Hot Springs, Bike Rides, and Bears

This weekend we went to Lolo Hot Springs to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. This is the first time that we actually went away for our anniversary and we had a good time. We rented a cabin, did some hiking in the mountains behind the resort, and soaked in the hot springs, which was wonderful.
We also took our bikes with us, and Saturday we drove to Lolo and did a forty mile ride on a pretty nice paved trail. It was only supposed to be a 30 mile ride, but about 5 miles in John asked me where my sunglasses were. I then realized that I had left them on the trunk of the car, so we turned around to get them before someone else decided they liked them. We have been doing quite a bit of riding this spring since it has warmed up. We ride often in St. Ignatius, but we also did a 50 mile charity ride in Missoula last weekend which was a lot of fun. We love riding with groups, so it was nice to be around so many people riding. Cyclists are great people.

After we got home Saturday evening, we planned to just hang out at home Sunday afternoon to get some stuff done around the house. We have a group from Lincoln Christian College here right now, and they were going on the hike to Mission Falls, so we decided to go too. (We've only been once before today since we've been here. Unbelievable.) I'm really glad we did. We took Scout and he stayed right with us. He was great. We also spotted a bear and a cub on the next ridge. We had binoculars with us, so we could see it really well, all from a safe distance. The cub was so cute and little. It kept running around back and forth behind the mom. (The picture is a little blurry because I had to zoom it in so much.)

Altogether it was a wonderful weekend. We have 2 weeks until school is out, and a few of those days we have off from school, so the time is going by pretty quickly. We are excited for summer, and finally having warm weather (it was 90 yesterday! What happened to spring?)

Oh, and be looking for a post about moving to our new apartment any day now.

Kidnapped!

A few weeks ago was our friend Jeremy's birthday. He leads the youth group, so the kids wanted to throw a surprise birthday party for him. We helped them get it all together, but we couldn't figure out how to get him to our house. Sooo... the best idea we could come up with was to go up to the house where he was hanging out and kidnap him. John and two of the boys dressed up with ski masks and sunglasses and all black and stormed in and made him come with them. He of course knew who they were so he made it really hard for them and made them carry him up the stairs. It was pretty funny. They all had a good time.

Snowstorm in April

Yes, we certainly did get some snow on Saturday/Sunday. Our friend Jeremy said he measured 10 inches on his picnic table in the morning. That is a lot of snow for April 20th! Living in Indiana we always thought that the weather did some crazy things there, but I'm not sure I've ever seen that drastic of a change in such a short period of time. Thursday it was probably in the 60's and Saturday it got down to 18 and we got 10 inches of snow. Incredible.

I took the younger staff kids sledding in our yard yesterday. I'll try to post some pictures later. We had a lot of fun.

Signs of Spring

I know this is not a fitting picture for a post title "Signs of Spring" but even as I write this, I am looking outside at a snowstorm. I just took this picture today. It is supposed to snow most of the day with accumulation up to 5 inches I think. So far this month, it has snowed at least a little bit almost every day. There have been a few exceptions, including last weekend and we definitely took advantage of the nice weather. My poor tulips which have been coming up nicely keep getting covered in snow.

A few weeks ago we had a college group here and we took them on a hike on the ranch. It was a nice day and its always beautiful at the top of the ranch.

We went on a bike ride on Friday evening and on Sunday afternoon, John played tennis, and we went to Missoula to enjoy some fishing and shopping, and also watched part of a triathlon. We didn't catch any fish, but it was a nice day down by the river anyway. John had planned a fishing trip with another guy for today, but obviously that didn't work out. We are really looking forward to the warm weather sticking around, but are glad to have the snow because any precipitation we can get now will help this summer. So, I guess we will just wait a little longer for spring to really stick here. I think spring is the season that just gets pushed aside. One day its still winter and the next thing you know its summer. Spring is not really a season, but more of a few random days spread out through the "spring" months. We will enjoy what nice weather we do have, and appreciate the snow and rain while it is still coming. Aren't the mountains beautiful?



We have less than 6 weeks of school left! We are excited for a change of responsibility for awhile. Summer break also brings many exciting things, such as family visiting, summer work groups, camp, fishing, etc.

One last thing... This is a rough time of the year for many of our students. I don't know what causes it, but many of them are really struggling right now. Keep them (and the houseparents, and the rest of the staff trying to work with them) in your prayers.


Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. ~Ephesians 3:20-21

The Wait Is Almost Over

I'm sure you're all dying to know about our apartment. Okay, maybe not, but I'll show you the pictures and give the update anyway. The apartment is basically finished. Unfortunately, the road to get to the apartment is MUD. One of the guys that has been working up there says that some days you can't even get back there without four-wheel drive. So, we are still waiting. It has thawed out considerably, so they are going to be getting some gravel down on the road soon. When that happens, we should be all ready to move in. We walked up there today to check it out. We hadn't seen it since they finished it, and now we are even more excited and ready to get in it. I took some pictures of the finished product. Enjoy!The awesome laundry room with high efficiency washer and dryer


Brand new kitchen table

MUDDY road

Happy Birthday John!

Tomorrow is John's 25th birthday. Today his class decided to have a big birthday celebration for him. This was pretty special because the students in his class planned and made everything for his party. They made taco dip and homemade tortilla chips, which were both wonderful! They also had cake and cookies and pop. It was really a big celebration.

They had planned this all week last week, and asked for my input and help in a few situations. They even invited me and my students to come over and join the party this afternoon. I was also responsible for getting John out of the classroom so they could set up, so this afternoon I asked him if he could come to my room to help me with a math activity one of my kids was doing. Little did he know that I have 3 kids in the same math book and 2 of them had already done the activity earlier that day and I didn't really need help with it at all.

We had a great time, and the kids really enjoyed planning such a fun surprise for their teacher. My students even got into it- They could barely keep a straight face and keep working when he came in for the math problem. It was wonderful to see them so excited about doing something special for someone else. It was fun to see them work so hard to pull the whole thing together. They were so giving and truly wanted to do something special for John. I know he felt loved.

I wish I had thought to bring my camera to school today, but unfortunately I didn't so I don't have any pictures.

Long Winter

We have had a long winter, but the weather has warmed up a little at list for awhile. That's not to say that winter is over; we actually got enough snow to cover the ground again this weekend, even though it has been in the 30s and 40s for several weeks now. We even got out and went on a bike ride a few weeks ago- the same weekend that we went skiing. I've never done those 2 activities in practically the same area in the same weekend before.

We've been busy and the weeks have just flown by since Christmas. I can't believe that it is almost March already. Before we know it, summer will be here. It just might snow again tonight though- They are calling for a few inches, but we'll just have to see.

School is going well. Some days we feel like we get accomplished and other days we feel stressed all day and get no where. My class has been improving this quarter in a few areas. They are finally starting to get their required work done -they are supposed to get 10 books done each quarter since they all work in different books and at different levels, and my class has been really bad about not completing their work this year. I told them at the beginning of the quarter that if everyone got all of their work done we would have a party and watch a movie. I don't know if that has been the motivation or if they kicked it into gear for another reason, but they just might make it. Recently I've had some really good days with my kids. I've felt a little more relaxed and laid back and they are working more independently at times so I feel like I can give them the attention they need and deserve. Hopefully they will keep up the good work.


We are excited about spring coming and being able to get outside more. We should be moving into our new apartment soon. As soon as the propane tank is in and the road is graveled it will be ready, but we haven't been given a time frame for those things. We'll be sure to post pictures of the new place once we are moved in.