Thanksgiving and some December festivities

Life never seems to slow down. And my blog posts seem to be few and far between. So I'll just do my best to update.
We spent Thanksgiving with my (Beth's) family down in Pasco. We were able to spend it with my entire immediate family so it was great. My brother Paul started a new job in North Dakota so it was nice to be able to have them there even though they now live super far away. We stayed through Saturday, but then had to come home because of the ducks and dogs. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing everyone.

 We got a special visit from my dad's sister, Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Dave.

 And...we even got our own private light show. This guy makes all this own displays and turned them on so we could see them. He normally doesn't turn them on until December, but he apparently likes my dad.

Our ducks...the ducks started laying eggs they day we returned from Thanksgiving. Sadly, about 3 days later our dog got in and attacked one of the ducks. We still were getting eggs, until this last weekend, all three of the dogs got in and each got a duck while we were away from home, we are thankful for an observant babysitter who saved all the ducks from dying. One of the ducks died the following afternoon. We were given another duck today, so we are back to three. The other two that were attacked are hanging on, it has been VERY cold and they stayed inside, in the bathtub for 4 nights...I was never so thankful to have my bathroom back...you could use the toilet without ducks quacking at you, or go in the shower without having to move ducks, then sterilize. They still have some recovering to do, but we are hopeful with time they will return to their normal selves.

This week has been full of Christmas festivities. On Sunday we went to Hill's resort for Sunday Fun day. They had a free event of Christmas cookie decorating and a movie, the kids enjoyed spending time with friends.
We actually got a real tree this year. We went and got our Christmas tree permit, went out, the boys helped cut it down, and we down have a tree. The boys loved decorating it and it overall was a fun experience!

Last night was our school's Christmas program. The preschoolers were cute and did a great job. One of these days I'll post the video of them singing, but for now here are a few pictures.

As for a house update...the two weeks they told us about earlier have come and gone. The paperwork has been a nightmare, not for us, but for the sellers and there have been more delays. We were suppose to have been closed on the house by Nov. 29....that has come and gone. We extended the purchase-sale agreement through January 30...no hopes of being in by Christmas. We are praying and hopeful that all will work out...God's plans are obviously better than our own.

Life with ducks

I've been asking for chickens for well....forever. Kyle finally started looking into them and somehow I now have ducks. He thinks if he uses words like "according to my research" I'll be okay with the fact that I now have ducks sitting in my children's kiddy pool instead of chickens in a cute little chicken coop. 

But, according to Kyle's research ducks are more winter resilient and people often prefer there eggs. We wouldn't know about the eggs. Our ducks are not laying...yet. We called the lady we bought them from because they haven't been laying and were not eating; her response was "oh I thought I gave you the ONE that was laying." Umm, excuse me, we paid for laying ducks and she only had one in her entire bunch. We bought three, two females one male with the impression that the females were laying. We obviously don't have the one that was laying. We know she didn't spend a lot of time with her ducks so we are doing what Kyle's research says and we will hopefully get them both laying. 

Our life with ducks has been a total adventure and we have only had them a week and 2 days. The night we got them we were really not prepared. I should have know Kyle was up to something as I was at a doctors appointment and upon the completion of it the back of our car was full of duck bedding and feed. Since we had no pen for them I figured they wouldn't be coming home in our completely packed car that night. I was obviously mistaken. Room was made for the ducks in the car, and since we couldn't possibly leave our ducks outside without a pen at the mercy of the wolves, coyotes (that have been frequenting our yard), and bears, Kyle made the obvious choice and let them sleep inside!!! That's right folks here in the single-wide, 2 bedroom trailer we had 2 adults, 3 kids, a teenager, 3 dogs, and 3 ducks. It seriously doesn't get any classier than that! In Kyle's defense the ducks slept in dog kennel in the living room.

The next day Kyle said he wanted the ducks to be free range. We live right along a highway, atv trail, and to our backside is dense woods. The kids and Kyle spent the morning herding them around the yard trying to keep them safe. He decided free range (during the day) wouldn't come until we move so he sent me to town to get fencing. Upon my return a few hours later I noticed the sad, worried faces on my boys. The ducks were missing. They had been missing for over 2 hours. They had searched the yard, and as much of the woods as Kyle could with 3 kids in tow. I quickly unloaded the groceries, told Kyle's brother he was in charge of the kids and set out to help the search. I spent another two hours looking with Kyle. We even went to the creek about three-quarters of a mile behind the house and we saw nothing. We even went as far as buying a duck call and attempted to call our ducks home. I told Kyle I was sorry, but I didnt think we had pet ducks anymore. Kyle was crushed. These ducks wern't cheap and he felt like he had failed. I came inside as my mom had arrived and Kyle decided to drive down the road one last time and see if he could see anything. At this point I was praying, more like pleading, Kyle and the kids were devastated, and once it got dark we knew the ducks wer doomed. Kyle was also praying. It seems Iike such a little thing to pray about, but we were sad, and we knew God was the only one that could get our ducks home. We had exhausted our resources. 

I saw Kyle coming into our driveway pointing in front of him and who was waddling their little behinds home? Our three ducks. They acted like it was no big deal, they had been on an adventure. Ever see a grown man cry over ducks? I have.. It wasn't actually over the ducks, it was over the faithfulness of our loving Father and Savior. 

We have had to work on trusting God these past couple of years more than ever. If you recall we put an offer on a house in July. It has been the most difficult thing we have done. It is a roller coaster ride and throughout the process we have doubted, lost faith, and given up hope, but God has always come through and taught us over amd over that we should never worry or doubt. I'll write more about that next time, but let me assure you these past few months have been stressful. We should have an answer in less than 2 weeks about the house!!! I can't wait for this to all be over.

But since this post is about ducks and not our house buying process,I'll close saying God is good and we have three happy, healthy ducks thanks to His faithfulness. 

Mr. Quacks, Mrs. Quacks, and the mistress Ms. Beakley (she's the one eating in the background)

Our three silly ducks.

And just because, our three silly boys.

It's been a week

It's been an exciting week!
We have a lot to be thankful for. We praise God for His faithfulness.
Kyle and I have had a lot of tough choices to make. A lot of choices that we wanted to make sure we were following God's will for our lives and not just doing what we pleased.
We have officially decided to call Priest Lake home. It's been a long time coming. When we moved here in Jan. 2012 it was suppose to be temporary. We were going to get Kyle all processed out of the military, we were going to find a house in Montana, buy it and move there. We both never had complete peace about this plan. We went to Montana, looked at homes, looked at job opportunities, schools, etc, and never felt right. We also considered Alaska. We flew there, looked at a couple houses, Kyle was accepted to his dream school there, but I totally hated the idea of being so far from our families again. We looked at houses in Coeur D'Alene and considered the idea of Kyle attending Eastern Washington University, once again we never had a feeling of peace about it, Kyle really hated the idea of living in town.
We then considered staying here at Priest Lake. Something we had thought about before but felt like doors were being closed in our faces. We then had someone suggest we pray specifically (rather than a generic "help us follow your will") about staying here and specifically praying for the house we wanted. We did. We prayed, and prayed. We now truly believe that this is where God wants us and that all will work out for us to be able to stay. Making a living here in N. Idaho isn't easy.
This week I was interviewed and given the position of preschool teacher. I am so excited about it. I am so glad I got the job because I have been doing a lot of prepping and planning in my being hopeful that they would hire me. I got the notice today that I am officially hired. It will be perfect, 2 1/2 days a week, with 2 of my three kids.

Here is a photo of me saying goodbye to teaching 4 years ago, so I could be home with my baby. It was one of the hardest decisions, but best decisions I have ever made. Four months later Kyle was injured in Afghanistan and I was able to focus on helping his through recovery...a continuous process. I've also managed to get a master degree and have two more kiddos in that time.

Look at goofy little Gunnar.

This week Kyle is also going out guiding with Cavanaugh's Priest Lake Outfitters with their first Cav's Camp trip. He is excited. Ultimately we want to start a youth program up here, and this is a good start in working with the community doing what he loves. He also plans on continuing his work with Peak 7. This Saturday at the end of season party he was given his certificate of "Senior Guide." It's a great accomplishment and I'm proud of his hard work.

We are still trying to figure out school. Eastern is still a possibility but Kyle probably won't go until his last two years, it is quite a drive. He is thinking about attending the satellite campus for North Idaho College in Sandpoint for his general classes. We thought he would start this fall, but with us moving into a house it may be better for him to start winter quarter, we will see how this works out. He has been on the phone today with schools working it out. He has been accepted to both Eastern and North Idaho College, so that part is out of the way. We are praying that he is able to get classes just on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays so that it won't interfere much with my preschool teaching schedule and he can stay home with Maverick. But we will cross that road when he gets school figured out. He isn't totally excited about going to school (I can't blame him) but he does think that his probably the best idea for him now.
So I mentioned moving. We are so ready to get out of the trailer. It has been nice, living for practically nothing, but few electric, propane, and sewer bills, but we feel our welcome is worn and its time to move. We put an offer in on a house this week. Unfortunately, it will be 2-4 months until we find out if the bank accepts our offer. It is a short sale and takes a bit of time. We are hoping for 2 months as 4 months would mean closing around the end of November, which very likely means snow! I would much prefer to be moved before the snow falls. If we don't get into this house we have a couple of other houses we are interested in. We are just trusting God and doing a whole lot of praying!

Here are a couple pictures of the house...remember its not ours, but God willing maybe we'll call it home soon. It will need some work over time, but is 2,900 square feet, in a beautiful location, nice shop, guest building an garage, creek with a swimming hole, bordered by state land, great neighbors, 12 acres, and we could move in without 'having' to do anything.

So, that's our new news. We could definitely use prayer and appreciate all of your love and support!

Baby Maverick Turns One

Last week, July 25th, our baby Maverick turned 1 year old.

Birth: 7 lbs 7oz, 19 inches long

1 year later: 20lbs., 29 inches long

He is such a sweet baby and a total joy in our lives. He fits in perfectly with our family and I seriously can't get enough of his cute little face and his funny little personality that is emerging.
He lets his brothers know when he disapproves of something, but also adores all the attention they give him. They all get along so great. I am so thankful for that and love that they all three get to grow up and be close in age to each other. What fun!
Maverick isn't walking yet. He is taking his sweet time. Considering Gunnar was walking at an impressive 9 months and Ryker 10 1/2 months we are enjoying Mav taking his sweet time. He has all the precursors, he just hasn't gotten up the nerve to let go yet!
He waves "bye-bye," claps, says "Mama" and "Dada" and points to the dogs and says "Da." He points at everything. He also gives the sweetest kisses in the world, with the smacking sound and all. He usually will give you one if you ask for a kiss or a smooch. He is also a great eater. I loves just about anything. Which is good because we found out he is anemic and are working on getting him more iron friendly foods!
He was a pretty big mama's boy. But is quickly realizing that mom isn't the only cool one around. When I'm not around he thoroughly enjoys spending time with others and usually never fusses. He is one happy baby.
He decided he disliked his pacifier around 9 months. I started playing a game with him, my mistake, and he just wouldn't keep it in his mouth, so we kicked it to the curb. We would put it in and he would promptly spit it across the room. So we decided it wasn't worth it, he didn't need it, and got rid of it. Awesome! I love not having to do a nightly search for the pacifier before he goes to bed.
I was super slow with getting this kid to sleep in his own bed and self-soothe. I am becoming softer with each child. Gunnar had it rough. I found out when he was 9 months old I was pregnant and he had to grow up, no longer be the baby. Poor kid. Maverick gets to enjoy life as a baby much longer. He is now going to bed on his own and doesn't even cry when I put him down at nap time or bed time. He goes down at 8 and usually only wakes up around 6am, nurses and then goes back to sleep until 8 or 9.
He is slowly being weaned. He usually only nurses, morning, naps, and bedtime now. I am so ready to be done. I don't know how you breastfeeding mamas do this once your kiddos get teeth. Luckily for me my kids don't get teeth early. Maverick got his first right around 11 months and now has his two bottom and two on top. One of the top has just broken through. He is now biting me. Breastfeeding it about to end, promptly!!!
We had a quiet little party at home for the little guy. We celebrated with just our family and we had a great time.
As you will see in the pictures this kid wasted no time. He wanted that cupcake immediately and once he got his hands on it he knew exactly what to do with it. He doesn't mess around!

During the few days prior to Maverick's birthday, one of Kyle's co-workers, our friend Zack came up for a few days. We had fun using some inflatable kayaks to go down Priest River, which was fun, but pretty bony. We also spent time at the lake and went up to Lion Head and the natural rock water slides. We had tons of fun. Never did I imagine that I would let my kids go down the slides, but the water was perfect, everyone went down and had a great time.

Life as Wife of a Raft Guide

Two weeks of living in a field, showering from a cold hose that smells of rotten eggs, wrangling a four year old, two year old, and 10 month old, putting those three kids in and out of their car seats to get to the next awesome photo location to catch the crew on the next big rapid, cooking for 6-14 people three meals a day...that has been my life as the wife of a raft guide, and I wouldn't change it for anything.
Kyle has been serving as a raft guide for another season with Peak 7. This year the boys and I decided we wanted to see him a bit more often, so with that we added a whole lot of responsibility. It was optional, it was a bit stressful, but also a whole lot of fun.
We were loaned a camper trailer to stay in which made the last two weeks much more manageable, especially considering all the rain we had. Despite the trailer and the rain we spent most of our time outside, at the park, at the river, at the petting zoo, and on the awesome rope swing we had near our camp headquarters. My boys had endless amounts of fun with all the raft, ascent, and climbing guides. I'm not sure that these college kids knew that they were also signing up to be babysitters and playmates to preschoolers and babies when they signed on with Peak 7. My kids love them all so much and simply could not get enough of their attention. Everyone handled their craziness like champs, the staff this year is pretty awesome (although I loved them all last year too).
I also got to go down the Wenatchee River, it was a total BLAST. I went down once with Austin while Kyle watched the kids and we had a pretty easy, laid back ride as the group we were with wasn't the best paddlers and the big stuff (please excuse my very technical terms) probably wouldn't have been the wisest choice. It was still fun despite the fact, but then that afternoon two of the female ascent staff watched the boys while I went down with Kyle, some of the ascent staff, two good sized middle school boys, and one of their male leaders. We had a strong boat. Kyle said it was one of his best runs down the river, and it was a AWESOME!
I loved getting to go down the river with Kyle. It's not like that army ever had a "take your wife to work day" so getting to go and see him first hand in his element on the river was fun. I often wonder how he is able to share the gospel with kids on the river in the short time he is with them and I got to see that too. I often have leaders from groups that are out of the river come up and tell me how much the love Kyle and enjoy being in his boat and I totally understand why. Not to brag, but he is pretty awesome. His fun, kind spirit and ability to relate to a lot of his participants definitely works in his favor. He keeps his boat engaged and laughing the entire time.
When we first entered the boat he was talking with us about teamwork and how he wanted us to be awesome paddlers so that we could hit the big stuff. We did some practice and once we got it Kyle asked us if we all felt the tingly feeling of team work. We all felt it, well, all but one of the middle school kids. He said he wasn't feeling it. We made jokes that he probably had some sort of disease that inhibited him from feeling it, because it was definitely there. He laughed and we all paddled along. Kyle had us play games, do trust exercises (one of the kids said he didn't trust Kyle, so Kyle had to earn his trust, and did), and we went through some awesome rapids. Kyle encouraged us, coached us, and got us all to work together so we could have some amazing hits. About three-quarters of the way through the participant not feeling the teamwork tinglys yells "I can feel it, I can feel that teamwork tingles!!!" It was after going through one of the bigger rapid on the Wenatchee River. My guess is, it was adrenaline, but we all cheered, everyone on the boat finally had the teamwork tingles.
After the last rapid and as we were heading to the take out Kyle took the opportunity to make things a little more serious. He asked if anyone in the boat had ever had a struggle. He then talked about how if you put people on your team who want to work for your good then we can get places faster, stronger, and be more successful just like when we worked together on the boat. He asked us how we felt having a guide who knew what he was doing and where we needed to go. We then compared that to how we felt when on our trip he let one of the middle school students be the guide and didn't know where to go or how to guide us there. We then talked about how God knows where we are going and how to get us there. That He is the most important person we can put on our team and then surrounding yourself with other people who encourage us and support us can help us reach our goals, verses hanging out with those who only bring us down.
We also had a few discussions throughout the trip about how God will never leave and forsake us, even when we are going through the most difficult trials in life or swimming through a whitewater rapid, He is always there.
This group was a little different that the typical group Kyle might take out with Peak 7. This was a middle school youth group. But more often Kyle has teens and young adults from homeless shelters and homes of transition. I am so proud of Kyle for deciding that this is the type of ministry he wants to work with. God has truly given him a gift and great ability to work with these people from various walks of time.
I often find myself a bit envious of all the fun he gets to have (he also go to do ascent and Wilderness First Responder training this year). Someone ask me how I feel about Kyle getting to be out having all this fun while I am at home raising the kids. I honestly believe that I am right where God wants me. I feel so blessed to be able to spend most of my time with my kids. It doesn't mean I don't crave adventure (because I did say I was a bit envious) but I search for the joy in my everyday life. I enjoyed getting to serve the staff of Peak 7 by giving them a home-cooked meal these last two weeks. The staff truly makes great sacrifices. Most college kids don't spend their summers the way this awesome group is, and I guarantee the staff of Peak 7 will walk away with a more fulfilling summer than any of their peers. Volunteering your time is never a easy commitment, but they realize that the people, the difference they can make, and the glory they can bring to God's kingdom is all worth it.
Did you see I said the word "volunteer'? That's right, the staff isn't paid. They all have to raise their own support. Kyle didn't do much support raising this year. Let's face it, asking people for money isn't the easiest. But if you feel like that is something you want to do, or are looking for a great organization to give please look into supporting Peak 7, you can give support to Kyle individually or Peak 7 as a whole. You can go to www.peak7.org to learn more about the organization or to make a donation. They have made it really easy to give online, so just look for the link that says "DONATE." You can also help (through July) by simply voting everyday for Peak 7 at https://www.facebook.com/thenorthface?sk=app_196355270522425, if they get the most votes they will win a $25,000 grant. I also encourage you to go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd0uAgCd7co and watch the documentary True Ascent which will give you a first hand look at their ministry through their ascent trips. If you are in the Spokane area they are also always looking for volunteers for various things from taking pictures to helping with community events, it is a great way to spend a day!
The most important thing I can ask from any of you is to pray. Pray for the staff,  the organization as they get kids often facing difficult situations into the outdoors, and that God prepares the hearts of the participants. The main rafting season is coming to a close for Kyle, but he will have a few occasional trips throughout the summer and will be joining a few ascent trips as well, prayer is always needed and appreciated and amazing things happen through the power of prayer.

So I apologize if this is more like an advertisement that a normal family update, but this is what we have been up to and I wanted to share.
(Soon I'll post pictures of our trip, but my SD card reader is currently MIA so I'll have to find that first!)

Gunnar Turns 4

Like always come mid-April we have a whirlwind of birthday celebrations. We started with Ezra's on the 22nd, Mike (Kyle's Dad) on the 25th, Kyle and my mom's birthday on the 27th, and finally, Gunnar celebrates his on April 30th. I am so tired of birthday cakes and cupcakes by the end of April.

I was going to plan a big birthday party for Gunnar, but I got sick, plans changed, and we ended up just taking cupcakes into his preschool class. It was fun and he enjoyed it and felt special. 

He got tons of Ninja Turtle Legos, he really wanted a spaceship (Papa and Grandma later hooked him up with this) and robot, but was perfectly satisfied with his legos. After we celebrated with his class, we packed up and headed to the Lochsa River with Peak 7.

Peak 7 was generous enough to allow the kids and I go with them on their staff training event. I know anytime you take toddlers and a baby with you it is more effort than just taking a group of adults. It was a quick trip, we left Spokane at 4, ate dinner in Lewiston, arrived at the Lochsa River around midnight. Then we set up camp, were up around 6:30am, ate breakfast and then off for training they went. I stayed back with staff member Leah who cleaned up camp and then we took my boys and another young boy, Dane (who Gunnar isn't forgetting said "you are my best friend forever") out on a little hiking trip. We then returned and Leah and I got our turn to go down the river. It was so much fun. Our boat flipped twice, but it was a fun little adrenaline rush and was so refreshing. I realized that I needed to stop smiling because I was drinking so much water with my mouth open all the time...I was just having a great time. Ryker thought it looked like so much fun, he would cry whenever he would see Kyle or I on the raft. Gunnar, thought it looked scary. 

We after a few runs down the river we then went back to camp, ate lunch and packed up and headed to Jerry Johnson Hot Springs. The boys loved the hot springs and Gunnar won't stop talking about them and wants to go back. Much different from the water in the lake they are used to swimming and playing in. The water was the perfect temperature, any hotter and I wouldn't have been able to let the boys in, it was really perfect. After an hour in the springs we hiked back to the van, I cooked up some soup on the side of the road then we loaded up and headed back to Spokane. I believe we got in around 1 or 2 am. Thankfully we were able to sleep at the Peak 7 program house so we were able to get some sleep and not make the journey back home until morning after we got some rest. 

I have to say that the outing while quick and exhausting was really good for me. Rarely do I have a chance to go out with friends. It was so nice to be out enjoying God's creation with people like-minded. Having Christian friends is such a gift and I enjoyed my time. My kids enjoyed their time. Seriously, they had 15 people loving on them, playing with them, and caring for them. 

That weekend, my sister Jami graduated with her Master's degree in Psychology. So we went down to Spokane to her graduation. Then we took her and my brother's family down the upper Spokane river. It was perfect weather and we all had so much fun.

So while Gunnar didn't have a big party with his little friends we did celebrate with some great people and he had a great week. Seriously, camping on your birthday, I doubt it gets much better than that!

Pardon the delay in posting. I wrote this some time ago, was waiting for a least a few pictures, then forgot to come and update! Better late than never.