We Moved To The Country

We moved to a new property where grass turns into bubbles.

Where horses graze,

And where I can be myself.

 

I turned 16 and got a bike! Next year, I'm asking for a cow, Brown Swiss preferably.

 

Rose is 9 now and I'm still alive!

We moved to a new property

Where grass turns into bubbles

Where horses graze

Where I can be myself

(As I always was and will be).

We moved to a new property,

And it had a house.

And we lived there happily ever after.

 

P.S. Until we explored the marsh behind it and found nettles and blackberries abounded. But we also saw a water rat! And there are several long eared owls and a barn owl. And pellets! There is an aviary at the back of our place with peacocks, guinea fowl, and a emu. I can't wait to check it out.................

In Haiti

Last year, Mom and Dad went to Haiti with a team from our church. The church has a missionary down there who used to work for Dad. When they came back, Mom and Dad wanted us to go as a family next year. We went. All of us as a family got to experience the 3rd world (Mom says 4th world) country in person. Here is a picture of us in the STEP campus:

 

We started to build a house but the Haitians finished it. I got to play with the kids! We didn't know each others language but we played clapping games, magic tricks, and they taught us numbers and head and shoulders, knees and toes in creole.

 

This is Jennica, the first little girl we met and Abagail is right behind her.

Jennica is eight.

On the pile of rubble with the kids. One time, I counted 30 kids on the small space with us.

This is Lancia. She was always easy to remember because she had earrings.

Pronunciation Guide: Haitians pronounce their G's, Jhay like a soft J. They don't touch their tongue to the roof of their mouth.

 

 On one of the five days we were there, we went to Merger. That is a school where our church sponsors the students. We got to see inside a house of one of the students that we sponsor. He sleeps on the bare cement floor and though they have electricity, they only use it for the TV, a little 90's model. We visited the kindergartners and they ran round us like bees (they had yellow dresses on).



 

 

 

     As we drove through the streets in Haiti, there were people everywhere and pigs getting into the garbage that littered the ravines. The garbage was burning in places. There are no exhaust laws so black fumes pour daily from huge trucks. Where there are speed bumps, it's more like peaks. They go up sharply then plummet down. In Haiti, there are 7 million people and 4 million are in Port-au-Prince.

     While I was there, I decided I'd rather drive in Haiti than in America. I would be starting driving lessons when I got back and I was not looking forward to it. In Haiti, it's free style. You watch out for yourself and assume that people are going to let you go. In America, driving is restricted and you are supposed to be courteous and abide by the law which is good but I kind of liked the danger of no law. I didn't see one accident while I was there even though the streets were lined with honking cars and trucks and motorcycles. Mason the missionary said that he rode a motorcycle with 5 other people on it. I can easily imagine it for I saw motorcycles with people hanging off the sides as we rode by.

     All in all, I give Haiti a nine. The number off is because it was so hot.

 

Head and shoulder, knees and toes in creole!

 

Snow Zone

I have 23 pictures that I want to share which sounds like a lot. I will divide them up into categories.

Human Category

Cross-country skiing and having an ice fight with ski poles.


                                                                     Bird Category

I'm playing the harp while Chloe stares at Pippi on my arm, transfixed.

 



 



Rose acquired a parakeet for Christmas. It is named Autumn and it is on the left in the picture below.

 

Landscape Category

The snow glittered and sparkled marvelously. My face stung with the cold. The 7 ft. drifts loomed up where a fire had ravaged the area. We had headed out to go ice skating but the snow acted like an insulator, covering the slushy water.

Dogs (All of Comet except two of Gypsy)

 



 

 

- Chloe the Calico Cat -

 

"Enough pictures! All done!" Chloe the Calico Cat complains.

 

Photo Bursts From Our House

 

 

My harp with the sun shining on it.



Chloe hold on to that pencil!

She already conked out Comet and I.

 Chloe on the top half and Comet's paws holding her bone on the bottom half.

Comet lunging forward.

Chloe displaying a santa cat hat that I crocheted. She's next to Mom's birthday roses.

 

Even the bird knows what Christmas is all about!

 

 

Accidents and Snow

If you took my hand out of the picture and pretended that Chloe was not bird hungry, you'd get the image of her displaying a trophy.

  
 When we went up to the cottage to stay for a whole week, we had no idea what was in store for us. Making a trip to the ER was not what we hoped to accomplish. Who knew that on Thanksgiving Day, we would go up sledding and come down screaming? Rose certainly didn't consider the possibility when she was high up on a steep rocky ravine. Dad did think she was too high but when he called, she couldn't hear him. She hit a rock. She got the wind knocked out of her and then she was crying. A man came up with a dog named Precious. He looked down at Dad holding Rose and cheerfully exclaimed, " Well, at least she didn't hit a rock!" Hmmmm......Dad showed him the only rock in all the snow. We drove back to the house. Dad picked up Mom to go to the ER with Rose. They dropped us kids off to watch over the turkey. " But when do I take this turkey out of the oven?" I asked Mom who was running out the door. " Just take it out at 2:30," She replied. Okay. Wait, why go to the Emergency room just because an 8 yr. old girl flew 20 ft. off a sled? Her spinal cord pained her catastrophically. Once they were there, the doctors gave her morphine and a CT scan just in case she had internal injuries. She didn't.....thank the Lord, but she did have a sprained back. The doctor told Mom and Dad that she would be 100% in 2-3 days. Because of the morphine, Rose said many interesting things such as crying out every 5 minutes for "Mother's turkey" and telling Bethany the nurse that she was her best friend and giving out our address. When they finally got home and we were all seated round the table except Rose who had to lie down, we found out the turkey was not done. I had taken it out like Mom said but it was still pink and soggy. We had an interesting Thanksgiving.... that we will always remember.

The Rock

Rose right after the accident.

This video of Grant going down the same hill Rose went down is sideways so if you just crane your neck......this by the way was just a couple minutes before Rose went down.
It also snowed at our cottage. Here's some pictures around it.

A huge cedar fell on our dam, cracking a stone bench in two. We made a bonfire out of the cedar  that literally averaged 100 ft. of sparks into the air. It was fun to dodge them as they fell down.

Why do people dump tires on our property!