Our house has been full of music celebrating Christ's Advent. Justin is quick to find a radio station playing Christmas music, Dean has some favorite albums he's been listening to, we've been singing Christmas songs during family worship and JJ putters around the house singing. The other day he was singing "Joy to the World" and was having some trouble with some of the words. I began singing with him and we enjoyed singing together as we drove home from town. After several times through the first verse, he had it almost mastered. When we sang in family worship that evening he was able to sing right along, but I couldn't.

I broke down part way through the song and had to compose myself before going on. Memories had flooded my mind and leaked out through my eyes. I remembered standing outside someone's home in Torreon with frozen toes. I remembered tilting my head back to look at the brilliant stars as I sang. I could almost smell the cedar smoke drifting from chimneys. I recalled the mad dash back to the warm van after singing and shouting "Merry Christmas". I heard my father's strong bass harmonizing with untrained but happy voices as we sang "Joy to the World" and the memories started to drip out of my nose and escape the corners of my eyes.

Sharing the joy brought to the world by our Savior was a constant part of Dad's life. He told me that he had prayed that he would have a chance to talk to someone every day and that the Lord had faithfully given him a daily opportunity to share the joy of the gospel.

I've already heard Jeremy singing "Joy to the World" this morning, and I'm sure that I'll be singing it again during this Christmas season. I'm also sure that a few more tears may escape, but those tears won't diminish the joy that came to the world. I am so thankful that the Lord has come and that he included me in his joyful plan. Let heaven and nature sing!

November flew by quickly and before we knew it we had packed a lot in and it was gone.

Mom flew in early in the month and we all drove up the Baltimore to pick her up. Her flight was delayed and didn't get in until around midnight. By that time all three boys were ready to sleep all the way home. JJ had the next day off of school so we didn't have to worry about getting him on the bus, but Dean did still have to get up and go to work. He had more coffee than usual and made it through the day. Since we knew that Justin had surgery coming up and there are few days when JJ is home, we decided to look for a fishing hole.

Jeremy and JJ were quickly done fishing but Justin was more than glad to spend all afternoon catching and releasing.

On Friday of the same week, Justin was off for surgery on his foot. He was excited about the process, and even asked the doctor if he could see "his knives."

We brought Justin home in a half cast and he spent the next few days lying on the couch pumped full of pain medication.

He soon graduated to a boot and crutches but couldn't put any weight on his foot and continued to spend a lot of time on the couch.

As he began to heal and became more and more tired of the couch, we attempted more school work. We had several reading days where I read until I couldn't read anymore and then assigned the boys large chunks of reading. All the while mom was busy around the house. She is a master of the laundry room and we never lacked for clean clothes while she was here.

Grandpa and Grandma came to visit for a day and we all enjoyed being together. It's not very often that the boys get to be with all their grandparents at once so we had to capture the occasion in a picture.

As Justin continued to heal we settled into more of a routine. We would begin our day with school work, but would interrupt it with a game or two of rummikub. Mom began reading one of the boys' books to them and worked steadily on the book until she left.

After the boys had finished their assigned book work for the day we would watch a documentary (well mom and the boys watched all of it and I lasted about halfway before having a little nap.) We learned about the Johnstown flood, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and many heretofore unheard of places around the world. At least mom and the boys did, I learned less.

Sometime later in the day, JJ would work on his homework and have story time. Often while mom was reading, I would see the older boys stop what they were doing and listen in as well. Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around mom reading to us as a family on long winter evenings or as we traveled.

Mom and I took a day and went shopping - something that doesn't happen very often. She and I had lunch with JJ at school one day, we had a rummikub tournament and Jeremy won. We attended a youth production of Annie, experienced "cold for January" weather, enjoyed a couple of meals out at local restaurants, got mom to share some of our family's history with the boys and just kept adding to our memory banks.

Before we knew it, we were at the end of the month and it was Thanksgiving day. Mom made the pie crusts for me and we all worked together to make a meal that we all enjoyed. Before we ate, Dean asked everyone to pray a prayer of thanksgiving. We sneaked in a few more more games and more reading time in between packing.

Our month was coming to an end and it was time to take mom back to the airport. By this time Justin was able to put some weight on his foot, but still needed crutches. After getting mom checked in at the airport, we enjoyed a leisurely meal before saying good-bye and watching her pass through security. Our hearts were full and our eyes were leaky as we parted. It was a full and good month.

While we were in Pennsylvania over the weekend, we had a fun little outing. As you can see, there is real reason to call it a little outing.

Jeremy and Justin decided to try out the caboose.

It really was designed for smaller people.

This little train east of Chambersburg is nestled in a park and is run by volunteers.

Large enough to hold adults, but small enough to for the children to feel like it belongs to them.

The younger cousins all fit nicely in the cattle car and no one had to worry about them falling out.

It chugged along at a slow rate and Jeremy was sure he could beat the train if he ran alongside.

We did notice that he only went around once and sat and watched while the train made two more loops.

After all the kids had taken four or five rides and the adults were cold, all the cousins lined up for a group picture.

Justin found a train that was more to his size.

And was joined by one of the younger cousins.

I can't speak for all the children, but I enjoyed watching and riding the cousin train.

About 5:00 this morning, I heard Dean ask if I was awake. He had been up in the night in order to verify a project for work and while he was up he discovered that today would be an excellent day for us to visit the Frontier Culture Museum. We have had this on our to-do list for several years so I was ready to say yes even at that time of the day. We let the boys sleep a couple more hours and then rustled them out of their beds after the sun had come up. They had all kinds of questions, but quickly dressed and brushed their teeth before hitting the road. We ate breakfast in the van and were at the museum soon after it opened.

We began our journey back into history in the African village where the boys helped to wash the skins off of black-eyed peas in preparation for the next meal.

Jeremy learned that the way to keep the village free of snakes was to keep the ground clear of all vegetation and he got to help clear some of the weeds that were sneaking in.

We journeyed on to an English farm where the ladies of the house were doing the baking for the week. We climbed the very narrow stairs to the second floor where we peered through the leaded glass windows.

Our next stop took us to Ireland where Jeremy and Justin were most interested in visiting with the blacksmith. They were able to get some tips from him and came home interested in finding an anvil and figuring out how to keep a fire hot enough to make iron glow.

We spent quite a bit of time in Germany where the chickens look foreign

and the water can be pulled from a well.

The ladies of the house were preparing noodles which caused me to remember sneaking into grandma's spare room after she had laid noodles out to dry and grabbing a snack of half-dried noodles.

Along the way we got to pick red beets from one of the well-tended gardens and the boys got to try their hands at making a wooden spatula.

In each section of the museum, we learned the most when we took the time to visit with the interpreters. We learned that the eastern part of Virginia was settled by the English while the Shenandoah Valley was settled by Germans. Our unplanned day turned out to be a very nice family day. I came home to the laundry that I didn't do and food that needs to be prepared for potluck tomorrow, but I'm glad that we went.

I was going through photos on my camera and decided to share a few.

I can't remember when we took this picture of Justin, but he wanted to text a message to Dean at work.

We were surprised to discover that we now have two sets of twins. I don't understand what happened when I snapped this picture of JJ, but the effect is at least interesting.

The boys have always loved to see how deep of a hole they can dig in the sand.

We had spent a morning in town and when we walked out of Staples, I found all three boys perched and waiting for Dean and me to finish up.

Sometime during the spring, a storm blew a tree down in our front yard. The boys worked many hours lopping off all the branches and hauling them to a brush pile. Then Dean's brother sawed the trunk into sections, but the stump still clung onto the roots which hadn't broken in the storm. Last week the boys started burning the stump and have had great fun building fires and watching a hole appear where roots once were.

Last night we decided that the fire would serve triple duty. We had several boxes of old receipts that we wanted to get rid of and instead of burning up a shredder, we burned the receipts. Since we had a fire going we decided to make mountain pies.

I had a can of pie filling in the cupboard and we dug the pie makers out of the shed and got them cleaned up. They've been there for a while so they were very dusty.

Two pieces of buttered bread, a nice scoop of pie filling, close the lid and pop it all in the fire. Several turns so it gets nicely browned on each side and dessert is served.

After all the paper was burned and everyone had dessert, we sat and watched the smoke rise towards the stars. We talked until past bedtime and then slowly made our way towards the house. Dessert, burned receipts, and family time all from the burning of an old stump. I guess that wan't triple duty but quadruple duty.

It was one of those long afternoons. And no, you're not going to play a game on the computer or watch a movie or even use the computer to write a story. You don't need to get your MP3 player and listen to music.

Jeremy was the first one to figure out what to do with his time. He had a library book and was soon in another world following an adventure that can only be found on the pages of a book.

JJ took a little longer, but he decided to build an interstate with train tracks. I'm not sure where he was going, but his adventure had his little cars going up and down the highway to places beyond the confines or our property.

Justin often thinks about hunting and fishing and his adventure took another turn. He decided he'd try to create a ghillie suit. He had an old shirt and a burlap bag and as he dreamed of hunting, he dug out the sewing machine. After working for a good part of the afternoon, he realized that he wasn't creating what he was imagining, but he still had fun trying.

Yes, it was a long afternoon, but adventures were out there to be found. And they all did it with supplies on hand and a little imagination.

When we were in New Mexico in July, Jeremy and Justin went hunting early one morning with my sister's sons.  I think they went thinking that they might scare up a rabbit or perhaps a prairie dog.  My nephew had told the story of hunting for rabbit one morning and before he could get close enough to take a shot, a coyote had jumped out of a bush and snatched the rabbit.  With that story in mind, they set out armed with a pellet gun, two bows and a range finder.  I'm sure the hunting party wasn't the quietest thing on that New Mexico mesa that morning, but they were quiet enough that a rattlesnake didn't hear them coming in time to dive for cover.  When they came marching home, they had the snake skewered on an arrow and excitement was high.  By the time I got out to see their prey, the snake had lost his rattles and was just about to lose his head.  Those rattles now reside in a box in my kitchen.  I haven't convinced Justin that they'll be safer somewhere else.

Last week I was driving home by myself just after sunset when I saw a snake on the road about a quarter of a mile from our house.  I didn't think he looked like a blacksnake, so I aimed the van straight for it.  As I got closer I began to suspect that it was a copperhead, but I didn't think that I would have much of a chance of killing it.  After I thought I had gone far enough, I backed up in time so see it slither into the grass at the edge of the road.  I turned my wheels and drove into the grass determined for a kill.  Justin and JJ had been picking up trash along the road just the day before and I didn't want this fellow to be around if they decided to beautify the neighborhood any more.  After several changes in direction, I decided that I had wounded the snake and headed home for a stick or something.  As I pulled in Justin popped out of the house and I saw a rake leaning there.  Justin joined me and we grabbed the rake and headed back down the road.

Sure enough, it was still there so I used the rake to pull the snake out of the grass and this time I tried to stop the front tire on the snake's body.  I finally snagged the snake on the tines of the rake and drove home again - this time with a snake hanging off the rake out the window.  Everyone had to take a look and as we released him from the rake, he began to writhe on the patio.  Once again we were facing a snake that was about to lose its head.  After the head and body had been separated, we calmed down.

Normally I don't kill snakes and didn't even get real excited when we saw a black snake sneak into our crawl space one summer, but when I see a poisonous one, I do change my tune.  We've gone for years without seeing poisonous snakes outside of a zoo, so seeing and killing two in one season definitely marks this year as the Year of the Snake.

The final stage of our trip began in Utah and ended in New Mexico.  We have been working on our goal of getting the boys into all 48 contiguous states and Utah was the final frontier.

Jeremy and Justin have now visited or at least driven through the lower 48 states.  JJ came along after we began our challenge and he's standing at 32 states now.

We spent part of a day on Antelope Island which sits in the Great Salt Lake.  Even though it has the same salinity as the Dead Sea none of us wanted to try floating in it.  The boys satisfied themselves with skipping stones. 

We drove quite a distance on Antelope Island before we saw an antelope and he decided to sit down and rest about the time I had the camera ready.  Even though there are supposed to be buffalo on the island we didn't see any, but we did come across a small herd of deer.

As we traveled around the west, I felt like I was feeding something deep inside on the beauty.  When I saw this cloud where we stopped for gas, I just had to take a picture.  I don't see such awesome clouds in the east.

As we headed south towards New Mexico, we passed through Moab and were wishing that we had a couple more days to spend traveling.  As we drank in the artistry of the red sandstone, we decided that we'd like to go back sometime when we have more time.

As we approached New Mexico, we began looking for Shiprock.  It poked its head out of the mist and welcomed us to the Navajo Nation and New Mexico.  I was back in the land of my birth.

We spent two days in New Mexico.  As usual, my sister and I spent a day shopping.  I love the second hand shops and shopped for school clothing.  Mom and Tena both helped me in searching and I ended up purchasing more than I had planned on.

The second day we were there, a group of us drove up into the Jemez valley for the day.  I had never seen the tunnels and I also had great fun playing with my great-nieces in the stream.  Many of us at least got our feet in the water and some managed to get in even deeper.

We left New Mexico early in the morning after telling everyone good-bye the night before and headed east.  Our vacation was over and we were on our way home.  Since we had enjoyed our vacation so much we weren't ready for it to be over, but we were still glad to be home and in our own beds.  Now we have a new store of memories to draw on and more dreams to dream as we think about other adventures.

After spending two days in Colorado, we headed north to Wyoming.  The scenery changed rapidly as we traveled and we were struck by the beauty of each new view.  After settling into our motel, we headed out for supper and the Cody Rodeo.   

We all enjoyed the excitement of the contests, but JJ was very sympathetic towards the calves being roped.  He didn't think it was very nice to rope and tie a calf and cheered whenever one got away.

There were several near misses when a cowboy hit the dust, but the most excitement came during the bull riding when one of the bulls refused to be corralled after throwing his rider and jumped a couple of fences before being rounded up.

The next morning we set out for the main objective of our trip:  Yellowstone National Park.  We drove for miles before we entered the park, but the miles were not wasted.  The canyon we drove through was full of wonderful sandstone formations, an inviting lake and groves of burnt trees.  Even though we snapped dozens of pictures, we mostly soaked in the majesty of creation.

Once we were in the park, our focus turned towards the uniqueness of the park and its many hydro-thermal features.  We went from mud pots to hot springs to geysers and back to mud pots and hot springs.  We sat for an hour waiting for Old Faithful, but I found some of the other features just as compelling.  The smell of some of the mud pots was just about overwhelming and the Dragon's Breath Geyser sounded like an angry animal ready to jump out of his cave looking for dinner.  The boys were especially fascinated in one of the hot springs that was at the edge of Yellowstone Lake.  Supposedly you could catch a fish in the lake and cook it in the hot spring without taking the fish off the hook, but I don't think fishing was allowed in that spot.

We kept our eyes open for wild animals and we weren't disappointed.  We saw a deer soon after entering the park, but it wasn't until late in the day that we began to see buffalo.  The boys began counting and counted more than 200 the first day and just about as many the second day.  Of course we weren't sure how many we saw twice, but it was still fun counting.  The one animal that we really wanted to see was a bear.  We prayed about several animals that we wanted to see and our prayers were graciously answered.  The second morning we came upon a large cluster of cars alongside the road and joined them.  Sure enough a bear was out in the meadow and heading our way.  As he headed towards the road quite a few people made mad dashes for their cars while other simply moved further away.  Shortly after he crossed the road another bear followed the first and a ranger showed up ordering everyone back into their vehicles.  On our way of the park the third morning, we saw an elk sunning himself in a quiet spot near the road.  

We left Yellowstone by the south gate and drove right into the Grand Tetons.  The lake was beautiful and the boys were fascinated with the idea that they were seeing glaciers.  By the time we got to the end the park, we had just about given up on seeing the one large animal that we hadn't seen yet, but there near Jackson, we spotted a moose standing in a stream.

As we were driving through southern Wyoming, we spotted a car coming towards us with flashing lights.  The driver stuck his head out the window to let us know that there was a roundup going on.  In pouring rain, a dozen cowboys were driving their cattle down the road.  Being a cowboy sounds glamorous, but it didn't look like as much fun when there was no way to get out of the rain.  Perhaps their hats were doing a good job of keeping them dry.

As we left Wyoming behind, we were looking forward to the final leg of our trip.  One more main objective was in sight but we didn't stop with just one more thing, we continued to fill our days.