Our Sweet Little Boaz

Good Morning from Oklahoma!  Today is a GREAT day!  I say this because the last few days have been a bit rough.

This is Boaz.  He is a Yorkshire Terrier and he is Sarah's best friend!  He is sweet, funny, lazy, adorable and we don't know what we would do without him.

On Sunday morning we let him outside to go to the bathroom. ( just like every morning)  Normally he just cruises around (not too far from the bus), takes care of his business, and checks to see if the land is the same as he left it the night before.  Then, when someone opens the bus door, he heads on back inside for some breakfast and a nap.  Cruising around must use up quite a bit of energy!

Well, on this particular morning, things were different.  When the guys went out to work on the barn, Barrett heard what he thought was a wounded animal in the bushes.  When he got to the noise, he realized that it wasn't just any animal.  IT WAS BOAZ!!!  Barrett has a dog named Gus and he was with Boaz.  Gus was licking him all over and he was completely soaked.

This is Gus.  He is very protective of Boaz!

  Monty picked up little Boaz and sent Will to get me and a blow dryer.  Monty began to dry him and I began to try and see what was wrong.  His mouth was bleeding a lot, but other than that we didn't know what was going on.  It seemed as if we would get the bleeding to stop, only to have it start again when he would move.  He was very shaky on his feet and just didn't seem quite right.  Now remember, this is a Sunday morning.  We live in the Bible belt.  All vets were going to be in church and this was going to be an emergency visit!  BUT, this was Boaz and we really didn't have much choice.  His breathing just didn't sound right and the bleeding would not stop.  So, Monty (he really has a soft heart) called the vet.

We wrapped Boaz in a towel and loaded up in the car.  It was Monty, Sarah and I who went to town.  The boys and Devin stayed at the farm.  We arrived at the vet (yes, he was in his Sunday clothes) and he began to check Boaz.  The first thing he found was that Boaz had a broken jaw.  Now how could this little guy have a broken jaw!!!  There was nothing at the site where we found him that could have broken his jaw.  This is a mystery!  We have continued to go over the site, but can not figure out what happened.

They did surgery on Monday and everything went well.  Boaz had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia, but he seems to be doing good.  He stayed at the hospital until Tuesday and Sarah and I went to pick him up.  We bought him a brand new bed and put his favorite blankie in it.  He is on pain meds and antibiotics.  Sarah slept right next to him last night and she said that he woke up 4 or 5 times, but slept good other than that.  He is eating and drinking and sleeping.  When we took him outside to go to the bathroom, he got very scared.  He began to shake and couldn't even go to the bathroom.  We just keep telling him that we won't let him go outside by himself.  And that we won't let anything happen to him.  Someone will be with him at all times!!!

If any of you happen to think about him during the day, just say a quick pray that he will continue to get better!  We are so happy to have him back home!

Hope all of you have a great week!  We will talk again soon!

Feasting and Celebrating at the Feast of Tabernacles

TABERNACLES in TENNESSEE!!!

 Our family tries to observe the Feasts that are spoken about in the Scriptures.  These Feasts are listed in Leviticus chapter 23.  We just celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles.  (Sukkot in Hebrew)  This is a time for us to gather together with friends and we all camp and fellowship for seven days.  It is a GREAT time.  We spent time each morning reading the Scriptures and singing.  It was a wonderful time of food, campfires, smores, and laughter!!

 The children even found a way to laugh when they were sitting on the side of the highway because of a flat tire on the trailer!!  We had only been on the road for about 2 hours when, yes, we had a flat.  We disconnected the trailer from the car and the guys went into town to get a new tire.  No, we did not have a spare!  OOPS!!!  It was closing time for all the tire shops, but TSC had a tire we bought and the wonderful people at Walmart stayed open late and got our blown tire replaced!  So we were back on the road 3 hours later with a new tire and a spare!  YEE HAW!!

Dayton and Christopher are getting to relax at our campsite

 We didn't take the bus because we were going to be camping.  You can see that we have the trailer set up pretty nice.

 The trailer worked so good!!  Sarah has her books and bookshelves up front with a futon and lazy boy recliner.  We had a full size fridge and shelves for all our canned goods and a table for prep work.

THE CAMPSITE!!!  It was so great!!!  The boys built the sukkah (our booth or temporary dwelling).  I think the campground thought we were going to be there for a LONG time!  It rained a lot and this dry area was very much appreciated!

 We had such a good time!  Monty brought our BIG grill.  The grill was busy.  We cooked all our food on that grill!

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 This is the tent that Monty and I shared with Dayton.  It has two rooms, a heater, and we all stayed dry!!  Woo Hoo!!!!  Barrett and Devin stayed in the tent behind us and they did NOT stay dry!  Sarah and Will were in a tent next to Barrett and Devin.  They also did not stay dry.  We found a coin laundry and we got everything dried out!

 This campsite belongs to the Williams family.  They built a 3 room house for their sukkah!  It was quite impressive!

VOLLEYBALL!!!  The game of choice for this week!!!!

 I will say that Sarah and Monty made corn hole look quite enjoyable!!!!

DEVIN and BABY!!!!!!

Barrett might have won the game, but Devin had a great time!  

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This is the last picture and I just had to show all of you Devin's baby bump!  We were on our way to a wedding and Barrett and Devin looked so cute!  She just started to feel the baby moving!  Praise the Father for this sweet couple and this new little life!!!!!

Building the Barn

the guys are getting serious about building the barn

Dayton loves using heavy equipment

Is that a pirate or just a great looking guy?  Love the ponytail!!

view from the barn to the lake and campsites

that's my man and the fearless leader of our tribe!!

things are really starting to take shape

                More pictures coming soon.  We now have metal on the walls.  Soon to have a roof!!!

Colorado trip August 2012

Lake Dillon in Summit County  

the condo we stayed in...wonderful!

It is always good to get new shoes...

and have someone to greet you when you get home!!!!!

view from the condo

i love colorado and my honey!!

the children can't wait to go skiing this winter.  these are the slopes in Breckenridge, Colorado

Georgetown, Colorado is a great little town!

The house we lived in when the children were little!  i still love that house!!!

Long time, no post!!!

It has been some time since our last post and for that we are truly sorry!!  This summer has been wonderful!  HOT, but wonderful!

We bought an above ground pool and set it up at the farm, but it wasn't used much because we are still at the rent house and haven't been to the farm very often.  SO, we moved the pool.  Drained the water and loaded it onto a trailer and hauled it the 7 miles from the farm to the rent house.  Oh, don't mind them, that is just the Warrens moving their swimming pool... People around here are getting used to seeing us and have come to expect us to be somewhat different.  They like us in spite of that, I think!

We had an amazing surprise a few weeks ago!  Barrett and Devin told us that they are going to have a BABY!!!  YES, you heard me correctly!  A BABY!!!!  Now, you all know by now that I am not easily excited (ha ha), but a BABY is something to get excited about!  I think you could hear my shout of joy all the way down the block!  (Again, don't worry, it's just the Warrens)  Pray for our neighbors!  We are not a very quiet family and I am sure they are wondering about all the noise that proceeds from our home!  Anyway,  back to the baby announcement!  We were getting ready to pray for our Sabbath meal on Friday night and Barrett said, "You guys will never guess what we saw at the camper (they live in a camper on the farm) last night!"  We were all guessing mice, spiders, frogs, etc.  He told us they had a picture of "IT" and handed us their phone/camera.  It was not a picture of anything we had suggested, but it was a picture of a pregnancy test and it actually said "pregnant!"  (These new tests amaze me, they actually write out the results)  Needless to say, we are overjoyed and pray protection and blessings over Barrett and Devin and this new little life!

We also had our annual family reunion at my brother's house.  Such fun we had!!!  It was hotter than the blazes, but we found if you eat enough and hang out in the pool the heat isn't so bad!   It was a great weekend of reliving old memories about loved ones who are not with us anymore, making new memories with family that is here and dreaming about all the memories to be made with future family members!  Our family isn't perfect.  (I know, it is a shocker)  We don't always see eye-to-eye on some issues, but we are FAMILY and that means we love each other no matter what!  It was a great time!

I hope that all of you are having a terrific summer and I will talk to you soon!!!