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.

Scout

We have had our dog, Scout, now for a year and a half, and I can't imagine what we ever did without him. He is really the best dog we could have asked for and we really enjoy having him. Here are some of the things we love about him, or just funny things that he does.

1. Scout is a great soccer player. He will chase a soccer ball around the yard for hours if we let him. I discovered this when I was teaching PE last year and he would come down to the field with us and I had to hold him back to keep him from hogging the ball and not letting the girls play soccer.

2. Scout is usually very playful and active, and since we live on a ranch he gets to run free and play all day long. That way he isn't really hyper when we come home in the evenings.

3. Our cat Raleigh sleeps in Scout's doghouse with him. They are best friends and keep each other warm in the winter.

4. We have a Kong toy that Scout absolutely loves to play fetch with. Unfortunately, because it is round and looks like a ball, things with this shape are the only things Scout will fetch. Forget throwing a stick, or a rope toy, or basically anything that is not round or bouncy. When we were gone at camp during the summer, Scout was with the work teams on the ranch quite a bit and they liked playing with him. Since his toys were in the house, he started finding rocks and dropping them at people's feet so that they would throw them for him to fetch. Seriously, he came up with this all on his own. Now he can amuse himself with a rock just like a soccer ball. We're only afraid he will break his teeth one of these days, but there is no stopping him now.

5. Even though he is a lab, Scout HATES water. We have tried a few times to get him in a lake or played with the hose with him, but he is not at all interested. And he absolutely hates baths.

6. When kids are in serious trouble here at the ranch, they are often disciplined by having to go out and shovel manure. Scout thinks that these kids are his best friends. He stays with them all day and plays around, then walks home with them and won't leave their side. One day, one of the kids who was in trouble was given the job of moving rocks out of the road. Every time he moved a rock, Scout would pick it up and put it back in the road, like they were playing a game. I'm sure the kid didn't think it was very funny, but the housedad who was watching him sure got a kick out of it.

7. In the summer, when bears are out, we often have several around the ranch. Scout is excellent at sniffing out the bears and scaring them away, or letting us know that they are there so that we can see them. I'm not sure I saw a single bear this year that Scout didn't spot first. It makes us feel a lot safer hiking knowing that he is with us. Of course, these are usually small black bears on the ranch. I'm not sure what he'd do if we came across a big grizzly, but I'm sure we'd be safer than if we were alone.

Christmas in Montana

We've been meaning to post about our wonderful Christmas for awhile, but have been busy getting back to work at school. This year, we had the privilege of hosting Christmas with my family for the first time. My parents and Amber and Shawn and Lacy and Steve all flew out and we celebrated Christmas here in Montana. We still haven't moved into the new apartment which we were disappointed about, but the big house worked out well with all of the guests. We had a lot of fun playing pool and board games at the house, and going skiing 3 times while everyone was here. Even my parents got out and skied.

The first day skiing was a disaster. The place we went was not great for beginners, so after everybody else did the lesson on the bunny slope, we took off up the mountain. I'll spare you all of the details, but there were many funny incidents, including a pile up at the bottom of the ski lift ramp when Amber fell, then mom missed the spot to stand up and ended up jumping from about 3 feet in the air, followed by dad who also fell. The three of them ended up in a pile at the bottom. I'm sure they didn't think it was funny at the time.

We tried again a few days later at Big Mountain, one of the best ski resorts in Montana and had a great time. The beginner skiers were able to buy only a beginner area lift ticket, so there was no danger this time of getting somewhere and not being able to get down. Everyone had a really good time that day. My mom did end up with a black eye however, when she fell on her ski pole. I talked to her today and she said it is almost healed. I'll not embarrass her by putting a picture on here.

On New Year's Eve we went to the church party and brought in the new year with prayer with all of the staff and kids from the ranch and some of the people from town. It was a good time as well.

We really enjoyed having everyone here and can't wait to do it again soon. If anyone else wants to come visit, we have plenty of room and we can take you skiing!

Christmas Play

Our church has a pretty elaborate Christmas play each year, and this year John was recruited to play a part. He played an old man. Enjoy the pictures.

The First Snow!

We have finally had our first significant snow here in Montana this year. And it was a big one! We probably got about a foot of snow Sunday and Monday. Its beautiful. The evergreen trees covered in snow are my favorites. Sometimes I feel like I live in Narnia. I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful part of God's creation where He shows us his splendor in so many ways.
We couldn't let the first snow pass by without sledding, so we went out after school for just a few minutes and played. Scout still loves chasing the sleds down the hill but won't have anything to do with actually getting on the sled. He picked up a new game this year though- Catch the snowballs in your mouth. He is a funny dog.

Anyway, we didn't bother digging our car out this morning, and we probably won't for awhile. (Why didn't we put it in the garage? Good question. I was wondering the same thing myself when I realized I needed it this afternoon.) We only have one more day of school this week, and then its Thanksgiving Break!

With all of this snow, we are getting even more excited about Christmas. I think we are getting more excited this year because we are actually hosting Christmas for my family. We are also glad that we don't have to spend our whole vacation traveling, which can be exhausting.

Love the Poor

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to love others like Jesus loves them. I am teaching a junior high girls class at church and we are studying a book called Being a Girl Who Loves. I'm sure I'm learning as much as the girls are, if not more. One topic that I have been considering the last few days is loving the poor and what that means for us today. Jesus told us to love the poor. I think we (by we I mean I) tend to replace that word love with judge. We feel it is our job to judge whether or not they have a worthy reason for being poor, and then based on that judgment we decide if we can love them or not. John and I frequently drive to Missoula on the weekends. Every time we go there is a man standing on the corner in front of Wal-Mart with a sign asking for money. Every week we drive by and I judge him, thinking he should just get a job. Maybe he should just get a job, but Jesus says love him, he doesn't say judge him. In Marion we lived across the street from a group of guys we were honestly scared of. Being a young woman, I was afraid to be at home alone. I was judging them. Maybe I was correct in my judgments, but that is not what I was supposed to be doing; I was to be loving. Occasionally these men would come over to use our phone, and once they asked for money. One particular man John really was able to establish a relationship with. He started coming over to borrow the phone, and then he would stay and talk. This happened often when I was not even home. John played his guitar for him and he loved it. He played worship music, and sometimes the man asked for prayer and John was able to pray for him. I think that this is what it means to love the poor, but considering we lived there for a year we did very little loving of these men. I only know the name of the one man who frequented our house. I never took the time to meet any of the other men, or even the random kids who played in the yard. What an opportunity we had. Its not like we didn't do anything, but I just keep thinking of how much more we could have loved these people. I also keep thinking that if I were to move back to the same apartment, I probably still wouldn't do anything. How hard it can be to love strangers, escecially strangers who are so different from us. I have a hard time leaving my comfort zone, but yet that is exactly what we are called to do.

Hunting in Montana

Heather and I were debating whether or not to go hunting this year. Neither of us have ever been hunting before, and I have to admit that I was a little hesitant about the whole idea. Many of you know that the ranch where we work gets a lot of its meat from hunting. During the first week of hunting in Montana we do not have school, and the kids go out with their housedads and other staff. Heather and I decided to get tags for deer because deer tags are less than $20, and that is a cheap alternative to beef.
We went hunting one day with some of the staff from the ranch and a couple of the kids, but we saw very few deer and non that were close enough to take a shot at. Later that same week, we were going to visit a friend of ours in north-central Montana. Her dad owns a 4,000 acre ranch, so we thought this would be a great place to hunt. Central and Eastern Montana is so different than the Western part in which we live. Our friend's ranch was flat and desolate, with very few trees. Deer are more prevalent in this part of the state and since there are few trees it is easier to spot game.
On Saturday we went out shortly after daylight, and we spotted deer within the first hour. We really couldn't get very close, so we kept looking. We spotted a couple of does that were close enough that I could have probably taken a shot. I had the gun on one of them, but just didn't think I could hit it from that distance. We got back in the truck and drove some more until we spotted a herd of deer. There were probably ten deer and one of them was a nice size buck. I told Heather that she should take the shot since I chickened-out on my shot. We made it close enough and she took a shot at the buck. All of the deer except for the buck ran off, which I thought was weird but he wasn't acting like he was hit. She fired two more times but missed. She told me to try, so I shot several more times. He had been laying down but got up at this point and started to run away from us. We followed him for about a quarter of a mile, I shot again, and missed. At this point you are probably realizing how bad of shots we were. The next couples hours were spent following the buck. We would get close to him and then we would keep moving away from us. I knew that if I couldn't hit him laying down, I probably shouldn't try to hit him running. Our friend was with us and was becoming just as frustrated as we were. We felt we couldn't less this large buck just get away. Also, we kind of thought that I had hit it because I could see something that looked like blood on its mouth.
We had walked so far from the truck that our friend decided to go get it and we would keep following the deer. At one point, we met up with some hunters at a road that the deer had crossed, and they said that the deer had definitely been shot. The red that I saw on its face was blood because somehow I had managed to shoot it in the face. Yeah, I know. Who shoots a deer in the face? We followed the deer, and I was able to take two more shots that could have hit it but it certainly didn't drop. We drove around the field that it was in and finally got within 50 yards of the deer. I chambered a round and brought down the buck. The last shot I took definitely did the trick and it was pretty much dead when I approached it. At this point, we were able to see just how many of our shots actually hit the deer. I had hit it in the jaw, across the front of the leg, and then the finally kill shot. I felt horrible about this entire process. I wanted to kill the deer with one quick shot so it wouldn't suffer, but it certainly didn't happen that way. At this point, I think Heather and I had no desire to go hunting again. We were able to get the deer field dressed with the help of our friend's dad, which was a interesting and probably too graphic for this blog. The buck was a pretty good size mule deer, and he had a 4 X 3 rack. This meant a total of seven points, three on one side and four on the other.
Maybe the funniest part of this whole trip was that we took our four door car with us, so that is how we got it home. I didn't like the idea of putting it in our trunk, so we wrapped it in a tarp that I had and put it on the top of the trunk. It was extremely red-neck and definitely turned some heads on the five hour drive home. Some hunters at a gas station commented on the nice size of the deer, but I bet they were crack jokes the rest of the day about the deer strapped to the back of our car.
After all of this, Heather doesn't have any desire to fill her tag this year. We had the deer butchered here at the ranch, since there were several other deer being processed. We were able to quite a bit of meat from the deer. I don't know if I will ever hunt again. It will need to go a lot smoother if I do. I would love to get an elk since they taste amazing and the tags are just a couple more dollars than a deer tag.