The only Constant is Change

I was reading a website the other day that had a lot of interesting sayings on it and this one caught my eye.  I think because that is how I have felt lately.  But then what really struck me was that although right now, I may feel like my world is in an out of control tailspin and everything is changing I know the one CONSTANT in life!  I have felt in my soul a peace that I have never known before.  My outside senses and layers closer to the surface of my life may be spinning but the deep down part of me is at peace!  Like my core is in the eye of the storm that seems to be raging around me right now.  It has been interesting.  It is like the "Footprints" poem - I think I know that I am being carried.  Where God can and sometimes does say to the Storm of life - "Peace, be still".  But sometimes he instead calms His Child. "My Peace I give to you."  I am definitely feeling the "Peace on earth"  It is a peace that passes understanding!  This is even in the last month, when life has taken it on the chin.  I have cried more in the last month, than in the last several years.  It does not take much to make me cry either.  It has been rough!  It has been a little hard getting ready for Christmas, but good and fun at the same time.  I didn't decorate much this year, I had already packed my ornaments, but I did get presents wrapped! 

An update on my Dad.  We are all meeting there in Reno, for Christmas.  Should be a fun, but bittersweet time as well.  All my siblings will be there and even my Grandpa.  My Dad was doing very well with the first two weeks of treatments but the third week - apparently typically hard - has been a rough one!  Much weaker, more slurring of words.  I am sure frustrating to him as he is so concise!  My Mom is doing wonderful!  She is a huge support to Dad and has been taking care of herself though as well.  She went to the Chiropractor and was told she should probably be getting a massage at least once a week, something we had been encouraging too! 

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us!  We definitely feel it!  Please pray for the kids. I think that for me, and my brother, right now it is hard to picture our kids growing up without their grandpa in their lives.  So pray for us, and them. 
Merry Christmas!

N F R - National Finals Rodeo!

A big Rodeo. What a production! Vegas is a BIG town. There is a lot going on all the time there. What fun it was to be there though. We took my grandpa - an 86 yr old Cowboy. He had a ball. It was mostly for him that we went as I am learning we need to take these opportunities while they exist. Sometimes life doesn't give second chances. And it sure doesn't last as long and full as I think it should sometimes.  So what fun to take Grandpa and my son to see the Best of the Best in Rodeo. The town is hopping but we really had a ton of fun even if we are definitely not city dwellers! But the fun part is that the majority of the people we were sharing space with are country people as well and so we really had a fun time with everything.  Grandpa tires easy and so we kept a very low key schedule. Went to the rodeo on Sunday afternoon and totally enjoyed it! Cream of the crop cowboys! Incredible show! No wasted time at this rodeo! There was no stopping for any wasted time.  The only time there was any stopping from RODEO was when there were paramedics in the arena.  Then it was very neat - the announcer asked us to pray. No bones about it, but just pray, for the cowboy, the paramedics, the rodeo family. 
No boring explanations about the rodeo and minimal time talking by the announcers although they were good announcers. Pure Rodeo! It was fun! While with everything else that is going on this fall it made for a tight fall, I am glad we went. Life is short so enjoy the ride!

Cows and thier lessons!

A life lesson from a cow
We were out moving some of our cows the other day. The neighbor cows had pushed down our gate and gotten in with our cows. The personality of the two groups of cows was  very obvious from the beginning. Even the cows knew it. They had segregated themselves even though they were all in the same field eating. We were trying to get our neighbor cows out and leave our cows in. My son had the whip and was on the gator. No cows were close to him nor were they going to get close as he was hitting the ground hard with the whip and they wanted no part of that. Mom - me - was glad of that and encouraged him to stand his ground. With that whip and the noise he made the cows wouldn't come anywhere near him.  And they didn't!
We have also learned that our cows take their Mom duties very seriously - like me. They are quite gentle and are fine with us being out there in the field even if we are making them move somewhere else they are fine with us being right by them. Their last owner treated them kind of like pets. But when they have brand new baby calves they become much more watchful. They will still let us come in with them we can even catch calves and give them their shots but mama cows sure watch. We think this is great due to the coyote population  near us being more than we would like.

Life!

I am still reeling in life.  I feel like I could cry over anything, I sometimes say things that don't make sense, or don't need said.  Not in frustration, but in just not thinking through things very well. I feel like my brain is firing on half the cylinders.  But life must go on!
Had a good chat with an old friend the other day, laughed and cried together.
Helping my son as he works through things.  That for me is the hardest.  I am 34 and have my Grandpa here to enjoy my kids!  Why not have the same for him?  That's hard!

Different topic -  We have been looking for a place to move to - as if we didn't have enough going on!  But that all aside, we found a ranch that has been repo'd by a bank.  Is now for sale, so we made an offer on it - no house, just land!  Beautiful place - see pictures!  But they are taking forever to get the paperwork done.  I have a contractor waiting to start on the house etc. but now am waiting on the bank who owns it to get their ducks in a row so we can buy it! 

Our view from our house spot

Someone else's dreams were here too!

Doesn't that look like a FUN backyard!

Shocker number 2

So I am ready to get out of the pool! I am pretty sure I am doing fine. Life is moving forward it seems though I have wondered how a few times. It is hard with my dad having cancer treatments and just wondering where that is going to go to. Has been a thrown curve all that I am not seeming to be able to catch. But at least I feel like my whole family is right together on this roller coaster ride together! That is good. We are all hanging together and talking a lot together. So I praise God for that.

So the next curve ball is my Grandpa. He has suddenly decided that he needs to get married. So all of us are wondering how that is all going to pan out. In some way we understand and in others we aren't quite ready for another shocker right now. So it has added another loop de loop to the roller coaster. I used to like those wild rides at the fair but not sure I still do. I guess we will see how this one plays out.

A Sucker Punch

Just a few emotions I have had in the last few days.
Shock . . . Love! . . . Why are my eyes so puffy? . . . MY Dad? . . . Sad!. . . Aggressive Cancer? . . .  I am so tired . . . Can we rewind? . . .  Is this a bad dream? . . . WHAT? . . . LOTS OF LOVE!!! . . . Supported . . . Cared for . . . Prayed for . . . PEACE . . . Reeling . . . Chemo . . . Radiation . . . Confusion . . . Grace! . . . So glad for the trip to Mongolia this summer with my Dad! . . . Sad! . . . Prayed for . . . Stage 4 . . . 14 -16 months . . . Balding . . .Care . . . Love . . . Sadness . . . Lost . . . Tears . . . PEACE . . . Knowing that God is really in control . . . Cancer? . . . Pray! . . . Can I wake up now? . . . This is reality! . . .love! . . . What is on the Bucket List? . . .Off my axis . . . Peace. . . Family is amazing! . . . Numb . . . love . . . Spinning . . . That is too short! . . . Will the Doc be right?. . . Comfort . . . Sad . . .Making plans . . . Grace  . . . Incredibly blessed! . . . Peace . . . Joy . . . Love!

Dad went in to the ER last Saturday because he was unsteady adn could not walk well.  He had some tests done and by Sunday afternoon had a surgery scheduled for Monday morning first thing to have a brain tumor removed that was the size of a lemon.  We were on the road headed down there on Monday afternoon.  As you can see there are many emotions in this sort of thing!  I have never walked this road before, and did not know I ever would!  As we head into the the next months of treatments and special times, it is with a new look at the Tim McGraw song - Live like you were dying!  You look at what is really important.  You look at the things you want your son to remember about Grandpa.  You look at your family and are SO immeasurably blessed to have a family who love and support each other, who look and say how can we help and give of themselves to help and love and show love to others!  What a blessing!  So even as we are all reeling from this shock we are standing together to sway and hold each other up  as we realize that God has this whole situation in hand!  He can calm the storm or he can calm his children!  What a blessing!

Packing an Elk!

Dustin went elk hunting with his muzzle loader.  He got a beautiful elk.  It was up on a high - hard - to get to bluff.  There was a lot of Lava flows to climb over to get to this.  It was only a mile and a half from the pickup, but it was the longest, and hardest mile and a half climb I have ever been on.  With 200 pounds of meat between us.  We got up there in the middle of the day and as we were coming down it was dark.  We got to the truck after dark after caching about half the meat a ways up the mountain.  We made a trek out.  It was pretty dark by the time we made it to the truck.  It was a late night but now we are going to enjoy our elk!  It was definitely a hard won meal.  We now have about 200  pounds of meat in the freezer.  It should be yummy!

Why it is called . . . . . . . Hunting!

This past week we have learned why Hunting season is called HUNTING.  Not shooting deer, or finding lots of game, but hunting.  Last year when we hunted we had 3 deer hanging within the first 3 days of the season.  It was great.  This year, we hunted, and hunted, and . . . . you get the picture.  No deer.  It has been funny to observe ourselves, as we have hiked many miles with our rifles slung over our shoulders.  We have all crashed early, only to get up and try again.    It began to seem like we were hitting repeat every day.  It was always - up the next draw or over the next little ridge.  We were hunting for meat, not a trophy, just meat - trophy would be nice though.  We looked very carefully at many dead sagebrush plants that had suddenly morphed to become at least one trophy size buck.  With our Binoculars for crying out loud!  It seems that they do this only during deer season.  Will see if the strange phenomenon continues during elk season.  We all enjoyed our time though, and so did the deer.  They are hiding behind their sagebrush laughing at us! 

Visitors Perceptions

One of our team that we took to Mongolia wrote the following thoughts about our time there.  As she was looking at it from new eyes to Mongolia, I thought I would add it to show the interesting thoughts she had.  Enjoy!

For someone who loves to write, and loves to talk, I’ve been finding it really difficult to talk about or write about my experiences in Mongolia. I’m not sure why. I think part of it is because I realize that no matter how much I say, I will never convey all the details properly. That being said, here we go:
We traveled on 3 planes for a combined total of 21 hours from Salt Lake City to Ulan Bataar (UB), the capital city of Mongolia. We arrived late at night and made a very scary and bumpy ride from the airport to The Oasis guesthouse where we’d be living in gers (round felt tents) for the duration of our stay. The gers were actually quite nice…they had electricity and ours even had an outlet! We did, however, have to stroll inside to use the facilities. A MUCH nicer option that using the squatty potty behind the gers. Squatties were like an old fashioned outhouse minus the seat. So, yep, a shack with a hole in the floor! Didn’t feel compelled to give that a go….I walked the whole 30 feet to the inside bathroom every time! The beds were firm…wooden slats with a blanket on top. It made sleeping soundly a challenge, as did the chorus of wild dogs barking at all hours. Eh, who needs sleep? Our first few days in UB were a flurry of activity! We exchanged money, tried to get acclimated to our new time zone, and met some of the people we’d be working with/for. Two days later, we got busy!! We would get up and have breakfast (coffee, tea, bread, and jam) before heading to the bus stop across the street. Mind you, that sounds like a simple enough task…until you’ve seen the drivers in UB! Scary doesn’t even scratch the surface. Two days in country and we knew crossing a street required skill, agility, and prayer!! It was like a human game of Frogger. By God’s grace, all 12 of us made it every time! So, when the bus we needed would screech to a halt in front of us, we’d hop on as quickly as 12 people can hop anywhere. We’d find a spot, hang on for dear life, pray some more, and zoom off to the Home School Co-op where we were teaching VBS. We decided that bus drivers are taught: This is the gas. This is the brake. Press firmly! That concludes your bus drivers lesson! Of the four days we taught, we arrived on time ONCE…and we left anywhere from 30 to 65 minutes prior to our start time. Everyone graciously reminded us, “You’re on Mongolian time now.” Which, I finally realized is similar to when the cable guy says, “I’ll be there between 9 and noon”, and actually gets there at 2. I surrendered my need to control shortly after arriving…turns out, I function pretty well without it! VBS in UB was for the children of the Missionaries serving/living in the city. We had about 30 kids at this VBS. It was just like it is here…games, Bible story, mission lesson, music, craft…nothing out of the ordinary, but to the parents of this group of kids, you’d think we’d given them the moon! They were so grateful to have someone do something for their kids. Some of the children, as old as 11, had never been to a VBS. Mind you, some of them have been all around the world…serving, but never being served. It was a real treat to provide something they enjoyed so much! At the end of the VBS day, we’d head upstairs to Joel’s. He’s an English rugby player in UB coaching their rugby team. He also happens to be a fabulous cook! So, we’d have lunch at Joel’s every afternoon. We were grateful to have BBQ chicken, burritos, even pizza! And, I’m happy to report, Coke products were plentiful so we didn’t have to sacrifice soda. Our afternoons were spent on Mission projects. The guys would head over to a shelter for abused girls where they built a mudroom on to their existing house to provide an extra layer of insulation. The guys dug trenches, made and poured concrete, and got the mudroom almost complete. They were frustrated not to be able to finish, but were able to leave money and instructions for finishing off the last few touches. Meanwhile, the girls went to the home of another missionary who opens her home to short term missionaries. Her entryway had recently sustained some water damage, so we were there to chip away the old paint and repaint the area. It was a fairly small area, so the first day, all seven of us struggled to find a spot to work! We were certainly cozy!! After that, only 4 of us went at a time. After spending several hours at our respective projects, we’d meet up for dinner and then head to Papa Café (a cute little restaurant run by JCS (Joint Christian Services). We spent our evenings helping people practice their English. We’d chat with them, answer questions about America, play games….it was a lot of fun. By the time we were done at 8:30, we were pretty wiped out. One night, while I was teaching, Mary (the leader of our group…who lived in Mongolia for seven years) told me the rest of the team was heading back to the Oasis and Christy and I should just catch a cab when we were done. Ummm…hello?!? New to the country. Don’t speak Mongolian. Not sure I could even find the Oasis! (Panic would be the next new English word these folks were gonna learn!) My chivalrous hubby offered to stay behind with us and help us get home. (Again…new here…no Mongolian…) After nervously finishing up English class, we asked Jenna (the manager at Papa) to help us get a cab. Turns out, in Mongolia…a cab, by definition, is anyone willing to stop and give you a ride. Really?!?! So, that whole ‘never get in a car with a stranger’ thing, not so big in Mongolia?? Nope…get in!!! So, get in we did. A woman and her 4 year old son (and their Winnie the Pooh seat covers) drove us home. What little Mongolian I did know “isshay” (this way) and “tisshay” (that way, came in handy as the Oasis sign came into view. I pointed and said “tisshay, tisshay”, to which mom driver responded, “Left or Right?”. Needless to say, we got home safely!
So, after 4 days of this rather hectic schedule, we had a couple of down days, which we spent sightseeing. We went to Sukbatar Square and saw modern and traditional wedding parties being photographed in front of the capitol building, we shopped, we took tons of pictures, and we visited 3 pharmacies in search of allergy meds for Ryan and correctol for other nameless team members. Gotta tell ya, watching Mary speak Mongolian while using her hands to describe the issue…hilarious!!! It was the best game of charades I’ve ever seen!  We also visited the Zak, an open air market full of treasures and trash depending on what you were looking for. I got some beautiful jewelry, a cashmere scarf for my mom, and Mikayla bought a beautiful dell, the traditional Mongolian dress. It was crowded and noisy, but an experience I wouldn’t want to have missed.
Our next adventure was to head to the countryside for the JCS retreat. This is an annual event where the missionaries from all over Mongolia come to rest, fellowship, and be fed (spiritual and physically!). While the adults met in their classes, we did another VBS for their kids. Again, their gratitude blew me away!! The kids and parents alike were so excited to have something fun for their kids to do. We had a very large ger to do all our activities. We’d rotate the kids between craft, Bible Story, missions, and Music, then they’d head outside for rec. We had about 20 kids at this VBS, though this time around, the teens were our biggest groups. And all but 2 of them were boys!! We had challenges here with an ever changing schedule, but at this point, flexibility had become the norm and we were becoming experts at punting! Healthwise, our team took a hit this week…4 of our members struggled with different issues which meant more punting! But, again, God blessed us with creativity and the willingness to step in to fill the gaps. It was a week of contrasts for me. Visiting with warm, loving people who left me in awe of their heart for Mongolia….while we stayed in cold, run-down Russian barracks that left me longing for our ger in UB! With another VBS complete, we loaded onto our bus to head back to the city. Did I mention that this ride was even more frightening than the bus rides in town? I was shocked to realize that was even possible! Again, we made it “home” safely! Funny how all of a sudden, the Oasis was ‘home” and we were so thankful to be back!
We had a few more days of down time, the guys did more work on the shelter, and we spent some nice time visiting with the other colorful folks staying at the Oasis. We also visited the Museum of Natural History in UB. 4 floors of badly taxidermed (is that a word?) animals. Seriously…you could count the staples! But, the gift shops were amazing and we found some really lovely souvenirs.
The food in Mongolia leaves a bit to be desired. LOTS of meat. Lots. of. meat. And we learned…don’t ask what it is, that only makes matters worse. Thankfully, we only ate authentic Mongolian food a handful of times…but I’m confident in saying, we ate sheep, goat, and horse meat. None of which would I recommend for your next family bbq!  Living up to its name, the Oasis served a pretty Americanized menu. I’m sure we about ran them out of spaghetti and cheese sandwiches!
In all that we saw and all that we did, God was growing us. I really believe I learned that being in control isn’t always necessary. Mikayla learned a lot about gratitude and the things we take for granted. Ryan learned that he’s allergic to Mongolia so he needs to go somewhere else on his next mission trip. Did ya catch that? His NEXT mission trip? And Eric’s favorite part was the church services we attended at a local Mongolian church. We learned quickly that smiles and friendly greetings aren’t well received or reciprocated in UB (we reasoned that they possibly associate white people with Russians and that’s not a good thing)…until you enter the church. It was welcoming, open, accepting, a place where you could honestly feel love…kind of like our churches at home. It was a visual reminder of the difference God can make in someone’s life. And it convicted us to be praying and continually supporting the full time missionaries. They have a big job to do!

Transitions - Why must we need them?

Sometimes I wish there was no such thing as transitions!  Seems like we have been in one far more than not in the last several years, and I think I am getting tired of them!  Sometimes my heart just cries, like tonight when Kase told me he is ready to move back to Mongolia.  That is his home and yet, all of us live there, all of us loved it and yet, here we are living in America.  We all left a bit of our hearts in Mongolia.  Yes, we love America, yes, we are patriots, but when you have experienced the ex-pat lifestyle there is much to be said about it!  We have been house hunting and it seems all the ideas and thoughts on that have kept running into walls!  We have made viable good offers on places and had them rejected, and even though of building our own house only to have that look like a bad location.  It is kind of like being in a pin-ball machine- but being the ball and not the player.  How do we get out!  Please pray for peace.  Pray for answers.  Pray for closure.  But like this flower in the picture, sometime we need the rain to bring out the flowers in our lives.  I think it has been raining enough though.  I am ready for some changes.  Our family is ready to see what the next step is in our lives.  In some ways the easy - though this is a LOT of work - thing would be to pack up and move back to Mongolia.  But I don't know if that would be the right step at the right time!  Or would it?  What does God want us to do?  Where does He want us to be?  We continue moving forward and trying to put down some roots, but it seems there are rocks in our soil.  Or maybe we are all in a big planting pot instead of the ground and we can then be moved easier and still intact.  I guess we will see.   

Space man Birthday

My Son had his 8 year old Birthday.  He wanted to have a space theme.  Had fun with this one!  We prepared a cake that looked like the moon - kinda - we used york mints for the craters - doesnt that sound yummy???  As he loves LEGO(R) we made a moon rover out of lego to go on top as our topper.  Very cute cake

We did space games - I bought some of those little spring loaded, with suction cup ends hopper things that looked like aliens.  We had a space alien hop race across the carport. 

Ahead of time we made a way cool design for the background of a space / solar system.  We took some of those funny spiny balls and dipped them in multiple paint colors and dropped them onto our poster paper.  This made cool designs, which each kid at the party got a long sheet in order to design thier own universe.  They all had a grand time with this project. 

We had some fun relay races - all were winners and all had fun! 

Branding

Well Dustin came home with some cows yesterday, so we branded them today.  Ran them through the squeeze chute and then drove them up through the rock pit field to the pasture closer to our house.  We branded all 22 of them.  Got them all through the chute without anyone getting run over or hurt, or any of them getting hurt.  These cows were funny though, not the typical range cow that wants to run from you.  Very friendly.  This was great when we were working them in the corrals, but not when we were trying to drive them.  I don't know if they had ever been driven.  They only climbed over one fence.  Fortunately into another pasture we own and not the neighbors corn field!  We had some good friends help us and we all had fun. 

HOT welcome!

As you know, I just got home from a 3 week trip.  Well, as I left our nearest town, I saw smoke from out our way, as I got closer I realized it was on the big hill behind our house.  Well, I drove on up to talk to the Fire Department that was on the top of the hill.  It seemed that the fire was not too big, but soon the wind picked up and the whole ridge was burning.  The wind was being very helpful to the fire, and not the firefighters.  The fire blazed down off the hill and there were lots of fire equipment.  It was interesting to watch.  Kase enjoyed watching the helicopter and his bucket doing their job.  It definitly kept us awake for the evening. We were very blessed by having several neighbors come to check on us as well.  It never seemed that the fire would get to the house, but may get close.  But the wind died down eventually and the total acres burned is around 2000.  I eventually went to bed, but talked to a fireman before I did.  He pulled up in the driveway with lights on and asked if it would be fine if they were there for the night.  As I could still see a red line of flame going up the hill it sounded like a good idea.  I told him I would leave the door open and if he needed to wake me up - so come on in and as I was on the wrong time zone, he might have to shake me, but I would wake up. 

a LONG day!

Kase and I left Mongolia at Midnight  on Tuesday - so Wednesday, Mongolia time.  We flew to Incheon and so we arrived there at 4AM.  We were pretty tired and so crashed out there for 6 hours or so.  And got up for lunch.  Our plane to San Fransisco left at 3:40 PM so made that flight with plenty of time to spare.  It was an 11 hour flight, but we arrived back in SFO at 10:40 AM still on Wednesday.  We sailed through customs, but had to go through the Agriculture line in Border control.  So my boots got cleaned, but we did not have anything really that was quarantined.  So we are now at lunch time again on the same day.  We went to our gate, then went to the kids area in a different section of the airport.  Fun!  Coffee and hot chocolate were next on the agenda, also very helpful.  We were getting pretty tired and so had to stay standing up.   We went and watched the runway for a while then got some yummy Sourdough bread and soup.  Finally our plane was ready to go.  We - neither of us - remember the plane taking off in Frisco, but it did land in Boise so it must have taken off.  We were pretty tired and slept the whole way.  I thought I would have to carry Kase off the plane, but he woke up long enough to walk and get our luggage, then to the hotel, into our PJ's and into bed at 7:30 PM all on the same day!

Adventure Continued

The adventure continues.

Our team had a day of rest and went to church and some relaxed for the afternoon and some went and worked on a few projects and some sightseeing.  Dad Deckers luggage was still not arrived.  But we got a note from Mom saying that it was on the way.  The man in San Francisco who she had talked to was going to get it on its way!  Yeah!!!  So it finally arrived on Monday.  Dustin and Dad drove out to the airport to collect it on Monday.  While they were collecting luggage, the rest of the group went to the black market.  We were in at  10:30 out by 12:30 and all arrived and left accounted for and with no one getting mugged or really taken advantage of.  We were so grateful to have Dad’s luggage as we were able to take it and all the other craft and other supplies we still had left over and take them all to our next destination.  We were doing the same VBS – Vacation Bible School – for a different bunch of Missionary Kids - MKs.  A retreat for the mission group that we worked with while we were in Mongolia.  What an adventure. 

We rode the bus up on Tuesday morning – after the bus driver finally found where we were staying.  We had of course all actually been ready to go on time this morning and ready and the bus driver did not get good directions and was an hour late!  But anyway – we were found!  We had a wonderful, fast, bumpy drive for 2 hours up to the retreat center.  We were informed ehre that we would have hot water for a while every 2 hours during the day.  Shower spaces were shared by all, so take your shower and keep moving so others can shower as well.  Very doable.  We were shown to our rooms.  Everyone was good with that.  We found our space for the kids program to be a very large concrete ger.  Laid out in the traditional style of the Mongolian Ger, but on a grand scale, it was huge.  We set to work transforming it into a beach party wanting to happen!  Very Fun!  We had nets, beach animals, tons of beach balls, beach towels, sea shells, a hula skirt, and lots of other beach themed decorations!  The kids were thrilled and the parents loved it to.  We did many fun games, told Bible stories, and talked of how we are continuing on the answer to the prayers of Hudson Taylor in his prayers for China and Mongolia.  We also did loads of crafts.  This was extremely fun as Mongolia is kind of at the end of a limited supply chain.  BUT, since the suitcase with lots of craft supplies had arrived in time, we felt free to say, yes, make two or four or however many you want of this craft, because we had plenty to spare!  It was a joy at the end of the retreat as well to be able to pass on this wealth of supplies to the long term missionaries and their families who could use them on through the year. 

Only a few people got very sick and that was good.  There were several people on medicine for travelers stomach bug, but that was really all.  No one got hit by a car – another miracle! 

The day after we arrived back we enjoyed a day of touristing.  We went to the Natural History Museum and saw all the interesting taxidermy, and the huge collection of Dinosaur bones.  Kase had lots of fun showing people around this museum as he loves that place!  Uncle Marvin came with us as well, an extra special treat for him!  We went for a wonderful lunch and then out to the Mary & Martha shop for some interesting shopping for souvenirs.  http://www.mmmongolia.com/

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful lunch with Diana and then divided up to go different places.  Some of the guys went to the rescue house project to finish up their project there and some of us went back to the ger camp to pack up.  The whole team flies out on Monday.  Spent Monday packing, and visiting a few last places.  Everyone off safely and home! 

First Week in Mongolia

Good Morning from Mongolia!

We had a wonderful and blessed week teaching VBS this week to the Mission Kids Many Moms and Dads told us how blessed their kids were and that they had such a fun and enjoyable time. Their kids don't get VBS programs and they had such a fun time. The parents - mostly missionaries - were incredibly blessed to have had us com and do this for their kids.

We also had the opportunity to help out a couple of other missionaries with some home projects, such as painting an entryway for a guest apartment for short term teams and visitors. We also were able to help in building an entry for a half-way type house for rescued girls who are victims of domestic violence. It will help them as their house will have a bit more insulation in the house for the cold winters. They were very blessed to have us help with this project. Alissa is planning to give most of her stuffed animals to this shelter as well. They will be very blessed to have these beautiful stuffed animals. She is excited to give them there! What a blessing!

We were able to help with some English Language classes this week as well. It was quite fun and very much of an experience for everyone involved. The variety of the grasp of English was wide and we were challenged to keep up with the class and challenge them to continue to get better language. We encouraged lots of conversation with some guessing games and ice breakers.

John completely enjoyed his time at the Marriage conference he went to. He taught on the Love and Respect book. He was challenged in teaching through a translator, but did a great job. Everyone was very blessed and encouraged by this teaching. He was in a beautiful setting at a Mongolian Ger camp and he took lots of pictures to share with us when we get home. He was very glad to get back to showers and meat that was NOT mutton. :)

We also got the great news last night that luggage - Dad's 2 bags - that have been sitting in San Fransisco, are finally on their way. This will give us all the things for the JCS retreat that we are going to go to this coming week. We are anticipating going to church today and worshiping with the locals.

This week we go to the JCS retreat this week. We are putting on the JCS kids program and we are pretty excited about it. We have lots of missionary kids there and it will be a wonderful experience for all of us. Please be in prayer for us as we go.

Thank you for all your prayers. We have all felt safe and protected even though we have had some adventures! No one has gotten very sick, though a few of us have had small bugs. No big injuries and no trips to the doctor!

Thanks again!
The Missions Crew!

Packed & Ready

So . . . We are all ready to head for Mongolia.  What a crazy thought.  Seems like this week has had un - ending lists, details and more lists and details.  But, I guess if we are not ready now we better just forget it.  We have people to watch our dogs, our house, move our water, cut our hay, etc. etc. etc.  Our son is SO excited, we are ready and excited and our bags are packed and ready to go.  I took one bag into the Vet today to weigh it - closest good scale.  Was the exact weight as my little luggage scale.  My bathroom scales are terrible.  Could be 20 pounds over or under and would never know it.  So the adventure continues! 

To add to the chaos of the week, we made an offer on a house that we both love, the location, farm ground, house, location, amount of acreage, did I mention location?  Anyway, we love it.  SO, we heard from the realtor that the sellers are seriously considering our offer.  That would be way too cool!  We would be very stoked to get this place.  By FAR our favorite place we have looked at so far!

All sold!

So  . . . . .  All our puppies are gone!  Well, except for the one that we kept.  Gobi.  Very cute!  And we gave Papa dog to an aquaintance who wanted a dog who would warn of animal outside invaders, but would be nice to the people.  As he has a fun friendly personality he definitly fit the bill.  And if we need more puppies, we know where he is.  :)  So now we are reading Basic Puppy Training.  Well . . . my son is as she is HIS dog.  He is having lots of fun with her and taking her with him around the ranch.  She sticks pretty close so that makes it fun to watch them play together.

So far the people who have the puppies are loving them!  They think they are so fun, cute, watchful and smart.  They have friendly little personalities but really for the most part are content being on the sidelines and watching everything.  One guy put his all in with the bummer lambs and thinks they are doing great and exactly what they are bred for.  That was wonderful news!

Current Pictures

Getting So big!

Looking for  a new home

Look at those Bankhar spots

Curly Curly Tails

These pups are ready for a new home.  We have 3 females left and one male. 

Current News

So . . . These pups are ready for new homes.  Mom has been weaning them this week as they now have Teeth!  They are so cute!  They play with each other a lot, and wrestle and play, but they sure still sleep a lot!  So drop me an email if you want one!  $300 each.  We also have the parents of these pups for sale.  We would love for them to go to a good home of someone with lots of space and stock to watch.  We love them, but would like them to have more to watch after. 

Mongolia



Mongolian Camel



The small Mongolian horses are Very tough!

An overloaded - stuck Truck

Some Gers we lived in for a while

Beautiful Countyside!

Mongolian Bankhar dogs with thier owners

A Gobi Oasis

The top of a Traditional Ger

Toglie (lets play in Mongolian) & Bars (Tiger - common Mongolian dog name!)

 When we got our two adults who are the parents of this litter - they were 6 months and 5 months old.  Toglie - our male, cam from Arkhangai province in Mongolia.  One of our friends had gotten him from a herder friend.  The Female, Bars, was bought in the Gobi desert by one of our Vet friends.  When he heard we were looking for a puppy, he sold her to us as he knew we would give her a great home.  They were both pretty cute when we got them and would play endlessly. 


Bars - mom - at 6 months old.  Very fluffy





Toglie at 6 months old

 


Bars at 8 months or so



Just after a bath!  He had found a skunk!




Playing pups at 6 months

 

More Pictures

A pile of puppies!

This dirt smells funny!

These pups are growing so quick!  They really are so cute!  It has been such a cool, rainy and windy spring here.  We are glad we built them such a warm house.  It is a big crate 4x8 or so with a roof over half of it and so they are protected but can get out in the sun if they want.  They love it.  They pile up in a big pile either in the warm sunshine or under their roof and sleep all the time.  They are starting to walk around more just in the last few days, so our weekend project is to get them into the larger run.   They sure gave me funny looks when I set them outside though today.  The dirt must smell funny!

 Mongolian Bankhar puppies!

Our puppies

I took a bunch of pictures of our puppies.  They were born March 12.  They wil be ready to go to thier new homes around the first of May.  They are so cute.  6 females and 1 male.  They all look quite a bit the same, with some differences and different markings.  Let me know if you are interested in one!  Mongolian Bankhars are called 4 eye dogs in Mongolian.  The story goes that the spots above thier eyes are their second eyes and that they never sleep, so even when the dog is sleeping they still have a pair of eyes watching.  Please enjoy these pictures!  As my introduction said, my family lived in Mongolia for several years and fell in love with these dogs.  They are now a rare dog even in Mongolia and really are great dogs, but not for everyone.  We imported the Mom and Dad as puppies after getting them from the deep countryside of Mongolia.  They have been a lot of fun!  Thanks for looking!