Day 2 - Dufur Adventures!

We arrived after dark.  Dwight, Chad (Dwight's brother - for those who don't know) and a couple of his 11 wonderful helpers emptied our trailer, set up our tent, found some comfy bed mats, and got the trailer set up as sleeping quarters for Dwight and I and Vienna.  It was quite cozy and comfortable - albeit FREEZING! :-)  All things considered, we fared quite well under the bright moon and crisp temperatures and found everything covered in frost the next morning.  Ahhhh .... I CAN be a pioneer. :-)

Chad, in his exuberant spontaneity, took several of the children on an early morning run in the Dalles. Everyone put on the NEW Bend Soap t-shirts (soon to be available for purchase) and ran their little legs off!  Nothing like an impromptu 5k to start off the day!

The sun came out and the day turned out to be BEAUTIFUL -- warm and picturesque!!  The blossoms were out and as I was capturing God's beauty, a hummingbird decided he wanted to be photographed as well. :-)  Jenise says these blossoms stay for only about 4 days - so the timing of our visit was impeccable.

Time to prep for the party!  In a busy, but amazingly orderly Jenise fashion, jobs were assigned and prep done by 11am for the noon party.  The menu:  Soup and salad - 4 salads, that is.  Complete with homemade ranch dressing and Garlic Pesto Cheese bread for a side.  Mmmmm....

Uncle Dwight got babysitting duty of all 7 of our children, as well as some of C&J's.  He ROCKS!  Lunch, naps, changing diapers, preserving lives ... And what else do you suppose they did?? 

  Why ... go snake-hunting, of course! 

I'm told they found 4 snakes!  You good little hunters!  The dead-eyes in the group killed 3, but left the last for re-population purposes. :-) 

And yes, that is my little girl with a snake!  It was bound to happen, with her wild Daddy and 6 older brothers.  Fortunately, it's dead -- though I wouldn't plan on it for next time.

And another highlight ... the ROPE SWING! Swinging out far over the hillside, these guys had a blast ... and an adrenaline rush.

After the rest of our delightful time, Karaline's fabulous party, a bunch of cleanup, and a BBQ dinner, we journeyed on to our next stop ... the COAST!  It was hard to leave, being that it's one of our FAVORITE places to be (mostly because of the people!). But, one cannot outstay one's welcome ... and we had another adventure ahead of us.

Family Vacation - Part 1

LaPine State Park - Deschutes River

Well, the Johnsons have flown the coop ... lifted off ... left the building ... !!!!  Bye-bye junipers!  Might I just say that I severely underestimated the amount of work and energy required in getting this family of 9 out the door.  :-)  After much prep, packing, more prep, finishing projects (Dwight's house), checking on the goats, packing, helping with a Bend Soap tour, and final prepping, we finally left.  We were a day later than we had planned, but oh well.  We had nowhere to go, so ....

Day 1 -- Ty's Pool party and LaPine State Park
Our first day was mostly spontaneous. With all the boys in their matching orange "traveling clothes" (as I've come to call them), we ate breakfast out and then headed to the Juniper Swimming Pool (couldn't they name it something else?).  Ty had been planning on going here for his birthday - which we had postponed until we were free to enjoy.  It was WONDERFUL!  What a great way to start out -- relaxing and enjoying the children playing.  Wyatt and Vienna were sketchy at first, but became totally comfortable by the end.  They absolutely loved going down the slide.  The 5 others were rock solid and loved the warm 3' deep water.  It's the closest thing to Hawaii we have 'round here. :-)

Next stop:  Visiting our southern neighbor towns.  We made a quick stop in Sun River for a possible bike ride, but decided to keep going to La Pine State Park to camp out and rest.  We all (that is, Daddy, Mama, and the 3 littlest) needed a major nap after all our trip prep.  Phew!  There's no rest for the weary though.  I tried to get Vienna, Wyatt and Quint to nap, while Dwight took the 4 oldest (who were not tired AT ALL!) down a trail that led right to the beautiful Deschutes River.  They were all glad they went.

Apparently there was a rope swing there!  They all took turns swinging far out across the water.

There was "cliff-jumping"...

... and rock-skipping

We ended up not staying there after-all, but heading North instead to Dufur - to camp out at Chad & Jenise's.  The boys were practically in 7th heaven - getting to see their cousins.

Renewing Mama ... Above Rubies Retreat

Girls -- this is for you ...

I have to admit ... I'd reached a sort of "bottom."  With all that I have been blessed with, I still got overwhelmed, discouraged, filled with a hopelessness, and a wee bit upset at the lack of victory in my life.   The steady busy-ness of life, filling each day with the never-ending tasks of ... waking up! OK, that's a big deal sometimes. :-)  Actually, all the busy home-making responsibilities coupled with child-rearing, making a marriage, business needs, pregnancy, etc.  I tend to just push through, push through and push through -- until I finally burn out.

The realization of where I had gotten to finally hit me!  I could never get on top of the pile in front of me.  I could never get ahead of the snowball that kept barreling in front of me.  I would just be like a gerbil on a treadmill ... striving, striving, yet never getting anywhere.  Life felt hopeless.  My relationship with my children felt strained, angry, and hopeless as well.  Dwight and I were doing good for the moment (thank you, Lord!).  Business stuff always seemed to creep in and steal my resolve to be more focused on the homefront.  What was the solution???  I'm a strong, capable, skilled woman.  I can do this!  Just keep striving?

But how?  I've tried so many things.  For the past 2 years, I feel like I've been "trying" different methods of resolution.  Implementing various "tricks" or "bits of wisdom" from other moms.  Try this schedule, try this way of coping, try this way of communicating, try this way of disciplining, try to NOT try, try harder, try, try, try...

It was official!  All my trying had not resolved 1 single thing, but had in fact turned me into a more frantic, frustrated, weary, and helpless mother who desperately wanted things to be in her control or else she would go stark raving MAD.  I was a failure on all fronts. Every "solution" that I tried to implement that didn't work was added to my list of failures.  A failure as a mother, a failure as a home-maker, a failure as a child of God, a failure as a companion for my husband ( for who wants to be around a depressed wife?), a failure as a friend.

I was at the bottom.  This low I'd never felt before was surrounding me and convincing me that there was no way out.  My face lost it's color and my body lost it's vigor and I felt exhausted and weak.  Tears consumed me and a depression was beginning to set in as I convinced myself that things were hopeless.

As would be my usual course of action, I wanted to turn to the Lord.   But I had become upset with Him, too.  I felt like He had abandoned me.  I was supposed to be able to handle what was before me (so I thought), but I literally could not.  How could I encourage other younger mothers, when I was floundering myself?  How could I encourage my children to trust the Lord?  What was the point?  You could try, but ...

I am so thankful that the Lord does not give up on us - even when we give up on Him.  Slowly and patiently, like He's done so many times, He renewed my mind first, my heart, and my spirit.  One Sunday meeting, while I was in the other room with my noisy little toddler, I picked up a children's version of Hind's Feet in High Places.  As I began to read this book over the next few days, I was reminded of the journey that the Lord has us on ... a journey full of trials and challenges. A journey we embark on, and have to learn to trust God.  For our own good, we go through the fire, so that we may be purified and our faith made as pure gold.  We learn the valuable lessons of "Acceptance with Joy" and the oh-so-important lesson of not listening to the voices of the world (disguised as Self-Pity, Bitterness, Pride, and Resentment).

One night, Dwight put a book in my hands "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" and I began to read about my Lord.  I had forgotten all about who He is as I'd become so busy trying to "fix" my life.  I had forgotten how much He longs for us to call upon Him, to ask Him to touch our lives.  I'd forgotten that He is ABLE and capable and POWERFUL beyond anything that might be a burden or problem in my life.  He is GOD!!  How easily I had forgotten my first love.

Then, I started reading "The Power of Motherhood" by Nancy Campbell again.  Again, I was reminded of my Lord and WHO He is.  I thought I might get a "to do" list of things that I should be doing in my home as a mother, but instead, I was reminded of what GOD wants to do in our home.  No "to do" list for me to fail at!  Just a reminder that God is at work, God has a purpose and plan in all that he's been doing for the last 10 years and the next kazillion...  This was so healing for me.  I read scripture after scripture and delighted in how much God loves me and IS alive in our home.

The Above Rubies retreat in Olympia, Washington was coming up and I knew that I needed some more time for myself to continue to heal and revive.  The Lord had something special for me there and I was sooooo blessed as Nancy Campbell reminded us once again of WHO God is and how we can have VICTORY in our lives over the many battles and struggles of life.  What an appropriate topic for me ... for us.  The battle belongs to the Lord, I am reminded.  How easy it is for me to think that "I" have to be the soldier.  I may have to join the battle, but I know whom I'm going to call on for the strength to fight.  My God shall supply all my need, according to his riches in glory. Greater is HE that is in me, than he that is in the world.  I was washed in the Word and renewed beyond my wildest imaginations.

But this renewing has been different this time.  I'm not on some high spiritual mountain that I will most likely come crashing down from.  I KNOW in whom I believe, that HE is able.  I have been given the tools to live, the tools to walk, the tools to fight the battles of life.  And I am convinced that it's not MY work that will make my life better -- but HIS in and through me.  SOooooo encouraging and sustaining.  These truths are not fleeting.

And so... I've been renewed and restored.  I am so excited to share some of these blessed lessons with you all.  Stay tuned ...  And, I'm trying to get Nancy to come to Bend so that she can share herself.  We all need to hear more about our wonderful GOD.

Inspection!!!

Note to reader:  this might be a boring post, but I had fun "journaling"about this family growth subject.

I have high expectations.  OK, maybe that's a bit of an understatement.  Let me rephrase:  I have HIGH expectations ... for myself, as well as the rest of my family.  I've always thought that if you set high expectations, children will rise to meet them.  This can be good (or bad -- as my husband is prone to inform me, calling me a "Nazi", control freak, and other mean and cruel names due to my extreme standards).  But let's focus on it's positive attributes. :-)  After all ...  it's my blog.

Let's face it:  I like a clean home.  Rephrase:  I NEED a clean home in order to survive and function properly on a daily basis.  Yes, I like order.  A place for everything and everything in its place.  I don't mind working to achieve such a state and I think others around me should strive to maintain this order in the home.  Orderly living is sooooo restful. Ahhhhhhhhh..... I think I just drifted away somewhere clean ... like a magazine.

Back to reality:  Disorder is STRESSFUL!

We have boys ... lots of amazing, wonderful, loud, busy, adventurous, hyper, noisy, messy, destructive, creative, and wild BOYS!!!  Always at work, always busy playing or creating or making a mess somewhere.  Boys!  Children! The epitome of energy and potential explosions ... alive and at work in my home... from 7am to 10pm (sometimes later).

Did my high expectations just plummet???  Certainly not!  Boys AND order?? Is this even feasible?????   But, of course!  I'm not into the typical excuses that boys are just slobs and can't be taught to be more orderly.  Unless they are a "neat freak" from birth, is there hope?

Yes indeed.  Take the military, for example.  They are a perfect example of men who can be trained to be neat, tidy, and disciplined (meticulous even) ... no matter what their age or personal disposition or prior training.  While we're not exactly running a boot camp here, we can still apply the general principle, that boys CAN learn to pick up after themselves.

And I submit that boys SHOULD learn these wonderful attributes.  After all, who wouldn't like to be around or hire neat, orderly, disciplined, responsible, and considerate gentleman?  Their future bosses, friends, and wives will thank me. :-)  I must persevere. :-)

Step 1:  Lower my expectations. :-)  Ha Ha!  OK, so maybe expecting on day 1 for beds to be made, room cleaned, teeth brushed and chores done immediately upon rising was a bit overboard.  My husband's laid back approach to life has affected me ... a little.  So, the 2-year-old is off the hook ... but everyone else:  "toe the line."

Step 2:  Training. I must not forget to train these things into habit.  I cannot simply say "do these things each morning" and expect for miracles to take place.  However, I can remind, teach, instruct, demonstrate, and inspect.  This will train good habits -- which is actually the goal.  Each child must develop good habits.

Training Day 1 - what are my reasonable expectations? I lay it out:  1) get dressed, 2) make bed, 3) pick up dirty clothes, 4) brush teeth.  That's reasonable.  We walk through it.  We learn how to make a bed properly.  We find dirty clothes all over. "Where are my dirty clothes???  Oh, you mean those things all over the floor?"  We go over brushing teeth.  It takes all morning, but I feel confident that they have been thoroughly instructed and can achieve excellence.

Step 3:  Initiative.  Learning to do this every morning before coming downstairs.  I either go up myself to "inspire" obedience.  Or, as I see them emerging from above, I ask how things are going.

Step 4:  Inspection!!!  Every morning after breakfast, we go upstairs for inspection and to have a little Bible time.  If they have not completed their assignments, they get dropped (have to do push-ups).  Then, while the others look on, they have to complete their task.  All jobs must be done.

Results: I have been so amazed at how quickly they have caught on.   Burnell has typically been the 1st and most consistent.  However, Chance caught on and started bounding out of bed early to wipe out his list of duties quickly.  Seeing he was being outdone, Burnell even started setting his alarm in order to "beat" Chance.  Can this be true?  My mother's heart wants to explode with joy!  I wake up to busy little men, establishing order and routine in their lives.  It is SUCH a blessing.

Bonus:  An additional bonus has been that this 'initiative" has overflowed into other areas.  They are excited to accomplish.  Excited to be productive and they just can't help but want to HELP in other areas.  Burnell frequently makes breakfast.  Orin often helps the little ones with their chores. We are all reaping the rewards.

Getting all our ducks in a row ...

Is that possible???

Practically? - NO.  I don't think I'll ever have all my ducks in a row. But, that doesn't keep me from trying to gather of few of them up and put in order, none-the-less.

We've had a LONG season of ...............  how should I put it?  Stretching beyond ...... :-)

Between starting and working around the clock on our super-fun new soap business in 2012, having baby #7 in Jan 2013, dealing with the whooping cough in the spring of 2013, making it through our busy, full summer of shows and camp, and having lots of birthdays and  family reunions in the fall ....... whew!  It's TIME to get things back to some semblance of normalcy, people! :-)

Children thrive on routine - so I'm told. :-)  I would so like to see my children thrive, and have routine.  I have yet to have a consistent, regular routine in place for an extended period of time, so this is really uncharted waters.  I'd like to blame my super visionary, spontaneous and extreme husband for this one.  And I do!  But, really, I've learned that the discipline of "self-discipline" is much harder for even me to instill than I expected.

Let's face it:  I have excuses!  And lots of them. :-)

But here's what ducks we have put in place for now -- subject to change at any moment.

Self-discipline:  I have come to understand (after more than 10 years of trying to figure this one out), that it begins with me GOING TO BED AT A REASONABLE HOUR.  Duuuhhh.  I know this is a serious statement of the obvious, but I really must admit that I've tried to talk myself out of this one a number of times.  You see, if the whole family is on a later schedule, then I can stay up later myself.  It's an opportunity for "Quiet, alone, personal time." Dwight is a "late" person, and I'm supposed to be on his schedule, right?  It's our time together.  But, the truth is, I'm just not disciplined.  I still need to go to bed earlier than I do, because .....

That helps me to WAKE UP more enthusiastically in the morning.  The children wake up and are raring to go ... so must I be.  I've often let Dwight handle morning shifts (choosing to stay up late to hang out with him instead, and sleep in the mornings).  However, I think this has more negative affects on our family routine than I have given it credit for.  So, I'm trying to be as rested as possible, so that I'm ready for mornings.

Third, BIBLE TIME with the children in the morning.  After breakfast, the most important part of our day must take place -- or else we'll just get busy and forget.  We tidy up and then have our special time with the Lord.  We either make time and prioritize time with GOD in our lives, or we just don't. So, it must become habit in our home.

So, that's a start.  If I can remember to go to bed, then the rest should fall into place. :-)  I'm looking forward to reaping the rewards and being able to add other things to our lives.

Making Gingerbread Men - A Winter Tradition

One of my favorite things to do during the winter months when the fire is crackling, and hot chocolate is my drink of choice ... is make gingerbread men!  I used to love making gingerbread cookies with my Grandma, and my Mama.  There's just something wholesome and nostalgic about rolling out dough and choosing special shapes to make little creations all your own.  And, of course, taking a snitch now and then of the yummy dough.  And, now, I get to have so much fun making new memories with my own children. 

I was going to be babysitting 3 of my nieces and nephews on Saturday, and thought, "Hey, I'll be watching 10 children (10 and under)!  Why not do something massively creative, messy, a huge process, and exhausting ... like make Gingerbread Men???!!"

:-) :-)

Really, who cares about the mess, or the extra fuss ... let's have some fun!  There are memories to be made!  

 Making the dough:  My dear sisters-in-law are very serious about avoiding refined sugars in their food.  I try to substitute honey for sugar, and succeed regularly, but I'm still more lenient than I should be.  Confession.  I have room to grow!  

Having an added reason to be more healthy, however, I searched for the perfect recipe (below) that included molasses (a MUST) and HONEY (instead of white or brown sugar).  We used a deliciously simple Cream Cheese Frosting for the icing, and sprinkled shredded coconut (non-sweetened) for added flair.   I will use this recipe from now on since it was AMAZING and the dough was very easy to work with ... and it is healthy!  I had another brilliant idea of coloring the coconut naturally using beets, carrots, rasperries, spinach, and blueberries ... but I ran out of time -- and desire to go the extra mile.

[Note:  I buy this shredded coconut from Azure Standard by the 5lb bag for something crazy like $9!!  Love this score.  I use this non-sweetened shredded coconut on oatmeal, in granola, in smoothies, etc.  Great buy!) 

It was so much fun to pull out the cookie cutters that have been used for generations.  The old white "tupperware" rolling pin, the tiny little kid-sized rolling pin.  The special little red cookie cutter that are so difficult to use (see mangled little bear - right).   And, of course, the gingerbread men cookie cutters.  I believe we have over 10 different sizes of little men.  My Grandma's favorite thing to do would be to cut out a little gingerbread man, and then transfer it to the cookie sheet where she would re-shape its arms and legs to make it look like it were running or dancing (below).

After the cookies were done, we had fun decorating.  I used us some left-over red-hots and sprinkles from last year, with some bits of candy cane.    Too much fun!  Decorated cookies were placed on lunch size paper plates with their names on them and then put in plastic bags so they won't dry out.  I've been rationing them at 1 per day so we won't be overloaded. :-)

 We only had one casualty ... Wyatt thought he needed to help decorate Vienna!  She got flour dumped all over her hair from his vantage point above her.  I think she thought it was great fun and would have loved for him to continue his play.  Youth!  I would never think to dump flour on someone, or laugh if it was dumped on me.  Oh to delight in randomness!!!

Here's the awesome recipes!  Have fun...

Honey Gingerbread Men

Honey Cream Cheese Icing

1 8 oz pkg  cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup honey

Mix well.  Cut the tip of a sandwich ziplock, add a spoonful of icing, and zip.  Gently squeeze the icing through the tip to decorate.  

Field Trip to Brian's Cabinets

Super fun day, today!

Field Trip to Brian's Cabinets - a locally owned custom cabinet-making shop here in Bend.  Dwight met the owner, Todd Hakala, at a football game, and it was the start of a friendship.  Todd offered to give a tour of the business - which is why we were there today.

We showed up at 10AM and were greeted in their cool showroom.  After everyone was given goggles, we started on the amazing tour.

 This 33,000 sq ft warehouse is full of equipment, processes, and helpers who offer a large variety of custom cabinets - all the way from kitchens, to bathrooms, closets, and garages.  Amazing!

 Our first stop was to see a genuine CNC - computer controlled robotic thing.  It takes full sheets of wood and cuts out the cabinet panels, drills holes to spec, cuts grooves, etc.  We were all blown away!

 This cool machine has 4 saw blades.  A board is lined up and there are laser lights that show where the blades will be cutting.

 This sanding machine has 3 belts - 1st rough, 2nd medium, 3rd fine.  A board goes through and is sanded by all three.

 Wyatt, you're hired, man!

Dwight was like a kid in a candy shop.  He was blown away by all the equipment and what they can do with it.  Here, Todd is showing us the custom crown molding they make here using one of the machines with multiple bits.  One pass and the whole piece is perfectly shaped.

 Quint was quite impressed with this knotty alder set of cabinets.  This is bucks up cabinetry here.

We all thanked Todd for the tour and he kindly gave the boys some scrap wood and the goggles to use in their own "shop."  These boys have definitely been inspired.

Thank you so much Brian's Cabinets!  We think you guys rock!