Day #14~

Today, I am so very thankful for the talents that the Lord has placed in each and every one of us! May we know how to use them for His glory!

This evening, my mom, Andrew and I made the 60 mile journey to Bismarck to watch and listen to a group of talented actors and singers from Chicago who put on the play, "Fiddler on the Roof"! It was SOOOOOOOO good!!!!!!!!! I will remember it for ever, if my memory holds out that long. :)

There were so many "Favorite" songs to listen too:

"Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset, swiftly flow the days,
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,
Blossoming even as we gaze......."


"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match!
Find me a find, catch me a catch.
Night after night in the dark I'm alone,
So find me a match of my own......."

"Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older,
When did they???".......


The choreography was terrific and all the twirly, long skirts were so cute.... Tevye was an especially interesting character and the actor quickly endeared himself to the audience. It was a wonderful evening!

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There was something that took place earlier in the day too though that I'm very grateful for---that being that my brother, Jacob passed his driving test and now sports a brand new drivers' license. :) "Congratulations, Jacob Austin!" Now, just watch out for those deer!


Let's just say it's been a great day!

My folks went to "Big sky country"...

Yep... They did.

Dad spent the morning cleaning grain for a farmer South of us a ways. Andrew worked out of doors as well, but Mom, Jacob and I were busy packing clothing, food, water and various other supplies for our parents' trip to Missoula, Montana. Mother is attending a class about improving animals' health and Dad is going to do some sightseeing and mainly went along so Mom didn't have to drive all that way (we figure it will be a 12-13 hour journey.) They will be able to spend some time together too, when the class is not going on, so may do

They went West into Montana just a little bit and then went North to visit my moms' brother, Russell and his wife and to spend the night there. We've never seen their home, so I'm glad they were able to go, and I'm sure Aunt LV cooked up a delicious meal---perhaps Filipino even, as she grew up in the Philippines. The hard part for Mother though is that she's still on the master cleanse, which means NO FOOD! (Praying for you, Mom!) They will make the rest of their long journey to Missoula tomorrow. The class ends on Sunday at 6:00, and Dad wants to head home yet that night, so hopefully he'll sleep in that morning! They should have some time together in between class times, so hopefully they'll be able to get out in the country a bit to explore a piece of God's very beautiful country! (Just look out for the bears and rattle snakes!)

Meanwhile, back at the farm, we 3 are left in charge of things.

I had to work in town again, but the boys baled and stacked hay for most of the day. Andrew had received a phone call about a big grain cleaning job that needed doing, so he thought he might work on that now, but then after talking to the farmer some more, it was decided to wait until Monday to start that project. I'm glad, because now we'll (my brothers and I) all be home together----working, yes, I'm sure, but together.

Off to dreamland,

~Cora

Adventures of the day, and the last pictures from my trip...

The boys and I went outside this afternoon to have some fun in the winter-weather. While out, I took this picture of our building project:
The boys have found a fun way to "Sled" and wanted me to try it too. I fell off twice; pulled Andrew around for a while; then let the boys have their noisy and wild fun while I took pictures....

"Run faster, Millie!"

Oh what fun it is to ride on a one-track open sleigh....sleigh?

Jacob didn't stay on all the time either! ;)

And here's a short video I took of my brothers...

And now, for the rest of my vacation pictures!

Sunday morning, we all got up early and ate a hurried breakfast and got ready for church. Dorena wanted to go early so as to be able to practice a violin song she and Katie (her sister) and the pastor's daughter were playing during the service.

After Bible study and the main service were finished, everyone shared a potluck meal in the church basement. What was really neat was that, the lady sitting kitty-corner from me had baked the cake for the churches' anniversary, so she and I got talking about cakes a bit and pretty soon we put two and two together and realized that we took the exact same cake decorating class 2 years ago!!! :) How funny is that?

After the meal was over, the baskets got distributed between everyone--by way of playing a game about the churches' history. I picked a basket we'd put together the night before, so as to see if our muffins and cookies were any good. :)

After filling gas in Lemmon, we all headed out to Mr. and Mrs. Wiechmanns' place---the place where Dorena grew up.

Just so you know, if you ever want to visit them, you just go on this long, curvy driveway....

...for about 6 miles and then you'll be at their ranch. :)

It was time to start supper when we got to our final destination. Here's Katie (Dorena's sister) cooking up some something good...

Of course, we had to have some group pictures!

(Left to right: Miranda, Bethany G., Mara, Dorena, myself, and Mrs. Wiechmann)

After supper was over, it was time to sing happy birthday to the special birthday girl. Here Dorena had just opened up the present from my mom: a wall calendar with the Psalms on each month. Isn't her hair cute? Her dad did it himself! :)

After watching a neat movie called, "The note" all together in the living room, and after visiting and giggling a lot, Miranda, Dorena and I climbed up in the loft and got a good nights sleep--after some more giggling of course!

The next morning, after devotions, breakfast, and etc...., Miranda and I made the decision to head home, as the weatherman was predicting a lot more snow to come down the following day. We were kind of hoping we'd get snowed in so that we'd have to stay the winter, but that didn't happen. :)

Before leaving though, I asked Dorena for a quick tour of the farm. Mike, a friend of the Wiechmanns who was visiting at the time too, took some pictures for us. :)

~Good friends~

We figured out that Dorena and I've known each other for about 12 years and Miranda and I've been friends for about 8. What fun to all be together!

Little house on the prairie:

This picture was taken over in front of the bunk-house---where the Wiechmann young men used to stay before they were married. It now gets used as a guest house and/or for storage.

One more picture in front of the cute bunk-house--this time with Justy too and Bates (the dog) posing, kind of...

Next, we went to see...

...the chicken coop. :)

Beyond the coop was the pen that held the British White bulls. We walked through their pen to get to the horses...

I believe the brown horses' name was Kind Eyes, but I can't think of the other horses' name...

And this horse's name is DAWN! Dorena offered to take a picture of Dawn and I together so I could show my mom when I got home. :)

Oh, and here is their milk cow...

Right around noon, we made ourselves say "Goodbye". :(

What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful time we had, a trip to remember always...

As we went back through Lemmon, Miranda tried getting a picture of this really neat sign that's made out of petrified wood, but I was driving while she was taking it, so this is what we got: :)

This wood is only a small sampling of what is in the park just down the street a little ways!

The Wiechmann's friend, Mike, traveled ahead of us for about an hour of our journey, so it was nice to not be all alone on the snowy roads. After about 3 hours of driving, we arrived in our neck of the woods once more. We picked up Molly in town, got some cookie supplies at the grocery store, and then headed out to the Geiger's house. I got to help them decorate about 20 dozen cookies that evening! It actually went faster than I thought it would, thanks to the many hands working together to get the job done. When Mr. Geiger got home from work, we ate a very tasty supper then cleaned up the kitchen quickly and had a time of family Bible reading and prayer. The girls and I stayed up then 'til about midnight, watching "Mrs. Miracle"---a great movie that the G. family had just rented and watched the night before.

The following morning, Miranda and some of her sisters had to get up early and go into town to work, so, seeing as I slept in a bit, I missed telling them goodbye. (Goodbye girls!) I helped the boys with some dishes and a little laundry, played a game with them and Jubilee, then gave Mikayla a hug and headed for home.

I met my folks in Steele, as they were heading for Bismarck, so we exchanged quick hugs and then I went home and got ready for work in town and, after the noon meal, left for work right away. Needless to say, I was pretty tired by the time that night was over, as I'm sure Miranda was too!

Speaking of being tired, I'm tired now and should probably get some sleep...

I hope you enjoyed reading about my/our vacation and seeing it in pictures.~

Last Saturday...

We girls woke up early to get the lasagnas prepared and the breakfast eaten quickly, so we could head out in the old pickup truck to round up the cows. It was "Preg. checkin' time" at the grandparents' place. After getting all the cows in, then sorting a few off to sell, the guys (Ethan, Justy, and a neighbor) had things under control, so we ladies went back inside where it was warm and baked an apple pie--with lots of cinnamon... ...and looked at pictures from Ethan & Katie's wedding.

The guys finished with the cows around 12:30 and then we shared a nice warm meal together. After kitchen clean-up was over, and after more visiting, Dorena, Miranda and I headed for Hettinger. First we stopped where Dorena works as an EMT and got some pictures. :)

...Inside an ambulance: (Just in case, like me, you've never had to see the inside of one of these before.)

This is Dorena's little home away from home--her room at the station. It's very cozy and cute! Next we stopped and bought some groceries, mainly things on "Grandma's" list, but amongst them being supplies for a special church project... Dorena's church was celebrating their 101st anniversary and they were hosting a basket exchange. Dorena had told her mama that we'd take care of the baskets for several family members---the total when added together being 16.

Soooooooooo, after buying some hot chocolate packages; granola bars; and muffin mixes at the store, we headed over to the local thrift store to look for some baskets. After quite a search, we found 16 baskets that we all liked and the purchase was made.

After fueling up at the gas station, we headed out to Ben and Ruth's farm.

(Below: White Butte in the fog...) We arrived there around 5:00 and spent the next 5 or so hours very delightfully---mixing up pancake batter; baking a BUNCH of carrot cake in the wood stove; shaking several quarts of cream in a 2 gallon bucket until it turned into butter; making cheese; making a different kind of lasagna; playing with the children; visiting; holding the baby; doing the dishes; sharing a meal; and listening to Ben play his accordion.

Ruth and the newest member of their family, little Hannah...

Miranda and sweet Rosemary... (We thought it was so cute when Rosemary said that she had 3 aunties there, meaning Dorena, Miranda, and myself!)

Ben, Ruth and Dorena practicing to sing in the choir the following day...

We finally tore ourselves away and headed back to the grandparent's place, so as to get the muffins and cookies baked for putting in the baskets for church the following morning.

In between batches, we took our showers and then watched "No Greater Love". By the time this picture was taken, it was quite late in the day and we were feeling rather silly!

Just look at all those empty baskets!

Dorena cut out little hearts and wrote Bible verses on them, then taped the hearts to the hot chocolate packages...

"Hmmmm.... Maybe there's hope of getting these filled before morning?"

At long last, we were finished. It was 2:30AM and we were tired, but happy.

The next morning came way too quickly, but I'll tell about that another day.~

Our first day in SD, continued...

Upon arrival at Dorena's grandparents' place (where she frequently stays) around 11:00AM on Friday, we were greeted by sunny smiles from our much loved friend. After many hugs and laughs, and then a few introductions, we sat down to a meal of fried chicken, salad, and lemon meringue pie--eating with the grandparents and Ethan and his new bride, Katie. After kitchen clean-up duties were through, and the potato soup was on the stove boiling, Dorena called around to her married siblings that live nearby to find out if we could visit any of them. We ended up going to visit Luke & Amber and their little ones in the later part of the afternoon...

Here's Dorena with her adorable niece, Lucille:

Amos, reading his book (his mama, Amber is on the left and Katie is on the right side of the couch.)

Miranda and I were able to hold the cuties for just enough time to snap a few pictures before they were off and running again...

One happy biscuit boy!

We visited with Amber for over an hour and then Luke came home from fencing, so we visited a little while more before heading for the neighborhood community volleyball game, held in a big building that was right out in the middle of nowhere it seemed. We played several games of volleyball, then ate a potluck meal and had a Bible study. I didn't get more than this picture while there, as I was too busy doing what I was supposed to be doing: playing ball and eating and studying...

When we returned to the grandparents' place, Ethan invited us girls over to their place for ice cream. (Sorry, no pictures of that either. We were too busy giggling...) Even though it was after 11:00, we headed over there very willingly. Several spoonfuls later, around midnight, we girls (including Ethan's Katie) went over to the grandparents' house and watched "The Inheritance". Oh, and the picture below is of when I gave Dorena her birthday gift from me... (The cake was a present as well. :) )

(Below: Miranda--in the tipsy chair; Dorena--cozied up on the couch; Katie--looking on.)

It got to be a late night, but not quite as late as the next night.............

~To be continued~

Home, sweet home...

Miranda and I had a VERY wonderful, fun, inspiring, enjoyable time with the Wiechmann family and I don't know quite where to begin with the telling of our tale... Perhaps I'll start at the very beginning!

In the beginning,

I packed my bags...


...and proceeded to drive to Bismarck...
...where I picked up my friend, Miranda, who also had her luggage ready to go...

...down south of Lemmon, SD...

...to visit this dear birthday girl:

(Dorena---My friend of half a lifetime!)

I have many pictures to share, but due to a great lack of sleep while away and to the fact that I just got home from my vacation today at 11:00 and then had to change clothes, eat, and head for work in town, I am pretty tired and will continue with the pictures as I've got time.

Even though we enjoyed our time away so greatly, it is still so nice to be back home again! I love my home, sweet home.