Little Boy Blue...Cast

Matthew seems to be doing pretty good this morning after all the excitement he has had.
He loved going down the slide with his siblings....until he stuck his foot out to the edge of the slide. Oh dear! He cried harder than I had ever heard him cry (I wanted to cry too) and he really favored his left leg. Basically no swelling though. It was Tuesday evening so we gave him motrin and somehow managed to get through the night.
We headed in to Flagstaff Wednesday and sure enough the x-rays confirmed a green stick buckle on both bones in his left leg. They said it is pretty rare for someone his age.

We had to go to yet another doctor to get a cast for him. He enjoyed being a clown and making faces at the doctors while they were discussing the fracture with us. It was amazing how much better he felt just having it stabilized.

We are not having to give him too much pain meds....he does pretty good. Except when he gets more active with playing then you can tell he is in more pain. They said he can put weight on it when he is comfortable with that.

Matthew, the day before

He was really good about it.

Happy to be back home I guess.

______________________________________________________________

I Seth, am going to show you two pics of lightning that i shot.

This is the best one.

( I think you can tell )

This one I shot in Kansas when we were driving.

It seems I’m finding less and less opportunities to update here. Summer is here and has been keeping us busy answering the door and feeding extra kids. Of course all of this brings more opportunities to touch lives……I have to admit there are days I just don’t have the desire to touch lives.  I’m realizing more and more how I really am nothing without God and I need to rely more on him to get me through each day. Trying to get it all done and be a light in the process is just not something I can do on my own. Am I living my life day to day moment by moment in such a way that it is obvious that I truly do have faith/trust in God? So it seems our days are filled to the brim and amidst that I find myself calling out to God for strength and wisdom for it all.

It has been so good the last 8 months or so to have a closer relationship with this Christian family here. To hear them share their heart. The reservations we have sensed from them have come down and we are openly fellowshipping.

A couple days after we got back from our travels we had a baptism here for the couple that moved to Kansas 1 ½ years ago. It has really been neat to watch them grow amidst their struggles.  It was the first time they had been back to visit since they left.

We had Hopi Camp Meetings here a few days later. We were pretty involved down there this year so we had a full 3 day weekend.

So far we have a flourishing garden this year. (just tomatoes :-) We’ve used our grey water for watering and this year we started using soap nuts for laundry detergent instead of my homemade laundry soap. Maybe I’ve been killing our plants all this time. The tomatoes are really growing and have fruit and blossoms. Yay! I need to get some shade cloth on them today though because the sun is getting too hot and I'm afraid I'll loose them.

It sounds like I need to get Matthew up, so I'll let Tara add pics.

Tara feeding deer

Matthew Chillin'

Matthew and Sharayah - At the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

Tara - petting goats with Cousin Bryn

Sharayah, hangin' out

                                                               Matthew with Cousin Aliya

Matthew with Cousins Leah and Ryan

Argggg!

The Miller Family!

The Dilemma

We're still here....just trying to keep up with life. The end of March we took a trip to Kansas to connect with the Hopi family there again and I feel like I"m still trying to get back into a routine. We enjoyed our time there, but it seemed short. After being there for about a week there, Matthew and I flew to Indiana for a couple of days to connect with my sisters and Mom. We enjoyed our time together, but it seemed so short to me. We flew back into Albuquerque and met up with the rest of the family as they were heading home from Kansas.

The Toews left a few hours after we returned from Kansas. They headed to PA for their son's wedding. They will be home in another week or two. Hopefully we will be able to keep all her greenhouse plants alive while they're gone. :{  Some days I wonder.

It's hard to believe school will be out in 4 weeks. If the summer is anything like this spring has been, we will have a full yard around here. Sometimes we just cook out with the kids that are here and they seem to appreciate getting a regular meal.

We still have sewing on Thursdays and I'm really enjoying all that I am learning from these elderly ladies. I've been learning about some of their recipes and I've been asking them about planting/growing things here on Hopi. That's the question every spring, "do we try to plant a garden here again?" We really thought we would have a garden this year, but the more we research about the soil type here and of course the lack of water, it just seems like too much. Then we keep thinking about chickens and a couple goats.....and that's the dilemma......gardening or farming? It sure would be nice to have fresh eggs and milk. Can we keep them from the predators here? We can get the vegetables started but the question is will they actually survive?

I think Matthew is thinking about skipping the crawling. :( He's nearly 9 months old and doesn't crawl, but has started pulling himself up on furniture. Not sure what he's thinking. I would really like him to crawl first. These days it seems our house is getting smaller all the time.As the kids are getting older it seems we have a harder time having any kind of private conversations with them when they're needing to talk. So far we haven't come up with any "real" solutions.

Well, the bus will be going any minute and I have a few things I need to finish up before the kids show up....til next time.

Bryce turned 16!

Matthew at 8 months.

Matthew's train made by Seth.

 Bird outside our window the other day.

Matthew with both Grandma's

Energy Savings

...I'm thinking and nothing happens...does that ever happen to anyone else when they're trying to post?!

I'm sooo ready for Spring--and fresh, home-grown produce. Our indoor lettuce didn't turn out as good as we hoped. Tomato plants are doing good, but we just have blossoms so far. I've been reading about the benefits of Purple Sweet Potatoes. Does anyone know where to buy them to plant? 

This Winter we have not needed to use our dryer much. We wash one or two loads every evening before bed. We then string up our clothes lines across the living room. They dry overnight near the wood stove. Then we get them folded and put away before breakfast at 7:30am. It's been nice not to have laundry to do during the day.

Matthew turned 7 months old yesterday. He also got his first tooth yesterday.

We were looking for ribbon for a sewing project, and Matthew decided that he LOVES ribbon!! He thought it was just the greatest thing! 

He wanted to read Nate Saint with Seth. 

This was back when he first started to eat solid food. And back when Sharayah first started feeding him solid food. The result was...a mess!

We have been really focusing on school, with a few sewing projects in between. It's been good to stay on track with that. It's hard to believe that in a few days Bryce will be 16 and have his licence before we know it. How time flies. 


Lately a Hopi family has been more involved with Bacavi Church again. We have been so blessed to have times of fellowship with them. God is truly working in their lives. A week and a half ago they were blessed with a baby boy. They have prayed for a son for many years. They have five girls. We are looking forward to Mathias and Matthew growing up together.


The ceremonies have started up again here in the villages. It seems there aren't as many children that are coming up, since the ceremonies have started. They tend to be pre-occupied with those.(they will start to come again as it warms up) The frequent times we had with them, prior to the ceremonies has been good though.....they have shared more of their heart with us. I was asked recently by a young girl, if we could adopt her. It is so sad. I know things have been rough in her home. So we continue to pray for hearts that are broken before God.....including ours, otherwise we cannot be a light to those around us.


Oh, I almost forgot. My recent test for cancer was negative again! PTL!

Post by Tara

Hi, this is Tara again. I will try to tell you what has been happening around here. Well, for one thing, I have been crocheting a lot.

Here are some things that I have been crocheting recently:

• A turtle for my friend's B-day.
• A Bird for another one of my friends
• and a cupcake for her sister.
• lots of flowers!

Here are some things that I want to crochet but I haven't started them yet:

• An angel at www.lionbrandyarn.com
• Some baby stuff
• A cute little panda bear that I found a pattern for
• Something for my friend, Aloma’s, Birthday (I still need to look around a bit)
• And, lots of other things that I’ve seen patterns for but since I haven’t finished the other things on my list yet…I guess they’ll have to wait!

Other things I have been doing include playing with kids around here, enjoying the warmth of these recent days, reading, and going on a very cold hike! Bryce suggested it first. He asked if Seth and I wanted to go. At first I didn’t think that I wanted to, but then I decided that it would probably be really fun, since I hadn’t gone down the donkey trail for a while. So, I went, and Seth did too. We soon realized that the trail was covered in snow most of the way because the trail went over a hill and the way we were going, (which was up) the snow hadn’t melted yet because the sun was on the other side. Anyways, I was wearing capris, and tennis shoes, and only a denim jacket, without pockets and I had no gloves or a hat or anything! Yeah…tell me it’s too cold…I figured that out the hard way already! So, by the time we got home, we were all cold, and hungry, and scratched up from the scratchy snow that was almost up to my knees, and it wasn’t the funnest hike that I had ever been on, but we still had a good time, and said things that were funny enough for the occasion, but…I doubt that you (or I) would laugh at them now. : P

And now, for the pictures!

We got lots of snow...but it is mostly all melted now.

Seth and Sharayah built a snowman!

Matthew is watching us knit

I crocheted a turtle
and a Hello Kitty!
These icicles were hooked onto our van, and when Dad drove it away... :)

Here's Maitlei!

And here she is again!
Matthew was looking at something--and then at the camera!

And, last but not least...My two favorite pictures of me with Matt!

This one is older, from September 2009, but I decided to put it on here anyways!

Well, thats all for now. Bye till next time!

Posted by: Tara C. M.

Indoor Gardening

Things are going pretty good around here. I focus on school in the morning and have one of the children make lunch. They have a schedule for their chores and have been doing a good job starting on them without reminders, so that has been a blessing.

We usually invite children in when they stop by and our house is often a bustle of activity after school and on weekends. Our little house can pack in quite a few active kids! It makes things busier for us, but it gives opportunities for them to see/experience a Christian home. I know we are not perfect as parents and have a long way to go, but pray that they see Jesus in their time here. Some of them are trying to move in with us.....

After failing at growing anything outside for 3 years in a row here, I've decided to attempt it indoors this winter, using our south facing windows. I've started with organic lettuce and heirloom tomatoes (we saved the tomato seeds from tomatoes we bought in town at the market). So far they seem to be doing well. And, it sounds like the guys are brainstorming on how we can move the operation into the neglected greenhouse here - if they can get the temperature control figured out in an affordable way. I gets too hot in summer, (needs better ventilation) It runs about 90 degrees when the days are only 40 to 50 outside, with windows open and fan running) Now I would be excited if we could make use of that greenhouse. There is just nothing like home grown produce.

I've been working on quiet books, one for Matthew and one for our friends in Kansas' daughter. It is more work than I anticipated but I enjoyed seeing it come together. I learned things I should have done differently as I worked on it, but I am pleased with the end result. (Matthew's is still in progress and I may wait to finish it for his first b-day) I used rings to bind it so it is possible to add pages as she grows. I was able to use the freezer paper painting for the cover, which turned out better than I expected.

Still need mini clothespins for this page.

Need to get a pencil for the yellow pocket.

You can open the doors and there are finger puppets inside.

Jim says that in small print at the bottom it should say "except for the velcro pages" :)

Matthew is going to need a different bed. He is starting to scoot around (mostly in circles) on his tummy and his small travel bed has floppy sides. He sleeps in the living room and it is amazing how well he sleeps through all the racket of school and everything else going on around him. He weighed in at 13#9oz at 5 months. Maybe this is over kill on Matthew pics but I didn't know where to stop. Too cute! :)

Arms and legs just wouldn't stop.

Getting tired.

What big eyes you have.