My sittin' bones are weary...

It's been a most interesting (and long and tiring) day at the Republican convention... We were in a "Parade" for Mr. Paul Sorum (for Governor) and everything. :) I got to see a couple unexpected friends there as well, so that was nice!

My parents and I returned home around 8:00 this evening to find Jacob nearly done with chores. Andrew stayed up there again tonight with his Ron Paul friends....

It's not all that late, but we're all tired and are heading for bed so we're ready to face another day of sitting tomorrow.

God bless and good night~

Short post...

This will be short, as I'm heading for bed early so as to be able to wake up early, feeling refreshed. Andrew cleaned grain all day until about 6:00, when he finished the job he was working on; folded up; and came home to shower quick and head for Bismarck to get in on the Ron Paul meeting/planning with other district heads and campaign leaders..... Jacob and I had all his things ironed and packed for him (plus some supper) so he could head out the door as fast as possible.

Dad is still out cleaning....

Mom finished working up a field, but then had a blooper when she was bringing the tractor and disc back into the yard and knocked over the mailbox. Jacob and I set up a temporary box so we can still get our mail while trying to figure out a better plan for how to mount it.

It's been a full day.

Please join us in praying for God's will to be done tomorrow and the following day at the ND GOP (Republican) convention! There are many important decisions that will be made there, decisions that will affect the Country we live in.

Wha'da ya' know...

I'm actually postin' pictures for a change. :)

I took this one quite a while back, while Jacob was teaching Mom how to farm on his farming simulator. She said it was harder to combine there than it is in real life. Hmmmm....

It was so lovely outside today, just sunny enough to bring out a few gophers even. Jacob and I were home alone, so on our cow-checking spin around the pasture, we spotted 3 gophers and he and I each shot 1. The 3rd one was too smart and stayed down in its hole after seeing us approaching!
While looking for newborns (we found 1 new baby and 1 in the process of being born), we came across 2 cows in the far South part of the pasture, just standing there. When we got closer, I saw a calf head sticking out of the ground! Hmmmm...
Apparently, the said calf fell or slipped into the hole backwards and was very snugly stuck there. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of him there, but alas, it was not until after I'd pulled it out and set it free that I thought about the camera I had tucked in my pocket! I did get a picture of the hole (about 3 feet deep) however, which we filled with rocks later. I'm guessing it was a badger hole?

The baby was pretty stiff at first, but did get to walking better by the time we moved on. He was pretty hungry too! There they go:

I stopped the pickup while on this hill to pick...

...some crocuses! Maybe it's time to put the snowmen away? ;)

Dad and Andrew cleaned grain all day again, arriving home late in the evening, Andrew just in time to get in on the 2nd half of a conference call regarding the GOP convention that is taking place the next 3 days here in ND. Mom was gone in Bismarck most of the day, so that left Jacob and I to do the chores, laundry, dishes, bread-baking and fruit-pizza-making, and the trampoline bouncing!

It was a good day and I thank God for the loveliness of it all...

I'll be home tomorrow!

I'm so excited. :) I've been gone so much lately... Mom is going to Bismarck and asked if I wanted to go along, but on my one day that I have to be home in the middle of a month of working away from home, all I want to do is STAY AT HOME!!! Maybe I'll bake some bread, or fruit pizza or something? I'll probably clean my fish aquarium. I could put "Order garden seeds" on the list...... I know I won't be sleeping in, as I told Andrew I'll milk his cow in the morning, as he got home late tonight from cleaning grain and is leaving bright and early in the morning again to clean some more. Dad had/has the same schedule. Life is never dull. I praise the Lord for that!

A bit of news...

It seems that God has opened a new door for me, as far as work goes...

As you know, a "Neighbor" family (they live 12 miles away, but we still call them neighbors) has asked me to watch their 2 little girls. What I didn't tell you is that they'd like me to watch/care for them 3 to 4 days a week. I enjoy spending time with children so much! I do like working with the elderly too, but the job I have now as a CNA keeps me hopping so much that I don't really have time to spend one on one with the residents for very long at all and the job is rather stressful.

SO, I gave my notice at the nursing home today, that I'd like to go to PRN status (which means I'll work as needed) and will finish out our current schedule which goes into the middle of April, then I'll go over to our neighbors, Tracy and Paula M's every week instead. Some of my coworkers are a little mad at me for leaving, but they can see where I'd enjoy my new work more. :) On April 8th, it will be 2 years since I started working at the Napoleon Care Center (nursing home) and I have learned a lot in that time and have met a lot of people/friends. I'll still be working there a few times every month (more so in the Winter months) so can stay in touch with people that way. I'm so much happier though, thinking about spending my days with little ones, teaching them, working with them, and playing with them.~

I did have a special moment at the nursing home this evening that I thought I'd tell about here... A friendly gentleman resident insisted on giving me a chocolate bar again tonight. He's done this a couple times before... This time, he said,
"Do you know why I want to give it to you?"
When I replied that I did not know but was curious, he answered,
"Because I like how you dress like a lady and how respectful and humble you are."
That put a smile on my face, and I accepted his candy bar and brought it home to share with my family. :)

SO, I will miss several parts of my work at NCC, but will also love the new work God has in store for me. I'll probably also still be working at Helen's Daycare some. She actually asked me this week if I'd come more regularly (3+ days a week) there in a couple months when she's going to have 3 new babies to care for, but I can not be in 2 places at one time, and I'd already committed to caring for Tracy and Paula's little girls---plus they live closer and I really, really like them (and they are very generous....). ;) I think, for the time being, this is best. Paula requested, after the first time I cared for her girls,
"Now please don't run off and get married next week or anything, as I'd like you to stick around here for years to come." :) We'll see what God has planned, but for the time being, I feel that this is where I belong.

So, dear friends, life changes...

One exciting change is the wet weather we had this morning----not only is the wetness very welcome for the moisture it brings to the land, but it also allows our guys some time to work on things like, say, my car! :) Andrew got it taken apart down to the water pump this morning. That was definitely broken. Now he said he just needs to find a new one, plus some other parts, then reassemble it all, and then my car should run, hopefully. Wouldn't that be loverly? :)

I looked out Helen's window, and what do you think I saw?

I went to Helen's Daycare this morning to watch the children all morning so she and her husband could go to another funeral. Shortly after our lunch was finished, I was doing some dishes when I happened to look out the window and see a great big muskrat sitting about 10 feet from the house, nibbling on some grass or something. The strange thing is, there really isn't a body of water anywhere nearby, so I don't understand what it was doing there? When some of us went outside, he slowly waddled over to the deck and climbed underneath. The hired man got a shovel and tried to poke at him, but all to no avail. Hmmmm....

Frank and Helen got back just in time for me to hop in Andrew's black Charger and drive the 2+ miles into town to work the rest of the day at the nursing home. I am very much looking forward to sleeping in a little in the morning, as it's been a long time since I've done that and I'm so tired (plus, I'm fighting a cold....).

I don't even know what happened around here today. I do know that there is a lot of lightning in the sky, plus a few raindrops. :) PTL! We need some rain.

The annual Home Educator's Conference...

...was wonderful, as usual! I'm so thankful to the Lord that we could go this year and that the weather was ideal!!!

We saw and visited with many friends in Jamestown; Mom, Andrew and I sang in the state-wide homeschool choir; Mom and I helped the Geigers in the kitchen quite a bit (they prepared the food that was being sold to approx. 200 people---each meal); Andrew sat at the NDHSA booth most of the convention, to take orders from people for the MP3 copy of all the sessions that were taped; we learned several things at the workshops we attended; found some book treasures; talked politics with several friends; shook Mr. Colin Gunn's hand (the mailman in "The Widow's Might" and the main actor in "Indoctrination"; Miranda G. gave me a very thoughtful belated birthday gift; we learned a bit of sign-language from the workshop my friend, Camille did; and we were blessed and encouraged in so many various ways. The boys stayed later than Mom and I to help take down all the vendor booths. All in all, we had a marvelous time!

Andrew has posted several pictures already on his blog (Man of Courage---on my sidebar) and I'm hoping he'll put the rest on his computer one of these days so I can have access to them as well. :) I took several pictures too, but it was with his camera.....

The Stevens family graciously opened up their home to the 4 of us all during the convention and cooked very scrumptious breakfasts and a delicious supper Friday evening! We enjoyed our time with them greatly!!! I think we have some pictures taken at their house too, but again, I'll have to wait for someone to put them on a computer where I can use them.


This was a busy day for us all:
Dad cleaned grain; Mom disced for several hours; Andrew and Jacob (who also disced for some time) took down the fence from around the corn-field; and I spent 10 hours babysitting the 2 little neighbor girls, Johanna and Tracey, then came home and milked the cow and took care of the goats.

It didn't feel much like Spring today. Brrrr....

We're home!

;)

Now we can bounce...

...whenever we have a spare minute. :) Jacob and I spent a good couple hours setting up our new trampoline this morning. It is 15' across, and is so much fun! The net is better designed and is made of higher quality material than our other one was, and the metal bars that hold it up actually get screwed together, so maybe this trampoline will outlive our last one? (We figured out we must have had that one for 6 years....)

One of Jacob's cows had twins yesterday evening, so he was/is happy. We're thinking one may have to be a bottle calf though, as it doesn't look like the mama will have enough milk for both....

I went to work at the nursing home this afternoon/evening and only a little while ago got home. One of my coworker/friends gave me 2 baby Spider Plants, as she had many and we didn't have any....

I need to get up early and iron and pack the clothes I want to wear for the next 3 days, as I need to be at Helen's at 9:00AM and will stay there until 4:30, at which time I'll drive the couple miles from there into town and fill Mom's car with gas, then head home to change quick; load up the vehicle; and head for Jamestown to attend as much of the home school convention as possible. Choir practice starts at 7:30PM, so we for sure want to be there for that. All of us, except for Dad (who's going to stay home and take care of the animals so we can go) will be staying with the Stevens family right in Jamestown there. It will be so much fun!!!

You probably won't be hearing from me until Saturday or Sunday night. (Just thought I'd put that here for your sake, Hristiyan, so you don't think that I died. :) )

Good night everyone and may God bless you and give you a wonderful weekend.~

Spring has sprung!!!

Our lawn is turning green; the days are sunny; and our tulips are popping up out of the ground. :) I hope Spring has come to stay!

"Please, God, help Spring to stay."

I had a busy day away from home, first working at Helen's Daycare (the 10 small children and I all bundled up and headed outside this morning to soak up some sunshine and fresh air, but the cool wind sent us back inside after a few minutes of playtime,) for about 5 hours. Then, when Helen got back from a funeral she was attending, I went to the nursing home and worked my 8 hour shift there. Now I'm tired and I want to go to bed!

Mother was feeling a lot better today, so she headed for Bismarck to see clients and to do some shopping. She picked up the new trampoline my brothers and I had requested (don't worry, we'll pay her back... :) ), as our other one got demolished in a wind storm last Summer. It was getting to be in bad shape even before that, with the springs flinging off occasionally, some of them flying very high and smacking into a grain bin! It will be so enjoyable to be able to get fun exercise again!

Well, that's all I really know about this day. As you can see, I wasn't really here for most of it....

I was just 'sittin all day...

...for the 2 little neighbor girls, that is. I enjoyed it! I decided to log-in to my G-mail account while the girls were napping, so as to send Andrew an e-mail to see how his grain-cleaning job was going in all this wind. The e-mail took quite some time to write, however, as I was holding sleeping baby Tracey Jo in one arm and typing with only one hand. :)

Dad hauled 3 loads of hay home.

Mom wasn't feeling well, so took it easy.

Andrew cleaned grain all day.

Jacob fixed fence and fed cows. He and Dad also went down to Titan in Kintyre for their annual appreciation meal....

'twas a busy day!

Just got home from workin'...

...and, I'd best get to bed....

The up-coming weeks look very full! Here's a quick peek into my current schedule:

Today: Worked as a CNA at the Napoleon nursing home
Tomorrow: Be a nanny/babysitter to "My" 2 little neighbor girls
Tuesday: Babysit out at Helen's Daycare in the morning, then CNA at NCC
Wednesday: CNA work
Thursday: Babysit out at Helen's Daycare all day, then head for Jamestown
Friday-Saturday: Attend/help at annual Homeschool Conference in Jamestown
Sunday: Nanny enjoyment/work
Monday-Wednesday: CNA busyness again
Thursday: DAY OFF---meaning, catch up on things at home :)
Friday-Sunday: attend state GOP convention
Monday: CNA
Tuesday: Nanny
Wednesday: CNA
Thursday: Nanny........

Well, at least I shouldn't be bored! I wonder when the last time was that I was what I just said? ;)

We dug out the Bocce balls...

This afternoon was so pleasantly warm and sunny (in the 70s!), it's hard to believe there's a chance of snow on Tuesday! This certainly has been an odd year already, temperature wise.

My brothers and I played several games of Bocce and then just enjoyed swinging on the swings for a while and talking.

We had hoped to have company today, but they weren't able to make it, so we had plenty of food for supper!

It was a very nice, relaxed day. Just what we needed before the "Storm" of the following busy weeks hits.... This coming weekend is the annual homeschool conference, which we plan to attend and help with. Then, the following week is the GOP convention, which we also plan to go to. :) Oh, we had some very good news today! Our district chairman called and talked to Dad and told him that someone decided not to go to the convention, so now Dad can be/will be a delegate!!!!!!! Hooray!

"Thank you, Father in Heaven!"

So, yes, it was a good day.

Clean house---check.

Feast (chicken enchiladas, broccoli salad, & fruit pizza) prepared---check.
Flax sold---check.
Cow milked---check.
Laundry finished---check.
More turkey poults ordered---check.
Lovely weather enjoyed---check.
Small painting project finished---check.
Andrew home for the weekend---check.

Good day?---check!

...and it's well under way...

...grain cleaning is, I mean. Andrew is cleaning today/tomorrow/.... for friends by Ellendale and is staying with them. Dad cleaned South of Napoleon somewhere I think. I worked in town, so that left Mom and Jacob to do the chores and keep everything running smoothly here at home.

I don't have much of interest to tell tonight. I guess I could say how my coworkers, the night nurse, and I got to talking about politics and how I was able to share with them about the whole delegate procedure, but that might not be of much interest to the people reading this! :)

If you go to Jacob's blog (Under His Wings), you can see a picture of him with his "new" pickup...

I guess I'll say good night. "Good night!"

The grain cleaning will begin tomorrow!

They had thought it would be today, but alas, the cleaners needed a bit more work than the guys had anticipated and they are even now still out there fixing them!

Mom and I had a productive day, doing laundry (I saw a robin while hanging out a load on the wash-line!); clearing off the garden; I baked bread; Jacob took his C.A.T. test; we did some Spring cleanup around the yard; Dad, Jacob and I chased the bulls back in and fixed the fence up good; and several other odd jobs, like washing the windows..... It was a good day!

First day of "Nannying"...

Here are a few pictures of "My" new little girls: :)

Johanna, investigating the contents of my camera case....


I tried getting a nice picture of the 2 sisters together, but baby Tracey wasn't feeling too photogenic right at that time. Her pacifier kept falling out of her mouth and she didn't like that too well... Aren't they adorable though?

She was looking surprised after she tipped the empty water jug over...

Shortly after getting in from outside...

Look at all that pretty hair (and those tired eyes)!

It was a beautiful day, with sunshine everywhere. :)

I had a pleasant time with my new babysit-ees, Johanna and Tracey Jo (I enjoy their parents too)! I spent most of the day with the baby (11 weeks old) in my arms, so some of my arm muscles are a little sore tonight, but I enjoyed it all very much. :) I also had a chance to finish the book I was working my way through, "Heaven is For Real"--a very interesting, true story. The girls and I went outside for about an hour and enjoyed the beautiful weather, sitting on the grass and, later, I gave the girls a ride in the wagon for a while which they really enjoyed. One of their dogs, "Stash" thought it was great fun to play "Toss-and-catch" with a small ball we found lying by some evergreen trees....

Our phones have been ringing nearly non-stop this evening, with so many people wanting to get on Dad and Andrew's grain cleaning list, which is a blessing, but can seem overwhelming at the beginning of the season. (They hope to start tomorrow.)

Mom and Jacob went to Bismarck today, as Jacob needed the wheels realigned/balanced on his pickup and he and Mother had an appointment with our Natropath Doctor friend, Dr. Faye....

I hope that Spring is really and truly here now! Several hundred geese are stopping in our corn field tonight. The dogs keep barking at them. :)

It's been lovely weather...

...for hanging clothes out on the line! I also spent a while in the garden, clearing off the stubble and putting it in a big pile to burn on a less windy day. (I had to put a couple old tires on top of the pile to make sure they stayed put.)

The guys were busy in the shop all day (except Dad did go over and load another load of hay to be sold). Jacob has his pickup fixed now (with some help from Andrew and maybe Dad?)! It is really nice and Jacob likes the fact that it is loud......a guy thing. :) Andrew fixed the problem on his Stratus, so I get to test-drive it again tomorrow. He said they put my car in the shop today!!!!! I don't think I said that Andrew bought a white truck last Friday, so Dad will be using that to pull his cleaner with while Andrew uses Dad's semi to pull his larger rig. :) It's so nice that we can all work together like this to make things work!

Speaking of tomorrow though... I'm excited as I'll be starting a new part-time job, babysitting at least 1 day a week for a family who live about 12 miles NW of us. They have 2 young girls and I can hardly wait to spend time with them! The baby is just 11 weeks old. :) (Thanks so much, Kristi and Stacey for the referral!)

In a couple days, Dad and Andrew will start in on the grain-cleaning season, which means we won't be seeing much of them for the next 3 or so weeks! They'll come home late at night, dusty, hoarse and exhausted, but with nice checks in their billfolds. Jacob will be in charge of taking care of the cattle while they're gone. If you would pray for safety and for all to go well during this very busy season, that would be wonderful!

Meanwhile, Mom and I will be planning our garden while enjoying the feel of a cool breeze coming in the open windows and the sound of geese honking their cheery greetings to the countryside.

"Thank you, Lord, for Spring!" :)

Birthday and convention pictures...

I spent a little time this afternoon (between folding loads of laundry) uploading some pictures, as promised. :)

Here are a few from my birthday:

Andrew was having fun playing with the settings on his fancy camera...

The pretty cake that Mother bought me (I believe I wrote here how she did not want me to have to make my own cake and didn't have time to do it herself, so we enjoyed this beautiful cake). : We just finished it this evening at supper!

Yours truly, opening the Brad Stine DVD that Jacob gave me, while our faithful (15 year old?) Trevor bear looks on...

Oh dear.... I didn't quite get them all blown out in one breath. There were just so many of them! :)

Some of the very nice gifts I received from my family: (the piano books are not pictured here and neither are the dozen roses.....)

The following pictures are from yesterday at our district convention:

As you can see, it was a very busy place!

Mother at the Ron Paul section of the table...

During the precinct meeting, the delegates to that meeting sat according to what precinct they were from (see all the little signs?).

Here is our state Senator, giving a short speech, asking the precinct delegates to vote for him--which they did...

Those of us who were not able to be precinct delegates (only Andrew got in from our family) sat on the side bleachers and listened/visited. We were so pleased that several of our friends showed up (from quite a distance too) to vote for us to be delegates to the state convention!

A friend, Mr. M, who was running for the position of state representative, asked Andrew to stand up and nominate him. Andrew is doing just that in the picture below. There were a couple other gentlemen who also got up and seconded the nomination. Sadly, our friend did not make it in, but we were encouraged by how close he was to getting in, as he did get started pretty late in the race, so didn't have a lot of time for campaigning. I hope that he'll have much better success next time!

Random fact: Our (hopefully) future Governor Sorum knows how to text! :)

Adding up the votes...

Rep. Koppelman, addressing the audience:

The 3 men who were hoping to obtain/re-obtain the 2nd seat in our House of Representatives: (The man on the far left won. The man in the middle is our current Representative. The man on the right is our conservative Christian friend, whom we voted for.)

If you look closely, you can see Andrew in this picture:

There was some voting done by people standing as a "Yes" and the others remaining seated for a "No"...

Here, Andrew is reading from "Robert's Rules", as not everyone was sure about the way things were supposed to be run.... We were very proud of him! He got told he should be a parliamentarian. :)

The precinct delegates, again:

After that meeting was over with (it took several HOURS!), everyone was allowed to vote for delegates to go to the state convention. That is when Dad and Andrew got a tie for the 30th spot (the last spot available---doesn't God have a sense of humor--to have those 2 tie?) and Dad said that Andrew should take it. The rest of us can be alternates at the convention.

Most of the people left after casting their vote, but a few did stick around for the next hour while the votes were being counted....

Andrew took this picture of my dad and I, visiting with one of our precinct chairmen and our friend, Mr. M....

It was after 9:00PM when we got home to do our chores and eat our supper. It was a very long but very interesting day! We learned a lot.....

District #28 convention= over!

It was a long day! We were almost an hour early--so we could get Ron Paul signs put up and get a table reserved and set up for displaying/distributing literature. The actual meeting began at 2:00, and it was a little after 8:00 when we left... We are so thankful for the friends that came to support us! We were disappointed that there were not more people wishing to be Ron Paul delegates, but were very thankful that our friends showed up to vote for us!

I'm tired and feel like going into much detail about the day, but I will say that there were 30 state delegate spots available and there were almost 60 people wishing to be delegates. SO, everyone voted on the people they wished to see get elected. Dad and Andrew tied for the 30th place--so Dad said he'd like Andrew to take the spot, as he doesn't know how busy he'll be at the end of this month anyway. Plus, Andrew likes this kind of thing a little more than my dad does too. Mom and I were pretty close to getting to be delegates (only 5 or 6 votes away), but not quite close enough to be elected, so now we can be alternates if so desired (I'm planning to be one). If a delegate is not able to make it to the convention, there will be a chance for the alternates to take their place there.

There is much more that could be said (especially about how proud we were of Andrew, keeping the precinct meeting following Roberts' Rules and all....), but that will have to wait for another day. He did have several people thank him for his input and a couple said he should be a parliamentarian or district head... Perhaps politics will play a part in his future?

We were pleased to have Mr. Sorum bring his pamphlets/brochures/cards over to our table for displaying-----and Rep. Koppelman also! :)

It was a very educational day!!! Sadly, our Ron Paul friends from the Bismarck office were not able to make it down, but thankfully (Praise the Lord!) things went pretty well and, as Andrew had been through this procedure several times already, he knew a lot about what to be looking for........

And now, dear friends, I will say "Good night". Pictures to come in the future, sometime.

I'm so excited...

...for tomorrow to come! Andrew talked with Mr. Sorum (hopefully/prayerfully our future governor) this evening and learned that he will also be attending our district convention! :) Plus, he (Paul Sorum) was able to smooth out a few details with our district chairman, issues that we were concerned about in the way the convention was being held, so we were all rejoicing and praising God this evening in our little living room...

We'll have a busy morning, making calls to friends and all, and hopefully we'll have some company after the meeting, if the Ron Paul campaign men are able to stop for supper, etc.... :)

It is sure to be a very interesting day! Please pray for all to go according to God's plan. My parents, Andrew, and I hope to become delegates to the state convention. ~

Hope we'll be able to sleep tonight!

Oh, today was busy too... Mom and I cleaned and cooked/baked, etc... The guys went and bought/picked up something for Andrew (but I'm sure he'll post about that another time).

Eventful day...

Dad and the boys worked outside for most/all the day.

Mother spent a good portion of the day in Bismarck, doing health sessions for clients; running errands; and putting up signs for the next JBS meeting being held at the public library.

I cleaned the kitchen up somewhat this morning, then headed over to meet some "Neighbors" (they live about 12 miles away) who have asked me to watch their 2 little girls (1 is an 11 week old baby and the other is a year and several months :) ) once a week, or more if it works out. They all seemed very nice and the girls are very adorable and very smiley!!! :) While there, I had asked about their neighbors, as it seemed like they lived out in the middle of nowhere. The mother was telling me then about these 2 sisters (young, former Hutterite women) who moved in last August and who like to ride their horses---sometimes down past their place....

Later, when I was back at home making lunch for the guys and myself, a young woman stopped in to buy one of the computers Andrew had listed on BisManOnline. When she came in the house, I thought to myself, "She looks like a home schooler..." While visiting a little bit, it came out that, yes, she had been home schooled; she was now living with her sister West of us a ways; that they like to ride and train horses; and that they moved there last August. Did you just put 2 and 2 together too? :) Nice "Coincidence", right? I asked her then if the couple I'd just met earlier today were their neighbors, and she confirmed the fact... Small world! I love how God times things like that! If I'd waited one more day to go to the M's house, (which I was considering doing), I would not have known they were neighbors and maybe would not have found out where this young woman lived or very much about her... Neat!

After lunch, I took Andrew's newly-fixed black Stratus to town (he's letting me test-drive it for him!), and worked a very busy 8 hours at the nursing home. I made it back in one piece----and with Andrew's car in the same amount of pieces. :)

I praise the Lord for His protection of us all, especially on such busy days!

It was a wonderful day...

...even if I didn't quite win the game of Settlers we played. :) (Dad did.)

My family made me feel very special and loved! Mother bought me/us 3 new piano duet books, so we had fun playing (or trying to play) all the songs in 2 of the books and a few from the third.

Dad had a dentist check-up appointment this morning and came home with a dozen roses for me---plus ice cream to go with the cake...... I'll share some pictures another time of my lovely and interesting gifts!

Basically, everyone took the day off to spend it with me (outside of doing necessary work and a little shop time for Andrew). They did all the chores and everything, so I had time to read for a while in the book a friend gave us, "Heaven is For Real".... We watched a couple new movies the boys gave me.... And, we ate special food....

How's that for a great birthday?................... I agree--splendid. :)

Oh yes... I also have received many kind notes of birthday cheer on my FaceBook page and 2 of my friends called me on the phone to chat a few minutes (and 1 sang happy birthday to me too). :)

The Lord gave us sunshine most of the day and snow this evening. It truly was a happy day!

"Thank you everyone---for everything!"

Have faith, Mr. Paul! We're behind you!

Matthew 17:20:
...."for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."


The way things worked out this afternoon, Dad and the boys went over to the Hazelton caucus (Andrew spoke for Ron Paul there and said a prayer too when asked), and Mom and I drove over to the Wishek one to speak for Ron Paul there (Mom did the 4-minute presentation and I helped talk to interested people, smiled, and passed out info....). The whole meeting was run well and we met some very nice people (even ones who I'm pretty sure were not Ron Paul supporters). :) We stayed until the counting of the votes was done and the reporting was finished. All in all, it was a very good experience. I pulled in the driveway 1 minute before Andrew did. (Dad and Jacob had come home earlier to do the chores, after Dad had voted....).

We are disappointed that there weren't even more Paul supporters, (he took 2nd in our state, with Mr. Santorum taking 1st spot) but then we must be glad for the fact that he DID take 2nd! :) Plus, the caucus is not entirely accurate, as lots of people do not even take the time to vote at it, or don't know about it, or have other things going on, or don't think it's important, or...............................................................................................

Anyway, we were encouraged that the two caucuses our family attended were run well and that we met many friendly people!

Next step: Get voted in as delegates on Saturday! Prayers and support would be most highly appreciated!!!

Well friends, this is the last time I shall write to you----


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.....while being at my current age, that is!

Tomorrow, I turn a quarter of a century old! I thank the Lord for every day that he's put breath in my lungs and a beat in my heart! :)

A couple of great quotes worth contemplating:

"Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will be America's heart, her benedictions and prayers, but she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator of her own."
-John Adams


"Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us."
- Patrick Henry, 1775.

Come see us in Hazelton tomorrow evening!

If you're wondering why we'll be in that small town, you can visit Andrew's blog HERE to learn more!

Also, if you wish to see Mr. Ron Paul, you now have another chance to, as he'll be speaking at the Fargo caucus tomorrow!!!!!! I hope I'll get to meet him someday in person! So far, the 2 times that members of my family have gone and heard him/talked to him, I've had to work, and now tomorrow, my family and I'll be helping Andrew and Mr. M. with setting up/running the Hazelton caucus point, so won't be able to go again. God knows best though, and so I'll wait some more...........

Jacob did a nice post today as well about all of our vehicle "happenings" of late. : ) You can go and congratulate him (HERE) on his purchase of a pickup of his very own!

Thank you so much for your prayers! My dad's tooth-pulling and replacement session went quite well today and, so far, he's not been in too much pain. Praise the Lord!!! He's even been doing quite a bit of talking----AND his smile looks great! :)

Mother bought a cake for me today while in Bismarck (as she won't have time to make one as we'll be very busy tomorrow, and she refuses to have me make my own!), and she had "Them" write "Happy 25th, Cora" on it. While she was checking out, the man at the counter asked,

"What does that say?"

Mother replied and he said he thought that's what it said but wanted to make sure. He told her then that his oldest daughter is named Cora too and asked her to wish me a happy birthday. :) I still have never met another "Cora", although I hear that they're out there, somewhere......

Well, it is time to get some rest, so I shall go and do that little thing. Good night everyone.~

Prayer requests....

I just returned home from working at the nursing home again. Mother sent out the following e-mail to several people (me included) and, as it pretty much explains the highlights of this week, and the need for prayer, I thought I'd just include it here for everyone to read... Thank you in advance for your prayers!!!



Hello everyone,

I’m writing because our family plain old needs prayer this week. If you can cover us with your prayers, that would be awesome, but if you can help additionally, that would be terrific! You’re receiving this email from me because some part of it seems to apply to you so please give it a moment of your time. Here’s a run-down of our upcoming week.

Prayer request: Tomorrow at 9:00 AM Robert will have 8 teeth pulled. He’s begun the work of restoring his mouth to it’s proper function of eating pain free. He’ll also get his temporary bridge. I can imagine that he’ll be needing lots of TLC for awhile.

Tuesday is Super Tuesday. Being Andrew volunteered to help set up for our caucus meeting, we’ll be spending quite a bit of time in Hazelton. PLEASE, if you are a Dr. Ron Paul or Mr. Paul Sorum (who is running for Governor) supporter, PLEASE come to vote for them between 5:30 and 8:30. If you support either of these 2 Constitutional candidates and are needing a ride to the meeting, please let me know as we will do our best to get you to the hall on time.

On Wednesday Cora turns 25 and I believe that we are doing nothing but celebrating her life—at least that’s the plan.

I’ll be seeing clients in my office on Thursday. I have an opening over the noon hour if you are needing a tune-up.

Friday will be spent trying to find more Ron Paul and Paul Sorum delegates to come to our district convention.

Saturday at 2:00 in Wishek is our district convention. PLEASE if you are feeling even a tiny bit led to try to be a delegate to the State convention, you need to come to the district convention and let someone at the Ron Paul area know of your wishes. We will do our very best to help you to get elected. The GOP state convention will be held on March 30, March 31, and April 1 which is coming up FAST. It costs $80 to be a delegate plus your meals, transportation, and lodging unless you can travel from home. I must ask you to ponder this cost as small in comparison with what can be gained when we have Godly leadership at the State and Federal level! Please keep this meeting in your prayers as numerous men of God are trying to get the nomination to run in June.

On Sunday, my dear friend and BodyTalk Instructor, is holding her remarkable BodyTalk Access class in Bismarck. Taking this class in June of 2007 literally saved my life!!! I cannot recommend it too highly and I urge you, if YOU are having a hard time dealing with all of the stress in your life, to take the class. Just click on this link to sign up for the class which costs $125 and runs from 9:00 to 5:00 one week from today: http://www.bodytalksystem.com/seminars/details.cfm?id=17869

I can honestly say that, with the brain damage that I endured in 2006-2007, I’d never be able to keep up with my family during a week like this if I didn’t do BodyTalk on myself daily. It is just wonderful to be able to connect the 2 sides of my brain for greater concentration and less pain! I hope that you’ll get started on your journey of personal growth and discovery by taking Elizabeth’s class on the 11th!

Once again I covet your prayers for our family during this extremely busy and exciting week.

God bless,

Dawn for the Bornemanns

As it was a quite, peaceful day...

...I don't really have anything to post about...

We chored; showered; ate; sang; talked; listened; played; ate; chored; watched; prayed, and that was about it. :)

I bought a car!

I'll show you pictures at the end of this post. First, though, I'll share a few other pictures that were on my camera card.

Our guard dogs, keeping watch: :)
Dad, Andrew and I went to Selby to buy my car this morning/afternoon.

On the way, we stopped by one of our hayfields and Dad ran through the snow to some of our few remaining hay bales to get a sample. A gentleman in Oklahoma wants to buy whatever we have left for sale (which is all of about 2 loads), but would like to know the quality of it... Hay sales have been such a tremendous blessing from God this Winter!!!!!

I paid for my car with cash, so if you can figure out how much money I'm holding, you'll know how much my car cost! :)

We dropped the hay sample off at the post office in Linton. This house was right by the post office... It used to be a church and I thought it looked really neat now! I wonder how they'll use the bell tower?

The wind was really blowing when we headed South and by the time we were on our return journey, the roads were getting very slushy and slippery. The last 30 miles of our trip were especially icy and Andrew had to drive very slow and, even then, we slid a little bit a few times....

We stopped in Strausburg for a few minutes so the guys could look at some other vehicles at Kens' Auto Sales (cars and pickups that need repairing). There was quite a bit of snow there!

And FINALLY, here is my car!

It's an '04 Stratus; it needs new tires; and will need quite a bit of work under the hood----replacing the water pump and a couple other things.... It was very reasonably priced though and Andrew says he will not charge me what it would cost if I took it into a shop to be repaired, so I hope this was a good choice! :)

The ad had said the car was silver, but the more we look at it, the more we say it's a bit on the blue side of things. What do you think? I'm excited to have a car!!!

This morning, I found a nice surprise in my aquarium! When my parents and Jacob were in Bismarck yesterday, they'd bought me a few new fish as an early birthday present. :)

Andrew arrived home this morning around 10:30. He had spent the night over in Fargo (with Jared and Trevor at a hotel) and had lots to tell us tonight at the supper table. I guess there were 9 district conventions going on all at the same time, so they all had their hands full! Andrew said he's known there (to the Ron Paul team) as "The milkman", as Andrew (or my mom) takes milk to the Bismarck Ron Paul headquarter/office whenever possible and I guess some of the other guys on the team have been there to taste it as well. :) Funny!

Well, I think that is all the news I have to update you with for now. We're looking forward to a day of rest!

Blessings~

We were all gone!

Andrew left early this morning to catch a ride (in Steele) to Fargo to help the Ron Paul supporters at that area's district endorsing convention. I believe he's spending the night there too....

I went to work in town....

My parents and brother, Jacob went to Bismarck----to look at something Jacob wanted to buy and so Mother could go to the chiropractor again. Oh yes, they also sold some more beef to a family up there. I'm not sure what else they all did?....

Thankfully, God and our dogs kept an eye on the farm and all was well when we returned (those of us that returned, that is). :) I'm looking forward to a day at home tomorrow!!!