Category Archives: Addyson May

Family Colors

Early on Tuesday Laura started a text with our family members asking us to show our Sounders Colors. We texted her back our shots of support and she made the collage. When it comes to sports we are a Sounders Soccer Family. And right now David (Sounders) beat Goliath (LAFC) 3-1 on their home field. Our boys are going to the MLS Cup Final on November 10th against either Atlanta or Toronto. Those two teams play each other tomorrow night. It was fun sending texts back and forth during the game. It will be a while before I can fall asleep now…

…So I’ll add some fun things that more people can relate to in this post.

Speaking of colors Jamie and the kids were able to enjoy some color and leaves before the weather turned on us.

How cute are they covered in leaves!? Maple Trees are the best for an abundance of leaves. This was how the day was going before we had that freak snowfall on Monday the 28th of October. All the snow is gone and temps are still cold but we are on a slight warming trend.

Fresh apples off the tree before the bear eats them all. Yep, our kids have had a bear visiting their property. Hopefully he’ll go find a place to hibernate soon.

Do you have any wild animals that visit your property?

Six Months

While we were in California Jaymison Joshua reached his 6 month landmark.

He was able to enjoy some slimy solid food for the first time and despite the look on his face he thoroughly enjoyed it. He has graduated to the high chair which means Addy will now enjoy a booster seat at the table.

He’s also reached that 6 month classic separation anxiety stage when he can’t see his mommy. Crawling is beginning and life at our kids’ home will be getting more exciting with each new skilled learned.

We had some beautiful sunset views on our way to Kettle Falls on Friday evening. A blustery storm blew through earlier in the afternoon leaving us with these great clouds.

Hope the last weekend in October is a good one for you all.

The Hunters and the Bakers

While the male folk were out hunting the woman folk decided to tackle a Great British Bake Off Cookbook recipe. Jamie came up with the idea and besides Sticky Toffee Pudding we decided on the Plaited Rich Saffron Loaf.

 

Katie pulled off a portion of the dough for Addy. Addy watched Katie knead the dough and she mimicked well.

They plaited Addy’s little loaf, too.

The guys were home from hunting early on this day since they were not successful in coming across any deer sightings.

While the dough was rising Laura and Katie enjoyed a walk outside with Addy.

Addy and JJ enjoyed their quality Uncle and Auntie time.

Gramps and Baba were in on the action, too.

 

The bread was delicious although we didn’t necessarily detect the saffron. We enjoyed the bread with a pot of Borcsh (borsht) and sour cream.

Katie and Andrew had to leave after the bread was ready so we took our 3rd Annual Family Hunting photo as we said our goodbyes.

On Tuesday Dear and I flew to California and Dan and Josh went out for another day of hunting and were successful in getting a buck in their sights. Look away if hunting is not your thing…

The deer was dropped off at a local butcher for processing and packaging. The head and antlers were dropped off at the taxidermist.

The guys were home and showered by dinner. A good hunting day for them.

A side note about hunting: We live in the 2nd poorest county in the state of Washington and many of the people in our county depend on meat they garner from hunting to fill their freezers and to sustain themselves and their families.

Psalm 8 (ESV)

O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

The Patch 2019

As we finished up at the Maze and Patch the rain started to gently fall. We patted ourselves on the back for coming early and leaving before the crowds arrived and the rain came down. We headed home for sandwiches and it didn’t take long for the guys to come home from hunting because of the rain. Naps were in order for the grands and some of the guys, too.

I’ll leave you a verse from God’s Word, The Bible, and a prayer from Spurgeon inspired from this verse:

Thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever. (2 Samuel 7:29)

…Lord, we cannot doubt thee: we are persuaded that every word of thine is a sure foundation for the boldest expectation. We come to thee and say, ‘Do as thou has said,’ Bless thy servants’ house. Heal our sick; save our hesitating ones; restore those who wander; confirm those who live in thy fear. Lord, give us food and raiment according to thy word. Prosper our undertakings; especially succeed our endeavours to make known thy gospel in our neighborhood. Make our children thy children. Let thy blessing flow out to future generations, and as long as any of our race remains on earth may they remain true to thee. O Lord God ‘let the house of thy servant be blessed.’

Corn Maze and Pumpkins

So much has happened in 7 days and I’ll start a little catch-up by going back to last Sunday and our time at the local Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch. While the guys were hunting the gals and JJ made a visit to the Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch. Lots of photos and few words. Did I mention…lots of photos?! I’ll start with the Corn Maze and then add another post about the Pumpkin Patch.

Katie is the best maze navigator and Addy was interested in hearing her instructions as to where we should go.

We stopped at each marker we found and put up the appropriate number of fingers.

 

Along the way in the maze they gave you easy ways to exit if you needed an easy out.

We made it to station #8 and at this point Addy wanted to be carried which made it a little more difficult to soldier on so we took the next Easy Out we spotted and headed to the Pumpkin Patch.

JJ was content and contemplative about the whole experience.

We are making a slow transition back to life as normal after our trip to California for the amazing conference we attended. I hope to catch up with all your blogs early this new week. As happens frequently when traveling, we are experiencing an attack on our health from being confined in airplanes and rooms with many people who are spreading their germs and illnesses with the rest of humanity.

Hope the tornado warnings in the Dallas area were without injury to anyone. We were happy to hear our family members were okay and got the all clear. Praying October ends well for y’all.

Smiles and Stunts!

It’s not hard to get our little JJ smiling.

I popped over to the gymnastics gym to watch Addy in her class and was able to get some closeups of JJ.

Jaymison Joshua will be 6 months old on October 16th.

Parents and Grandparents can’t go beyond a certain point so I had to make use of some of the mirrors behind the warm up area to get photos of Addy on equipment that was out of sight.

She doesn’t hold back and seems fearless with exercise.

I have to admit that it made me nervous watching her climb up the ladder. When they get to the top they ring a bell.

We have a busy weekend ahead and we are so looking forward to having all of our people on this side of the mountains. A large pork shoulder is smoking on the Traeger for dinner tonight. It’s been smoking since 5 AM.

Our Canadian neighbors are moving into their Thanksgiving weekend. Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, here are some stanzas from some hymns that turn my eyes to what I’m so thankful for and hope for…

From Fairest Lord Jesus;

All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.

From Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts;

O Jesus, ever with us stay,
Make all our moments calm and bright;
Chase the dark night of sin away,
Shed over the world Thy holy light.

From What is the World to Me?;

The World is like a cloud
And like a vapor fleeting,
A shadow that declines,
Swift to its end retreating
My Jesus doth abide,
Though all things fade and flee;
My everlasting Rock-
What is the world to me?

Singing in the Rain

When Addy was here on Monday it started raining in the afternoon. She started asking if I had an umbrella for her. I wish I would have recorded her saying umbrella. It was something like umbuella or umbebella. So darn cute. When we went to the garage and found this one she wondered if I had something smaller for her. Sadly no but she managed to navigate with the big one.

JJ and mommy watched Addy and the progress on the shop from under cover.

We were hoping for another dry day today but alas it is raining. Dear will have to navigate the last 4 huge beams into their holes in the rain and then hope to get the concrete delivered tomorrow morning during a dry period, if possible.

And, in other news, our kids have spotted a bear on their property and lots of evidence that the bear is enjoying the apples from their apple tree. It also tried to get into one of their out buildings. YIKES! Just another day in the country… Thankfully this is the largest wild animal we have seen on our property. She was really staring us down as if she owned the property and wondered what we were doing on it. We were behind the slider.

Gleaned from my morning readings from Piper this time, Life As A Vapor:

Don’t be duped by the gurus of the age. 

One enslaving fad follows another.

The wisdom of this age is folly in view of eternity.

Don’t follow a defeated foe. Follow Christ. It is costly. You will be an exile in this age. But you will be free.

Happy Fall Y’all

The photo above was taken last fall.

We are beginning to see some colors changing this year.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons and I’m looking forward to see what it brings our way.

Monday morning, machinery is being delivered here so that Dear and our son can auger holes to set all the posts to support the shop.

Later this week the concrete will be delivered to pour into the holes. We are hoping the weather cooperates for the hardening process. We were a little surprised to see a snowflake in the weather predictions for next Sunday. Yikes.

Before September slips away here is a poem by John Updike…
“The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.”
–   John Updike, September

Girls Day Out…

We had a girls outing to Junk Drunk at the Ag Center in Colville on Saturday morning and JJ was our bodyguard.

He was a little trooper in his daddy’s sweat suit from 1981!

Addy had her mommy, granny, granny great, auntie and baba to watch over her.

She was wondering where the animals were since she was at this location (the fair grounds) just a couple weeks ago to see all the fair animals.

We took the obligatory selfie to document everyone at our outing and then stopped to take a few more photos at the sunflower patch.

 

We ended our time together with lunch out. Addy was a great little conversationalist, asking each of us the question, “where is your mommy?” When we told her where our mommy was she asked, “what is she doing?” I told her my mommy was in heaven with Jesus and she was probably singing. Jaymison slept through lunch.

Our weather has been wet and promises to continue in a wet pattern. I won’t have to water this week and might not need to water again until next Spring.

Another quote from Spurgeon…

Vicarious Enjoyment

Way back in our kids’ high school years I expressed to our kids the fact that I wanted our grandchildren to love Jesus. That was the desire of my heart. This was before grandchildren were on the horizon and before our kids were married. That is still the desire of my heart that our children and our children’s children would love Jesus and that He would direct their paths.

I’m so thankful to God that all our kids are on a path that He is directing and I continue to pray for their sanctification. I pray that God will have mercy on our grandchildren and that they would be born again into God’s family through the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross on their behalf.

This past weekend it has made my heart glad that all of our children have enjoyed time together. Our Eastern Washington kids flew to Seattle to spend time with our Coast kids. They all enjoyed time with my baby sister and her hubby, too. We were not a part in person with these celebrations but we were a part in heart with this wonderful time that they had. None of these photos are mine but they made me glad and I am happy to share them.

Friday

 

One of the playgrounds in Josh and Laura’s neighborhood.

 

Saturday

Josh and Laura’s home.

Sunday

We thank God for each one of these precious kids and grands that He has blessed us with.

Brunch at Palisade on Elliott Bay in Seattle.

Thanks to our DIL Laura who always makes sure these wonderful moments are documented.

Our Eastern Washington kids will be flying home on Monday and their furry family member will be happy to see them.

Monday is Dear’s birthday which we celebrated on Friday in Idaho with a great meal of lamb at a Greek restaurant. On his day I will come up with a nice breakfast, too, to celebrate his #66.

Have a good week y’all. We have a busy one ahead. If you don’t hear from me during the week I’ll try and catch up on the weekend.