Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Ephesians 2:7-10 The Message

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

In the Midst of Power Lab

We are in the midst of Power Lab. It has been a great week so far. We have been blessed to have 7 Youth and 4 Adults from Graeagle Community Church in Graeagle, CA here this week to help us with Power Lab. They have taken a huge load off of me, allowing me to relax a bit and have fun. I am definately NOT feeling the stress I did last year. And, they have just about the whole front parking area weeded! Now if we can get it sprayed so more weeds won't grow. That would be great!

We are looking forward to our trip to Washington next week to visit family and friends. It will be good to have some time away for a much needed rest.

An update on Becca and Washington DC, we decided that this was not the year for her to go. It was a hard decision but feel that the timing was just not right. I'm sure she will have another opportunity to go.

Grady on the other hand, has recieved an invitation to go on a 14 day study tour in Japan the summer of 2009. We are praying for God's direction in this opportunity. He doesn't know yet because there are so many extra people here so, shhhhhhhh! We will tell him about in a few days. This is probably a once in a lifetime trip for him so I am hoping that there may be some way he can go, and that he would want to go. He has done great this week, getting out there and hanging out with the kids who are here from Graeagle and having conversations with the adults who are here. I have really seen him come out of his shell this week, I hope it will continue.

I have some brief updates on VBS on the VBS blog, the link is on the left. I can't wait to return from WA, as much as I am looking forward to going, so I can back to scrapping. I am going to start a Faithbook class with the ladies in the church this fall. We will make a scrapbook telling the story of our faith. I have wanted to do this for a long time and with our retreat theme this year, it fits. I have my supplies and can't wait to get started.

Have a blessed day!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Becca's Swim Meet

Becca had her first swim meet yesterday in Hawthorne. Her and 4 other girls from Round Mountain traveled 2 1/2 hours to compete against kids from several towns. All the girls did great for having never competed before. They started practicing in April and have come so far in their swimming.

Becca's main race was the 11-12 year old girls 50M Butterfly. She finished in 16th place (out of 25) with a time of 1:04. One second faster would have put her in 8th. That is a personal best for her. She was excited because she beat the fastest boy in that age group. Way to go Becca!

I remember the first day of swim team when her coach was seeing how the kids did with each stroke. When it was her turn for Butterfly, she got in the pool and said "I don't know what to do." He told her to "Guess." Well she did and took off like she had been doing it her whole life:) That is by far her favorite and best stroke.



Here a few pictures of her day!



This is during the 50M Butterfly


The Breast Stoke during her 100M IM

New Pictures! (It's about time:)

Here are a few pictures from when my mom and step-dad were here. The first two pictures in front of the Haul Truck are from 2006 and 2007 to show you how much they have grown since we have been here. Nevada sunshine maybe?






It took Grady 6 tries to blow out all those candles! Must be the elevation:)

Friday, July 11, 2008

4th of July

We had a great time with my mom and step-dad. They arrived on the 2nd and stayed until the 6th. It was nice to have them here for Grady's birthday as well as the 4th.

We spent some time just hanging around the house, of course went to the 4th of July picnic and took them out for a little sightseeing.

4th of July was a busy day for us. The church hosted the pancake breakfast at the fishing derby that morning. We had a great turnout and plan to do it again next year. My mom even helped a little bit, mostly with clean-up.

Becca was in the parade with the Middle School cheerleaders. She isn't on the cheer squad but they invited the younger girls and those MS girls who weren't on the squad to join them for a dance routine in the parade.

Then we went to the picnic and my mom and the boys panned for gold. My mom didn't think she had any in her pan and then when they cleaned it up for her, she saw how much there really was. The mine spikes the dirt so you're pretty much guaranteed to a least get some flakes. They put in some small nuggets and leafs (I call them big flakes:) as well.

After we ate and found Becca we went home for a while. Becca thought we left so she walked home, then when we weren't home she walked back. Scary for her, and mom. She may be 11 but she's still my baby. And it may be a small town, but there are lot of people in town on the 4th.

That night we had some poeple from the church over and had ice cream sundaes and watched the fireworks. The town puts on a pretty big show and you have a great view from the church.

Saturday we went for a drive. Spencer decided he didn't want to go so stayed home, and got really bored. I told him he would. We drove through a little town called Silver Peak, pretty run down, even more in the boonies than us. There is a Borax plant there, they mine the salt in the area. Then we drove over Coyote Pass, very steep, very fast climb, but spectacular view from the top, and down the other side. We came upon a hot pond area where the state has built a "hot tub" and woulnd't you know it, a bathroom in the middle of the desert!

From there we drove through another small town called Dyer, then Fish Lake Valley (a very green patch of desert!) and Lida. We got back on the highway and went to the old ghost town of Ryholite. The old train station is there and a lot of old buildings as well as a bottle house.

We ate dinner in Beatty and then headed home. On the way home we drove through Goldfield, another old town but still has people living in it. All in all we probably put about 400 miles on the Yukon. But it was fun. Butch and I love to go out and find old Ghost towns and my mom and stepdad love the history of the area.

On Sunday Grady turned 15. I find that hard to believe. In 3 years he will graduate and then off to college. Just yesterday he started Kindergaten. I guess I better get busy and get his album scrapped. And we better get to finding all those grants for college. He wants to go to school for Computer Game Design. We did the research and it will cost about $80,000 just for tuition, books and lab fees for a three year program. Ouch.

We are waiting on Grady's braces until after taxes next year, unless we come into a windfall between now and then. Ha Ha

Becca is also not going to Washington, DC this time around with the Junior Leadership. I just am not ready to send my baby across the country and put her into the hands of people I don't know. I am sure she will have other opportunities to go and this will give us time to start putting some money away for that opportunity. We know how much it will cost so that will make planning for it a little easier.

Tomorrow is Becca's swim meet. She is pretty excited. We are praying that the Thunderstorms stay away since the meet is at an outdoor pool.

As usual, pictures will come later. Maybe tonight if I get everything done for Sunday:)

Pictures of House

One of these days I'll have the pictures ready when I post the updates:)

Here are the bathroom pictures and a picture of our new porch. Now we just have to get the house painted and it will look great!


The color is blue with Sea Salt (white) Trim and doors. Instead of a new tub surrond we used vinyl panels. Instead of sheetrocking over the old paneling we used a beadboard paneling and painted it blue. Now we just have to do the floor. We came through Fallon too late to get a piece of linoleum when we got the rest of the materials for the bathroom. We plan to pick that up Monday. So for now it is a nice fresh, updated bathroom with 70's yellow lino.

Butch started the deck while our LTCC friends were here and got it finshed shortly after they left. I stained it while he was doing the bathroom. When we redo the roof of the house, we are going to put a partial roof over the deck as well, maybe over the whole thing. Once we paint the house, probably next week after we go to Fallon, I'll post new pics.