Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Randoms...
Thanksgiving: Making frosting in the KitchenAid, the rule is to lick the whisk when finished...
Daddy and Joy
That's hippy rebel Kate...always doing something cute (translated: strange and alarming)
Our sweet little man...surrounded by three sisters...hopefully the next one's a little bro for him.
Cocoa Bear!
Our Children
So we tried a couple times to get a picture with all four of the children...this is what we came up with...we really hope to get one with us parents in it too but that's difficult to do when I'm (Shawna) the one behind the camera. We'll work on getting that family portrait as soon as possible!
So here we have Mataya (Matty), turns 7 in about a week, Katie 4, Joy 2, and Jonathan 2 months old.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas 2010
December 2010
Our Dear Friends & Family,
Merry, Merry Christmas!! What a joyful year this has been…Matty said to us a couple days ago, “Mommy, why does it seem like the months are going by faster now?” She’s only 6 and is already realizing this?! It’s so true. All the more reason and drive for us to live out each day to the fullest measure of what God has for us.
The latest news….We moved from Klamath Falls to Seattle (Tacoma) back in late August for one reason: the children. Over the last 6 ½ years that Chris has worked for the railroad, this time of year has always been the most difficult because he leaves us for a few months at a time due to slow traffic in Klamath. We learned just how heavily this wore on Matty as she lay in our bed crying one July evening because Daddy would be leaving in the morning. It was at that very point we decided to drop everything and move. Chris resolved that it was unacceptable to ‘raise’ his children in this way. We rented our home to some dear friends and moved. To say the least, we made many sacrifices in order to move us up here for the sake and health of our family…and we seriously cannot even begin to explain to you how much God has changed us in the last few months of us being here. Miraculous and wonderful.
The latest, latest news…we had a baby! Jonathan David was birthed at our home on October 19 at 7AM. He was a planned homebirth and came right on his due date, 8lbs 4oz. He has already added flavor to our family of women and is Daddy’s favorite little man (he can say that as long as he’s the only boy!).
In March…with Shawna 3 months pregnant, we flew to Ethiopia, Africa! After 1 ½ yrs of paperwork (and $25,000 later), we picked up our 22-month African beauty who we named Joy. Thus…we doubled our children in less than 9 months! “Cocoa-Bear”, as we like to call her, is now 2 1/2 and has proven to be remarkably intelligent. She has an amazing memory and is also the most snuggly child with an empathetic, warm heart that diffuses any pain or sadness. She eagerly looks forward to tea time with Mommy. Her favorite thing to do besides eating is coloring.
Katie, our 4yr old hippy rebel, is enjoying kindergarten with who she calls “Teacher Mommy”. She writes all her letters and numbers very well and can spell her name as well as her sisters’ names. She’s also reading sight words and always insists “Mommy, Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit, all three together are God”. Hey, she has her theology nailed down! She is a most eccentric, appreciative and sharing child, even though she’s the most vicious and short-fused!
Mataya, our disciplined, meticulous, and studious girl will be turning 7 in January (yikes) and is excelling in 3rd grade. When mommy’s busy, she takes it upon herself to teach Katie her schoolwork. She’s a huge help for Mommy, as are all our girls. A week ago, she lost her two front teeth and has the cutest smile with her gap. When she’s not doing school or playing violin, you’re guaranteed to find her either reading a chapter book or writing to one of her 13 (!) pen pals. Her and Katie are still attending Awana at a local church and we are still in search for our church home.
Shawna adores being devoted to the home and four children each God-given, grace-filled day. Chris joyfully provides for us from his office on the rails controlling the BNSF locomotive delivering yesterday’s freight tomorrow. Though we are all thriving and rejoicing in all our many blessings, we miss our friends and family ‘back home’ in Klamath. It’s our hope that someday we will return.
“For unto us is born this day in the City of David, a SAVIOR who is CHRIST THE LORD!!!” Luke 2:11
Merry Christmas!
Our Dear Friends & Family,
Merry, Merry Christmas!! What a joyful year this has been…Matty said to us a couple days ago, “Mommy, why does it seem like the months are going by faster now?” She’s only 6 and is already realizing this?! It’s so true. All the more reason and drive for us to live out each day to the fullest measure of what God has for us.
The latest news….We moved from Klamath Falls to Seattle (Tacoma) back in late August for one reason: the children. Over the last 6 ½ years that Chris has worked for the railroad, this time of year has always been the most difficult because he leaves us for a few months at a time due to slow traffic in Klamath. We learned just how heavily this wore on Matty as she lay in our bed crying one July evening because Daddy would be leaving in the morning. It was at that very point we decided to drop everything and move. Chris resolved that it was unacceptable to ‘raise’ his children in this way. We rented our home to some dear friends and moved. To say the least, we made many sacrifices in order to move us up here for the sake and health of our family…and we seriously cannot even begin to explain to you how much God has changed us in the last few months of us being here. Miraculous and wonderful.
The latest, latest news…we had a baby! Jonathan David was birthed at our home on October 19 at 7AM. He was a planned homebirth and came right on his due date, 8lbs 4oz. He has already added flavor to our family of women and is Daddy’s favorite little man (he can say that as long as he’s the only boy!).
In March…with Shawna 3 months pregnant, we flew to Ethiopia, Africa! After 1 ½ yrs of paperwork (and $25,000 later), we picked up our 22-month African beauty who we named Joy. Thus…we doubled our children in less than 9 months! “Cocoa-Bear”, as we like to call her, is now 2 1/2 and has proven to be remarkably intelligent. She has an amazing memory and is also the most snuggly child with an empathetic, warm heart that diffuses any pain or sadness. She eagerly looks forward to tea time with Mommy. Her favorite thing to do besides eating is coloring.
Katie, our 4yr old hippy rebel, is enjoying kindergarten with who she calls “Teacher Mommy”. She writes all her letters and numbers very well and can spell her name as well as her sisters’ names. She’s also reading sight words and always insists “Mommy, Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit, all three together are God”. Hey, she has her theology nailed down! She is a most eccentric, appreciative and sharing child, even though she’s the most vicious and short-fused!
Mataya, our disciplined, meticulous, and studious girl will be turning 7 in January (yikes) and is excelling in 3rd grade. When mommy’s busy, she takes it upon herself to teach Katie her schoolwork. She’s a huge help for Mommy, as are all our girls. A week ago, she lost her two front teeth and has the cutest smile with her gap. When she’s not doing school or playing violin, you’re guaranteed to find her either reading a chapter book or writing to one of her 13 (!) pen pals. Her and Katie are still attending Awana at a local church and we are still in search for our church home.
Shawna adores being devoted to the home and four children each God-given, grace-filled day. Chris joyfully provides for us from his office on the rails controlling the BNSF locomotive delivering yesterday’s freight tomorrow. Though we are all thriving and rejoicing in all our many blessings, we miss our friends and family ‘back home’ in Klamath. It’s our hope that someday we will return.
“For unto us is born this day in the City of David, a SAVIOR who is CHRIST THE LORD!!!” Luke 2:11
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Three months later...
Does anyone still read this, or am I just trying to hear myself talk? It has been three months since we last posted anything, and I thought, with all the recent changes, what better time to restart this. So what have we been up to since late June? Well…
… we live in Seattle and are expecting our fourth very soon!
Maybe you should have some filler, if you’re at all interested that is. Let’s see, I guess I should go back to where things started getting interesting, in early July. On July 5, because of a work slow down, I (Chris) was forced to go back to southern WA to provide for the family. As the time came for me to leave, that afternoon in fact, Mataya (and the rest of us) had a sort of melt down. For six years, since I was hired by the railroad, I have spent most of my railroad time away, mostly in southern WA. Well that reality finally caught up to us, as it typically does to Shawna and me when I leave, but the difference between this time and previous times was that we saw the genuine pain in Matty’s eyes as I was getting ready to leave. I was planning on leaving in the middle of the night, after the kids went to bed. That night, Matty couldn’t, wouldn’t is more like an appropriate word, go to sleep. We kept her in our bed where she stayed up crying and told me that she wouldn’t go to sleep because that meant that I was leaving. That hit Shawna and I like a ton of bricks, there was so much hurt there. We stayed up well past 1am at a loss of what to do. For so long we have talked about moving close to a terminal where I can work year round. But it always ended there, at talk. We tried to put the talk into action several years ago, but fell short after tried very little (we put our house on the market for five months before pulling it and deciding to deal with the situation). So this was the time, time to put family first, and stop worrying about possessions like the house.
The next few weeks flew by as we prepared for the upcoming move. We first had to decide where, we chose Seattle. Next was when, we decided to immediately. Finally was how, and we decided to just go for it. The last week of August found us with the house completely boxed up, everything in the garage waiting for the moving truck, and us happily on our way to Seattle, as a family, together. We found a place within a week, came back to Klamath a week later, and moved in to the new house in mid August. What about our things and the house in Klamath Falls? We rented a U-Haul, loaded our stuff, and some good friends of ours who wanted to rent our house, moved their stuff in. It was truly incredible how things fell into place with such an ease that stress was very minimal.
So here we are, 15 miles south of Seattle in Tacoma/Federal Way. We are in a nice house owned by an Air Force pilot who was relocated to another area. Our time has been spent on relearning the area. Shawna and I lived up here while I was on active duty over six years ago and left just after Matty was born. We have been integrating well and like it here. We found a great church, enrolled the kids in Awana, started this year’s home-school curriculum, and are expecting number four in a few weeks! We have decided to home-birth, if it so works out, and found an awesome midwife. Shawna has been incredible through all of this radical change, and knows nothing of complaining (which at over 8 months pregnant is expected but is non-existent). The kids and I are truly blessed to have her run our home. I may lead it, but she makes it function.
Of course, with how quickly and easily everything fell into place, there have been struggles. Our struggles with saying goodbye to our friends and family and the life we have grown accustomed to have of course left us with feelings of sadness. But through all the myriad of emotions these past few months, we are discovering something else. We came here wanting to be close to each other and to avoid long separation, but what we are finding is even more than that, something more exhilarating, something more special, and it took us the huge culture shock of moving to open our eyes to it.
… we live in Seattle and are expecting our fourth very soon!
Maybe you should have some filler, if you’re at all interested that is. Let’s see, I guess I should go back to where things started getting interesting, in early July. On July 5, because of a work slow down, I (Chris) was forced to go back to southern WA to provide for the family. As the time came for me to leave, that afternoon in fact, Mataya (and the rest of us) had a sort of melt down. For six years, since I was hired by the railroad, I have spent most of my railroad time away, mostly in southern WA. Well that reality finally caught up to us, as it typically does to Shawna and me when I leave, but the difference between this time and previous times was that we saw the genuine pain in Matty’s eyes as I was getting ready to leave. I was planning on leaving in the middle of the night, after the kids went to bed. That night, Matty couldn’t, wouldn’t is more like an appropriate word, go to sleep. We kept her in our bed where she stayed up crying and told me that she wouldn’t go to sleep because that meant that I was leaving. That hit Shawna and I like a ton of bricks, there was so much hurt there. We stayed up well past 1am at a loss of what to do. For so long we have talked about moving close to a terminal where I can work year round. But it always ended there, at talk. We tried to put the talk into action several years ago, but fell short after tried very little (we put our house on the market for five months before pulling it and deciding to deal with the situation). So this was the time, time to put family first, and stop worrying about possessions like the house.
The next few weeks flew by as we prepared for the upcoming move. We first had to decide where, we chose Seattle. Next was when, we decided to immediately. Finally was how, and we decided to just go for it. The last week of August found us with the house completely boxed up, everything in the garage waiting for the moving truck, and us happily on our way to Seattle, as a family, together. We found a place within a week, came back to Klamath a week later, and moved in to the new house in mid August. What about our things and the house in Klamath Falls? We rented a U-Haul, loaded our stuff, and some good friends of ours who wanted to rent our house, moved their stuff in. It was truly incredible how things fell into place with such an ease that stress was very minimal.
So here we are, 15 miles south of Seattle in Tacoma/Federal Way. We are in a nice house owned by an Air Force pilot who was relocated to another area. Our time has been spent on relearning the area. Shawna and I lived up here while I was on active duty over six years ago and left just after Matty was born. We have been integrating well and like it here. We found a great church, enrolled the kids in Awana, started this year’s home-school curriculum, and are expecting number four in a few weeks! We have decided to home-birth, if it so works out, and found an awesome midwife. Shawna has been incredible through all of this radical change, and knows nothing of complaining (which at over 8 months pregnant is expected but is non-existent). The kids and I are truly blessed to have her run our home. I may lead it, but she makes it function.
Of course, with how quickly and easily everything fell into place, there have been struggles. Our struggles with saying goodbye to our friends and family and the life we have grown accustomed to have of course left us with feelings of sadness. But through all the myriad of emotions these past few months, we are discovering something else. We came here wanting to be close to each other and to avoid long separation, but what we are finding is even more than that, something more exhilarating, something more special, and it took us the huge culture shock of moving to open our eyes to it.
Friday, June 25, 2010
June 25th Update...
Hello family and friends. Just a quick update to let you all know how great we are doing (and to post some overdue pics!). We have been keeping very busy. Chris still juggles work, full time school, and lots of yard work. Shawna is getting BIG! She had an appointment with her midwife and she is actually measuring larger than the norm for how far along she is. Awesome! Twins? Big news in Matty's world, she made the Basin Swim team! At six she is the youngest swimmer on the team. She just loves the water. Katie has been doing really good at swimming as well as she takes lessons 4 times a week now. Joy has been daddy's (and momma's) little girl. She is getting bigger but still looks so tiny to us! She is full of smiles and loves to imitate her older sisters and LOVES to dance. She is such a doll.
The biggest news recently was the injury of our beautiful three year old niece. Jana (my sister's daughter) suffered a head injury from getting kicked in the head by a horse and was airlifted to Doernbecher's Childrens Hospital in Portland. We packed up and drove up there to be near her and to help the Morgan's with whatever they needed. Jana underwent overnight surgery and to the doctors amazement, there was no permanent damage. She did receive some metal plates and a gnarly scar from the injury, but praise God, for it is only He that can provide such miracles. The Morgan's have shown an incredible trust in God, and we are so happy and thankful for them.
After a few days and when Jana was ok, we packed up the van and started our journey back home. The only problem was, it didn't start. Our van finally decided it was time to not provide us with a means of transportation anymore, stranding us 300 miles from home. But luckily we were at my parents house in Portland, so we had a place to stay, and were in an ideal spot to get a deal on a vehicle. I had the van towed to a shop (where it cost over $600 to repair, OUCH), we will sell it to try and recoup the repairs plus a little. Anyone want a 1991 Dodge Caravan? We knew the van wouldn't last us forever (it had 200,000 miles on it) but we hoped it would get us through the summer. Luckily we were somewhat prepared for this (research wise) and got a Honda Odyssey. That got us home, very comfortably!
So as you can see, life has been great. The warm weather finally arrived, the garden is doing great (if only I could grow veggies and fruit like I apparently can weeds), and we have spent a lot of time outdoors. We thank God everyday for the beautiful life we have. Thanks for checking on us, and here's some pics!
The happiest parents in the world!
Daddy and Joy.
Our three beautiful girls (that's facepaint from the picnic we were at, not a satanic tattoo)!
The biggest news recently was the injury of our beautiful three year old niece. Jana (my sister's daughter) suffered a head injury from getting kicked in the head by a horse and was airlifted to Doernbecher's Childrens Hospital in Portland. We packed up and drove up there to be near her and to help the Morgan's with whatever they needed. Jana underwent overnight surgery and to the doctors amazement, there was no permanent damage. She did receive some metal plates and a gnarly scar from the injury, but praise God, for it is only He that can provide such miracles. The Morgan's have shown an incredible trust in God, and we are so happy and thankful for them.
After a few days and when Jana was ok, we packed up the van and started our journey back home. The only problem was, it didn't start. Our van finally decided it was time to not provide us with a means of transportation anymore, stranding us 300 miles from home. But luckily we were at my parents house in Portland, so we had a place to stay, and were in an ideal spot to get a deal on a vehicle. I had the van towed to a shop (where it cost over $600 to repair, OUCH), we will sell it to try and recoup the repairs plus a little. Anyone want a 1991 Dodge Caravan? We knew the van wouldn't last us forever (it had 200,000 miles on it) but we hoped it would get us through the summer. Luckily we were somewhat prepared for this (research wise) and got a Honda Odyssey. That got us home, very comfortably!
So as you can see, life has been great. The warm weather finally arrived, the garden is doing great (if only I could grow veggies and fruit like I apparently can weeds), and we have spent a lot of time outdoors. We thank God everyday for the beautiful life we have. Thanks for checking on us, and here's some pics!
The happiest parents in the world!
Daddy and Joy.
Our three beautiful girls (that's facepaint from the picnic we were at, not a satanic tattoo)!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Finally, Nice Weather!
Hello all. We hope you are having a beautiful day. It's sunny and supposed to be in the high 60's today and closer to the 80's for the weekend (I refuse to look at tomorrow's strong chance for showers and only in the low-50's, but at least it aint snowing!). We are so excited for this awesome weather and have been getting a lot of outdoor tasks accomplished! For starters, we got our garden weed free, the compost tilled in, and the starts, well, started. Our list of fruits and veggies are growing this year as we strive to be more self sufficient and organic. Chris is going to build a raised vegetable garden today so we can have some more space (maybe a couple of them). We also ordered a bunch of rock to spread around the flower bed and somehow in between ordering 2-3" colored river rock and the actual delivery, it got translated to 2-6" river rock. So in short, we have about 4 yards of 2-6" river rock dumped on the side of the house. Oops. We decided to roll with it and started spreading that, it is definitely not what we were wanting but is actually looking pretty decent and hopefully the raised gardens will add some more depth and break up the river bed look a bit. Talk about a $250 mistake, and it's not one you can easily fix (mainly for two reasons, (one) to try and shovel that stuff to return it is impossible and (two), we don't think the van or subaru could handle 4 yards of 2-6" rock! Chris needs another truck...) It was dumped because of a mis-communication between Chris and the nursery, and oh well, it still looks good. We also planted a couple himrod grapes and are trying to get another variety as well. Chris still has a lot of researching to do before we finally decide what to do and how to grow them. Oh the joys of gardening.
Chris has been keeping busy at the railroad and has just completed his spring term at OSU (and is SO VERY happy to have that done, especially the trig class that has been a thorn in his side). He resigned from the police department a few weeks ago because of personal reasons and to devote more energy to our family. He is knee-deep in summer term at Moody Bible Institute and is enjoying the challenge of Old Testament Survey and The Church and its Doctrine as courses this term. Shawna is getting HUGE (maybe twins? hehe). The midwife says she has been moving right on track. We had an ultra-sound scheduled a while back but canceled the appointment and have yet to reschedule it. We're not the least bit concerned with finding out what the baby is anyway until birth anyway. Matty, Katie, and Joy have been awesome, also enjoying the nice days outside. They are back in swimming lessons (well, except for Joy) and are loving that twice a week. Hopefully this summer we can enjoy some water recreation like boating with Grampa Joe and Nana in California.
Of course struggles exist in any family and Chris' family has had some major setbacks the past few months, so please pray for them for help in their dealing with recent tragic events. And always remember to praise God, for although we may have NO idea what His plan is for us, that it is His plan and He is in control of all things, who are we to question what He allows? Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Well not to end in a sad tone, but that is about it. We will upload some pictures soon and get them posted in a bit (later today) and you can see how fast our kiddos are growing. We hope all is well in your family, you are in our thoughts always. We love each and every one of you (and there's not a thing you can do about it!). Take care and God bless.
-The Myron Family
Chris has been keeping busy at the railroad and has just completed his spring term at OSU (and is SO VERY happy to have that done, especially the trig class that has been a thorn in his side). He resigned from the police department a few weeks ago because of personal reasons and to devote more energy to our family. He is knee-deep in summer term at Moody Bible Institute and is enjoying the challenge of Old Testament Survey and The Church and its Doctrine as courses this term. Shawna is getting HUGE (maybe twins? hehe). The midwife says she has been moving right on track. We had an ultra-sound scheduled a while back but canceled the appointment and have yet to reschedule it. We're not the least bit concerned with finding out what the baby is anyway until birth anyway. Matty, Katie, and Joy have been awesome, also enjoying the nice days outside. They are back in swimming lessons (well, except for Joy) and are loving that twice a week. Hopefully this summer we can enjoy some water recreation like boating with Grampa Joe and Nana in California.
Of course struggles exist in any family and Chris' family has had some major setbacks the past few months, so please pray for them for help in their dealing with recent tragic events. And always remember to praise God, for although we may have NO idea what His plan is for us, that it is His plan and He is in control of all things, who are we to question what He allows? Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Well not to end in a sad tone, but that is about it. We will upload some pictures soon and get them posted in a bit (later today) and you can see how fast our kiddos are growing. We hope all is well in your family, you are in our thoughts always. We love each and every one of you (and there's not a thing you can do about it!). Take care and God bless.
-The Myron Family
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
4th Annual Myron Fam Garden
Greetings Friends!
The family trip to Mountain Valley Gardens in the springtime is always real exciting! We delight ourselves in seeing what new varieties/veggies/fruits we can try as well as picking up some of our favorites. We spent the morning dawdling around in the rain as we strolled slowly in search for our yummy food at the nursery.
After the fear of frost has finally (and hopefully!) passed, we've managed to plant all of our veggies as well as some fruits! In addition to planting our usual stuff (tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, sweet peas, zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelon, corn, squash, chilies, peppers, and cucumbers), we ventured into areas we haven't tried before. Trying out some artichoke, kohlrabi, onions and celery. We also planted a Honeycrisp apple tree and a couple grape trees. We shall see how successful we are in this endeavor! The raspberries, blueberries and strawberries are already coming in and the kids are getting so excited about the harvest on those little treats!
We ask the Lord for His blessing and success in this year's garden and for a bountiful harvest. Expect to receive many of these delicious goodies as we know we might have an overabundance and look forward to sharing with our friends and family. We tried many different varieties of some of our usual stuff (that we hadn't tried before) so we look forward to seeing what we receive.
If only we were allowed to have chickens in this neighborhood!! Anyone know any free-range chicken farmers in the Klamath Basin??
God Bless!!! Psalm 85:11-12
The family trip to Mountain Valley Gardens in the springtime is always real exciting! We delight ourselves in seeing what new varieties/veggies/fruits we can try as well as picking up some of our favorites. We spent the morning dawdling around in the rain as we strolled slowly in search for our yummy food at the nursery.
After the fear of frost has finally (and hopefully!) passed, we've managed to plant all of our veggies as well as some fruits! In addition to planting our usual stuff (tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, sweet peas, zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelon, corn, squash, chilies, peppers, and cucumbers), we ventured into areas we haven't tried before. Trying out some artichoke, kohlrabi, onions and celery. We also planted a Honeycrisp apple tree and a couple grape trees. We shall see how successful we are in this endeavor! The raspberries, blueberries and strawberries are already coming in and the kids are getting so excited about the harvest on those little treats!
We ask the Lord for His blessing and success in this year's garden and for a bountiful harvest. Expect to receive many of these delicious goodies as we know we might have an overabundance and look forward to sharing with our friends and family. We tried many different varieties of some of our usual stuff (that we hadn't tried before) so we look forward to seeing what we receive.
If only we were allowed to have chickens in this neighborhood!! Anyone know any free-range chicken farmers in the Klamath Basin??
God Bless!!! Psalm 85:11-12
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)