Yes, we're still alive

It seems like such a long time since we posted, and it has been. It just seems that life has been flying by. I keep wondering when things will slow down. We did take some time to carve pumpkins recently. We also invited a friend from church over for pizza and games. We laughed alot and that helped us to relax. Abby's classmate came over too. I should have taken some pictures but I didn't. We need to do things like that more often. The laughter and fellowship are good medicine for a busy life.

Catch Up

Abby played in her recital on May 21.

Steve didn't get to march in graduation at Institute for Creation Research Graduate School when he graduated December '07 so we did graduation pictures at the AWC graduation this year.

At the SWA Awards Banquet, Major Brad Forrider presented the school with a flag flown over Iraq by a C-130.

Mr. Guntrum recieved a Lost Contact Award at our Award's Banquet.

We visited Steve's Mom for a few days after school was out. We had a BBQ with his Mom and Aunt Glady

Mom's In Touch gave the teachers a picnic tub. We went to Salem City Lake for ours. Thank you MIT for the gift and the thought.

Our house is being painted. This is what it looked like when we left last Saturday afternoon.

This is what the house looks like this evening. The trim and the final coat are not on yet, but we are making progress. Weather permitting, we'll have a new house (kind of) by next Saturday.

Spring Break '09

Continuing our annual tradition, we went tent camping. We decided to go the same place that we went last year for a couple of reasons. One was that the rates are very reasonable and the second was that that there seemed to be something for everyone to do. The place is in Winesburg, OH and it's called Amish Country Campsites. During this time of the year, the tent area is basically empty. This year it was completely empty and last year it was mostly empty. During the day, we visited some of our favorite places in Amish country and tried out some new places. We did spend late afternoon and evening at the campsite with a fire. Instead of bringing food with us we decided to buy local food. We went to Troyer's Trail Bologna and bought some Trail Bologna directly from their store. We visited Heini's Cheese Chalet and got some samples as well as buying some bricks of cheese to take with us. We got some baked goods at an Amish Bakery and some other supplies at Troyer's Market. It worked out OK but I think we may make some adjustments next year. Wednesday night/Thursdsay morning was very cold. Later we found out that it had gotten down to freezing. Thursday night/Friday morning was significantly warmer. I still like it a little warmer for sleeping but we survived. I'm going to try to add a few pics at the bottom of this post. Who knows where they will end up though.

Harper's Ferry

About a month ago we took a weekend trip to West Virginia and Maryland. Steve spoke at the Fairview Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Church on Creation/Evolution. On Saturday we were able to spend some time with Steve's sister Glenna and his niece Annette. We went to Harper's Ferry. Here are some pics from that trip. There was a lot of history that happened in that little town. Abby has been learning about it this year in American History so hopefully this will help her picture it a little better.

Science Fair at SWA

Last night was the Science Fair at our school. Every other year we have it in late winter or early spring. On the years that we don't have science fair, we have Heritage Day and emphasize history. Once again everything seemed to go well. Some like it more than others but I heard a lot of nice comments. I'm sure that even though it's alot of work for the kids and parents and teachers there is a sense of satisfaction when everything is said and done. This year, the kindergarten class used a farming theme--there were even some live chickens! The first and second grade class had a jungle theme. Third and fourth used a breakfast theme and each of them took a different breakfast food and researched it. That room was probably the most popular because of all the samples. Fifth and sixth grade had a variety of projects but at this level they were required to use the scientific method to approach a topic and make a hypothesis, etc. The same rules applied to the jr. high and high school students. Steve's classes were required to choose a topic within the discipline they were studying. The Physical Science kids had to choose something related to Physical Science and the Chemistry students had to choose a Chemistry topic. The General Science kids did coordinating projects on fireworks. They used black lights to make a neat display. I think I managed to get pics of every student's display but I'll just post the two that I was the most involved in and one pic from a group that I helped out with. Congratulations to everyone--students, parents, and teachers for a job well done!!

Happy Chinese New Year

On Monday, January 26th we celebrated Chinese New Year. After living in Taiwan for 8 years we have several fond memories of New Years spent with our Chinese family. We have tried to keep up the tradition of celebrating here. Most of the time that means going out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. This year we celebrated by helping Ron High Rock cook a Chinese dinner in the AWC cafeteria. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun but I had a lot of help. It was fun cooking when I had so many helpers and such a BIG stove to cook on. Steve, Stevie, and Abby came over after school and helped decorate tables and serve the food. We wanted more pictures but since we served the meal in courses, once we started there wasn't much time to take pictures. Below, you see the crab rangoons that were the first course and Ron and Debbie putting the finishing touches on the General Tso's Chicken.

Winter again

On December 30, I said that winter must be over. I should have known better. Last Saturday, it snowed. We had about 8 inches by afternoon. Ben came to pick up Joel from college. Joel had been here for a week taking an intensive class during the winter break. It ended on Friday and Ben was picking up Joel. We talked Ben into staying in Salem for the weekend and so they came over Saturday night for pizza and games.

We had snow every day this week, I think, but we didn't get out of school for the snow (why did the 8 inches come on Saturday?). Thursday we had a two-hour delay and Friday we cancelled school because of the cold. It wasn't as bad as it was farther west, but we still recorded temperatures of -10F or so, so it was cold. I was fighting a sore throat so I took Nyquil and slept most of Friday.

Now it has warmed up, but it started snowing again. I think this is one of the snowiest January's since we moved to Salem.

Another Ice Age is coming! Better get ready.

Sewing

I'm so glad that Abby finally has something that she really enjoys to do apart from Stevie. It seemed that she was always following him and doing what he liked to do. They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery but it was not flattering to Stevie. We tried so many things with Abby and nothing seemed to click. Recently, we helped her start saving money to buy a sewing machine and we did alot of research on what model and brand would be a good choice. She saved up her part (we helped her with it) and we got the machine right before Thanksgiving. Since then, she has made a number of small projects--several Christmas gifts for family and friends. One thing that she enjoys--as long as it doesn't take too long-- is to applique letters on shirts. She first made one for herself with SWA on it. It had its problems so we did some research and found out how to do it better. She did an SWA sweatshirt for her teacher and an ICRGS (ICR Graduate School) one for her dad. Then, on New Year's Eve she did these hoodies for herself and her friend Rachel. We were keeping our annual tradition of bringing in the new year with our co-workers. I think she did a really nice job. Someone said that she should start taking orders. I put in an order but she hasn't delivered yet.