Dec. so far

sorry about the format issues...

From Dec.3:
Sarah was sick (sore throat) all yesterday and did a lot of laying around. She even
had an earache at night and today is so much better and seemingly 'normal' with
regards to health.

Last night we brought dinner up for everyone to eat upstairs and she looks at her
plate and throws up on it. After that she seemed to improve. We brought her
mattress into our room so she could be with us and lay down after she threw up and
feel better enough to eat, which she did later...enjoying pickles and shepherd's
pie Andy made.

Andy and I have been making desserts lately. AA - pumpkin pie, apple pie. Me -
apple crisp, which I think I'm single-handly eating.

We are enjoying reading some advent readings from the book "Seeking the Christmas
Lamb" although some of it's for older kids, but Andy does a terrific job reading
slowly and explaining things about what he's reading (from the Bible). So, I think
we'll mainly focus on the Bible readings. Sarah had the idea of drawing about what
we hear while Dad reads, so that'll be cool. We have a book we could use for that.

That' Ladies Cmas night at church was postponed to this Friday, so that should be
nice.

No snow seems so weird and not-Christmasy.

Andy and I are having a tea time tonight to finalize ideas for gifts/etc. for
Christmas. Should be good.

Talked to Mom A. yesterday on the phone. That was nice. All her family will be at
her house for Christmas. James is working at my Dad's bookstore - House of James.
Sometimes I miss working there. I loved working there. I feel connected a bit
reading some books I know they sell there. I'm reading 'Safely Home' by Randy
Alcorn currently. Andy read it a few months ago.

Mom. K., didn't get to tell you how much we are enjoying that hand-me-down fish
shower curtain you gave us. It does let in more light. Sarah and I also enjoy
"Alaska's 12 Days of Summer" book you gave Sarah, yesterday, during sick-time reading.

Written Dec.4:

Yesterday Andy sprained his ankle and when Sarah and I came back from town we discovered him on the couch. He'd stepped down off the tractor on to some rough and
frozen ground. He told me he laid on the ground 6 or 7 minutes and made it back
onto the tractor to drive home.

So, since then, I've retrieved his helmet and chainsaw that he'd left in the woods
before it got dark, chopped wood, started fires, gave the chickens new water (hauling
it from the house) and feed, delievered meals and snacks to Andy upstairs. It was minus 7 this morning. The chicken's water had frozen and they were thristy. I got some collards and kale and carrots from the greenhouse as well.

Sarah had another nap yesterday and today she is doing much better. She is still in
her pjs though but is not very interested in going outside, although we just made a
plan to do that now.

Andy is hobbling around with a walking stick and even put a few logs on the fire. He actually put a bit of weight on his foot just now. We decided we are going to order food in (go pick it up. I don't think anyone delievers out here) tonight...we are all really excited about that. I asked Andy what he wanted in his tea and he said, 'pizza' (funny guy) and that's how we got on the topic of ordering in (out).

We also recieved a package from my Mom. She'd ordered a kettle for us for our anniversary and we are really digging it. Large, beautiful (copper I think) and we've used a couple times right on the woodstove. We also have our ceramic kettle on the woodstove so it boils water throughout the day and let's it into our atmosphere and makes it more humid.

Mom also had included misc. things we'd forgotten at her place in Nov. Thanks. Sarah likes the bib (pink with big dots) too and is excited to have the angel back for the nativity set.

So, to help Andy's foot stay warm I discovered the flexible ice packs we have can sit in boiling water for 5-7 min. and be used as a hot compress....nice. So we have that going on as well.

Story from the other day:
Sarah wanted to have a piggy-back ride down the stairs and I didn't want to give her one, so I said we can hold hands. She says, "We can do this in any season." "Yes we can," I say. Later we hugged and she said something like, "We can also do this in any season." Hugs and hand holding for any season. Sounds good. :)