One Year Anniversary

I realized today that we have passed our one year anniversay for moving to this part of the country. October 22nd was our arrival date last year, and I have to say that the weather seemed much warmer last year. In fact today it is raining. Last year from the the day I arrived, it went at least three consecutive months without rain, and it was pretty nice.

I thought it would be nice to list the highlights of our life over the past year. Most people do this in a Christmas letter that they send out to friends and family, but I'm way to busy around Christmas time for that, and since this is the anniversary of our moving here, might as well do it now.

• November 10th 2005----We were blessed with another beautiful baby girl, Katherine Elizabeth
• Thanksgiving 2005 was spent at a friend's family, lots of good food, and horseback riding.
• Christmas 2005 was spent at home with leftovers, that won't happen again this year.
• In Spring of 2006 we purchased a camper to aid us in visits to family members and our military moves.
• March 2006 A wonderful visit from my Friend Ellen from Manchester, NH
• May 2006 We visited my family in Ranger, TX
• June 2006 A visit from my mother in law, and we moved onto our 3/4 acre in our 4 bed 2 bath mobile home. We also acquired two milking goats.
• July 2006 I became another year older, and our chickens arrived
• September 2006 We started a new schooling using books I printed and bound myself
• October 2006 Mike has been promoted to Seargent
• November 2006 our youngest will turn one and our oldest will turn 10

I've decided to open up the website for all to see. It will take me too long to wait until it is completed. So please take a look around and enjoy reading what you can. The sections that are not completed are the book binding section, I will be adding more photos, and directions to complete the books. Also the craft sections are not quite complete yet. There are two areas that have nothing at all on them, I've yet to get in contact with the people I need to interview for those sections. If you have any questions about anything please give me an email at baabaamilker@yahoo.com

Since my website is free there are ads. I'm keeping an eye on them, but so far they haven't gotten out of hand.

View our Website at www.perryhowse.bravehost.com

Well I guess that is about it. Undoubtedly I have missed something, hopefully not. Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Amigo Air Show

Well Hello everyone. My apologies for being so long between posts but I really am trying to juggle a lot right now. Some things new, some things old just reocurring.

Let me say that I am in the middle of creating a website where I can share with others the wonderful resources I have found on the internet as well as share some know how of things that I've learned to do. I'm hoping to have that complete within the next couple of weeks so you all can come to visit the site. There will also be a blog there so that I can keep everyone updated from time to time.

This past Thursday Mike returned from a 3 week field excursion. Saturday he took us all to the Amigo Air Show on Biggs Army Airfield. We had a really good time. We have learned that umbrellas do a fantastic job of keeping off the sun as well as the rain. We didn't heed this until it was pretty much too late and we all ended up with quite a sun burn by time the day was over.

We got to see some pretty impressive shows like the Army's Golden Knights do a free jump from 12,000 ft. They have smoke canisters attached to one of their boots, blowing pink smoke so you can see all their twisting, turning, and formation that they do as they come down. They also displayed some of their tactics used in military combat, which was interesting.

We also saw the Black Daggers Special Forces Parachute team do a parachute free fall. They also did many neat stunts up in the air.

One of the amzing displays were the three planes the p-51 bomber (WWII), F-4 Phantom (Korean War), and the F-15 (Modern) flying in sync with one another. All three form a different era in our military history.

We got to see the latest in aerial military, the F/A-18 Hornet. Very impressive jet. We only got to see the flying power of this jet but I'm sure it is much more impressive in war.

We also saw the Canadian Snow birds perform sync formations with thier 8 planes. Although they did a nice job I've seen the Blue Angels do a better job.

We also saw a stunt performance of a man on the back of a motorcycle moving at speeds of around 100mph grab onto and ascend a latter into a moving plane, matching the speed of the motorcycle.

One of the neatest things that we saw was the jet truck. It has three built in jet engines. It can reach speeds over 300 mph. It raced one of the small planes, one flying and the other nearly flying. Had they managed to pull off the race the way they planed the truck would have won by far.

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed the show. I have some pictures posted at Amigo Air Show Photos . One of the photos listed there is of the Nasa 747 that carries the space shuttle from where it is built to where it is launched. They were allowing people to take a look around inside, but the line was too long for us to wait around for. We were dying of thirst and since they were charging $3.00 for a bottle of water we figured we get out of there and buy a gallon of water for cheaper than that. The size of this plane was very impressive though.

Denise

The Weaker Vessel

There was just way to much to say about this topic to keep it in the comments section. An annonymous person has asked what this term means and having lived as the weaker vessel all my life and loving it, I felt compelled to answer the question.

A "weaker vessel" is a biblical term given to women, that does not mean what most people think. The term weaker vessel gives vissions of a woman who is supposed to completely do as her husband says, never having a right to an opinion. Also that she is inferior to him in every way, and therefore should subject herself to his dominance and tyranny. It may create visions in your mind of a woman who cowars in her husbands presence.

If the person who made that comment knows me very well they will know that anything but the above mentioned is true about me. With six children to train (yet another biblical word), educate, and bring up in the admonistion of the Lord I have no time to be week and without opinion.

At any given time I like to think of myself able to take Mike in a good wrestling match, at least I used to think I could. Voicing my opinion over issues is common unless the gauntlet has already been dropped. Though I'm more likely to cry over issues than my husband, I'm not easy given to tears.

In the above paragraph I've just explained the three ways that I'm inferior, yet I am not, to my husband. First would be physical. By all means Mike certainly has the stronger body if he choses to use it the way it has been designed. His body was by divine design meant for good hard work, and I'm certainly inferior to him when it comes to lugging shingles up on top of a roof. However my God given duty is by no means for a weakling. Bearing, and raising children is not something easy for a man to do, either physcially (obviously), or emotionaly. God did not design him to be strong in this way, but he did design me to be strong like this.

In our household Mike has the upper hand in the last decision. Sometimes nothing, anything, or everything I say my influence his final decision on a subject. Sometimes the last decision is left to me, but again he is the one who decides that. My opinion is taken into consideration, but I'm not the one who makes the final decisions on the path our family is to take in life.

It is well known that women are much more easily given to tears than men. For some this is more so than others. Some women will cry for reasons unkown, and often those who aren't given to tears easily will sometimes cry without knowing why. Other women are hard as a rock when it comes to crying, though I've met very few of these. While my training of the children leaves little room for off the cuff emotions there are times when I'll cry over circumstances that barely moves my husband emotionaly. Once again we were designed this way by God in order for us to be the affectionate mothers we were designed to be. Knowing our own tendencies to give over to emotions better enables us to understand the emotions of our children, and therefore making it possible for us to better tend to their emotional needs.

So in a sum of the questions posed here's my final unexpounded upon answer. We are weaker physicaly to withstand what may be required of a man, we are weaker in our ability to make good decisions because our emotions have a tendency to affect our decision, we are weaker emotionaly just exaclty as God has designed us, to be better mothers and caretakers of others hearts.

I'm by no means a perfect example of the weaker vessel, but anybody who may know me will know I do not exemplify the typical image that may appear in your head when you think of the term "Weaker Vessel". I consider it a priviledge to be the weaker vessel. I've never done anything more fulfilling in my life than bearing and raising children.

I have a little disclaimer that I would like to insert here. Because of the lack of training boys to be men there are way to many men that are the "weaker vessel". So my little article cannot be applied to all men.

Hope this helps to clear up why I call myself the "weaker vessel" and why the term by no means is putting myself down, rather it is a position of God given glory. If you have any more questions about it please feel free to ask. I love sharing information about what God has done for us, and why we are created as we are.

Denise

A Name Has Been Chosen

Just wanted to drop a quick note and let everyone know that a name has finaly been chosen for the little white kitty. We have chosen Alaska.

Denise

Changes

I'm changing the layout and look of my website. Mostly because I wanted to be able to share with others the great homeschooling tools I've found online. Also, because I wanted to get some permanent pictures of our family on the site. I'm beginning to think that what I need is a website, not a blog, and I haven't even finished adding my links yet. Actually, I have created a webwsite but haven't fine tuned it yet.

I'm working on figuring out computer talk (HTML), and if that can't be accomplished I'll go the easy route with a pre-existing template for the website. On the website there would be several different pages to view including photos, family, adventures, church, and of course a blog.

As I said though I'm in the process of getting that all figured out.

Denise

Yes, We Are Still Alive!!

I've been thinking about writing a blog since my last posting. My time has been entirely consumed with reformatting, binding, and covering books for the kids this school year. I'm nearing the end now. My printing is finished, nearly all of the books are glued. What remains is mostly the covers to be put on. I'll be sure to take a few pictures when my "library" is complete.

We've had many things happen here since my last posting, which has been nearly a month. First of all our kitty Sandy could no longer refrain from taking a shopping trip to what Mike calls our second home, Walmart. We had no idea that she accompanied us on our trip, so as we dissapeared into the store she took a stroll through the parking lot. Since we had not predetermined a rendevous point, not knowing she would be coming along, she missed the bus. At least this is the best we can come up with about her dissapearance.

She has not one but two replacements. Once you get started with these little furrballs it's hard to live without one. Our friends were "cat sitting" a momma and her kittens when we visited and we were originaly going to only get one to keep Sandy company. Since Sandy's dissapearance we decided we'd get the other a wrestling buddy. So here is a picture of our kittens, Shadow and No Name. That's right we have not managed to come up with a name for him. We have however figured out a name of our pet tarantula but that's getting off the topic for the moment. Shadow and No Name are both boys. Some of the friendliest cats we've ever had were males, and since there was only one female in the litter we really didn't have much choice. They are once again holed up in Debbie's room until they are of a suitable age and size as not to be carried away by the numerous large birds that dwell here in the dessert. To name a few would be Mr. Raven, Mr. Hawk, Mr. Turkey Vulture, and Mr. Owl. Not having anything to hinder their site from seeing their prey puts the kittens in more danger than if they lived in wooded areas where these same large birds dwelt.

Oh by the way, the tarantula's name is Fuzzy. She can have quite the appetite at times. One day she consumed a 3" (including tail) lizard, a small toad, and the following day she consumed a cricket. No one, has of yet, been brave enough to hold her on their bare hand.

Mike has taken a trip to the field for the week once this month. This was in the middle of my book binding so this gave me a little extra time to get the books done, I thoroughly exhausted myself by staying up till my eyes couldn't stay open any longer, which usually fell around 2:00AM. Though some may find it strange the fulfillment of doing this that's exactly what it gives me. Putting hard work into my children period, wether education or otherwise is very fulfilling for me.

I can't wait to see them as they devour the reading material that I've created for them to use this school year. As it has one day after returning from the library they have read all of the books I got there. We usually bring home around 15 books at one time, minimum.

Another thing that has occurred during the past few weeks is that Katie has began to crawl. Within a week and a half after crawling she is now pulling herself up. I guess once she figured it out there wasn't much stopping her. I suppose by next blog I'll be writing about her walking, who knows.

I'll have to arrange to write another blog in the near future and try to catch up on the rest of what has happened lately. For not I just wanted to write a fairly short one, post a picture of the kittens, and let you all know that we are still alive here in the desert.

Denise

Mikey

Slowly but surely I'm getting around to writing about all of the children. At this rate I might have a new one to right about (that's only a joke).

Lets talk about Mikey. In the photos you can see Mikey is pulling his share of the work around here. In these pictures he is shoveling rock into the wheelbarrel and unloading it at the end of our drive way, where we have found it to be quite muddy this time of year.

While the girls do their chores of cleaning on the inside, Mikey has a morning chore of sweeping off the porches and picking up any trash in the yard. He does a good job so long as Sandy, our kitty, doesn't distract him, which happens often.

Mikey is every bit of boy, and though at times it is bother some, thankfully God has given me an understanding about it. Having been a tomgirl myself growing up I spent a lot of time with boys. We were always playing football, climbing trees, making home made bows and arrows, etc. I think this has been helpful to me as a mother, having a house full of girls, I still understand my one boy for the most part.

He does his usual pestering of his sisters which is where the majority of his getting into trouble comes from. This is why I decided we best channel some of that steam into being useful around the house, and leaving the girls to get their work done. This is how the chore of sweeping and picking up trash got it's beginnings for him.

Just yesterday Mikey crawled up in my lap and cuddled with me. As I looked at his face I noticed one of those sudden changes that had taken place, it's the kind that is expected but sometimes spring upon you rather suddenly. His face is looking even more handsome and grown up.

He can be sweet as pie at times, rubbing my feet while I read to the family at night, assisting one of the two youngest girl with needful things, and being compassionate toward his other sisters when they are truly hurt.

Faith is, as we call her, his older brother. We thank God that he gave Faith to Michael. While Faith bares her feminine side well, she's her brother's equal when it comes to rough housing. They do the most fighting and bickering with one another, but I just know that when they become adults they are going to be the closest.

I look forward to seeing what God will make of Mikey as Mikey submits his will to Him. I always have fun picturing what the girls will be like as teenagers horsing around in the kitchen while baking up some of Mom and Dad's favorite goodies. With Mikey as I picture him in his teenage years I see protector (after all he does have all of these sisters). Though I don't wish to rush the years, I look forward with joy in seeing what kind of man Mikey will become.

Denise

PS I'm having trouble posting those pictures with this blog. I will attempt to edit it tomorrow and include them in the blog.

PSS After another attempt at downloading the photos with no success I decided to post them in an album in my yahoo photos. Follow this link http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/baabaamilker/my_photos and look at the album titled Mikey

Thundestorms

A couple of days ago we were told that El Paso had made the news two days in a row on the the news in New Hampshire because of the flooding. Though our yard was a complete sheet of rain at one point we have trenches on our property dug to channel the water into ponding areas so it wasn't bad for us. However many areas in El Paso had homes that were flooded out. We saw video of some of the flooding and two of those big heavy business dumpster were picked up and hauled down the streets on the water. Some areas in Las Cruces New Mexico (about 35 minutes from us) and El paso, Texas (20 minutes from us) got their annual rainfal in one day.

It has been great for the kids. We take them to the ponding areas and let them hunt for toads and frogs. Our tarantula enjoys eating the little ones.

Here are some photos of a coming storm

Denise