The Party's Over...Literally

I don't know why I can't find time to blog, but it doesn't seem to come first in my list of "to do" items each week. So, since I mainly blog to have a record of our time here, I can't just skip to present day. That means you'll have to bear with me for who knows how long until the timelines of my blog and my real life match up. 

For now, I'm back at the morning after Kylie's graduation party, which is ironic, because we are currently getting ready to start KARIS' senior year.  Crazy!

The morning after, the decorations were were taken down, and we pulled out all the boxes we had been hiding in the basement while the party was going on.

Time to pack.

Before and After.

(If you don't remember, our landlord had asked us to leave so he could try and sell the house.  

Present day (2021), we are 14 months from our move out, and he actually did sell it last month.

Doug told me a doctor bought it and gutted it, so I went to see for myself. 

Sad day.

December 4, 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                        August 10, 2021

They have taken out every tree on the outside and inside of the gate, and torn up the garden that was there. It was also sad for me to see my laundry room tile on the street.

August 10, 2021

Back to 2020, even though we were packing, Doug still made time to cut Karis' and Caleb's hair! This wasn't just a "quarantine cutting." This is something he does all year long for any of us that needs it.

Caleb got a LOT cut.

At this point, we still hadn't found another home to move into, so while we were still looking, we also had a plan put in place to store our belongings in an unused house of a friend if we never found another rental.

Because we were trying to get to America to get Kylie ready to go to college, we decided to get our rugs washed, dried, rolled up and bagged for the months we would be gone.

We took them to a big, open cemented area, and some men rolled them out, told us how much it would cost, and then they were dragged away to be hosed down.

And even though summer 2020 was a relatively mild summer here, it was still warm.

And as you can see, it was almost as hot inside as it was outside.

June 6, 2020

So, Doug, Keira, and I decided to camp in the yard for a couple of nights, and it was actually not bad. The temperatures dropped a night, and it was a lot better than being in our bedrooms.

It was quite the pressure situation.  

Packing. 

Not having a new house to move into. 

Needing to get to America, and at the moment, no way to get there (see picture below).

So, we kept working and kept praying.

Overnight at the Lake

In the fall, Caleb and Doug joined some other people for another trip out to the lake that they had previously kayaked on.  This time, they decided to kayak, camp overnight, and spend the next day hiking.

I have yet to see this lake in person, but this sunset picture makes me want to go.

They texted me this picture after they got in their tent and bundled up for a cold night.

The next morning, they were ready to climb.

I love the pictures Doug took of these rock formations.

They even ran across some people (probably shepherds) that live in these hills.

They had a good, fun day and came back tired.

I think Caleb's favorite finds were a handful of expended bullets and two mortar shells that he found while climbing.  He brought them all home as treasures.

I couldn't believe how heavy the mortar shells were.  Caleb couldn't climb with them, so he put them some place safe on the mountain, and when he came back down, he picked them back up again.

Interesting souvenirs! 

Camping in the COLD

Well, I confessed to you at an earlier date that I am, in fact, a "glamper" even though I survived a night on the mountain back in June.

So when my family was invited to go back to the same mountain for a night of camping, I, of course, declined.  However, my three older children and my husband could not be stopped.

I felt I was being a pragmatist by declining because I saw the forecast that said it would be below freezing when the sun went down.  I didn't think that "Keira" needed to be out there in such cold weather, so I declined on her behalf.  (I was so thankful to have her as an excuse).

Apparently, they had a good time. 

They also said they weren't as cold this time as we were in June because they were better prepared with the right clothes and enough blankets.

Still, I'm glad I could stay home and pray for them while sitting in front of a heater.

I'm told they went caving again.

They also hiked up a very tall mountain.

They said the view at the top was breath-taking.

I did not like hearing there was a sheer drop-off at the top.  Yikes!

Hello!

My kids inherited a love of rocks from my father and my sister; therefore, wherever we go, someone is always looking for and collecting "cool" rocks.

This is what happens to your son when he has a pocket full of "cool" rocks and then he takes a spill down the mountain.

Glad you guys had a fun time!  I loved hearing your stories!

I survived a Night on the Mountain

After our cave excursion, we drove back to the campsite where our friend informed us that he did indeed have to chase off goats from getting into our belongings.

There wasn't much resting time, because we needed to start grilling chicken for dinner, while the girls went to explore the cliff and the boys built a fort.

I took Keira to bed early, but I could still hear the fun chatter around the fire.

When everyone finally went to bed, the girls stayed up late in their tent playing Spades with plans to get up and watch the sunrise at the cliff.

I had my doubts that they would get up, but I heard them at 4am the next morning.

The reason being, I WAS SO COLD during the night that I hardly slept.

WOW!  IT WAS COLD!  I'll be better prepared next time.

Wait!  Did I just say, "Next time?"

After breakfast and fellowship time, I walked with the adults to look over the cliff and see more of God's creation

Beautiful!

The pictures don't do it justice.

 Wait.  Do you see a red shirt on the far left of the picture above?

Are those our children?

Are those my daughters through those leaves?

 






















Yikes!

The kids had hiked a different way, and the girls wanted to show us where they watched the sunrise that morning.






























Gulp!

Doug has better pictures because he used a real camera, but I'm too lazy to load them onto my laptop.

This is the best zoomed in shot I could get of them (before I yelled over at them to move away from the edge)!!

Back at camp, we decided to go explore another cave, and I was told I wouldn't have to climb as high.

Ok.  I'm in.

See?  There it is.  Right up those steps.

It was a LOT deeper than the other one.



And it got dark, fast.







In fact, we explored for 30 minutes into the mountain before we turned around.

If you've ever been to Natural Bridge Caverns or something like that, can you imagine it without smooth paths, electrical lighting, and handrails?

It was just us, the dank, dark deep, our lanterns, drippy celings, and two inches of mud caked on our shoes.

Pretty cool.

I turned around and looked back right as I knew we were about to lose all sense of the sun.

I can imagine that people who were forced to leave their homes at certain points in this country's history, found respite in this cave.

In the center of this photo above is a hole with light behind it.

All of the kids have disappeared into it.

There is another continuing tunnel on the other side.

As we waited for them, Doug and another man, looked over the edge at a deep chasm.  It has been reported that some explorers went spelunking down that chasm, and traveled down over two hours and never found the bottom.

 Here's Kylie covered in mud after she crawled back through the hole.





































 After all the kids came back through the hole, we all turned our lanterns off to experience the true darkness.  It reminded me of Genesis 1, except of course, we were standing on a firm, rock foundation.

"Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

Here's my cave partner after the lights were turned back on.

 

We were so thankful that Doug had packed our head lamps from Uganda.

 It looks like Karis found another place to explore.  A hole leading UP.

 So after we got outside, they climbed on top of the hill to look down the hole.

Can you see the girls?

Well, after the cave, we ate a good lunch of hamburgers.  Two of the families took down tents, packed up, and headed home.  We left one family there to enjoy another night.

Now that I've done it, I would do it again.  I'd be more prepared, have warmer blankets for the night, and pray again for constipation.

In case you were wondering, He answered my prayers on this trip, and I never had to use the shovel.