What We've Been Up To

Playing UNO with a friend in dress-up clothes

It's Pear-Picking Time - our tree is loaded, and we barely made a dent with what we picked! I'm planning canning pear halves since the kids and Chelan eat them. I haven't gotten around to it, though. Come on out and pick if you want some fresh pears!

What does Delaney do while Caiden and Cambry are at school? She takes care of her doll. She particularly likes to change its diaper - which is what she's doing here!

Chelan borrowed this fancy food mill to make applesauce this weekend. It's really not much different than a regular food mill except that the seeds, pulp, and stems are continuously discarded - the process goes a little faster! It was definitely a family affair, and I couldn't have done as much as we did without everyone's help. 30 quarts and counting . . .

We started getting eggs - finally! We also found out that one of our chickens is, in fact, a rooster! It was crowing in the middle of the afternoon - our only indication that it is really a rooster!

I love our church's tradition of giving Bibles to first graders. Yesterday was that day, and Cambry received her own special Bible. She was so excited about it and talked about it for days ahead of time!

Comments

Surprise!

Well, I sure don't get surprised very often, but Saturday night was a huge surprise to me! I thought I was heading to Hesston for an AGCO Christmas Dinner with Chelan. He told me we needed to drop something off at Ben and Tina's house (my cousin), first. Okay, no big deal! While we were there, Ben said they were about ready to go out for dinner, did we want to come along? Surprisingly, Chelan thought about it and wanted to do it (clue #1 that something was up). I kept saying that we couldn't skip out on his dinner, but Chelan insisted that going to Wichita for dinner would be much more fun. I even said, "This seems like something you had planned!" However, I'm always up for dinner in Wichita, so I agreed, reluctantly!! We enjoyed a meal at Hangar 1 Steakhouse and I thought that was the end of it. But, on the way home, Chelan asked if we could go by the new arena since the inaugural concert was there that night -- Brad Paisley! I thought it would be f...

Spring Art

While Mrs. Schmidt was away on maternity leave during the spring, Mr. Novak (from Hesston) filled in for her. Since Cambry has her first 3 class periods in the art room, she got to know him very well and he mentioned several times how he appreciated Cambry's artistic style and way of thinking. He even let her paint a little bit on his own pieces! Cambry took several pieces to the WSL art festival in April. She came home with a first place finish in the graphic design category and an honorable mention in the computer design category. We are so thankful for the instruction she has received over the last 4 years in Goessel. Now, on to Hesston College with Professor Cross!

Choosing Trust Over Fear

I have struggled with writing about the shooting in Hesston - in fact, I wasn't going to post anything about it. However, for the sake of memories, I decided I should at least touch on it. It does deserve a place. It just hit so close to home - particularly since Doug was directly involved. Honestly, I sometimes feel guilty for struggling with this tragedy. I wasn't there, I didn't lose anyone close to me, and, although I know a few people who work there, I didn't know any of the victims. And I get to move on with my life with little disruption. I feel like I am on the outside looking in. But I guess that's okay. I didn't have to be directly involved for this to touch me. My heart is sad for the families of those who died, for those who were injured, for those who witnessed it, for my brother-in-law who will probably replay images over and over, for my sister and my niece and nephew who might sometimes wonder "what if?", for th...

Days With the Duerksens

Search This Blog