239 Ears

Well hello family.

We had a pretty eventful day not too long ago, so I thought I would share it via photos and a little explanation.

On the second of August Mom decided that it would be pretty nice to have some sweet corn for eating right now and in the future. So, she and I headed out at 3pm to a friends farm to get the corn. We decided that we would pick 12 bags worth of corn, one for each month of the year. We had no idea how much corn that actually was. What started out as an enjoyable afternoon turned into a corn freezing marathon. And when I say it was a marathon it means that it was exhausting and lasted forever. One which was so exhausting Dad simply lay down on the living room floor at the end and took a nap. It was a lot of work, but we were finally done at 10:30 pm.

So, does anyone want any frozen corn?

A Great weekend at Conference Point

Trale Here!

It was so good to see everybody that made it up to the reunion at conference point last weekend.

I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with everybody and felt blessed by the chance to interact with such a diverse group.

I was particularly happy that many of the cousins' boy/girlfriends were able to join us; meeting new people and seeing different outlooks on life is always refreshing.

We are busy as ever here on the farm, harvesting, weeding, and caring for the animals.

for some current pictures of the garden and life on the farm in general, you can check out Margaret's blog.

Again, it was so good to see everybody, and I truly hope for more time together through the year with you, the members of our family, as our activities and involvements allow!

Family Reunion!

I just bought my flight's to the midwest for the family reunion in July and am SO EXCITED to see all of you!  So excited!!!  Nick will be coming as well and he's looking forward to meeting those of you he hasn't had a chance to yet. 
Everything is great in Texas! We've been having a lot of outdoor fun... a half marathon along the gulf, camping, gardening, etc.  We just got back from a fantastic trip to Colorado where we saw String Cheese Incident play and did some snowboarding.  Here are some pics:

 See y'all in a few months :)

Karl's life at BVU

Hey family, I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news is I will be making regular Vlog entries. The bad news is that I won't have time to update them here everyday. I will post my first video here but it's up to you to find the other entries. You can easily accomplish this by searching my name on YouTube. I should be updating it every other day. Here is the first video.

Hi! Here are the pics I said I'd send. These young people are all from China. Such fun and loving people.











This is a plant w/ a red flower (obviously). /
/
/





This is a tree w/ little red lights on it, and poinsettias blow it. Just wanted to tell you that we had a real good time this Christmas. Connie was off work the week following Christmas, so that was good.

Dad is fine, and doesn't have a cold any more.
So here I'll end what I have to say.

Love you all!!

Linda




Tree and poinsettias

HI all!!

Somthing about the blog makes me put exclamation points on sentences.... So here I am at the Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central, Chicago. I was there w/ 3 of our Christmas House International (CIH) students & Dad. We had a real good time there. In the picture, is a pond w/ Chihuly sculptures made of glass in the pond.



I'm going to get some more pics of us there, if I can get back to Picasa & import them.




Next 2 pics are also of the Conservatory. I took lots of pics there, making it more fun!

hi from Connie in Jan 2011

Thnks to everyone for the pics and th narratives

We Chicagoans are all well (mostly) and had a very lovely Christmas time.
Had two intl students: Robert from China and U Mich
and ByoungJu from Korea and SUNY Stonybrook

Some fun activities with them and the othr students, wonderful food-- too much, but the best thing was the warm feelings and th sense of getting to know someone unique and gifted

We were happy that Marli and Nick took the time to visit one Sun p.m. They are looking good, they had had time over the holidays with Nick's parents and the Bardells and one day, all of them together.

I wish I had the words of a poet, so I could convey my warm feelings for you , and/or some of the realities of life here. Good neighbors, good books, good food, God's comfort in ups and downs... my blessed life!

CONNIE

Update on previous blogs!

Dear Family,

Starting a new year sure helps to make me feel optimistic. I spent $100 today to get four half-hour guitar lessons starting next Monday. I also went down to the library and checked out a book! I've already figured out how many pages I have to read every day in order to return it before it comes due! I went down to Target and got myself a $15 radio that I can clip to my belt or wear on my sleeve. I really enjoyed listening to it while I worked out today. No need for that fancy MP3 player I was talking about! Yesterday I went dumpster diving with Chris. It didn't seem like we got much, but three plastic grocery bags full of deli meats and cheeses is actually quite a lot and I don't know how we're going to be able to consume it all. We need to find more potlucks to go to, like the one on Wednesday nights at the Existentialist Congregation. While we were out, we found a nice new book bag in the dumpster. I won't be needing a new book bag! One thing I could use is a pair of goggles for swimming. I swim four days a week, and I want to improve my form by actually putting my head in the water. I don't like to swim that way because the chlorine stings my eyes. But I'm too cheap to buy goggles. Now that I have insurance, I could discuss that issue with a therapist. I'm not sure I believe in therapists any more, if I ever did! I'm sure I'll work it out somehow.

Love,
Stephen