First Therapy Session

The wind tried to blow us off the road going and coming from Fargo on Wednesday but we made it without mishap, thankfully. I like to fill gas in Fargo as it is cheaper than Jamestown. Since I only had 1/4 tank and the wind was blowing from the SE I decided to put a little in at Jamestown. I'm glad I did as it took extra to get to Fargo and I would have cut it pretty close.

The first session went well. Dr. Agnes was great about explaining to Daniel why he needed therapy and what it would do. He explained that the 6 muscles in each eye aren't working the way they should and we need to do exercises to strengthen them. That will help his eyes to work better. He told him some of the things better vision will help. Daniel agreed that that would be good.

The first thing we do in vision therapy is to warm up the eye muscles. We do an exercise called "clock." I stand right in front of Daniel and hold my arm out to the positions of the clock. Daniel has to turn his eye as far as he can without moving his head or body to see the tips of my fingers. Daniel laughed and said that it wasn't hard enough as my arms are too short. Dr. Agnes is really tall and has arms a lot longer than mine. So I stood closer.

Then there are 5 different exercises we do every day. The first is a letter/number chart. Daniel has to stand 10 feet away from it, put a patch on one eye, and use a lens to look through with the other eye. He reads left to right looking through the lens. Then he takes the lens off the eye and reads right to left. There are about 10 or so lines he has to do this with. I can't help him if he looses his place other than to say, "the line you are on starts with a 4". When he finishes using one eye he does it with the other. It is the most difficult and tiring thing for him to do so we do it first.

Another exercise is walking on a 2x4 with one eye patched. He has to put on foot in front of the other, hold that position for 5 seconds without wobbling, and move forward and then backward for 5 minutes with each eye.

Another exercise is to strengthen the peripheral vision. It is called "stare down." We sit close right across from each other. He has to stare into my eyes with one eye patched for 5 minutes. My job is to try to get the brain to look at what I am holding in Daniel's peripheral vision. Dr. Agnes told Daniel the brain is really going to want to look so he has to try hard to keep it from looking. If he doesn't look away from my eyes but sees what I am holding he gets it. Again we do both eyes.

We have what is called a marsden ball that we use. Daniel lays on the floor. I tied a string on the metal loop on the ball and extend it about 2 ft above Daniel's chest. Again we alternate patching one eye and looking with the other. I swing the ball in 6 different directions for 1 minute each and he has to follow it with his eye.

I think the exercise Daniel liked the least was the X's & O's. There is a sheet of paper with lines of x's and o's. He patches one eye and draws under the x's and over the o's. Then he has to go back and dot the o's. If he gets the dot in the o he goes back and colors in the o. What makes it difficult is he can't rest his hands or arms on his desk. It looks hard to do. He rarely gets the o dotted the first try. He does that 5 minutes on each eye.

That is what he does. It took us a little over an hour. We do this each day. But we will take Sabbaths off. I think Daniel will appreciate the "Sabbath rest." On his weekly appointments in Fargo Dr. Agnes will check for progress. The exercises will change as he progresses.

Daniel is a pretty obedient son. But I can see that it is going to take a lot for him not to complain about this. I think once we get to the point where it is routine it won't be as hard for him (and me) to give up the time to do this.

Also, knowing that we are paying money each week will help keep me accountable to do the exercises each day. Ultimately knowing that Daniel will have a much easier time in life doing regular things motivates me to do this. I love reading and want my children to love to read, too. If it is a difficult thing to do you aren't going to do it. And I think about things like building the play set. If you have a hard time reading it would be pretty difficult to figure out the directions. Dr. Agnes mentioned to Daniel other things like playing sports and driving. You need to be able to see well to do them as well.

This may be boring to read about but I felt I needed to share about this as there may be someone struggling with a similar problem. I know from reading the testimonies in Dr. Agnes' office that he has older patients as well. Some are in their 50's and 60's. So it is never too late.

I best get going. I have an appointment to get my hair cut this afternoon. I want to make sure we do the therapy and school before I need to leave.

More progress

I did get a chance to work more on the play set after school yesterday. It was a beautiful day to be outside. The first step I worked on was getting the climbing wall put together. First I had to screw all these frogs (as Leah called them) into the boards.



Here's a picture of some of the boards I used to make the wall.



This is the hardware that went into the boards and "frogs."

After I finished the wall I thought I should check my little apple tree. It has some buds almost ready to open.

My rhubarb sure has been growing. It is now big enough to use. I have been eyeing it and wanting to make a pie but so far haven't taken the time to do that.

There! Daniel and I got the wall attached. The children had such fun climbing up it and asked if we could put the slide on next. Attaching the slide wasn't the next step but I didn't see that it would hurt anything if we did that next.

So...

I also made three ladders, one for each level, put on eight handles, a steering wheel, and a telescope. An electric drill is a great tool. It was another good day's work. All that is left now is to build the swing set that will go off the other side of the tower. Since it looks like rain for the next few days I don't know when we will get a chance to do that. Notice how the trees are starting to green up.

Today Daniel has his first vision therapy session. I will need to be in the room as well so I can see how to do it at home. Wouldn't you know it that the wind is supposed to gust up to 30 miles an hour! I can hear it blowing pretty hard already. I don't like driving that big van in the wind though it does hold the road really well.

Brandon came out last night to ride his dirt bike a bit. Then he hooked up the big car trailer to the pick up and loaded my Trans Am on it. Last fall after he drove it in Gackle's parade it started leaking brake fluid and I had no brakes. He moved to Fargo then and didn't have a chance to fix it. So he is doing it now. As he loaded it he saw where it was leaking so it shouldn't be hard to fix. Once that is fixed I will occasionally take it on our weekly trips to Fargo.

I leave you with the video of Daniel and Leah sliding down their new slide for the first time.

Real Progress

While I would like to just spend the whole day working on the play set reality is that we need to do some school work first. So this will be a short post as we want to get done with our work inside so we can get outside and enjoy this day.

Since we have the tower pretty much finished we are getting to the easier steps. Tim and I worked on getting this table done yesterday before he had to leave for work. Leah just loves it and has already had a picnic snack on it.




After Tim left I saw that the next few steps were putting the safety railing around all three levels. I thought, "I can do that." And I did.

The next step is to make the climbing wall which will go on the above left (I think) and the slide will go on the right. There really isn't much wood left as I suspect after we get the climbing wall finished the rest of the wood will be to construct the swing set that goes off to the right of this picture.

I best get my students up to school. Have a great day.

Play set work

I guess we have had a busy few days here. I thought I had blogged more this week, I guess I didn't.

On Thursday afternoon I got Tim to start up the garden tiller for me. I was feeling like I needed to get that done. It was a beautiful day, sunny with little wind, perfect for tilling and planting. I love being out there working my little piece of ground. I prayed that the tiller wouldn't quit for any reason and that the gas would last while I went over the garden twice as Tim headed off to work and hadn't showed me how to start it. He just said, "You won't be able to start it."

I did get through the garden twice and even got my little flower bed tilled. After I got the tiller into the quonset I tried to shut it off like Tim had showed me. It is self propelled and the wheels kept going even though I did what I was supposed to. After it ran into the log splitter I just messed with the throttle a bit and it stopped.

There was still time to get some of the garden planted. Daniel helped me get things ready. Then I dug holes and he threw a potato in each. We are trying some organic fish fertilizer this year. So Daniel gave each seed a drink of that too. We planted our corn, peas, beans, carrots, and lettuce too. It felt so good to get that done.

By that time Leah had woke from her nap and wanted to plant too. So she helped me plant my flower seeds.

Then Daniel said he felt like going fishing to the creek or Schlenker Dam. I told him I was too tired to walk down to the creek but would drive him to Schlenker Dam. Since he was really dirty (he had buried himself in the garden) he went up to take a bath while I put the gardening tools away. When he was finished I had him put everything he needed in the back of the van including a chair for me. I cleaned up a bit and by that time he was ready to go.

It was so beautiful at the dam. I'm really glad I took the time, even though I was really tired and hungry, to go over there with the children. The birds were singing and the geese were honking. We saw an American Bittern not far from where we were sitting and fishing. I didn't know what it was at the time as I had never even heard of it. When we got back home we looked it up in our "Birds of the Dakotas Field Guide." Here's what the book had to say about it:

Very secretive bird that seems to be on the decline. Hunts by walking extremely slowly, looking for prey along edges of ponds, streams and wetlands. Strikes an erect posture and points its large yellow bill straight up into the air to disguise itself. Carries this camouflage one step further, swaying back and forth in wind to match surrounding cattails and other aquatic vegetation (reeds). Strikes quickly at prey with its sharp bill. Usually solitary, roosting in trees at any hour. The male's loud booming call sounds like a slow water pump, hence its other common name, Slue-pumper.

When we first drove up and parked I thought I noticed something moving in the cattails just in front of the van about 20 feet. I kept looking at the spot but didn't see movement. I kept looking even while the children got out. Finally I got out but kept my eyes on the spot. Then I saw it move again. The bird was hard to make out as it was well camouflaged. But I could see that it was some type of water fowl that was standing almost straight up like a heron. I left it alone.

After having his line in the water about 10 minutes Daniel thought it might be more fun to play and explore with Leah than fish. So they were walking around the area a bit when they saw the Bittern. They got a little too close for the bird's comfort so it flew away. But they did get a good look at it.

We enjoyed a walk looking at the dam. It really was full. There was a pair of geese across the dam from us that honked at us until we went back to our fishing spot. We didn't stay much longer as the sun was getting close to setting.

On Friday afternoon Tim and I worked on the play set again. We had left off at the anchoring step. We had to screw big stakes into the ground and then bolt them to the base. We got three in just fine. The fourth hit a rock. So we had to find a different spot to put the base. After some discussion about where it was level enough and far enough away from the tree and where the slide will be out of the sun we finally got it anchored. This time there were no rocks that hindered us.

By the time we finished for the evening we felt we made some good progress. The children were excited that they could climb on it. There's still a lot of wood in those boxes but it is getting easier finding the pieces we need for each step. That's my job. I look at the directions and find the wood and hardware needed for each step. Then either Daniel or I or sometimes both of us hold boards while Tim puts them together.



I had turned this photo but it showed up like this and I don't know how to change it once it is on blogger.

We had an awesome Sabbath. But I don't have time to write about it now. Tim is awake and we have plans to work on the play set before he has to leave for work.

Parade

I noticed that I hadn't blogged since Monday. And I was doing so good for a few days.

Since both Tim and I were supposed to be at the final consultation with Dr. Agnes on Wednesday morning Tim took Tuesday night off from work. That gave him most of Tuesday afternoon to do things around here. After he got up around 1:00 he spent about 3 hours doing paper work and other things he needed to do. I was a little impatient to start working on the play set but tried not to show it. By the time we got started it was almost 5:00. So this is all we accomplished in 2 1/2 hours. It doesn't look like much and all those boxes are still filled with wood.



After the appointment in Fargo we went to Sam's Club as Tim wanted to see if they had a dehumidifier. Several years ago we purchased one there that is still working. Since Tim's mother's house needed a new one Tim wanted to get one from Sam's Club. While we were there we looked at the finished play set on display. We just started laughing at how much work we still have to do on it. I suggested he take some time off from work to catch up on work around here.

The appointment went well. Dr. Agnes explained everything to us both. I could never have explained it to Tim like that. I think Tim understands how important it is for Daniel to have the therapy which is good since it is going to be a big financial investment for him to make.

Tim checked with his health insurance to see if vision therapy is covered. It isn't. So it will be up to him and God to provide the funds each week for a year or more. Still we are both convinced that Daniel needs this and we will do all we can to make sure he gets it.

While we were at Sam's Club Daniel found a big bag of mixed candy called Chewy Mix. It has all kinds of caramels and tootsie rolls, all good and chewy. On the way home I heard Daniel telling Leah, "When we get home let's play parade." As I was putting things away I looked out and saw them doing just that and had to take a video. I find it so precious the way the children play together. They usually get along so well and are such best friends.

I leave you with the video. It's not as good as the first time I saw them playing "parade" (I didn't get that on video) as Leah was distracted with the candy that was already on the ground.

Nature Walk

Since it was such a beautiful morning with no wind the children and I took a nature walk before school. First we went over to see how Misty was doing.



She indicated that she wanted a grain treat.



She was watching Leah.

I checked on the progress of my rhubarb...can't wait for that first taste of fresh rhubarb pie!

The children went into the "fort" they made yesterday.

They sat on some of the wood Tim cut and is letting dry for next year.

Mario is kind of dog-like in that he goes walking with us if we don't go too far from the farm. He looks like he has an extra appendage on the side of his body as he has a big piece of matted fur hanging down to the ground. I would brush him but he bites me if I try.

Daniel and I have been sneaking out to the garden to eat some fresh chives. I thought Tim had tilled them under last fall. I was delighted to see that he hadn't.

Daniel and Mario are walking on the north side of the tree line.

Misty was watching us.

I was wondering when we would see the first wood tick. Well...in school this morning Daniel had one crawling on his ear. I am surprised that no one had one before this.

Even if the wood ticks are out I love mornings like this.

A Work Day

Today will be a "work" day around here. I want to continue to spring cleaning and plan on working in the kitchen scrubbing down walls, shelves, and cupboards. It will be nice to get that room out of the way.

The other day Whitney brought her horse, Misty, over for the summer. Last summer they tried to put her in with their cows. Misty and the cows got along really well. But Misty was very protective and didn't like Ryan coming in there to work with and check the cows. So it didn't work out. Whitney thought it would be a lot less stressful for everyone to just bring Misty here. I like looking out my window and seeing Misty out there. After acting a little wild at first she settled down by the evening.

Right now we have Misty in the smaller "goat" pen. Earlier there was a lot of snow on the north fence line of the bigger "horse" pasture and yesterday we saw there are two big trees resting on it too. They must have fallen during that wind storm we had last week. Tim is planning on cutting those trees into small logs today. (We always need wood!) Whitney will stop by on Tuesday, fix the fence, and put Misty into the bigger "horse" pasture. I'm sure the horse will enjoy her old stomping grounds but will miss seeing Whitney each day.

As the days turn warmer and I see the farmers getting out into their fields I want to get planting too. I did start some pepper plants a few weeks ago. I was glad to see them poking through the soil the other day. Last week I started some heirloom tomatoes and bell peppers. I know it is sort of late to be doing that but I ordered my seeds a little late. Still they should be ready to put out by June.



I have been hearing my favorite birds mourning in the evergreen trees by the house. This morning I noticed these two plump doves on the ground.

Since Tim will be coming to Fargo with us this week for Daniel's last consultation before he starts vision therapy we thought we could stop at Menard's for some supplies. We want to pick up some patio blocks to put under our wooden swing. We both looked in town and didn't find any we liked. We saw in yesterday's Menard's advertisement that they have a bigger selection for a dollar cheaper than Wal-Mart's. Hopefully we can find some that we like.

Also we would like to pick up some supplies for Tim to make some new front steps. We had thought about going with the composite decking as it it no maintenance. Brandon was telling us that our cousin and her husband had that and didn't like it and are replacing the deck they built just a few years ago. I will have to make a call to her to find out why.

Since I have many things to do today I will end this post. Have a great day.

Beef Stroganoff

While I waited for blogger to upload some pictures I looked through some I have stored on my computer. I noticed this picture is from 1 month ago. What a difference a month makes. Those snow piles are completely gone now though there was a little left a week ago.


Today we will finish our study of Russia. We did some neat activities and read some good books. I like this series of books they have at our library. We have used them throughout the year as we study a new country.

This week we made beef stroganoff. I didn't know this and will quote this book.

"Beef Stroganoff is known and loved in the United States and in many European countries. It originated in Russia in the 19th century when it was created for Count Stroganov."

This morning I finished my house cleaning. It is so good to get that done each week. While I was shaking the rugs outside I found it very nice and had the children go out for some fresh air and exercise. Since I was now very hungry I made myself a sausage sandwich and uploaded these pictures.

Here is where we decided to put the trampoline. It is a secure place, I hope, but gets full of little branches from the trees. Daniel is sweeping them off and Leah is waiting for help to get on as we haven't moved the steps yet.

We made another trip to Fargo yesterday. Daniel had his second consultation with Dr. Agnes. Dr. Agnes had him do several different tests to find where he needs help. Then he scored it and had me come in so he could explain the results to me. Except for one test on the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (non-motor) Daniel did very well. But on the Jordan Left-Right Reversal Test and the Test of Developmental Eye Movements his scores were very low. Dr. Agnes will give those tests periodically through out the therapy to determine how Daniel is progressing.

While Daniel was doing the tests I read some of the patients' testimonies. I found one young home schooled man I knew had written a testimony. He must have been in high school when he did his therapy. It was interesting to me and I appreciated reading how others have been helped and how much the children loved Dr. Agnes and were sorry to end their therapy.

Next week Tim will come with us and we will have our final consultation where Dr. Agnes will explain everything in depth.

After we ate our lunch we went to the mall. I had a $15 coupon I wanted to use at Lane Bryant. I was looking for some tank tops for summer. I tried some on but found them too low. I was disappointed but couldn't find anything I liked so I could use my coupon.

I tried on some tank tops at a few other stores but didn't like them either. I think it was one of those days when nothing looks good.

We did stop at the pet shop again. I thought I was strong. Boy was I wrong! (Hey that rhymed.) They had a little female Boston Terrier. Ohhhhh she was cute. She saw us and started scratching on the glass. I could see how intelligent she was. As I stood and watched her for about 15 minutes I started to cry as I really wanted her. I could just imagine holding her stinky but sweet little puppy body. A dog always loves you even when you aren't perfect. It would be so nice to hold her as she sleeps and play with her. But she was already sold.

When we got home I was glad I didn't have a puppy to take care of. It's so much work to train them yet I wouldn't want a dog that was not a puppy as I love the puppy stage. I think I will have to stay out of the pet shop from now on.

You see I thought I was safe as I didn't think they would have any pure breeds. They only seem to have what they call "designer dogs" which is really just a nice way of saying they are mutts. Not that I have anything against them. They had one cute puppy that was half Pug and half Beagle. It was cute but didn't look like either breed. Then they had a bunch of "fufy dogs", cockapoos and the like. They are cute but I am not interested in them. I want a Boston Terrier or a Boxer. Like I said I thought I was safe as they usually don't have anything like that. I was proved wrong.

I only made one purchase at the mall. At Creative Kitchens I found a spring form pan that was NOT made of the non stick surface. It was made in Germany out of tin and stainless steel. I had one of the non stick ones and threw it away after I noticed some of the metal coming off onto my cheesecakes. The clerk gave a good recommendation of the pan I bought and told me how to care for it. So I will try it today when I make a caramel cheesecake for our Sabbath meal.

We also stopped at Hugos for a few groceries. I found they had a good meat sale going on. I got a nice bundle of steaks for a good price. We will have the New York strips tomorrow after church.

I had best get my little students in from outside so we can do our school work for the day.

My Rooster

Can you see him? I was sitting in front of my computer which is right by the back door. I had the big door open so I can see and hear better what is going on outside. While I was sitting here I heard this guy crow. I thought, "That sounds like a pheasant is right outside my door." And he was. I sat and watched him for awhile and told Leah to come quietly and slowly over to the door. She saw him, too. Then I thought that I should take a picture. By then he had moved to the other side of the lilacs. I wonder if there is a hen nesting close by?

I took a picture of my organized silverware drawer. Not too exciting but it impressed me.

While we were in town yesterday afternoon we stopped at the bank. The children have been putting money into their container they made for the Children's Feeding Station in Nicaragua that our local church supports. We put all the change into the money machine. All together they had given $25. I am so proud of them. They will put it into this week's offering as once a month our offering at church goes to this charity.

I stopped at the Salvation Army with a donation of glassware and clothing. We also made a trip to the library and picked up enrichment books for our study of Australia.

After that we got to visit with my aunt for awhile, went up to see Grandma, and did some shopping.

By that time it was after 6:00. We stopped at Brandon and Dustin's place. I wanted to see the house and yard all cleaned. It did look nice. I was proud of the job my family did. I enjoyed visiting with my "boys."

We were late getting home and found our trampoline moved several feet from its original place. I was glad it was resting against a tree and not up in one. This morning I went out and pulled it back a little and fixed some poles that came apart. I hope it wasn't damaged. And I am so happy that the wind has stilled!!!!!!!!!!!! I really don't care for the wind we get here in North Dakota.

It is already warm outside. I am looking forward to getting out into it later. So I had best get busy now.

I don't really have a title today

It was a great weekend. For Sabbath school in church we have been going through the "That The World May Know" series by Ray Vander Laan http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Authors/Author.htm?ContributorID=VanderLaanR&QueryStringSite=Zondervan . They have been so helpful in understanding the culture of that time. Sabbath's study was partly on the marriage of the church to Christ. He explained the marriage customs of the culture at that time. That scriptural teaching took on a deeper meaning for me.

After Sabbath school Dave gave a great message on peace. He had many scriptural passages on what peace is. And he brought out the difference of the peace the world gives and the peace that God gives.

We enjoyed further fellowship after church when good friends came over for the day. That is rest for me. During the week I don't get much chance to talk with adults so I look forward to Sabbath and company whether it be friends or my adult children.

Our friends' children enjoyed jumping on the trampoline. One little girl and Daniel jumped all afternoon with only a few breaks. Leah gets a little nervous (with good reason) when there are more than two people in there at one time. She will only go in and jump with one other person. But she kept busy doing other things.

Yesterday was a busy day of work. Since I still had my table covering on my good table I thought I should clean out my china hutches. I have two, my own and my mother's. Brandon will take my mother's hutch when he is ready for it. As I was taking things out I thought I really need to get rid of some things. There are so many pretty things that I don't use. Why clean around them all the time? So I set some things aside. I will let the adult children pick anything they might want. The rest I will try to sell at Tim's mom's sale.

After I got both hutches cleaned, they were very dusty, I moved them ahead and washed the walls behind and the floor underneath. Then I decided I still had most of the day and could get all the walls washed down in the dining room. I even had time to wash the walls in the living room, clean the windows in both rooms, wash the curtains, and clean the light fixtures and ceiling fans. It felt so good to get those two rooms cleaned. The nice thing about it is I didn't go into the job with high expectations. I was just going to clean out the hutches.

While I was doing the inside work Tim and Daniel were outside raking the west lawn. There were so many little, and big, twigs that needed to be cleaned up before Tim can mow. Tim cut off the branches on my "berry" tree that broke when we had that heavy snow and ice last fall. The tree looks not so nice but I hate to cut it down as so many birds feed on the berries every spring. He also cut down a dead tree by my raspberry bushes. Then he still had to go to work and work hard for 14 hours. I really don't know how he does it.

Brandon came over later in the afternoon. He had taken his black car up to town on a trailer pulled by our blue Ford. He rebuilt the motor a few years ago but still can't get it running right. He even had it down at school in Wahpeton but his teacher couldn't figure out the problem either. So he is going to take it in somewhere.

Yesterday he loaded his silver car on the trailer as he wants to overhaul the motor in it. Last year he put a new transmission in that car and knew he would eventually need to redo the motor. It will give him something to do after work.

Both of Brandon's cars were purchased with cash by him. He didn't pay much for either and they have been good cars. He likes both and doesn't want to get rid of either. With his abilities he should be able to keep them running.

Brandon said he kept busy yesterday by cleaning and raking Grandpa's yard and cleaning out the flower beds which probably hadn't been done in awhile. The neighbors to the east came over and visited with him while he worked. The lady said anytime he was hungry to come over and she would bake him some cookies. They are nice people. I expect they are happy someone will be there to take care of the yard and get it looking better.

This post is getting much too long so I will get to the pictures now. In school we are studying Russia. The family who writes and publishes My Father's World were missionaries in what we call Siberia for years. The ground stays frozen all the time. It is called permafrost. In the summer the top layer will thaw. Since the ground is still frozen underneath, the snow that melts can't go down into the earth. So it stays on top, a muddy mess.

Marie said in my teacher's manual that they would see old houses that were sinking into the ground. The newer houses and apartment buildings are built on concrete stilts that go down into the permafrost layer. Then they leave 10 feet between the ground and the bottom of the building. This has prevented the houses from sinking.

For our permafrost activity we made some plain gelatin for our permafrost layer. Once it was set we put some dirt on it. We finished by putting snow on top of the dirt. We still had some snow out in the yard for that. Then we let it sit in the sun to see what would happen.



When the snow melted we were left with a soupy mud mess on top that didn't penetrate the "permafrost."


Our neighbor was selling a dirt bike and gave Brandon a really good deal. While Brandon was home yesterday he went over to pay the neighbor and pick up the bike. It is a tall bike. Brandon is a tall man and can barely reach the ground. He was going to take my picture sitting on it but I told him I was sure I wouldn't be able to reach the ground.

I think that is all I have to say for now. 'Till next time...

Vision Therapy

Where has week gone? It seems they just fly past so quickly. Weather wise it has been so beautiful here. We had that nice rain last week. This week it has been sunshine and around 60 which is just perfect this time of the year. I don't like to go from 10 degrees to 80 in a few days. I like getting acclimated over time.

A fellow blogger, http://ndhomekeeper.blogspot.com/ , commented about the sunrise. Its funny because I notice the same thing, where the sun rises each morning. I much prefer spring sunrises as I notice the spot moving more north which means it is getting to be summer, my favorite season. In the fall it tends to depress me as I notice the sun rising further south which means I am in for another long winter.

I noticed this morning that I could barely see the sun rise as I had to look through the trees. That's a good sign.

Another thing I noticed this morning before the sunrise was the beautiful waning moon and the dark sky. It truly took my breath away. I was feeding Mario and had to step outside a moment just to see and hear better. I heard a robin singing and some geese honking in the distance. I could hear the neighbor's cows. I am truly enjoying this nice weather.

This week was Daniel's first consultation with the vision therapist, Dr. Agnes, in Fargo. After googling directions we found the place just fine. We first had to stop and drop the Ford pickup at Brandon's. He took my van back to Fargo on Sunday. We both thought it would be easier for him to do that than try to find a place to park the big trailer. He had it all loaded with his big tool chest from NDSCS, his big dresser, tv, mattress and box spring, and other things I couldn't make out. That big van comes in so handy. It is all still in the back of the van. Today he will come back with whatever he has left there.

Brandon will be renting Tim's dad's house with the option to buy. It is a really special place to all in the family so we hope it will work out and it can stay in the family.

I'm sure it will be kind of hard for Brandon to leave his good friends there in Fargo. Now he will have to start all over in Jamestown. Not really starting all over though as he knows many people around here.

Back to the visit with Dr. Agnes, it went well. He wanted me in the room so I could see, too. It was easy even for me to see that Daniel's eyes aren't working properly. The consultation took 1 hour. He will have another one next week and do different things then. The week after that Dr. Agnes wants to meet with both Tim and me for another 1 hour consultation where he will explain everything.

One thing that Dr. Agnes pointed out that was good was that Daniel's 3D vision isn't impaired. When Daniel reads or has to look at something close up is when the problems start. I guess the words move around the page and he can't track well as he reads. To compensate his brain shuts the vision down in one eye and just uses one eye to see. This causes a lot of stress to Daniel. Poor little fellow, it's a wonder he could even learn to read!

Before the visit I had to fill out a questionnaire and send it back. Some of the things that I notice in Daniel like: he can't pay attention well, it takes him so long to do a simple assignment, he forgets easily, and such are all direct results from his vision problem. It's good to know that he can get help and see better and eventually be able to learn easier.

Daniel also needs reading glasses. When Dr. Agnes held up lenses for Daniel to look through and then read it was like, "Wow!! I can see so much better!" So we ordered those. I suppose Daniel just thought that everyone sees like he does as he didn't know any better.

I am feeling a little overwhelmed. This is going to mean a lot of time and energy for me. We will have to make a trip to Fargo every week for 45-70 weeks!! That means going in the winter when the roads can get impassable. Daniel will have 1 hour of home work each day. Then there is the cost in dollars. I am just trusting that God will provide all the help we need to get Daniel seeing better.

We did a little shopping before we went home, too. I stopped at Kohl's to get a memory foam mattress topper. My chiropractor recommended getting one. I had looked at them when we were in Bismarck the week before this. Even at half off it was expensive so I didn't get it. Then Tim said I had better get one. So I did. I was glad they were still half off. I slept on it for the first time last night. I did feel better this morning so we'll see if it helps.

We looked at Hobby Lobby for matryoshka dolls that we could paint in art this week. They didn't have any and thought Micheal's might. They didn't either. I love Hobby Lobby! One nice thing about going to Fargo every week is being able to go there for art supplies. I will have to look ahead though to make sure they have it. If not I can always order things online. I just never seem to be that organized! I think I will look online for pictures of matryoshka dolls that I could print out and either have the kids paint or color.

I stopped at Valley City and got a stick of beef summer sausage. I love having a sausage sandwich for breakfast, just like my mom did! Leah does, too. She doesn't like the typical breakfast food much and prefers lunch type food. While I was there I got some beef bacon and wieners, too.

We also made a stop at Walmart and the Dollar Tree in Jamestown. So I'm hoping Tim will take my library books and videos that are due back to the library for me. I also have a few little items I'm hoping he will pick up at Hugos for me. That way I won't have to go to Jamestown this week.

I am so looking forward to Sabbath coming! Not only for the rest but for the fellowship. I started getting my house cleaned last night as we will be getting company after church. If I can finish my cleaning today I will have Friday for the cooking which I love doing.

I best get back upstairs so I can dry and straighten my hair. I've tried letting it just go natural but then can't stand it. Really, it doesn't take long to do and I feel so much better all day.

Oh, forgot to say that we had our "box day" yesterday. Our new curriculum and books came in the morning. It was so exciting!! Daniel cut the boxes open, Leah opened them, and we all dug in! It's so exciting to see them excited about learning. I should have taken some pictures but in my excitement I forgot. It looks like it will be a great year of learning.

Toodle-loo

Why we don't celebrate Easter

I don't mean to step on any toes or offend anyone. I encourage you to study it for yourselves. As we are so frequently told, "Have a good Easter," I have had to remind our children why we don't celebrate this holiday. Before I get to that I will share some spring pictures that I took recently.

One day I noticed tens of robins outside my back door. They were all over the ground under this tree.


Yesterday my nature boy, Brandon found a woolly caterpillar.



We put it into our butterfly garden. Hopefully it will become a butterfly or moth.

With spring all around us we can take joy in God's creation. But we don't want to become "yoked with unbelievers" in our worship. In II Corinthians 6:14 Paul warns the Corinthians about allowing pagan worship to mix with their worship of God. As we can see in our age it is still being done.

When Jesus was asked for a sign He answered, "but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet of Jonah. For even as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12: 39b-40. Not part of three days and two nights that is taught in many of our churches.

We can read of the account of Jesus death and resurrection in the gospels. Jesus was crucified on what we call Wednesday.

The passover lamb was sacrificed in the afternoon on Aviv 14th (that Wednesday) around 3:00. This gave them time to get it ready and cook it for the passover meal which begins at sundown which starts the feast of unleavened bread on the 15th. No work is to be done on that day (15th), sundown to sundown. The people were to eat the meal with their staffs in their hands and ready to flee just as they had done in Egypt.

The Jews didn't want the bodies hanging on the crosses on the Sabbath, which is talking about the Passover Sabbath not the weekly Sabbath which began at sundown. The soldiers were going to break Jesus' legs to speed up his death but found him already dead. Joseph, a rich man from Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus begged the body of Jesus. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb. He rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed. He most likely didn't have time to wrap the body with spices as would have been done because it was almost sundown. They were to be in their houses at sundown and not go out.

In Matthew 28:1 it tells us, "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week," that some women came to the sepulchre when there was a great earthquake and the stone rolled away. Jesus was already gone. The women did find an angel of the Lord there who told them that Jesus was already risen and he showed them the empty tomb. Remember "dawn" there means almost sundown.

We know that a day according to God's calendar begins at sundown and goes to sundown. Before sundown on the weekly Sabbath Jesus was already resurrected and gone from the tomb.

So...Jesus died on a Wednesday afternoon. He was in the tomb Wednesday night, Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday and rose sometime Saturday afternoon. My guess it that it was exactly 3 days and 3 nights from when he died. Remember that was the only sign He gave...3 days and 3 nights.

Jesus then became the "First Fruits" offering on the 1st day of the week that follows the passover. He appeared before the Father as the "First Fruits" of those resurrected. If we follow God's reckoning of time it is easy to understand.

If we look into the roots of Easter, the fertility goddess, we will see it has nothing to do with Jesus, his crucifixion, or resurrection. What it has to do with is pagan sun god worship and the spring (vernal) equinox. What do rabbits and dyed eggs have to do with God? Remember "Do not become unequally yoked with unbelievers" in your worship. It truly can not be pleasing to the one true God.

I encourage you to check it out for yourselves. With the Internet it is really easy to find information. One resource that has helped me to understand the roots of paganism and how it filtered into the churches is Michael Rood. http://www.michaelroodministries.com/

I could go on and on about what I have learned but I need to do the main job God has given me, teach and train my children. Have a great spring day and enjoy God's creation.

Our week

I snapped the above picture a few weeks ago. Whitney stopped for some reason, I can't remember why, and had on her farmer pants. She looked so cute. She is really telling her dad something and it looks kind of serious.

Tim bought a swing set/playground for the children. We hope to set it up soon. It will sit where the old (22 yrs!) set and sandbox are. Getting those old eye sores out of there will be so nice. This is a nice wooden set we got from Sam's. And it has a big slide!

In ECC we have been studying Asia. The last two weeks we have been in Japan. We all found it very interesting. At the library we found a new video series called, "The Little Travelers" that is really interesting. They only have 3 in the series but I put in a plug for it so maybe they will get more. One of the videos was on Japan. The pictures were so clear. There was a lot in there about going to the shrines. But that is their culture and the way they live. Sometimes we truly don't know and appreciate how good we have it since our country was founded on the freedom to worship God.

For one of our art projects we did origami. After trying to make a more complicated animal from the back of the book I realized we needed to start at the beginning and do some of the simpler animals. It was fun and we still have some pretty paper left over if we want to do more.

With the nicer weather it is getting more difficult to stay indoors and do school. We have 6 more weeks left. We will be in Russia, Australia, and Antarctica for 2 weeks each to complete our study of the 7 continents. It has been such a great study.

I was able to order my curriculum for next year. We will be doing MFW's CtG, Creation to the Greeks,http://www.mfwbooks.com/ctg.htm next fall. It will start a 4 year world history study. I can hardly wait for "Box Day!"


Since the first wedding anniversary is paper I have had it on my mind to get this print for Ryan and Whitney. It will fit so well into the theme of the decorating in their house. I know that Whitney has long admired this and thinks that Ryan will like it as well. I was happy to get it as they only had one left!

On Wednesday Daniel, Leah, and I made a trip to Bismarck. I should have called ahead to the art shop to see if they still had that picture but I couldn't remember the name of it and just trusted that it would still be there. And it was.

We ate breakfast at The Cracker Barrel. Mama's French Toast Breakfast as good as usual...and the coffee...mmmm! The breakfast is big enough for Daniel and I to split. Then we get a side of the yummy turkey sausage, too. Leah always has a burger wherever we go, just a burger no fries.

I needed to get the kids some summer clothes so we went to Kohl's. They had some great sales and I was able to outfit both children for not much $$$. Leah found four dresses as she prefers to wear them. I am going to let her wear them around here as she would never get the wear out of them if she just wore them to church. We found some nice dress pants and shirts for Daniel as he didn't have any for church. We went to Old Navy as they usually have good sales too. I didn't find much on sale but they did have some of their shorts and short sleeved shirts on sale. Daniel got two of each. And I found a nice little white sweater for Leah that she can wear with her sundresses if it is cooler. It was fun to shop and the kids were super about all that walking and trying on of clothes.

When we went to the mall I was able to find some summer sandals for both Daniel and Leah at Penny's. They had a "Buy one pair get the other for $1" sale. So that worked out well. I have a difficult time finding sandals for Leah as they usually are too wide for her narrow feet. These are snug and pretty. She is wearing them right now. Daniel got some with the Velcro straps that he can quickly put on and get off. That is a major requirement for him and they don't hurt the back of his foot.

It was a good fun day and we were able to get on the road by 6:00. I was happy to make it home before sundown.

It is so gloomy outside today. I'm hoping we don't get any of the white stuff. I can hear a few rumbles of thunder. I love thunder! Hopefully all our moisture will be rain. I best get busy.