sola gracia

Every few years the forest nights are literally fired up with lightning storms. The dry earth doesn’t stand a chance and the forest fires start spreading. The valley was literally socked in from both sides with smoke this year.

Let It Die – Feist

Been listening to some good tunes lately and I’m trying to put together another summer list of music. Wow, first post for me in 9 months. yikers

If you’re like me you dread those words, “what’s for dinner?”. Ugh. For the longest time, I have been disinterested if not loathed the process of making dinner. Mostly this dislike has stemmed from the fact that I was never really taught how to cook dinner, though my husband says that’s a cop-out.
Well, now we have cable t.v. OH NO! Yes, and I’ve become addicted to the Food Network’s cooking shows. The surprising thing is that I’ve actually become excited about cooking dinner! For some reason, watching someone cook it up makes me think “oh! I could do that!”. Plus, there’s such great new recipes that my family loves. So, here’s my favorite new comfort soup from Rachael Ray’s 30-minute meals. Hope you like it as much as I do!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_33632,00.html

~Kelly

Well, it’s early July and already we’re seeing temperatures in the 90s and 100s. Ugh! It wouldn’t be so bad if we had some air conditioning, but as it is we have to keep our house closed up all day to avoid roasting. My garden is starting to show signs of suffering too. All of my lovely spinach has gone to seed, and even some of my swiss chard is trying to seed too. I’m not too worried though, since it is my very first garden and I’ve got room to make mistakes. I would love to do more with it next year. So, for now we’ll do our best to avoid the excessive heat and keep our garden veggies growing strong!

Well, so Spring is here again! We are excited to see our front yard finally get some grass growing and a few flowers that we planted last Fall pop up out of the ground! Isaac, our 3 year old is especially excited about the flowers. Everyday he opens the door and says “I check flowers”. I’m sure that our neighbors are excited to see something other than weeds and dirt in our front yard too!
Continuing with the outdoor update; our back yard weeds will see their end this weekend, hopefully! We are going to till up the clay dirt and put some grass seed down. The kids will be happy to have use of the entire backyard for the first time this summer, and I will be happy to have space for my very first vegetable garden!
Well, on to the rest of our lives. The kids and I are happily busy at home still making slow progress towards painted walls and comfy spaces. While Joe is happily busy at work in Whitefish. Nilla is doing great in school and looking forward to finishing 2nd grade, but sad that she will not see her teacher again next year.
And that is a short little update of our little family in this little corner of the world!

Love to you all!
~Kelly

Matthew 2:1-2 “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory— this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.”

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s wonderful to be able to wrap up another year and let you all know how it went! We pray you all are staying well and living happily!
In March Isaac turned two and Abigail turned one! Isaac enjoyed his very own car cake, but Abby would have rather just been left alone!

This year has found us stretching our traveling legs a bit and celebrating many happy occasions In March, we packed our bags and toted the kids to Hawaii for Sadie and Todd Ondick’s wedding (this is Joe’s sister). Nilla was thrilled to travel to such a tropical place, but Isaac and Abby were just happy to get off of the airplane and run around. We enjoyed celebrating the Ondick’s wedding, and Kelly got her first experience scuba diving with Joe! Nilla, Isaac and Abigail got to dip their toes in the ocean for the first time, and found it a little too salty!

For the fourth of July, Kelly took Isaac and Abby out to Sidney, MT to visit her mother in the nursing home. It was good to see family, but the traveling was taxing.

In August we traveled again to Bozeman for Sadie and Todd’s wedding celebration! We had a good time seeing Joe’s old friends and distant family. Nilla especially enjoyed the pool time at the hotel!
Later that same month we all took the train from Whitefish to Williston (11 hours) and then drove down to Ekalaka, MT (another 4 hours) for the Engstrom family reunion (Kelly’s family) and also to celebrate Kelly’s grandparent’s 60^th wedding anniversary! Joe, Nilla and Kelly enjoyed a horse trail ride, the kids had fun playing with cousins on the trampoline and we even got Isaac and Abby up on horseback! We all had a wonderful time getting to know distant family relatives and hearing the stories of how Grandma and Grandpa met! We took the train home again, which the kids enjoyed very much!

Joe still enjoys working for NXGEN Payment Services in Whitefish. Kelly is wishing Isaac and Abby were babies again, because it was such a breeze compared to the toddler stage. In September Nilla started 2^nd grade, and is doing well and making new friends! She turned eight this December! Isaac is attempting to potty train and so far he loves his colorful big boy underwear! Abby, is well, in the words of Papa Dave she’s been nicknamed “Miss No-body’s business”.

So, another year ends and we’re happy to say that we’ve survived, perhaps even thrived! This Christmas season we pray that you would focus on the Savior Jesus and the gift he’s given to you!

~The Swensons

Star of Wonder – Sufjan Stevens

Nervous energy aside, the cold has brought the hustle and bustle to the head space again. What I wouldn’t give for a warm cup of relax or a sweet side of take-it-easy. It seems this bitter cold demands otherwise so I’ve resorted to the Annie. Nothing takes you back and lifts you up like Annie’s music. Thanks for keeping things the heart strings warm. Peace to you and your peeps out in Chicagolandia.

Running…

Check out her website http://www.anniehiggins.com.