Prairie Skies

One of the many advantages of living in a small town in the Manitoba prairies AND having a bi-level home with a high deck (easy roof access) is the views - and by views, I am not referring to what goes on in my neighbour's windows :) I mean the unbelievable views of God's handiwork displayed all across the sky demanding you take notice! When He paints the skies with these unbelievably breathtaking colors and clouds I cannot help but pause . . . admire . . . and reflect on the Creator who made it all!

"Only a fool says in his heart there is no God."

(Psalm 14:1)

Are you a fool?

"PRAIRIE SUNSET"

"BEFORE THE STORM"





"PAINTING THE SKY"

Etsy Models

I have posted a few different hats on my shop so check them out, if you haven't already. I have been using the girls as models but with all the rain, getting outside has been a bit difficult. I took a couple of photos and thought I would share them with you. Ideally, I would love to find a photographer who would be willing to use my hats as props then send me the photos for me to use as advertising. Know anyone interested? Or interested yourself? Let's talk!

Falk Family Letter 2009

Every year we try to send out a current family photo along with a letter summarizing the last year. I am in charge of the photos, Jay gets the privilege of writing the letter. In my unbiased opinion, he is an excellent writer and injects just the right amount of humor. After all, our life is humourous so why not write that way! The following is our 2009 family letter with some recent photos! Enjoy!

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Christmas greetings to all of you. We hope this letter finds your family healthy and at peace. If not, join the club. Actually, we in the Falk home have managed to stay very healthy this year. Considering the amount of spitting up, drooling, licking, spilling, and dripping that goes on around here that should almost rival the Immaculate Conception on the level of “miraculous things to ponder” this Christmas. As for peace, we have discovered it comes at the times when we least expect it.



In one word, our year could best be described as change, no recovery, wait…finding routine. Who am I kidding? I have no idea how to describe this last year. Perhaps I’ll simply recap and one of you can just tell me what kind of year it’s been.

ARI

On February 12th, we invited into our lives the 5th child of our family, Arileigh Sarina Falk. Her arrival was as quiet as she is friendly and she has been a delight to raise…so far. She was born during the night at home while all the other kids were sleeping. She sleeps through the night, eats everything we put in front of her and smiles at anyone who is willing to give her the time of day. Really, my one and only concern about her began back in the womb when Chantelle commented that it felt like there was an octopus inside of her. Rest assured, the gene pool is good and Ari was born with the proper number of limbs, however, those 4 limbs do, in fact, move fast enough to appear to be 8. She is now 10 months old and shows all the signs of being our busiest kid yet. Yes, even busier than RJ! More than that, she appears to be progressing to the walking stage faster than the others. A dad of four other children should not fear the development of a fifth child the way I do but my gut tells me it may be warranted.

ALI





Aliyah is a healthy 2 ½ year old and exhibits all the normal signs of such. She is quickly developing her own style and has become very opinionated on a wide variety of issues, many of which she is unqualified to have an opinion on. She loves to talk, sing, look at books, play with babies, and cry. I am having a lot of trouble with this last one since my only sister was 7 years older than me and out of the house before I really began to understand the emotions and sensitivity of the opposite sex. I am discovering that “suck it up” really doesn’t apply in many of these situations.

RJ





Rhéanna, at almost 4, is learning her numbers and alphabet and doing very well. She is a girly girl through and through and yet believes that whatever her brothers can do she can do, too. She is a trailblazer with no fear of adventure. She has recently revealed an interest in hair dressing and used herself as her first attempt. The result left her with 12 inches less hair and looking several years older. If I could allocate blame to my children for my gray hairs she would receive the most. She is a fascinating arrangement of all things beautiful and all things adventurous leaving no explanation as to why I will one day be enrolled in the long-gun firearms safety course.

AJ





Adlai has, perhaps, surprised me the most this year as he has shown great patience in his newest venture-kindergarten. His comedic side left me believing school would not be his thing as there would be far more fun stuff to be doing. I think his accomplishments are a great testimony to the wonderful teacher he has and the creativity and energy she brings to the learning environment (Thanks, Mom!) AJ has a great imagination and enjoys expressing it in his drawings and in his lego creations. He continues to exhibit his fireball personality and yet has a remarkable capacity to care for his youngest siblings.

PEPE





Payton is 6 ½ going on 13. He is developing into a responsible capable young man with a compassionate heart and a love for giving. He is a remarkable reader and an excellent student. He, too, has a great imagination and can often be found in creative thought in his lego box. He has learned to tell time and is specifically interested in knowing when it is 4 pm as that is when his new neighbor friend, Ethan, comes home from school.





Both Pepe and AJ made the life-changing decision this year to make Jesus their forever friend! We, as parents, could not be more excited as they begin to understand who God is, who they are, and the impact that will have for the rest of their lives and eternity. That they understand that God loves them and that they can love God back is an extraordinary occurrence that compares to very few experiences we have had so far in life.

JAY & CHAN



Chantelle finds herself in the unfamiliar place of having a 10 month old and not being pregnant again. It seems to be a bittersweet time for her as she realizes that chapter (we think) is closed, while at the same time enjoying the routine that comes from not having an infant. She fills her days with home schooling (which she is extremely good at), barn and BeautiControl business, MOPS preparation, and a whole host of personal projects, most of which can be found on her blog site, ThousandSquareFeet.blogspot.com

I (Jason) continue to battle through the adventure of raising hogs in a time of crisis unlike any other in the last 50 or more years. Many an opportunity has arisen for me to practice virtues such as trust, faith, hope, and forgiveness. I can thank Peter Mansbridge and the CBC for that last one. In my eyes, he is about ¼ inch tall, just the right size to hit with a fly swatter, which is exactly what I want to do each time I hear him say “swine flu”. If any of you get the chance, please kick him in the shins for me! Oh, wait. I said forgiveness, didn’t I?

Other Highlights of the last year
* We celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a two night getaway.
* We purchased a 5 acre lot near the farm where one day we will build our next home
* Jason joined the church leadership
* We enjoyed our first full year back in a care group after several years in hiding

In spite of the challenges that continue to face us, we are very thankful and at peace with our situation. Thank you for allowing us to share our lives with you. We love you all and look forward to sharing in your lives as well.


Kids Say the Funniest Things:

Pepe: When asked if he (Pepe) had sins that he would like Jesus to forgive, he said “yes” followed by, “I know Adlai sure does!”
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As Chantelle heard the water running for a long time in the bathroom, she asked AJ what he was doing. “Nothing but trouble!” was his response.
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Conversation between Chantelle and RJ:
R: Ari was in your tummy.
C: Yes, she was!
R: And I was in your tummy. And AJ, but not Pepe.
C: Pepe wasn’t in my tummy?”
R: No. He’s too big.
C: Where did he come from then?
R: From the grocery store, maybe.

From our family to yours, a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

I finished the sentence or the DIY Trapeze Frame Tutorial!

If you have been to my house anytime in the last 2, maybe 3 years, you will have seen this incomplete sentence on my wall (not sure why the picture is so blurry - sorry!)

Really, it has been a great conversation starter. People were generous enough to fill in the blanks with rather humourous suggestions. My favorite would be "bed" - like I am really going to write, "All because two people fell in bed" on my wall. I don't think so. That may be what happened but I don't really see the need to announce it on my wall! Anyhow. After waaaaay too long, I finally took the 20 minutes today that it required to finish up. No, this is not some vinyl rub-on - that would cost money! This is a simple paint-the-words-on-the-wall-for-free trick!! I am relieved to finally have that project completed. Though I may miss the conversations. Just a little. What do you think?

While I was at it, I thought I would share with you how to make your own trapeze frame, like I did. Really, it is terribly easy and oh-so-much-cheaper than Umbra or any of those other brands. I will try to walk you through the steps but, remember, I made this frame about 6 years ago so I hope I don't forget anything important.

First of all, find your frames. Pick the frames that you like, regardless of the color, because you can always paint them, like I did. Arrange your frames on the floor of the store to ensure you like the final set-up. Other customers may look at you funny but that's okay - you are the genius here and they only wish they knew what you were doing so they could do it too! Mix and match until you have the perfect combination. My suggestion is to make all the frames the same color so if you have to paint them, go right ahead.

Secondly, find a curtain rod that you like and one that you can handle looking at everyday. After all, it is what you will hang all those frames on. If you happen to be doing this at the same time as buying your frames, lay the whole thing out on the floor, frames and rod. Still looking good? Perfect! Then you are ready to buy the hardware!

Third, find some eye hooks, some airline cable, and some crimps. Eye hooks are self explanatory, at least for me. This is what crimps look like and they come in packages of 12 or so. I found mine in the aisle with the cable.

This is what the cable looks like. It looks like many thin strands of wire twisted together. I found mine on a large roll - you could cut however much you needed and you pay by the foot. You may want to figure out just how much cable you will need so you buy just the right amount.

The amount that you need will be determined by your setup. I used 18 eye hooks, 24 crimps and a whole whack of cable. You will also need a wire cutter and a needle-nosed plier.

Now the fun begins. Take your eye hooks and insert 2 hooks in the top of each frame, like this. Mine are about 1 inch in from each side.

Now, if you are planning on hanging frames one on top of the other, you are going to have to insert eye hooks in the bottom of the frame that is on the top. Does that make sense? Maybe a picture will help. See how this frame has eye hooks on the BOTTOM of it because there are 3 frames that are going to hang below it.

Make sure you mark your frames accurately so that you aren't making random holes. I held the bottom frames right up against this top frame so I knew where I wanted them to hang then marked each with a pencil. So, now you should have eye hooks in the top of each frame and possibly in the bottom of a frame or two. Can you see where the eye hooks are in my set-up?

Now that you have that done, you need to cut your cable using your wire cutters. Once again, lay out your frames and rod on the floor and measure the distance between the top row of frames and your rod. Add 3 inches to the number. Lets say that number is 12 inches. That is the length of cable you will need for your top frames. If you look at the picture above, I will have cut 6 cables 12" in length. Slide 2 crimps onto each piece of cable. Using your pliers, bend the cable 1" in from ONE end, like this (this photo shows the bend at both ends - please, just do one end):

Now, take that bent end and slide it through the eye hook then slide it back through one of the crimps. You should have something that looks like this:

Take the other end of the cable and loop it around the rod and back through the remaining crimp. You want the loop to be big enough to easily slide along the rod, but not huge. It should look something like this:

Repeat this step for each of the top frames. If you only have one row of frames, you are almost done! I added a small drop of crazy glue to this top loop right at the crimp just to make sure it would not come undone. The cable that goes through the eye hooks tends to stay in place even without glue. Maybe it is the sharp angle of the bend. Whatever the case, if you feel better putting some glue there, too, by all means, go ahead. Once the glue is dry, you can hang your rod (preferably in studs) and enjoy your handiwork.

If you have a second row of frames, you have a couple more steps. Once again, lay out your rod and frames, measuring the distance between that first and second row of frames. Get creative - they don't have to be in a straight row - mine aren't. Add 2" to that measurement. Cut your cable to that length, 2 cables for each frame. Slide on 2 crimps then bend your cable at each end, 1" in from the end, as shown earlier. Slide the cable through the eye hook then back through the crimp. Do that for each end. You should now have this:

Complete each frame this way. Now you, too, are done! Hang up your rod and enjoy! I love my trapeze frame and get many compliments on it. Hopefully you will, too!