Out with the Old....In with the New!

It's January 8th and even though I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions I do usually find myself thinking along those lines at the first of the year. A new year always brings a mixture of thoughts and ideas. I love the promise of spring still hidden under a blanket of freshly fallen snow. There is still time to plan and dream about all the projects I want to do this year. I can look out my kitchen window and imagine how the new garden will look or how nice it will be to see the grape vines coming back to life and sending out little green shoots. I imagine how pleased we will be if our little fruit trees have managed to survive to burst forth with new life and promises of their own.

January also brings a desire to get everything clean and better organized inside. I want to go through closets and drawers and purge all the excess stuff that always seems to accumulate in dark places. I want to get all the school books and supplies back where they belong. I'm excited to start new school projects, begin new chapters and sometimes even add new subjects. Truth be told, I usually get excited about school before the Christmas break is even over!

But......this year is different. This year I started out excited but then had to seek out encouragement to keep going. It was hard to get myself out of vacation mode....... hard to switch gears. I guess it's because my "gears" are all seized up. I haven't felt well at all this school year. I am so blessed to have high school students that are more than capable of working independently, but I have missed being involved in their daily work. On my good days they could bring their work to me where I reclined on the couch so I could help them when they struggled with a new concept. I finally decided that our school activities needed to move to the main floor of the house. Now I can sit in my favorite recliner and be involved in every discussion, help when needed and generally feel useful again. I have really enjoyed study time lately. I guess it's more special to me since I've missed so much this year. God is so good and He has given me the grace to endure this illness with the necessary adjustments to make it more bearable.

Our new library has comfortable chairs to study in, five bookcases, one desk (just in case) and usually two spoiled rabbits. All four girls are often found in there after we have concluded our studies for the day. I just went to see what they were up to and found one listening to a book, one reading a book, one writing a book and one illustrating a book. It made me chuckle to myself to see how they were spending their free time. Phil and I had been in the living room enjoying our own books. It's so nice to get into a good book again. There's something magical about snuggling up by the fire with my warm prayer shawl a cup of tea and a good book; especially when it's so cold outside!

January 10
Yesterday Jocelyn was off work so she took the opportunity to make scones and serve us tea, providing us with a much needed break during our government studies. She served the scones with warm blueberries and cream. Papa was awake and getting ready for work so he was able to join us as well. We had so much fun laughing at him as he tried to act like a proper guest, holding out one little finger and speaking in an English accent. I wish I had taken a picture!

As I finish up this post I am enjoying the heat and glow of the fire while the snow swirls outside the window. The living room looks bare since the abundance of Christmas decor has been whisked away and tucked back under the stairs until next year. I dream of better health and renewed energy to tackle new spring projects, but for now I will tuck away my "to do" list and share my last pictures of 2012.

A bit of silliness, I believe they were striking a pose inspired by the dwarves in The Hobbit.

Our Gingerbread project. BSU Stadium!




The construction crew



Christmas Morning



 



Introducing Chamomile Dream










My Christmas pressents Chamomile and Lavender

Game day



We decorate our Christmas tree with all your Christmas photos.



Happy New Year!

My mom always told me that as one gets older time goes faster. As I sit here by the fire reflecting on the quickly departing year of 2012, I realize that Mom was right. I feel like I have lived the last year on fast forward, and you are much overdue for a Gruver family update.

In February, my parents bought a rental property in a great location just a short walk from the hospital. We would learn later this year what a blessing that was. The house sat empty for over a year so we all got to work cleaning and making repairs on the 3400 sq. ft. house and .75 acre lot. The entire family and many dear friends showed up to help us paint the many rooms, covering such colors as Pepto-Bismol pink, bright teal, red, blue, yellow and green among others. Since then we have added an irrigation pump, a pellet stove, a steel roof with a covered front entry and new windows in the front. We painted the front door red and chose a new exterior trim color which will be applied when we thaw out in the spring. We are very blessed to have so much room to spread out in and plan to continue renting from my parents for now.

Phil is still working at Micron but has moved to the night shift which actually works out better for all of us. He is off every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and every other Saturday. We have adjusted our school schedule to match his so the girls' work week is Tuesday through Saturday. He has kept very busy on his off days helping Dad with repairs and doing yard work.

Jocelyn finished her apprenticeship at Canine Design and became a full time groomer. It's so nice to see her doing a job she loves. She is glad to have a profession that she will be able to run from her home if God blesses her with a husband and children to care for. She has always been good with animals and spends her off time going to agility practices and trials with her dog Brinkley and taking care of her rabbitry business. She also loves to spend time with her sisters and takes them out to movies or shopping. Her Christmas break gave her the opportunity to play in the snow with them and arrange a game day including popcorn and chips with bean dip. Jocelyn is a member of Boise Agility Runners and Climbers and also serves our church as a leader in Mission Prayer and as one fourth of the much loved "coffee ladies". She continues to live at home under her papa's headship and is trusting God for her future.

Marissa is enjoying life as a homeschool graduate and has become very involved in the management of our home and school. She encourages her sisters in writing, extra activities, and staying productive. She leads the chore schedule and makes changes whenever needed. She has also started to take over the family finances which blesses me in addition to giving her practical training. Marissa also began her own rabbitry this year specializing in Lops and Lionheads. One of her favorite things to do is serve other families in and around their homes. This past year she has had the opportunity to serve and learn from two wonderful ladies, Shannon and Jamie, on many occasions and looks forward to continuing with them and others in the following year. She also serves at church as a Mission Prayer leader and as one fourth of the "coffee ladies". During the spring Marissa traveled to Utah to help in the Children's program of their homeschool convention. She enjoyed herself so much that she was able to talk her sisters into helping at our local convention. They all had a great time and plan to continue helping for years to come.

Adelie is a junior in high school this year and, although she is looking forward to graduation, she is appreciating her subjects and enjoying what she is learning. This has come as a surprise to her as she has always preferred getting her hands dirty and doing "real" work. She has discovered that she actually enjoys housework and she is very thorough. I often hear her singing hymns as she works which is a balm to my soul. She enjoys working outdoors and planted a nice garden where I would find her in her favorite skirt, hair pulled back and mud squishing between her toes. She continues to work at a ranch from late spring through fall and enjoys the opportunity to work with the horses and learn from a wonderful Christian family. She looks forward to adding dairy goats to our little spread in the future. She also plans to study herbology and possibly nursing.

Carolyn is a sophomore in high school and enjoys writing fiction over all other subjects. She works quickly to free up more time to develop her many story ideas. If she's not careful, she expresses excitement for her other subjects that she pretends to just tolerate. She has a small flock of free range chickens that produce the best tasting eggs for our breakfast. When her rooster, Bock, lost his voice she discovered that he was having trouble breathing. A little research and treatment with oatmeal water and a little of the moistened oatmeal cleared him right up. He was so happy to be able to boast loud enough to be heard again. It didn't help his disposition though so Carolyn carries what she calls her Bock-be-cool stick when she herds them to their coop. She also enjoys working at the ranch with Addie and hopes to be a horse trainer someday.

Addie and Carrie both attended Worldview Academy in July with the help of some dear friends. They shared a dorm room at Northwest Nazarene University for the week but had their own small groups. Both of the girls were a little reluctant to attend but that soon changed and they made new friends and loved the over 20 hours of lectures. Phil and I were able to sit in on some of the lectures and we were so amazed at the content covered by the speakers. We watched our girls change into confident leaders willing to reach out and serve in a meaningful way. It was inspiring. Lord willing they will attend camp again in 2013. 

In August, my mom was admitted to the ICU in critical condition, bleeding internally. This was after she worked a full day including running errands and taking a short break to take me out to coffee for my birthday. My sister and I had encouraged her to call her doctor that day as we had noticed she had been pale lately and especially so that day. We were planning to go to church camp that weekend and thought she should see her doctor before making a trip to the mountains. We later learned that if she had gone to camp, we would have lost her. She was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery that same week. She was recovering well so we went to camp but not long after our return she was rushed back to the operating room with a life threatening complication. Her blood tests have confirmed that all the cancer was successfully removed and she doesn't need to go through chemotherapy. God has been so merciful to us! We had Christmas Eve dinner at my sister Kelley's house and it was such a blessing to have mom there with us, recovering well and regaining her strength.

In the midst of all the excitement with mom I managed to come down with Epstein-Barr virus. I had thought that I was just tired from caring for mom and not managing the stress well but I just wasn't getting better. I was finally diagnosed in November and at this writing, I'm still struggling to overcome the virus. The symptoms are lethargy, painful lymph nodes, sore throat and fever. I also struggle with insomnia and occasional headaches. I'm supposed to rest and avoid stress which can be hard at times. I have been so blessed with a family that takes good care of me and dear friends that offer much encouragement, prayer, meals and videos to watch. This trial has given me the opportunity to see my girls step up this summer and grow into mature and capable servants. I am so thankful for each of them and the many ways that they have given their time to learn new skills and take responsibility for their own education. I have seen them come together and support and encourage each other, helping each other when I am unable to assist them. It has been a blessing that I will remember long after I have recovered.

I will leave you with a lesson that God blessed me with while lounging on the couch doing some research with the girls. When Noah was on the Ark with his family he was completely dependent on God. Noah had no way to know where he was. No way to know the depth of the water or if there were any obstacles under the waves that they could crash into. No way to steer the huge vessel he was housed in. He had to completely trust God to deliver him and his family through the storms. He had no control over the time it took for the water to subside. He just had to wait and trust that God's plan would be accomplished in the time that He had ordained for it. When we face a trial God doesn't show us the whole picture. We have to trust Him completely to work His plan in His perfect time. Sometimes it can feel like we are closed up in a vessel on still water with no idea how long it might take to be delivered to safety. But no matter what we face in this life we can know that just as Noah entered the Ark and was saved, we can enter the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ and be saved.

May you know the safety of being in Christ this holiday season.
With much love,
Phil, Tonya, Jocelyn, Marissa, Adelie and Carolyn

Facebook

I think I can safely say that I'm no good at this blog thing. Facebook has been a great way to get in touch with lost friends and share a few words of encouragement and prayer requests with dear ones. However, who really cares about my daily, hourly, minute by minute status?

Here are the statuses I haven't been sharing, just to catch you up, in no particular order. Starting school....doing laundry....forgot to hang the permanent press load!....ironing....dinner?....where's Jocelyn?....straw in the entryway again....shoes by the back door....is that a raisin on the floor or a bunny dropping?....just taste it, I dare you....the soup is boiling over again....who borrowed my socks?....UPS just delivered a package!....is this a dance night?....new great-grand bunnies born!....starting school again....computer crash....borrowing Jocelyn's computer....doing finances by hand!....we're out of coconut oil....bunnies for sale....guitar lesson....listening to Carolyn practice guitar....missing my dear friends....when do we stop school?....sewing costumes for the Christmas program....making cookies....watching Carolyn and Addie make cookies....tasting cookies....Most wonderful Thanksgiving dinner ever, prepared entirely by my daughters....watching history documentaries....Bible study....wishing I could buy EVERYTHING at Vision Forum....learning about the Five Aspects of Woman....Rule, subdue, produce....fighting with my husband....Five Aspects again....counting blessings....bifocals....getting old....crows feet adorning my eyes....could somebody return my socks?....Melaleuca order!....agility trial, first and Q x4....Jocelyn, is that hay in your trunk?....hold on to the coffee so it doesn't roll around the car!....waiting in line to borrow Jocelyn's computer....missing my dear friends....noodles in the bottom of the dishwasher....making cookies and pizza in a real live oven!....dinner?....are you sure you need to eat tonight?....waffles!!....Christmas movies....fighting with my husband....Five Aspects again....One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp....learning eucharisteo....thankful for everything?....I think it's in storage....no internet?!!....is that ceiling fan dust in my coffee?....dark chocolate....iodine deficiency....cold feet....I want to learn to knit socks....is the dog barking again?....I'm sure it's in storage, check the inventory list....who's supposed to be watching this skillet on the stove?....I get the bathroom next!....where's my camera?....is it a ranch day?....where is your coat?....I don't mind the smell of horses, just not on stinky daughter....Mom! I can lift a hay bale now!....Charles Dickens! Great Expectations....War and Peace....fighting with my husband....Five Aspects again....balancing the budget....Are you done with your math yet?....get your laundry done, I need the washer....Are these dishes clean or dirty?....give that bunny a bath!....found a house?.....made an offer on a house....offer rejected.....thankful for blessings given and those withheld....Do we have the house to ourselves?....Jocelyn starts her apprenticeship program, doing what she loves....Coconut Bliss ice cream!....Those are MY socks!!!

That should just about update you on the curiously strange events of the Gruver household. I'm going to go warm my feet by the fire and think about posting a Christmas letter before the New Year.

Adjusting to the New School Year

We just started our second week of school and it seems that we are still chasing the clock a bit. Last week we jumped into our new year with high hopes and what appeared to be a reasonable schedule. I had spent most of my summer break familiarizing myself with some new curriculum and meticulously planning out each day. Then the Lord blessed our girls with a long awaited opportunity to learn on an Arabian ranch twice a week, and me with the grace to learn flexibility and patience. We did our best last week to stay on schedule and accomplish all our assignments while working around our outside activities. By Wednesday we found that our whole schedule needed to be reworked. I shortened some time blocks where we were finishing early and lengthened others, splitting our Language Arts into two time blocks. The challenge has been to go ahead and switch subjects even if we aren't finished. Normally I would encourage the girls to finish what they are working on but I have found that it helps them to set something aside and focus on a new topic. It seems to serve as a break for their brain as they come back to the task feeling somewhat refreshed and ready to work. 

So far, we are enjoying our new curriculum choices and feel that even though we are working long hours our assignments have been meaningful and interesting. We don't feel like we are wasting time on busy-work which always seems to creep in to our home school. I think busy-work is a symptom of focusing on test scores and trivia. Why do I always get caught up in the popular opinion that knowing a bunch of trivia demonstrates learning? Choosing the correct answer on a multiple choice test doesn't prove that learning has taken place, or that the child knows how to think and learn. It only proves that a child has been trained to regurgitate disconnected facts. It reminds me of the agility courses that Jocelyn has trained Brinkley to run. Brinkley takes a jump because it's there and he doesn't care why. It makes Jocelyn happy and earns him some play time with his favorite toy. What good does it do a child to be able to jump through a hoop if she doesn't know why the hoop is there and what, if anything, she is accomplishing by doing so? I don't disagree with testing in general. I just believe that you have to be cautious with the focus of your teaching. The focus should be on the student and real learning, not the hoop. Like Addie says, "I just need to feel like I'm really doing something; something important." 

Christmas Letter 2010

Dear Family and Friends,
It is my prayer that this letter finds you all snuggled on the couch with your dear ones enjoying a mug of cocoa and some memories to cherish for a lifetime.

God has taken us on quite a journey this year. We have learned some valuable lessons about trusting Him in all things and I am constantly reminded of the encouragement of Chris Klicka, “God is good, all the time”. I have spent much time reflecting on the blessing of family. My daughters have changed so much and I am so thankful to see them growing in their knowledge of Christ and His grace. By God’s grace, Phil and I have grown even closer in our relationship and fall in love a little more with each passing day.

Jocelyn graduated from our homeschool last spring and since, has kept a busy schedule.
In her words:
“On May 22nd I graduated and another chapter in my life came to a close. After graduating I started working full time for my grandparents who own a Property Management Company for Homeowners Associations. I had worked for them in the past years but now that I was graduated I had more time and so could work full time. Then in July I started in Agility at Q-Quest Agility Training with my dog Brinkley! What an adventure that has been. In August we had our first trial and out of three runs we got two ELIM (Elimination) and one DNR (Did Not Run). He had run out of the ring on his first two runs and so I dropped out of the third run. This was disappointing but definitely a learning experience. After that I started working on his obedience with a friend from church. In November my dog and I competed in our second agility trial and found that the obedience training really paid off! Out of two days with three runs each we got one ELIM, one 6th, one 4th, one 3rd, two 1sts, and three Qs (Qualifying Runs)! It was great fun and I look forward to trial season 2011!”

The girls are still doing Irish dance and have had the opportunity to share their talents at many venues. Marissa was honored to join her team for an appearance with Leahy in March.
“They are an amazing group, but so down to earth. They treated us like we were very important and they even joked about wanting us to tour with them. I think they could tell that the audience appreciated our dancing. I was so thrilled to be able to dance with such amazing people!”

Marissa has had quite a year! She will graduate from our homeschool this spring and will participate in the state homeschool graduation ceremony on May 28th. Her graduation gift from Grandma and Grandpa Davis is a new smile!
“I was so excited! [The orthodontist] told me that I have about two years of work….Expansion is done and I have bottom and upper braces in. Next time I go in we will see if we can set up my herbst which will swing my bottom jaw forward so that it is where it should be.”
She also discovered at Jocelyn’s Agility Trial that she wasn’t able to see well at a distance.
“Mom set up an eye appointment for the family and the eye doctor confirmed that I needed glasses. It’s amazing how much better I can see! It was like the world was flat, like I was standing in a small room looking at the pictures around me. Now I am living in 3D once again, and everything is so beautiful!”

After working with our mortgage company for several months, making modified payments while our account was in review, we lost our home because of a clerical error on the bank’s part. Phil learned while in a conference call that there were two databases at Bank of America. One of them showed all our payments and correspondence, the other was empty, portraying that we were not cooperating. The false database set the foreclosure in motion.
Adelie shares:
“After starting school again, there came a day when we lost our house. Ma and Pa tried to see if they could keep the house for at least another month but a few days later we officially lost the house. But the Lord was with us from the beginning and provided a place for us to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Davis. Now we are all settled and have been living quite cozily. I have celebrated my fifteenth birthday and am awaiting my Christmas break.”

We enjoyed two summer camping trips. One with our church family at Cascade Lake and the other near Bonanza with our dear friends the Bain’s, the Chuck Vawser family, the Andrew Vawser family and new friends the Pirc family.
Carolyn writes:
“We had so much fun! We did some roping and I roped Matt! We also did some tomahawk throwing. I had so much trouble getting it to stick in the wood! I went with a couple of friends to catch snakes and then we played in the creek before going home and I got soaked. We dubbed the group ‘The Sagebrush Pioneers’.”

The picture below was taken after an icing fight we got into while decorating our gingerbread house on Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful celebration and we got to enjoy the company of the Edenfields this year! After a wonderful feast we had a gingerbread house, decorating contest (sponsored by Grandma and Grandpa Davis) where we competed against the Edenfield and the Andy Gruver families. The Edenfields won the contest since they used matches to “light up” their house. It was a great time with great friends!

Merry Christmas!
Phil, Tonya, Jocelyn, Marissa,
Adelie and Carolyn Gruver

St. Patrick's Day 2010

We look forward to this very busy day all year!

Our group at the Capitol!

The "Leahy" Group

On the road again!

Getting tired!

Still going!

Yeah right......Until IDI shows up!

Nascar shoe change

Picture break

Rachel practicing outside

Trying to keep warm!

The Line-up

Dancing around IDI's own Fiddler, Rachel

The Scots are comming!

Party at Fanci-Freez

Friends!

Screaming Thunder

We enjoyed a very busy St. Patricks Day season throughout the month of March with performances starting on the first. St. Patrick's Day itself was very busy! We left the house at 8:30 a.m. and didn't get home until about 10:30ish p.m. Our dance school split into 3 performing groups and our group had 10 performances alone!

Here is a video of the IDI-Leahy group performing B-Minor at the Capitol.