I even got a back massage! ;) Brooklyn loves it out there. Lots of girls to play with and never boring!
 


Last week, early Tue morning we headed out for a long bumpy trip to Jacmel. There were 2 wells to drill. The rest of Tue and most of Wed were spent drilling the first and worst well. The ground was really rocky and not nice drilling at all. But the 2nd one went really good on Thur and we were headed back home again by 10:30.  The 2nd well we drilled was at a Catholic organization. They have a home there for people with cancer, HIV, TB, orphans, and malnurished. It was very intresting. There were 6 sisters (nuns) there that ran the place then some other haitiens to help out. There were around 200 patients there.  It really was a sad place, yet everyone seemed so happy.

 



this was our ride up and over the mountains.

And this beast has seen better days, but PTL it keeps chugging along. :)
  this was on the way to Jacmel, you can see the road in front of the market and then winding on up the mountain.
I had a few pic of the ocean that I wanted to post but for some reason they don't want to be on here. :(  

and the children with there "entertainers"

We are busy packing, going out to eat with friends, family gatherings and all the last minute things. Today in 2 weeks we should be in the air headed south.   Not sure which one fits best.

We are changing our email address, so if you want to hear anything from us, you need to email us so we have your address!

Today I am meeting 2 girlfriends for brunch, lunch and maybe supper if we can't get done talking! Ok maybe not! I doubt our babysitters would appreciate that.  Thanks Frieda!
Tomorrow 3 sweet ladies from Kokomo are coming for the day.  We are going to pack some more, eat, talk and chase kids!   Charlene, really wish you would be here to make the packing party complete!

Christmas with my family is history for another year. We were all together for butchering, so we went ahead and had our C-mas feast and gift exchange.  So we plan to spend C-mas day in Ohio this year with Loren's family.  My family did something different this year.. the adults had to make their gift! It was very intresting, and amazing what everyone came up with. While the gift making was going on everybody was muttering and saying not again, BUT we all had so much fun we decided to do it again! Only this time we drew names a year in advance, so there is no excuse for not having our gifts done.  If you are up to a challenge, go for it.  Here is a pic of what everyone got.

Just a few more of     

my brothers and their families.

   

The 2 youngest cuddlies! Kaylee is 6 mons and Dawson will be 1 in a week or so.  With 6 grandchildren in the house it gets pretty nerve racking at times, but they have lots of fun. As long as they don't all start screaming at one time. Their oldest uncles/daddies were the cause of most of the screaming.  Hopefully they will grow up someday

 

And now for the cookie baking.... don't ever attempt to make cut-out cookies with a 2 yr old and a 4 1/2 year old, unless you have a LOT of patience and love BIG MESSES! The kids enjoyed it but I don't think I will be doing again anytime soon. We didn't do any fancy decorating, just the sprinkle thing.

      

 

  

 

I can't believe summer has fled and fall is here.  I love fall, actually almost a favorite, but the thought of what comes next always makes me wish summer would have stayed longer. 

Our summer went by extremely fast. We have been very busy camping,  Otto camping, Youth camping, Hostetler camping, Miller family camping, Young marrieds camping  yeah and now we are camping again this weekend with friends from church. Camping is our main source of entertainment in the summer in case you havn't figured that out yet.  So here are a few pictures of our summer and the camping!

Otto family camping. Camping with 6 grandchildren and 14 adults takes quite a bit of food and organization. But we had lots of fun. Corn holes tournaments,-won by Nate and Janae.  playing keep away in the water with a football- wore me out. It got a little rough, one person got skinned an another scratched!  Many walks for Grandma and the stroller!  Is it against the law for Grandmas to tell the grandkids "no" or "not this time"? Everytime she left the camp there were half dozen begging to follow!

 

Dad practicing-notice how he pinches his mouth!  And Mom-the organizer- planning Christmas already!

 

                                                                                      These 3 make quite a team! Not quite a year between them.

Camping with the Youth. 

We camped at Hocking Hills State Park. If you ever need a good place to hike, this is it.  The beauty of it all never ceases to amaze me.  Lots of water falls, rock formations, & canyons. A beautiful place in the fall with all the changing leaves. Cause of Ike we got lots of rain and almost canceled the trip, but Saturday was sunny and SMOK'IN HOT! There was not air movment and very humid. But down in the canyons it was nice and cool.  I didn't know how hiking would go with 2 little one, and had planned on staying at the camp. But they talked us into taking them and the kids loved it. I didn't think they were old enough to climb the hundreds of step and we didn't want to carry them all the time, since I barely got up the hundreds of steps.  We had lots of willing helpers, but most of the time they didn't want to be carried anyway.They cried when we left, they weren't done hiking yet!

 

Landon's ride!                                                                     Cooling off in the water!

 

This made me very nervous. It is actually a ledge-that could fall off any minute! 

Sweet refreshing pump water!

 

 

Carlin and Brooklyn trying to get out of the sun.

 We are missing this little girl. She stayed in Ind with Grandpas, Aunt Heidi  and Aunt Esther. Last night she called me to say they were going to having a sleepover at Esthers house, play games, watch a movie and eat popcorn. Do you think she is spoiled? I do!  And Mister Buster (as Brooklyn calls him) is wondering around looking for his long lost paymate. I am hoping he will take this oppurtunity to start talking. B talks for him all the time!

Don't walk in front of me I may not follow~ Don't walk behind  me, I may not lead~ Just walk beside me and be my friend! 

 

I had the priviledge of seeing my childhood best friend for 24 hours last Thursday. And yes we walked most of our school & teen years side by side.  We didn't always agree on everything but who does????   It was the shortest 24 hours I have had in a long time.  After 2 LONG years we had much to catch up on, discuss, and digest. Now she has gone back to Lao and I probably won't see her for another 2-3 LONG years. Unless we hit the jackpot and can afford tickets!    

Charlene- I know you are going to read this!!!  So I just want to thank you again for stopping in so we can catch-up, at least in part.

Praying that God help:

you reach the natives,

be a light,

touch a childs heart

and go forth with courage.

Can't forget this picture! We didn't have anyone to take it so we used the good ole timer!  I won't say how many we took, but actually got one that wasn't to bad.

Do I love Lucy?? I don't know, she was before my time. The reason for this layout is the lady screaming "MORE CHOCOLATE"  

And now since the Big Day has long gone I think it is time to update, but I don't have much to say.

Gutter business is busy as ever, so Loren is working, working and working... get the pic.

I am playing house, tending my flowers, scrubbing duds, feeding my munchkins, reading blogs, and anything else I can find to do.

A few weeks ago an order of plants arrived via mail. The box and packing peanuts kept the children entertained for hours. Maybe I will just wrap them up for C-mas this year.   

We are youth sponsors, so we had the privilege of having supper at the Hee-Haw Ranch. Chili soup, cornbread, bbq pork sandwiches, were on the menu for the cowboys and girls! We ate out of tinfoil pie plates and drink was served in pint jars.  We all piled on a wagon for a hayride thru the country then topped the evening with apple dumplings and ice cream.

 

   Cowgirls                                                                                 Dudes

  Checkout those hats! 

 Jeremy and Loren seeing who was the fastest draw! Not sure who won there. And this is my little ranch'in family. Can't really see our duds. It got pretty chilly so we all had sweatshirts on.

 

 

                                             

My little Princess

                                                      

Hard to believe my little girl is 4 already.  Starting sunday school is the first important thing on the list here. Most of her friends already go, so it really important!    As you can see she loves playing dress up, that and pollys are her favorite past times.  

  Nothing really exciting going on here today. we are having a small party  tonight.  I am trying to be halfway creative in making a cake. I finally searched the web till I came up with something pretty simple, so we will see how it turns out. 

  I know I can't believe I am posting again so soon.  But I do believe some people are jealous of this snow, so i will show you how deep it really is!

So what do you do when the snow is blowing and the wind is howling??  We finally dug our way to grandpas house and had stromboli and played games.       Or do you stay in bed with daddy all morning.

Notice Daddy isn't as thrilled with this as the 2 munchkins on either side!

How do you get rid of those extra pounds picked up over the holidays??  Dad came up with a great way to shed lbs.  Cut firewood!!  It was a family day in the woods. The men went earlier, then about lunch mom, girls & grandkids, took lunch- hot dogs! Roasting them over the fire. Brooklyn thought it was kinda like camping! There were 3 chainsaws running, 2 people slitting, and about 5 stacking. The rest were chasing rabbits  or watching grandkids!  The feeling of a huge stack of wood is one of accomplishment. I guess if you don't burn wood you don't really know the feeling.

 

 

 Gator rides and Grandma are the best!

     

Now I want to share with you a piece of my childhood.  This cabin sits in mom and dads woods. As children we spent many hours playing, sleeping, chasing rabbits, building things out of sticks, blazing new 4-wheeler trails, etc. And now it is still the place we all want to go for hotdog roasts, wood cutting & any other reason we can think of.  The inside was fixed wi th 2 bunks, used to have a wood stove and lots of mice! Still has those!      Thats all for now.