Youth

28th.... wow last night was really great!!! We went skating on a slough about half way to Endeavour, and because the night was so pretty and neat we skated for close to 2 hours. We played tag for a while then moved into Fox and Geese, I ended up tumbling a lot and my left knee is slightly swollen and rather discolored as a result. LOL! But I'd go skating again tonight if we had a slough close. :-) We quit playing Fox and Geese about ½ hour before we left the ice and just skated around then we scrapped the skiff of snow off the ice to make a large 'face' I ended up 'breaking' the poor guys nose, his eyes were touching, he only had three hairs, and his tongue was sticking out. LOL! But today it's snowing so it's probably covered up by now. :-) We went to the church and had a snack and Brad talked about Temptation.... is it sin, where does it come from, can God tempt us.... and so on. We got home around 12:00, We spent more time on the ice than was thought we would I believe. :-) Lots of fun... today a lot of the kids are groaning that they're sore and aching. LOL! I'm not really sore other than my knee and that will heal up, Mom kind of freaked when she saw the bruising... LOL! Poor Mom she had to be settle with a skate klutz when she had me. :-) Lydia says I've won the prize of our skating club... BIOS..... Bumbling Idiots On Skates..... LOL! I told her I'd rather do without the prize. :-)
Dad's been sawing a lot the past couple days. They're working on the flooring and the porch flooring for the bunkhouse. I think he has a few of the logs for the walls as well. :-) He's enjoying his sawmill, Jesse usually is there and helping him, sometimes Zeke helps out as well. :-)
I need to go get lunch on.... Janeen is bringing the girls over this afternoon so maybe when we drive them back I can post on the blog. :-)
Hannah

Smoked chicken, movies

27th.... the chicken I put on to smoke turned out tasting real good, I'll be doing that again pretty soon, Lord willing. :-) Peter, Dad, Ellie, Lydia and Jesse went hunting a couple times but they haven't seen any moose yet, I think Dad has a doe tag left so he'll probably try to get another one to stretch our supply of meat. I'll probably try the jerky again if we do get another deer. :-) I'm thankful that the chicken turned out, all the family liked it and it partly covered for the fact that the jerky tasted so awful... LOL!
We practiced music today, not many songs that I can play on the twangy instrument but I'll stumble through somehow. I want to look up the chords for a couple songs so I can just do finger rolls.
Janeen brought over the girls and Ellie gave fiddle lessons to Kate and Emma... Emma seems a little young so Ellie said that she should wait for a while before she takes more lessons. Janeen wants Naomi and I to watch the girls for a couple hours tomorrow afternoon as well since they have a meeting to work out. So a little more income again. :-) I'm still praying that God will move and I can find something that will help with the financial problem I have here, in Melville we had our cows to bring in the money but here nothings come up yet. :-) I'm sure God will lead or stop as He sees fit. :-)
Dad cracked down on my watching movies not on movie night so I have to cram what I can in on Thursday nights so I don't get into trouble again. I think the main reason is I get into the movies.... (reading a book I do too) I laugh a lot and that reminds Dad that I'm not out in the living room. I am thankful we have movie nights.... last night I watched two National Treasure movies. :-) They rank kind of with Indiana Jones in adventure and so on but the time is present day not 1950s. I got Naomi some other films for tonight while we're at Youth... keeps her entertained. :-) I'm glad she hasn't been restricted on videos... at least not yet and I hope she doesn't get restricted, she has a harder time doing other things than I do in the long evenings when you want to be alone away from the noise of the kids. :-) I'm just praying and hoping things will look up and we can get along OK here. :-)
Brad will be picking us up around 7:00 for Youth it's almost 6:00 now.... I should re-do my hair and see what I have in the area of clothes, not too dressy and not too raggy, I have a few things that range in that direction. :-) I'm so glad that God has blessed me with lots of things to wear and have around. :-)
TTYL....
Hannah

Jerky, music

23rd.... The last doe that Peter shot he gave us half of it and I cut up some of it to try to make jerky out of.... I layered the strips in a pan with salt which was what an old book said to do.... then I converted an old stove into a smoker, Dad cut the hole in the bottom for me and I smoked the meat... today it was done so I tried a piece, it was as if I ate a spoon full of salt.... YUCK!!!! Totally gross... LOL! Well trial and error I know now not to put so much salt on the meat and I'll know to rinse the meat before I put it to smoke. So if Dad gets a moose this week I'll kind of know what I should do about the smoking. :-) Mom says she feels like a red-neck having an old stove in the garden belching out smoke.... It does look a little crazy, but.... :-) It works so I'm not gonna complain. :-)
Sunday was Steppans week off and David Silver from Hudson Bay came down to do the main service. He talked about sin and how it can actually lead you to a healthy place, because if we have sin in our lives that means that God can work in us and through us. Very good sermon. :-) After church we went over to Pete and Rose Steppan's place (Brad's parents) in Preeceville, at 3:00 we went to the old folks home where there was a short service and we sang a few songs. They asked us back on Dec. 9th at 3:00 again for ½ hour of music, so Naomi spent part of this evening putting together our books. Since Ellie's on fiddle I'll probably be on banjo, Ellie might bring her mandolin as well. But we'll have to see what songs Naomi picks out. :-)
So that's about all around here....
Hannah

Sawmill

19th … Dad and Zeke got home well and happy. Dad wanted us girls to help him set up the sawmill but it ended up that we never did help him with it. The setting up process took longer than he expected and we didn't have anything to do.... that afternoon Neal Fenske came over and he helped Dad and Jesse set up the sawmill. I played with the kids and an old stove that was left on the place. The kids love it when some one plays around with fire and includes them. :-) Went riding that afternoon, and again yesterday.... it's nice to be back riding. Martha rode Shiloh again, and she was an angel as usual. :-) I think I'll see if Martha can ride her several more times this winter and then in the spring/summer I'll try selling her. Today we're over at Covlins to do up about 70 turkeys. I'm not sure how long that will be taking. They only have two killing cones so it might go a bit on the slow side. Us 4 oldest girls are going to Y2J earlier than usual so we may have to drive back on our own. I guess we'll see what happens.
Hannah

General news

16th.... Dad and Zeke should be home soon. They decided to take two days to drive back as it took 21 hours to drive out to 100 Mile House. I'm sure they'll be tired all that driving and the time change.
Y2J went well. Only Ellie and I went as the other girls were gone to town, Martha watched the little ones at home. We worked more on the angels for Endeavouring Through Bethlehem, I think we have 50 or so ready to put together, that wont be enough to pass out to everyone though so I'm not sure what we'll be doing.
Friday evening was youth and Carrol was having a Mary Kay Christmas thing at her house so on the way past Brad dropped me off there. Jesse, Ellie, Lydia and Martha went to Youth. They had lots of fun from their telling and they enjoyed being with kids around their ages again. They ended up staying in Endeavour till 11:30 or so having good biblical conversation and fun, on the way home Brad picked me, we got home around 12:15... am.... very rarely does Youth go that long they normally get home around 10:00 pm. :-)
I strung Joe Sorgen's old-time style banjo for him, gave it back on Sunday. After church Peter and Gabriele gave us half of a doe Peter shot from our yard and came out for dinner as well. Then the girls played a few songs and Ellie gave Peter some pointers on the accordion. They've become close friends with the younger kids and the older ones enjoy being around them as well. Nice people. :-)
Hannah

Nov. 11th

Nov. 11th Chicken butchering is over now.... we'll probably be doing the turkeys either late this month or early Dec. I think there's around 50 of those but I might be wrong. They take a long time to process since they're to big for the killing cones. I think Sam wanted Dad to try to build a few larger cones so we can butcher them faster.
Dad, Ellie and Lydia went over to Covlins yesterday to finish up the bagging and they brought Tess over when they came home for dinner. I watched her till around 8:00 pm then brought her back. Janeen wanted to get some paper work done but she wasn't able to do as much as she was hoping. So I'm sure Naomi or I will be watching the kids sometime soon. :-) I'm thankful for the income. :-)
Jesse and Naomi are feeling out of place... in their backs. :-) So Dad and Mom and several of the kids are going to accompany them to the chiropractors in Canora, tomorrow (Lord willing) and do shopping as well. I think they're going to Yorkton to do clothing/shoe shopping. I will be staying at home with some of the younger kids, I think Martha will be staying home so she can watch the younger kids while I'm at Y2J or if Martha goes along I'll probably bring the kids to Y2J. :-) I'm sure everything will work out. :-)
I watched King Kong directed by Peter Jackson (who directed The Lord Of The Rings). That movie is on the freaky side... LOL! It was well done of course, but I found that there were only one or two humor spots, so I would term it rather dark. But the acting was really good and the over all picture was great if you like wild animals and creepy crawly insects.... :-) I also watched a Monty Python movie but it wasn't the greatest, there was some humor but I think my taste has changed and I found the movie more boring than funny. But that's just me, I know Naomi likes Monty Python and I think Ellie kind of likes him as well. :-)
Lord willing Dad, Jesse and Zeke will be going and getting the sawmill on Friday. They'll probably get up early (3:00 or 4:00 am) and drive out to B.C. to 100 Mile House. I'm not sure when they'll be coming back. I hope the Sawmill guy wont put Dad off again, this has taken 2 months longer than he said it would take, and three extra weeks after telling Dad it was ready for the second time. Please pray that everything will go somewhat smooth and Dad will be able to pick it up without any problems. Thanks. :-)
Hannah

TLOTR.... some pics

I really like this picture of Miranda Otto from The Lord Of The Rings movies... neat. :-)
Hannah


http://img-nex.theonering.net/images/scrapbook/orig/9429_orig.jpg

Chickens again...

Hopefully for the last time this year we're over doing chickens at Covlins again. This batch is larger than the others so we'll have over 200 to take care of. We did 150 this morning and after an hour or so for lunch we're going back out to finish. :-)
Naomi and Cilla came over to help with the kids and to get dinner on. They're having a bit of a rough time as the kids are being on the naughty side but so far Naomi says she's holding out. Cilla is a great help playing, but she too sometimes needs watching. :-)
Church was good, there were different speakers this Sunday and then some missionaries from Madagascar were there and gave a presentation for the main service. There was a potluck after service, my only complaint about church potlucks is that there are so many good things to have and you never have enough room to eat all you want to. LOL! :-)
See ya.
Hannah

Firewood and more

5th.... Ellie's sewing up some dresses for Cilla as she has managed to rip or stain all but one or two of her good dresses. :-) I remember being at that age.... LOL! I've been asked to make her up some slips later on after Ellie gets a couple dresses out of the way. :-)
Later..... Naomi called Carrol and asked if she were going into Preeceville and Carrol was just heading out the door, she picked us up and we'll probably be going home around 5:30 or so as Carrol has to pick up Jay (15) from football practice. I am so thankful that God has let us be here, I hope that we can be a blessing to these people as they are to us. :-)
We did some firewood yesterday, moving it up to an into the bin. Dad did some cutting he's finishing out the pile today and then we'll be ready for more wood to be brought in.
Dad's hoping to be able to go out to B.C. On Monday and get the sawmill but the guy still wont give Dad a day when the sawmill will be done. Please keep praying for that to work out. :-) Thanks
Hannah

Dad Shot a Deer!

Nov. 2nd...... Well we're into November now. This past year has been really full of doing things. ;-)
Church was good. We went to Sunday school, watched a church film on transformations had some prayer. During the main service a lot of the Panther's football team from Preeceville showed up. Naomi, Lydia and I did a special song, I believe it was written by Mac Lynch.
We got home and ate dinner, then Peter and Gabriele came over to go hunting. Naomi, Sara, Ruth, Gabriele and myself stayed in the house while the others went and tried to push some deer out of our leased land. They came home empty handed only to see three does out in our hay pasture, Dad was able to shoot one though he didn't aim high enough so it wasn't a killing shot. They had to trail the doe for a while before Dad got another shot at her, then they came home and hung the doe in the wood shed. I made a bit of supper and they sat around and talked till almost 9:00. :-) I think Lydia's going to do up a little deer meat for dinner. :-)
Janeen Covlin had a Bluegrass CD, 20 songs all from different bands. It's pretty good, I enjoy listening to it. One song they have on it is Folsom Prison Blues, I think it's a Johnny Cash song. It's a catchy tune, though the wording could be changed. :-)
3rd On the Sawmill we're having problems again. The guy called Dad last week and said that the sawmill was all ready to go and they were just waiting for the man from MB to pay for the skiders and then they would ship it out. But he called on yesterday and said that the sawmill was being assembled and he was having health problems and Dad would probably have to go out and get it. He was very vague as to when the sawmill would be done, or when Dad would have to get it. Please pray that he will be honest and quit stalling and that we can get the sawmill soon. Thanks. :-)
See y'all.
Hannah

Hunting Movies

31st... Some of the family went hunting with Peter again.... Peter shot a moose twice but they lost it. Only Lydia and Jesse went out hunting with Peter this morning. I hope they get something. :-)
We baby sat all the Covlin kids on the 28th at their place. We also helped clean house, fold laundry and cook. All in all it was a busy day, a little straining but it worked out better than Naomi or I expected. :-)
We've been doing up our carrots... Washing them by the 5 gallon pail full, cutting them into bite sized pieces, blanching and then freezing them. It should work good for making soup in the winter. :-) I think we have 3 pails left, Mom was talking about leaving them for fresh eating but that could change. :-)
Y2J went great. Naomi and I led singing and also did the game. One of the little girl excepted Christ as her Saviour yesterday!!!! I am so glad and happy. :-) I walked with a couple girls down to the store where Mrs. Fenske picked me up later.
I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night. I'm not great with little insects... LOL! Those ants had me shivering. I don't think I'd ever be able to live in a tropical country mainly because of the little crawlies. :-) But I am glad that Indy finally gets married in the end. I'm gonna see if I can persuade Dad to let the older kids watch it... I think it ranks a notch above the other movies since there's no crazy guy/gal stuff. :-) I know Jesse would love seeing it and I'm sure he could find something that would help him in history and geography. :-)
That's all for now. :-)
Hannah