Did you know?

I've been living in a camper for 10 weeks. With my whole family. Yes, all nine of us in a camper.

It's been a long time.

BUT -- there is light at the end of the tunnel! Today I turned the faucet on, over at the new house, and hot water came out.

Hot water!

Hot water.

It was an awesome feeling. But hot water, though amazing and wonderful, is surpassed at this point by a desire for hot air as well.

By the end of today, the heating should be finished too. That will be the crowning moment and the signal for us to MOVE IN!

After that ... well, there's only the house wrap to finish, then the windows, the siding, the doors. Oh, and the basement, all 1600 square feet of it. And painting. And lighting. And floors.

This makes the third house we've lived in that required major changes. This third time has been the crowning climax, no doubt about it. We moved the house 25 miles down the road and set it on 5 acres outside the town we've lived in for 4 years. The process began in May (I think) when Mom and Dad bid on the house. Now it's a lot farther along. But there's still a lot to do.

It's fun. But it's sort of exhausting.

This picture wins.

I had an unofficial contest among the few pictures I got my hands on of my summer. This one brings back the funniest memories. A warm stormy night, 2 foot deep puddles, sliding down gravelly embankments (my legs became a network of scratches), getting hit on the head with a falling pipe. All those things that great memories are made of.

Raise your hand if you don't want summer to end.

My hand is high in the air.

Technically there are still over 30 days of summer left, I know. But as soon as I got back from SD, my 'outside time' went from all day, every day, down to evening walks if I'm on the ball. Now school is starting and work is picking up for the fall busy season and piano lessons are just about back to full school-year speed ... and I'm mentally protesting every other minute!

Just call me lazy. That's really what it is.

(... This is real life, Lizzy! For the rest of your life you'll be working when you don't want to ... For heaven's sakes get sort of used to it now, because in a few years you probably won't be able to contain your bitter laughter whenever someone mentions 'free time' or a 'relaxing summer' or 'vacation' ...)

Feels like home

This post is really messed up. Blogger doesn't have cut and paste, so all the text I wrote for the post is down at the bottom. The pictures are in no kind of order, and don't give a good idea of our time there, but I really wanted to show a few of the faces ... so hopefully you'll enjoy them as they are. :)

We had been doing really well at getting pictures of everything while were on the rez, but then the camera got stolen. So these are all from one of the church groups that was there. :)

If you have questions, ask them in a comment -- if there are a lot I will just make another post :)

This is Rod Vaughn - head honcho at Diamond Willow Ministries.

Jerica, building a pink castle


Chauncey, an older guy who comes out to the church a lot, watching a storm come in


Heading back from the river one afternoon (this is what pretty much all the afternoons looked like ...)


Joanna and Jusdene eating lunch

Ikce Oyate Christian Center

(pronounced Ik-chay Oy-ah-tay)

Some of the 'band of brothers' ... l to r, Big Aaron, Weston, back of Hunter's head, Theron

Winter is in white and Lauren's in red ... waiting to pray before lunch

Fatman, aka Roland :) Sunning himself by the river.

Big Tongue. She loves to swim and has long toenails which scratch deep when you wrestle with her in the water.



West side of the church -- you can see the river in the distance.

Goodness sakes. Do I ever miss my kids. There's a host of brown little faces running through my thoughts right now, and pretty much always, these days. Little Dena, my 'baby' and shadow, always on my lap or riding piggyback. ("Let me get on your back" ... when my whole back and neck are aching from chicken fights that day.) Her big sister Winter who is eight going on eighteen. Lauren and Jade, sisters, and best buddies with Winter and Dena, always happy and smiling. Roland, 'fatman' (who is anything but fat), never sitting still, always in trouble somehow, but adorable. Pearl with her gap-toothed grin. Cute little Mary and hopeful Shania and love-hungry Cubby and demanding Samantha and headstrong Taylor Jo. Joanna, who fell asleep on my lap one afternoon and gave me a peaceful half-hour looking at her long eyelashes. How to even start describing the 'band of brothers' -- Theron and Hunter and Malcolm and Little Aaron and Tim and Big Aaron -- so much like younger brothers that I'm pretty much homesick for them. We decided that boys around 13 have an additional love language (beside the usual 'Quality Time', 'Gifts', 'Words of Affirmation' etc.) and it is 'Ridicule and Torment' :) ("Shut up Liz, you're being so loud" (when I haven't said a word the past 5 minutes) ... "Here Liz, hold this snake for me (or this toad, or this beetle, or this bee) ... Gosh Liz you're such a girly-girl" ...) Max and Isaac, the 8 year old inseparable brothers, with their big grins and mohawks. Shane and Robert and Wyatt and Weston, always teasing and joking around, but starting to show evidence of Christ's work in their lives. Beautiful sweet Jericha who now has my pink Huskers T-shirt and who gave me a pink plastic heart mirror to remember her by ("Do you have to leave?")

And of course, Cricket and Joe, the other two youth workers. Laura and I lived in a camper with Cricket and we called ourselves CL2. There are just too many inside jokes and fun memories to write down. How we bought 2 goldfish on our first day off together, and then they both died within a week. ("Sad day!") Big Aaron dancing while we blew bubbles for special effect. ("Starts in my toes, makes me crinkle my nose ...") Our trip down to the river on a comparatively quiet Sunday afternoon, deciding 'to lay out', only to have our peace and quiet spoiled by the 'band of brothers' splashing and Big Tongue the dog shaking sand all over us. SpongeBob Squarepants and Ice Age. Camping in Mitchell on our next day off, and roughing it so, with WiFi at the KOA and a deluxe shower house and Walmart 5 minutes away. Sliding in the mud and foot-deep rain puddles on a stormy evening, and getting hit on the head by a falling pipe.

And working. So many different jobs and projects. Making personalized mailboxes for all the phone messages for different Diamond Willow personnel. Cleaning, peeling, and braiding wild turnips. Sorting donations for the clothes rummage. Helping in the food pantry. Cleaning. Loading boxes into trailers. Doing dishes. Pulling out fence. Playing piano Sunday morning. Teaching preschoolers Sunday School. Organizing 'girl's night'. Grocery shopping. Endless picking up and taking home of kids. Endless pushing kids on swings and playing house ("You be the mom. --- Hey, Mom, let's pretend it's my birthday and you're giving me a party ... Hey Mom, what was my name again?") Making meals. Planning meals. Cleaning up yet again after all the kids have gone home.

Always watching and waiting for opportunities to talk deeper with the kids. Praying that they won't just see you as a fun person whom they can get piggyback rides from and plans fun activities and gives out free stuff. Listening while Wyatt vents about his mom's drug selling, his lonely abused childhood, his anger problems, and praying for him with a whole heart. Bearing with the ones who act up endlessly to get attention ... the ones who run off, hide, won't eat, won't participate, lie and sometimes steal. Trying to be patient while playing a never ending game of UNO or liar, or coloring ("Color with me. What picture should I color? What color should I use? Why can't I use markers? I want you to help me.") Praying for the kids as you drop them off and see the homes they are going into, the people around them. ("Oh Lord God, please protect them ... I think their grandma is drunk.") Dreading to leave as the halfway point is reached and departure day comes faster and faster. ("Why do you have to go away? Why don't you just live here?")

Thank you, Lord, for this last month. It was a blessing and a learning experience.

(And last but not least, we visited my friend Lavonne, who had the unusual experience of becoming engaged while we were there! So the last 2 days were distinctly tinged with wedding planning ... :)

'Tea' by the river ... Dena and Winter

My baby Dena with wet hair after swimming. Odds are, right after I took this, she said 'Let me get on your back'. ;)

Shane with one of the many little toads hopping around. Right after a water fight, apparently.

A sweet smile from Mary.

My next 3 weeks

I'm going back to the reservation!

I can hardly wait. If you're the longsuffering type, you might want to read about last year's adventures there. It's in last summers archives somewhere and I don't have the time to find it and link to it :)

So, this Sunday the 14th I'm driving up to Atkinson to pick up Laura at CYIA and then we'll go on to the rez from there. It'll be different this time around, I'm sure. There will be new people and things aren't going to be 'just the same' as last time -- which is hard because in the back of my mind I'm wanting it to be 'just the same' as last summer's awesomeness. But I need to remember now, as always, that it's not me I should be focusing on.

If I am reminded I may remember to put up a picture post. How long has it been since I've done one of those ... I have no idea. It must be about time.

The last couple days before leaving are full of laundry, tying up loose ends, buying last-minute necessities and frantically making lists and notes so I don't forget anything that I will regret later. Pray for me. I need to not focus on myself.

Hey pretty baby

Look who's here.

You see me above, doing one of my favorite things. :) She'd been asleep about 10 seconds before her mama took the picture. Look at her sleepy eyes and pink cheeks. :)

I really think I should post

I have been waiting and waiting for summer. My longing has only intensified through several false springs. Today I really and truly believe that I can safely put away my fuzzies and blue sleeper (don't laugh, please, I really do have a sleeper -- with feet), never to be used again till at least December.

I need to have a project. Not a huge one, but big enough that I have to work at it for a while. I think I'm going to finally get back going on those Bible based short stories I talked about a long time ago. I can't decide which one to do first. I've made several starts on Paul's nephew, but I just can't make headway.

I am trying to reconstruct my throwing motion when I play around with my brother. He says I try to throw a curveball every time and my elbow is pinned to my ribs. All I know is that the ball goes curving high in the air but doesn't go very far. You know, I love watching baseball and everything, but the mechanics and science of sports always kind of slip past me. So I'll let you know how it goes.

My dad had emergency retinal surgery early this month. It was kind of scary/surprising but it has been a testimony of the Lord's working for my family. Thanks to all of you who knew about it and prayed. The surgeon said he could tell all the prayers had worked. And as of yesterday Dad is back at work, so that's just awesome.

One of the more enjoyable things that came out of the whole surgery/recovery process was that I got to read aloud to Dad a little. I love reading aloud. Especially Louis L'Amour, Dickens and James Herriot. :)

I can't decide whether I like butterscotch chips, or love them. Semi-sweet chocolate chips are the best, of course, but I really like butterscotch too. I really love chocolate; I can't decide if I love butterscotch, or just really like it. (In descending order, my scale of approval goes: adore, really love, love, really like, like, tolerate, dislike, really dislike, abhor.)

How do you feel about butterscotch?