Simple Woman Monday, July 5th

* Peggy at The Simple Woman hosts this lovely excuse for visiting kindred spirits. Run over and catch up on some Monday morning thoughts and plans.

Outside my Window.... the sun is rising over the recently cut hay field east of our new house.  I can see the roof of the church and school from where I'm sitting on the back porch.  Lawn chairs and camp chairs are scattered all around from last night's bbq and the jungle gym is in pieces out on the lawn.  Hopefully the big boys can get that put together for us this week...

 I'm thinking...  that if you told me a month ago that I'd be sitting on the porch of a log house in the middle of a hay field in western Colorado, I wouldn't have believed you.  I didn't think we'd ever really get over here again. In the big picture sense of having the opportunity for such a change of life --- and in the smaller picture actuallity of physically getting all of us and all of our stuff moved over the mountains again.  

From the kitchen... we just had leftovers from last night's bbq for lunch.  And I'm proud to say that I was the grill chef -- a notable fact since I almost never do the grilling.  That's generally Dan's job and he's good at it, so I just let him do it.  But, Dan wasn't back yet from the latest adventure in moving (more on that in a minute), so the Fourth of July festivities for the kiddies were in my hands.  So, the kids and I went down to the Wmart and got dinner fixin's and a couple bags of kiddie 'poppers,' and we had homemade hamburgers, pork-n-beans, cuke-n-'mater salad, and potato chips.  Nothing extraordinary, but still special for being the first bbq we've had here -- and for being cooked by me.


I'm grateful... for all the safe journeys back and forth over the mountains this past weekend.  We all came over on Thursday night with two 26' moving vans (I drove one and Dan drove the other) and the minivan (that Jon drove).  Then, Dan and the teenagers went back over to Denver on Saturday to finish cleaning the old house and to try to pick up the 5th wheel to bring over the mounains.  The kids stayed in town to visit with friends and family for the weekend and are headed back up here even as I type.  On Saturday afternoon, though,  Dan tried to haul the 5th wheel over with our old Dodge Ram pickup (which has made the trip with the trailer before), but the old girl is feeling her age I guess; she conked out on the first big hill.  BUT (Deo Gracias!) Dan was able to get truck and trailer safely back down the mountain where he parked it in the church parking lot.  At which point he figured he might as well go get the pop-up trailer and try to haul it over -- which (Deo Gracias!) he was able to do safely and in time to watch the next-town-over fireworks with me and the little kids from the top of the little hill near our new house. 

I'm going... to Grand Junction, CO tomorrow with Dan to pick up our son, Paul's, big pickup to take that over to Denver to try one more time to haul the 5th wheel over here to the Western Slope.  Can you please pray that we're safe and successful this time around?

I'm wearing... my favorite long denim skirt, a  western-stlye button up shirt wit tiny green flowers all over it, and tan flats.

I'm reading... The Screwtape Letters.  Just found it in one of the book boxes I was unpacking.  Michelle read it at the end of the school year -- and I hadn't read it in many years, so dived into it Sunday afternoon.  Wow.  I'd forgotten how powerful it is.  If you haven't read C.S. Lewis' "devil epistles" before, or if it's been a while, I highly recommend it for an almost matchless grounding in the realities of temptation and the human condition.  An amazing read.

I'm hoping... to unpack and be able to walk through my room this afternoon and to get the washer and dryer hooked up to get some laundry going by this evening.
 

I'm hearing... Theresa and Cathy having a lively discussion on the other side of the great room in the kitchen area.  They're making cookies to take to our landlord next door and are debating whether or not they should make cowboy cookies (because our landlord is the ultimate soft-hearted cowboy) or regular chocolate chips which don't call for oatmeal.  Cathy doesn't want to use oatmeal because she doesn't like oatmeal cookies; Theresa thinks they'll be more filling with oatmeal -- which she thinks would be good because Mr. P. works so hard all day.  The discussion continues...  I'm not weighing in.

Around the house... Boxes, boxes, boxes.  But the kitchen is unpacked and in full service -- as are the bathrooms.  Those were the first things we hurried to do.

Few plans for the rest of the week... Unpacking, unpacking, unpacking.  And praying, praying, praying.  Dan's business needs to do well so we can turn the corner on this house from a rent-to-own to a just, plain ol' own. I've never experienced this kind of insecurity before.  Someone could, theoretically, come and buy this house right out from under us and we wouldn't be able to do a thing about it unless our financial life starts going steeply uphill very quickly here.  With all the work and stress of making this move, I think I might have a nervous breakdown if I had to turn around and do it all over again any time soon.  And.  I love this house.  I'd like to keep it.

Here's a picture thought I'd like to share... Well... I wish there were a picture here.  My camera download cord has not turned up yet in the unpacking -- though every other cord in the universe has turned up.  Most frustrating.  I may see if Dan minds stopping on the way down to Denver tomorrow to pick up another one if they're not too costly.  I'm dying to show you where we live now! 

Blessings to all and many, many thanks for all the prayers, dear friends and family!  We know, beyond any doubt, that they are why all the trips have been safe!  Thank-you!

PS: The girls decided to go with tried-and-true and are making traditional tollhouse cookies.  The whole house smells heavenly now!