So long, fare well....

I said several "Goodbye, for now"s at the nursing home tonight. It was sad. I'll go back there from time to time though, so it's not like saying "Goodbye" forever.

After Clarissa and I hugged goodbye, she said, "Now, remember to come back!!!" She's going to come buy a goat from us soon, so I'll for sure see her then and also at her baby shower in June.

My friend, April walked outside with me as we were parked on the same side of the building and we visited for a while out in the cool evening air. She wants to come see our farm soon....plus she wants me to come to her graduation...

When Rose heard it was my last scheduled day there, she teased me about being naughty and leaving them, then patted me on the cheek. :)

There is a time for everything... A time to work with the elderly and a time to work with the young!

I've learned so much (many technical things and also about relationship skills) in the last two years and am grateful for the experience I had as a CNA, but I'm also very grateful for this new door that God has opened in my life----to care for 2 sweet little girls in their home out in the country! I'm sure there's much to be learned in this time/way of life also and trust God to give me the wisdom that will most definitely be needed!

Indeed, it is a wonderful (and interesting) life!

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.

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....

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. :)

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!

'Twas a busy day!

I got up early and went babysitting at Helen's. Since she and her husband are supposed to return this evening, the children and I spent a good portion of the morning and afternoon making a "Welcome Home" banner for them----complete with lots of colors, scribbles, hand outlines, and stick people. :)

When I got home, Jacob and I made a double batch of cookies and cleaned the kitchen. Dad was hauling hay home again and visiting with our neighbor when he stopped in for quite a while. They talked politics, I hear. This gentleman/friend said he likes Ron Paul and what he stands for, "But he just won't win". Dad agreed, diplomatically of course, that, no, with that attitude, he won't win.... It's all simple logic: If we don't vote for the guy we really want, he won't win! We, the people, need to support the men we really want to be running this country and then they can stand a good sporting chance of winning--and WIN--of course, all with God's help and blessing!

Mom and Andrew went to Bismarck to hear Ron Paul speak this afternoon/evening. I had really wanted to go along with them, but it just didn't work this time. They just returned home about half an hour ago.

We spent part of the last couple hours chasing cows in, as the cow-feeder this evening had forgotten to close the gate behind him, and the cows took full advantage of the situation. Dad, Jacob and I thought we had them all in, but when Mom and Andrew drove in, they said there were still quite a few out by the back driveway. Thankfully, they went in pretty easily. Dad just went out now again, as he saw one more cow out. She must have been hiding in the trees?

That was our day! I'm so glad that tomorrow I get to stay home (unless God has other plans for my day, that is). :)

Short night...

I just returned home from working at the nursing home and need to get to bed right away, as I need to be out at Helen's Daycare one last day tomorrow---bright and early.


So, good night everybody!

Little hands...

...worked hard on Valentine projects today. :)

My bigger hands had plenty to do as well! One of my little joy bundles had her 2nd birthday today and was overjoyed when a relative showed up with a balloon nearly as large as her. :)

Oh, Mom and Andrew just returned from Bismarck. I think I'll post this and go greet them before getting some rest before another busy day of instructing children in the ways that are right and good...

Day #2 down, 3 more to go...

I spent 10 hours at Helen's Daycare today---in total charge of everything. There were 10 small children there for most of the time and 4 more after school got out. Things went pretty well (just one child fell down, and one had an accident in her clothes) and almost everyone took a nap this time. :) Tomorrow will be another busy day there, I'm sure!

My dad is up cleaning grain in Harvey for 2 days. He decided to get a hotel room tonight so he does not need to spend 2 hours on the road one-way. He hopes to get done tomorrow evening.

Well, I wish you all a good night---and a happy lovers' day tomorrow. :)

Learning the rest of the ropes...

This morning, I went to Helen's house (Daycare) so we could go over some menus and so she could show me where absolutely everything I might ever need was at. :) The reason? She and her husband will be leaving on vacation soon and I will be in charge of her daycare for a few days... If she did forget to show me where something is (and I forgot to ask), then I'm pretty sure the children can help me find it, as they know the ins and outs of the place (and all the rules) better than I do. :)

I got a phone call while at Helen's from one of my coworkers at the nursing home who was wondering if I could come in a couple hours early and take over for her, as she had an appointment to keep, so I agreed to do that as I was going to be going there to work the rest of the day anyway. It ended up being a rather long day.

When I got home just a bit ago, I rolled up the garden-hose that was in the milk cows' tank yet and took it in the house, locking the door behind me. All was still in the house. I figured everyone was in bed already. I had just taken my shoes and coat off when I heard the dogs bark and then, a little later, the entryway door opened up. I turned the light on out there and peeked out the door into the entry---and there---was my dad, coming up the stairs! I let him in. :)

Apparently, they had posted an ad on Bis-Man to try and sell our old car (one that we've had for almost as long as I can remember). Within 3 hours time, they had a call from a man in Bismarck who wanted to buy it. His car broke down this morning (for the last time, I think) and he said he'd willingly pay the full price my dad was asking (in cash) if he'd deliver it to Bismarck. SOOOOO, at 8:00 this evening, he and Andrew took off with the old car and Andrews' car. After making the delivery, while filling gas in Bismarck, they ran into (not literally) some friends from Edgeley, so that was neat.

And that, my dear friends, was our day. ~

Hopefully we have enough cleaners now!

Dad and Jacob went to purchase and bring home another grain-cleaning unit East of Jamestown this morning. Dad will use this trailer now for his cleaner and move some cleaners around to make an altogether better unit...

Mother cleaned the house and, in the process, went through some boxes of sewing items from our neighbor that's been sitting in her room for a while.

Andrew stayed home and worked on his pickup.

I went over to our neighbors' house and babysat 2 of their children again so the others could go to Bismarck and get Michael's sling/splint off his arm finally. The remaining 3 of us read books; watched Popeye; played with toys and made a "Tent" with one of Amelia's blankets, oh, and cooked and ate. :)

Tomorrow, Mother, Andrew and I will be attending a meeting on delegate training. Should be interesting! I found the following cartoon video a few days ago and thought it was well worth sharing with you all:


Let's be wise, not foolish.................... Take a stand for truth!

Wet shirts...

I spent a pleasant portion of this day over at our neighbors' house, babysitting 2 of their 3 children. After the noon meal was over, Amelia and James pulled up a chair by the sink and helped me wash the dishes again. :) All 3 of us came away with wet shirts! Children are so precious....

When I got home a little before 5:00, I was set in front of another sink, this time to scrub, no, not dishes, but potatoes and carrots for our supper. :) Then I made a batch of pumpkin bars while Mom cleaned the bathroom; Jacob swept the floor and Andrew scrubbed it. We were quite the busy crew! Mom and Andrew had been gone for most of the day in Bismarck (delivering items that we'd sold on BisManOnline and thrift-shopping, oh, and hanging up some posters about the next informational how-t0-get-back-to-the-constitution meeting being held in Bismarck on Jan. 3rd.) Dad was gone loading out some more hay for buyers, so that left Jacob at home for a while to do some cleaning and schoolwork.

It was a good day----and it is STILL brown outside, mostly!

Quietest day I've had in a while...

I worked at Helens' daycare from 10:00AM to 5:15PM today. As there were only 6 little children there, it was the quietest day I've had there in a long time! :)

I came across a bit of trivial trivia the other day and thought I'd share it here, just to make sure all my fellow ND citizens are aware of the laws of this land!!!


Did you know that, according to North Dakota state law:

It is illegal to lie down and fall asleep with your shoes on?

....and also:

It is legal to shoot an Indian on horseback, provided you are in a covered wagon.

Not that it's comfortable sleeping with shoes on and I certainly don't believe we should shoot Indians!, but I just thought you should know. ;)

The project I said I'd tell you about...

You may (or may not!) remember that I wrote in an earlier post about how I worked on a project while Mother was still in Canada, but that I didn't want to tell you about it until she saw it? Well, she found it (the next morning after she got home)---and was she surprised!

The project:
The room (pictured below) used to be another small bathroom, but when Mother was so ill, our guys took the sink, small tub and toilet out so as to be able to fit the nice, big Whirlpool tub in for Mom to soak in as needed. Well, at that time, we had also peeled off most of the old, falling off wallpaper in there. We never got around to painting it though (and my mom probably wouldn't have been able to handle the paint fumes back then anyway).

This little room has proven very useful to many of us in times of sickness or in cases of severely aching muscles! It was a complete eye-sore however.

Want to SEE? Look below:


At this point, Jacob and I'd already put some plastic up to protect the tub... Yuck! Just look at those walls.

The first step was to wash off the rest of the old wallpaper and spots of moldy, mildewy stuff. Then, that had to dry a while. I also put some spackling in the cracks and small holes in the wall. Eventually, I was able to paint on the "Morning Dew blue" and "Nutmeg pink". :)

I took this pictures while the paint was still wet that night:
As you can see, there is some old, water-proof paneling in the bathroom too which still needs some help. I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I left it for the time being....

The room is so small that it was hard to get a decent picture!
The bathroom is by no means picture-perfect, but it is a lot better now, if I do say so myself. ;)

This has been a nice, quite day. Dad and Andrew were gone from 5:00Am 'til 8:00PM, driving to Aberdeen, South Dakota and then to St. Cloud, Minnesota for car parts. They were pretty tired tonight!

Jacob fed the cows both times today and helped Mom with cleaning the house.

I helped with cleaning some too, and cooking, and then this afternoon, I went over to our neighbors' house to babysit one of the twins while Kristi took her other son to the Dr. to have his broken arm examined. Poor little man! He's quite the trooper though and didn't seem to let his arm slow him down too much! I had fun with James (after he woke up from his nap, that is) and was surprised by how much he talks already, as I hadn't been over there in a while.... (We enjoyed reading your Holiday letter very much, Kristi! You are a very creative writer. :) )

And that, was our day. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

* PS. Just a friendly reminder to my friends AND family that the next JBS constitutional lesson/meeting is tomorrow evening at 7:00. *

Caring for little people--and bigger people...

I headed East early this morning to work at Helen's Daycare again (as Helen had a meeting to attend) and then a little before 2:00, I left there and headed for work at the nursing home again. It was a long day, but thankfully I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be. :)

Guess what I'll be doing in the morning? Yes, milking Sally. Andrew and Dad are leaving early (about 5:00AM) and heading for MN to get some parts for Andrews' Charger. They don't expect to be home until after evening chores tomorrow night, so Jacob will be doing the cow feeding and Mom and I are taking turns doing the milking; feeding grain to the calves/heifers/bulls; making sure everyone has water; and taking care of the goats. Oh yes, and feeding the cats and dogs too....

I'd better get some sleep!

"Cora.....Cowa....Dora....Coooooowaa......Corrrra......"

Those are the many variations of my name that I responded to today while caring for 13 small children over the coarse of the day (4 of them were school-aged, so came later in the day on the bus.) :)

Several of those little ones sure know how to melt my heart! For instance, one of the little girls (who is just starting to talk now) kept coming up to me, looking up at me with big brown eyes; pacifier in mouth; hair in a pigtail, reaching her arms up towards me. Who could resist such cuteness? Not I!

Then, one of the little boys came and plopped himself in my lap while I was on the floor playing with them. What joy! There were some not-so joyous troubles to work through too, naturally, but we all made it through the day without anyone getting seriously injured. :)

I'm guessing the guys worked on Andrew's car and maybe the tractor today? I don't really know.

Mom got unpacked and settled in at home again. Then she had a client come out this afternoon.

Life here on earth is good, but I especially thank the Lord for His precious gift of eternal life, as that is even "Gooder". ;)

Another full day away...

I got up early this morning and headed for Helen's Daycare to watch the children so she could go with her husband to Bismarck for appointments. Another lady came and took over at 1:40 so that I could quickly change and drive into town (Helens' house is a few miles out of Napoleon) and be in time to work my PM shift at the nursing home. I'm pretty tired tonight and am glad I can sleep in a little bit in the morning! :)

The others worked out in the shop again today. They said that if they have one more good day, they should be done with the sheeting and then can take back the scissor-lift. Then they will put in a small door on the front side of the shop; insulate the large shop door; paint all the sheeting white; move their bench back in place............ There still is lots to do, but we are grateful for the progress that's been made---safely!

I will leave you now with the "Good Clean Funnies" joke of the day.

It's called: Live and Learn

Psychiatry students were in their Emotional Extremes class.
"Let's set some parameters," the professor said. "What's the
opposite of joy?" he asked one student.

"Sadness," he replied.

"The opposite of depression?" he asked another student.

"Elation," he replied.

"The opposite of woe?" the prof asked a young woman from
Texas.

The Texan replied, "Sir, I believe that would be giddyup."

It was a full day away...

...and right now I'm thankful for a nice, warm, soft, comfortable bed to rest on each night!

I left the house this morning at 8:00 and didn't get back until 11:00 tonight. The reason? I was taking care of people--large and small!

I watched and cared for 10 small children at Helen's from 8:30AM to 1:30PM (so she could attend her aunts' funeral), then headed straight for the Napoleon Care Center (the nursing home) for an 8 1/2 hour shift. It got to be a long day, but I always really enjoy spending time with the children, so adding that onto my regular work in town was not too burdensome. :)

I am tired however, so shall retire shortly!

Good night.~

Day #17~

I am thankful for patience! Really and truly, I am! Without patience, this world would be a not so very nice place to live in, agreed? :)

I enjoy caring for children, it is true, but there ARE times when they can test your patience levels to the utmost... As I cared for 10 small children (4 and under) from 9 AM to 3:30PM and then 4 more when the school bus came, until their parents came gradually to pick them up, it was a busy day! One young boy there especially tries everyones' patience, which is why I thank the Lord for giving myself and the other children there the patience to show to him. ;)

I am so glad that God is patient with us, His children, as I'm sure we frustrate Him exceedingly at times!

It was a lovely, Fall day...

The boys and I spent part of the morning putting the rest of the electric wire up around the corn field. Now, someone just needs to figure out how to get the water-tank over there... :)

At noon, Andrew helped us load up 26 goats in the stock trailer before he left to help Stan again for the rest of the afternoon (they got done with the corn today and will now move onto sunflowers). Several of the goats we're selling are weathers and then the rest are does that were not good milkers, or doelings that we just didn't want to keep as we needed to downsize. We kept 10 does/doelings and have 2 bucks, so our current herd equals 12! I don't think we've had this few goats for many years! Mom and Jacob delivered the goats to Mandan and then made a trip to Sam's Club to stock up on some supplies. They got home after dark.

This left me home alone (Dad was hauling grain today) to get the house cleaned up (although Mother did clean the bathroom before she left) :) and the supper made. I went out and dug some carrots and potatoes from the field (yes, they're still out there!) and added them to a roast. Next, I sliced some apples, put them in a buttercup squash and made a caramel sauce to pour over the whole thing. Yummy! There was laundry to do too, plus I got a phone call from Helen (owner of the daycare I've helped at in the past) and we visited quite a while, and she asked if I could help on certain dates in the future. I'm looking forward to that as I LOVE being with little children! They're just so full of life and fun. :) Plus, her business is in her home, on a farm, so the environment is very homelike.

We ate a late supper and are now heading for bed as we're all pretty tired.

It was lovely outside today, though a bit crisp and Fall like. We're just praising the Lord for each nice day!