Hello Brei & Daniel, So Long Ely....

We traveled to Iowa last week to see our daughter, Brei, and meet her fiance, Daniel, who were visiting from Alaska. Gabe and Missy hosted a 'Meet Daniel' party on Tuesday evening. Wednesday we saw them off at the airport before we headed back to Ely. We are looking forward to flying to Alaska later in June to attend Brei and Daniel's wedding!


Brei and Daniel!


Grandpa and Forest sword fighting.


Maggie and Willow.


Joseph ready to play ball!


Carter!!


Mac taking a break from playing ball.


Phaedra being an acrobat.


Six of our grandchildren, Kaelyn, Carter, Joseph, Phaedra, Forest, and Willow, and our neice and nephew, Karly and Nolan...cousins having fun.


Seeing Brei and Dan off at the airport.


Beautiful Brei :~)



We leave early tomorrow for Montana to attend a memorial service for our sister-in-love, Sheila. Later this week I'll pay her tribute, but for now, here is our (sad) goodbye to Ely and all some of the beauty God's blessed us with here the past few days.






Jackson posing for Moriah, our budding photographer.




Last visit to the lake :~(




This little guy is called Cheese and loves to eat out of the kid's hands.


A surprise visitor to the cabin a couple days ago...glad we were all inside looking out.


A view we'll miss along Echo Trail.


My favorite flower, Lupine. We've seen fields of these in Maine and were thrilled to see them growing here too!


What a beautiful place...

Lyme and Luxuries

I have to start this blog on a serious note. We discovered a week ago that Moriah was bit by a wood tick with Lyme when we were in Tennessee. Our son, Gabe, has had Lyme disease for quite a few years. It took a while for him to get a diagnosis as Lyme mimics many other diseases. He is doing well since going through treatment. We are praising God because a week after Moriah found the tick, she developed the bulls eye rash that only 30 percent of people get when infected. Otherwise she could have gone for years not knowing what was wrong with her. We were able to get her a 3-week prescription for Doxycycline that very day. Two days later, after watching a video about Lyme disease, I decided to take a picture of Moriah's rash and tick bite to document her experience. The rash was almost gone already. It only lasted three days. It would have been easy to miss since it didn't really itch. I tell you all this for a 'heads up'. I have two children that have been infected with Lyme disease. I believe that it's much more prevalent than statistics say. Know the warning signs. If you have any unexplained, undiagnosed illnesses, don't rule out Lyme disease.

Moving on......

It's spring time in Ely. Everything is beautiful, the sights, sounds, smells. We should be packing since our months here are coming to a close. Instead we're taking it all in and packing on the side. We've been on early morning walks to the lake, canoeing with the kids, visiting friends, and watching wildlife.


John found two baby squirrels that had fallen from a tree in the woods. He was quite disappointed with me when I made him put them back. We were all relieved that mother squirrel took them back up the tree. We've raised squirrels before.....


Early morning sun on the beaver pond just below our cabin.


One of the views from the dock on our morning walks.




We went back to visit our friends that live 'off grid'. Moriah got to bake huge cinnamon rolls in this antique wood cook stove...what a treat!




Maggie and Sarah applied the frosting.


Yummmm!


Enjoying time at our friend's cabin.


Forget-Me-Nots in the flower garden.


This also happened to be John's birthday..what a treat we all had being with such special people.


Back at our cabin celebrating John's 15th birthday.


Thursday was a beautiful day to go canoeing, picnicing, swimming...


The view from our picnic spot high above the lake.










Peace that passes all understanding....

Birthdays and Friends

We returned to Tennessee after a wonderful week with friends at the Gulf (previous posts). We stayed just one day so we could celebrate Patric's birthday and Mother's Day all at the same time. It was a lovely time and the seafood supper and Key Lime pie was fabulous!



We left early on Monday so we could get to Iowa in time to celebrate Aaron's 31st birthday! It was very good to see family and also a few friends we hadn't seen in a long time (Ryan, Randy, and Greg). Of course I have to include pictures of some of the grandkids here:~)


Joseph in his usual happy mood:~)


One of the 'many faces of Willow'.


Forest doing the 'scissor slide' down the hallway.


Phaedra waiting to help serve dessert.


I had to include this extra picture of Willow making her latest 'new face'.

We headed back north to our 'Winter Cabin' on Tuesday after hanging out at Gabe and Missy's in the morning and making 'cookie moose' with Forest. We spent part of the afternoon with Steve's Mom in Vinton where I visited my chiropractor (ah, sweet relief!) Needless to say we got back to Ely in the wee hours of the morning.


Making our traditional 'Cookie Moose!'


This White Throated Sparrow greeted us when we awoke at the cabin with a beautiful song.

We're packing up the cabin and getting ready to move to Tennessee for the summer. We're excited for what God has next for us but very sad to leave the north woods, this little cabin, and the friends we've been blessed with here.

We've had a couple highlights this weekend...we spent time on Saturday with a couple from our church. They live 'off the grid' in a beautiful antique cabin, deep in the north woods. Their food is cooked on an antique wood cookstove, everything is stored in antique containers (no plastic or rubbermaid), and the plumbing is outside:~) Steve and I have contemplated this kind of lifestyle for years so we were full of questions and gleened a lot from this visit..."thou shalt not covet...thou shalt not covet..." 'Miss Carol' does the children's ministry at church and the girls adore her (we all do).


The little antique cabin in the woods.


These really are less complicated than indoor plumbing.


Maggie helping serve drinks.

Today (Sunday) we were invited to our friends, Stan and Joyce, after church to share a meal...fabulous company and food...beautiful home and property. We have been blessed...thanks God!


Maggie and Stan grilling our dinner.


John and Afton, Stan and Joyce's tri-color English Setter. She is a most loving and beautiful dog.