Chance wouldn’t even take a chance out there.
Bentley’s playing days are over…for 6 months.
The boys’ playing days are just beginning!
It was quite a sight. We woke up on Sabbath morning and we were excited to see that there was a thin layer of frost covering our yard. An hour later after I fed the boys breakfast, snow began to fall…and fall and fall and fall! It hasn’t snowed this early since we moved up here over 3 years ago. I took some pictures and a video of it with my new camera so I could share it with Israel who is down in Tennessee now. Imanuel was very excited to see the snow. Micah was more in a state of shock if anything. I don’t think he remembers snow from last year!
As it snowed, I tried to think of a way to make a connection to spiritual things. After all, it seemed like quite a magical moment for the boys…almost surreal. I quoted Psalm 51:7:
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”
As I explained that Jesus can take our “dirty” hearts and make them clean, Imanuel listened intently. Then he said, “It’s like our hearts are hard, but Jesus can make them soft again!” I was so surprised by this comment because I don’t recall the last time we talked about that. But our short worship made a strong impression on me. It helped me realize my need for a new beginning. Going through the day to day grind, I found myself getting a little more impatient, a little more unforgiving, and a little less sensitive. I re-dedicated myself to Jesus that day. Just as a new season is beginning here in the U.P. I decided to once again give my heart over to Jesus for a good cleansing and softening. White like snow! What incredible forgiveness!
So, there you have it. Our first snow fall of the season on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at approximately 9:30am!
This pic was taken yesterday afternoon. Yesterday also marked the first day I let Bentley out to go potty and he took a few steps out, peed on the snow on the deck, and ran back in. 
A clear indication that indeed, winter is here! I’m so thankful we have warm, toasty house to live in. But more importantly than that, I pray our home will be a place where Jesus always resides.
The past few months have been really busy, but were lots of fun. My sister, Julie, came to visit Michigan during her last vacation of residency. She helped me clean and reorganize our entire house which resulted in about 4 loads of drop-offs to Good Will, 9 bags of trash, and our truck full of recycleables. From our kitchen pantry to every closet in our house, everything was sorted and cleaned out. She purchased a bunch of storage containers for us to help us keep organized too! I wish we had taken before and after pictures! Anyway, it was great. I feel so much more ready for baby #3 to arrive. On top of that, we planned a surprise baby shower for our brother Jukes and Aileen. After sorting through all of the kids’ closets, we were able to give a bunch of the boys’ clothes and baby items I didn’t need to them and with so much extra, we had a bunch to give the Conways too! (Yes, we had an over-abundance of baby boy clothes!)
On our trip downstate, we stopped by the DeYoung’s Family Zoo and enjoyed seeing the animals up close and personal. Imanuel was able to bottle feed a baby camel, pet a baby bobcat and hold the leash of a New Guinea Singing pup. It was such an awesome zoo!
We really enjoyed spending time with our family during our brief visit downstate.
When we came back up, Israel had his work cut out for him. In preparation for the winter, he decided to purchase entire logs instead of pre-cut wood. It was a couple hundred dollars cheaper this way, but he would have to chain-saw and chop them himself. AND, he ordered LOTS of logs.
With the help of some church members, he got the majority of the logs cut. The only problem was that we had to stack them…and we only had a garden wheel barrow that we purchased at Walmart. It was beginning to fall apart. So, today, Israel bought a cart that could be pulled by our riding lawn mower. We had to assemble it ourselves, but it was fairly simple and after an hour, we were able to haul tons of wood into our garage. It was a great investment…not only for hauling wood, but to take the kids for rides!
After loading a few carts of wood, we were tired so we decided to take the boys for a “wagon” ride in the backyard. We stopped by our apple trees to pick and eat a few apples. I was privileged to be the “tractor” driver since Manu thought my tummy was too large to fit in the back cart. So, I drove our lawn mower while Israel, the boys and Bentley sat in the cart. It was lots of fun!
Hopefully within the next few days, we’ll have all of our wood cut and stacked for the winter. The leaves are already beginning to change the the weather is cool and crisp. I think after living in the Yoop for 3 years now, fall is my favorite time of year.
Manu and Micah are much easier to handle now that they enjoy playing together. Micah is becoming more vocal and learning to express himself. It just seemed like last week when the only words he could say were, “ready?” or “hot?” Now in the car he always asks, “Almost there, Mama?” He knows how to sing almost every song in the “Kids Sing Praise” CD. He tries to pray by himself too. He is always willing to repeat words or phrases that we try to teach him. That’s lots of fun too. It’s so cute to hear him calling, “Manu, where are you?!” I think his speech development is much more rapid than Imanuel’s was. Probably because he tries to say everything that Manu does.
Micah is definitely more of a risk taker and is more adventurous than Imanuel too. Maybe that’s why we already had to take Micah into the ER 3 times and we never took Imanuel in. (It would have been 4 last week if Imanuel wasn’t there in the woods to yell at Micah to spit out the poisonous berry he decided to put in his mouth. Micah just suffered for a day with fever and diarrhea, thank God.)
I just cannot wait until this child is born. I feel like once he’s out, I can at least start going back to my own physical self. I’m feeling so large it’s not even funny. But I can’t complain. God has been very good to us and we are so thankful for the life we are able to live up here. Okay, I think I wrote enough! Until the next time I’m struck with inspiration…
(I’m going to put the rest of the pictures up on Facebook including exclusive pictures of Israel chopping wood! 🙂
This probably was the most memorable 4th of July we’ve ever had. There really wasn’t much to compare it to. I do have fond memories of watching the Detroit fireworks when my dad would take all of there by the river. I always loved it. Even though we never got to buy those glow sticks and we usually ended up half-eaten by mosquitoes, we had lots of fun watching the fireworks and just being there together. Israel actually told us that he always hated going to see fireworks as a kid. So, this weekend, we pulled out all the stops, so to speak.
On Friday, we didn’t do much but unpack and try to do some cleaning. On Sabbath, we went to church and for potluck, we had a picnic out at Grandma Karen’s cabin by the lake. There was lots of yummy food. A highlight was when we saw a large family of ducks swim by and nibble seeds off of some tall water reeds. We came home and the boys took a nice, long afternoon nap while Jen and I chatted.
Then after they all woke up (3 hours later), we headed over to Agate Beach to close the Sabbath.
Manu and Bentley were the only brave ones to go in the water. It was FREEZING.
Bentley actually enjoyed playing fetch in the lake…as long as he didn’t have to swim!
Jen soaking up so vitamin D.
It was a beautiful evening.
That night, we had our own, personal fireworks show on our back deck.
Lots of sparklers…then it got too cold out.
So, they watched from inside as Jen and I put on the show.
The show went on for about 15 minutes, then it was time for bed. Now, Manu loves the 4th of July.
The next day, we decided to go see Pictured Rocks in Munising, MI. It was about 2.5 hours east of us. We went with Daniel and Jennifer too.
The banner says, “Munising, The U.P.’s Best Kept Secret!” We’re in line to take the sunset cruise.
We’re sitting in the cabin of the boat because it was getting chilly outside. It was very beautiful to see the naturally-occurring colors and formations in the rocks.
The different colors are caused by limestone, copper, and manganese deposits.
This formation looks like an Indian head.
On our way back, the crew feed the seagulls. They started doing this this years ago. I remember this part when I came here when I was little. The seagulls know food is coming and as soon as the boat turned around and headed back, hundreds of them surrounded the boat.
We got back late that evening. The next day, we concluded our 4-day weekend with some grilled vegetable shish-kabobs, quesadillas, and veggie chicken fingers & buffalo wings. It was yummy.
We’re glad we were able to spend the holiday with wonderful friends. I’ll post all of the pics from Pictured Rocks in an album on Facebook.
Yesterday, I awakened to Israel frantically calling for me saying, “Judy! Judy! Come over here quick! There’s a bear!” It was the quickest I had gotten out of bed in a long time but it was well worth it. There was a black bear wandering around in our backyard! It was so cute and I felt like running out there to give it a hug or to help it find some food, but my better judgment helped me refrain. Manu really enjoyed watching it too. We got some pictures although it was pretty far away. I have been wanting to see a bear in the U.P. since we moved and I’m thankful that God granted me this little joy…even if it was almost 3 years later. 
Now the only thing left on my list is a pack of wolves…
Searching for food after a long hibernation.
Israel was whistling at it so it looked at us.
The Best of Winter Carnival ’09
It wasn’t as cold as previous years, but it was still cold nonetheless. Yesterday, the four of us put on our long johns, snow pants, and all our other winter accessories and headed to campus at around 3pm to check out the snow sculptures from this year. The theme was “A Frigid Place Gets a Blast from Space”. We mainly took pictures of the best ones which are from the fraternity division. But towards the beginning, we included some shots of the smaller sculptures as well. Enjoy!
These are what flowers in the U.P. look like.
It’s amazing because even the lettering must be made of water/ice/snow!
The title of this one is “Our God Created Time & Space and Through His Son Showed Us His Grace”
This one was by the Sound Engineering Society. Lots of sound.
Aliens playing a popular Tech sport – Broom Ball!
Buzz Light Year and friends…
Okay, now for the good ones:
Man on the Moon – 3rd place fraternity division
An Alien City – 2nd Place
And finally, the frat that took the 1st Place Title for 2 years in a row…
They portrayed the movie “Men In Black”.
Life size street light made of ice. Broadway & Fifth Street.
Little ice figurines of objects/characters from the movie.
Pizza box
Alien eating pizza and if you look closely, they actually had a piece of pizza in his see-through stomach too!
Orion, the cat
It was amazing. And how they create such masterpieces is kept secret.
For the past couple of weeks now, we have been using our “new” wood stove to heat our house. Propane has been ridiculously expensive and so we’re trying this alternative method. It’s been great so far. It will definitely be considered one of our best buys for the year. Costing only $15 for the used oil can and $150 for the starter kit, it is the cheapest wood stove you can get. It probably doesn’t score too high on its safety ratings, but with our trusty smoke & carbon monoxide detector-in-one, and with the Lord on our side, we aren’t too worried. It may look ghetto, but it keeps our house a piping 72 degrees when the coals are hot!
If you haven’t noticed, our pets love this room now!
For the past couple of days, it hasn’t stopped snowing:
Today Israel had a District 1 meeting in Marquette, so while Micah was sleeping, I decided to take Manu out to play. He’s been having some trouble going to bed at their normal bedtime (7pm). And he’s constantly tempted to wake up Micah to play after he can’t fall asleep. So, in an effort to help tire him out, I’m trying to keep him more active during the day. (And we’ve been pushing his bedtime back about an hour.) Hopefully this new tactic works.
Building snow bricks for our cave…
We started making a snow cave. (It also doubles as our personal sledding hill.) When it stops snowing, it’ll probably be twice this size. I’ll try to get a picture when it’s completed. This is when we just started.
And lastly, here are the most recent pics of the boys chilling at home. Micah is now 14 months and in 2 days, Imanuel will be one month shy of 3 years old.
And we especially want to thank Auntie Jen for the singing cow. Micah wants it pushed over and over and over and over again. In the second picture, he’s actually asking me to push it.
Micah’s long tresses and lashes. He hasn’t had a real hair cut yet.
He can stand up and walk along furniture, but his main mode of transportation is still on all fours.
While I encourage sharing, I try as much as possible to ensure that they don’t share their food with our dog. Sometimes I permit it, but it is usually only when Imanuel asks if he can. But I find it quite hilarious that both boys can now protect themselves and their food from the snares of Bentley. Micah still isn’t 100% successful, but he’s getting there.
The boys eating and making sure Bentley keeps his distance.
Imanuel handing a cracker to Micah as Bentley gets into position.
But then Micah stuffs it into his mouth before Bentley snatches it out of his hand. I rarely have to intervene now. 🙂 But it is a rather stressful way to eat snacks. 
Micah is into putting objects into containers. He’ll crawl around the living room picking up toys and putting them into the laundry basket or toy box. He kept putting toys into the cracker jar and Imanuel kept taking them out. LOL.
Micah signing “More” and “Please” – his two favorite words.
Manu smiling for the camera. For some reason he just loves the full body PJs.
I can honestly say now that things are getting quite challenging and it has everything to do with the cute little boy wearing his “footies” seen above. Everything prior to this time was a breeze for me (-I realize now in retrospect). Trying to parent him has become like an experiment where you try to say/do the “right” things to get the desired results but every time you fail and/or mess up, it adds more and more variables. It can easily lead to feelings of regret, fear, and insecurity.
The older Imanuel gets (-and the longer I am a mother), the more I feel so strongly that God takes such a huge risk to entrust His children to humans. Or maybe I should say that He has such confidence. It is rather humbling. I mean, I would trust very few people to even babysit my kids, let alone raise them. And they are people who I obviously feel are “better” or at least would do a comparable job as me. Yet God says to me (and to us) that He trusts so much in the power of His Son’s sacrifice, that He knows that it is possible for me to do the impossible. He knows I can raise my kids to be fit for this life and for the life to come. He knows I can overcome myself and be the example He wants me to be for my boys. Sometimes I don’t feel comfortable with that responsibility. But, the encouraging news is that the omniscent God knows that it is at least possible. At times, it takes a lot of faith to believe.
Anyway, to end on a lighter note, I wanted to write down some funny things I want to remember. Imanuel loves to sing. One of his up and coming favorite songs is “Read Your Bible, Pray Everyday” which also goes to the same tune as “I Will Make You Fishers of Men”. He loves both of those songs. Well, the interesting thing about that tune and both songs is that he cannot seem to get the lyrics right! Without fail, he always sings,
“Bring your Bible, pray everyday and you’ll grow, grow grow…”
I completely blame this one on Sikhu (by way of Sebastien) because she would always say, “Worship! Bring your Bibles!”
And another time, he was singing to himself, “I will make you fishers of men…” and when he got to the second verse (Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me, I will give you rest…”) he started singing,
“Hear Christ calling, ‘Come unto me, come unto me, come unto me,
“Hear Christ calling, ‘Come unto me, I will make you sleep’
“I will make you sleep, I will make you sleep…”
Then I began wondering if he even thought that was a good thing or not…
Anyway, everyday, while it brings its challenges, has so many more happy moments that at the end of the day, I feel so very blessed. I am thoroughly convinced that God desires His children to experience happiness even here on this sinful earth!
The past couple of weeks have been filled with family, nature, and CHANGE. Within a few short weeks, we have seen the leaves go from green to colorful to fallen to brown. Uncle Jukes and Auntie Aileen came up 3 weeks ago, my parents came up 2 weeks ago, and this past weekend, Israel’s parents came. It is contested which week was the peak color time, but for sure this past week the leaves were mostly fallen, due to the rainy/windy/cold weather. But, it was nice to enjoy this extraordinary transformation from week to week with family.
Before the pics, I need to mention that on Sabbath, October 11, Micah began to crawl! He just turned 11 months yesterday. He had been scooting around like an inch worm for a couple weeks, but now he has finally gotten his coordination right and he has been crawling…usually straight to Bentley’s food and water bowl…but at this point, I’m still just excited that he is mobile. He is content on the ground, meaning, my arms get a break. 
Okay, here are pics of the unbeatable fall colors of the Keweenaw and with both sets of grandparents! 
In front of our house 
** Halmuhnee & Halabuhgee’s visit (after their golf outing) : Oct. 10-15, 2008 ** 
“Halmuhnee and Halbuhgee” in the woods by our house
Walking home
Copper Harbor, MI at Brockway – the pride of the Keweenaw!
Enjoying the view 
Fall Leaf Arrangement that Manu and my mom collected. Yes, Steph, it is in a Roma jar. :]
After using our apple picker that grandpa made! We made lots of yummy apple cider!
** Abuelo & Lala’s visit : Oct. 15-19, 2008 **
At Lake Superior : McClain State Park
Micah fell in love with Abuelo this visit!
They left 95 degree weather and came to the U.P. for these two boys!
Manu and Micah already miss their grandparents very much! We hope time flies by so we can see them again soon!