Too Fast

Judas turned five just last week and has graduated from preschool. We had a party for him and the 'klanna' school grandma got the honor of taking him into the children's dining room. We're so proud of him, but the part that made my eyes water was when the grandmas told me how much they will miss him.

100 things about 5 year old Judas Baer Kleinsasser.
1. Judas can spend hours playing quietly and alone with his little cars.
2. Judas loves to imitate his Dad.
3. Judas is a very sensitive person.
4. Judas enjoys collecting warms after the rain.
5. Judas likes to shower with his Dad.
6. Judas bats like a pro.
7. Judas loves sitting at the wheel with his Dad and steering home.
8. Judas enjoys cake and cream type desserts.
9. His favorite food is corn and knaddle.
10. Judas plays baseball with the older children.
11. Judas only cries when he is hurt badly or vary tired.
12. Judas is a big help to the ‘klanna’ school grandmas and they say they will miss him.
13. Judas’ best friends are Grace and Israel.
14. Judas loves playing in the snow.
15. Judas has a good since of humor.
16. Judas can catch a ball with ease.
17. Judas’ back name is from his mom’s side of the family.
18. Judas looks like his dad.
19. Judas likes watching himself in the mirror.
20. Judas can make a sommersault on the trampoline.
21. Judas can sing and is not shy when singing at the kitchen with the other kids.
22. Judas likes it when people watch him.
23. Judas waves at people.
24. Judas will answer when a stranger speaks to him.
25. Judas doesn’t mind his suspenders.
26. Judas is a considerate fellow and thinks of others.
27. Judas likes climbing trees.
28. Judas understands English but wants his stories in Hutterite.
29. Judas has many friends.
30. Judas loves having a marshmallow roast.
31. Judas can take disappointments well.
32. Judas seems to have enough self-esteem.
33. Judas understands which foods are healthy.
34. Judas has a good imagination.
35. Judas obeys his parents most of the time.
36. Judas loves watching videos, even the clips on computer.
37. Judas drinks a lot of water and a hardly any juice.
38. Judas slept in the room across from his parent’s in a tent for a month.
39. Judas can count to ther-ty-teen correctly.
40. Judas can write his name with help.
41. Judas can add two and two.
42. Judas can swim with a life jacket.
43. Judas is pretty careful and cautious.
44. Judas enjoys comic books.
45. Judas loves bible stories.
46. Judas never picks a fight or agitates others.
47. Judas can tell a long story.
48. Judas started rollerblading before he was two and has enjoyed it ever since.
49. Judas has had two bee stings in his life.
50. Judas respects older people.
51. Judas thinks board games like Trouble and Checkers are fun.
52. Judas likes to pick his nose.
53. Judas has mastered his relationship manners.
54. Judas likes to colour with someone.
54. Judas loves a ride with heavy equipment.
55. Judas helps his mom gather butterfly worms.
56. Judas loves ‘klanna’ school.
57. Judas needs lots of hugs and praise.
58. Judas recognizes numbers.
59. Judas knows a lot of colors and loves playing ‘I spy, I spy.’
60. Judas’ favourite color was blue but is now red and he also likes green.
61. Judas is kind to others.
62. Judas has too many toys and wants more.
63. Judas loves being babysat by Audrey and Joni.
64. Judas loves helping his dad at the turkey barn.
65. Judas gets a great kick out of playing with his fathers whoopee cushion.
66. Judas prays in a grateful way.
67. Judas’ smile lights up his whole face.
68. Judas laughs easily and catches a joke pretty fast.
69. Judas likes dogs.
70. Judas can write pretend letters to people.
71. Judas was born on the longest day of the year.
72. Judas enjoys laughing at his younger brother.
73. Judas doesn’t like naps.
74. Judas is entertained by books.
75. Judas has had tree grandfathers and five grandmothers.
76. Judas now has three grandfathers and tree grandmothers.
77. Judas knows a few prayers by heart.
78. Judas loves skating and playing hockey either on ice or on the floor.
79. Judas likes French fries.
80. Judas is a little bit shy around strangers.
81. Judas never curses or swears or calls people names.
82. Judas likes to eat a lot of junk food and does not prefer fruits.
83. Judas is everybody’s sweetheart.
84. Judas is a good sport.
85. Judas is a chatterbox.
86. Judas minds his own business.
87. Judas loves to wrestle and be tickled.
88. Judas can share his toys with Hans but would rather play by himself.
89. Judas doesn’t become loud and obnoxious when we have visitors.
90. Judas is ---------tall, and weighs 40 pounds.
91. He has had ear ache, whooping cough, chicken ‘pops,’ and stepped into a rusty nail.
92. He loves listening to his grandma and Victor tell stories on tape.
93. Judas likes all his babysitters and ‘klann’ school grandmas.
94. Judas says that Jesus lives in his heart and he loves to pray in there too.
95. Judas spends a lot of time at Aunt Melinda’s house with his cousins.
96. Judas wants to know why.
97. Judas has patience and can wait with ease.
98. Judas has learned to use buttons and zippers.
99. Judas will remember and tell us what he dreamed.
100. Judas is a gift from God.


The struggle of the week has been to try to keep positive, why does it take so much effort to see the good? I'd love it if you could just inherit a positive outlook, but noooo, it has to be cultivated. It's easy to slid into the habit of the half empty glass, and I guess it's a personal choice of what you want to see. My rose colored glasses aren't always reality ether but they sure keep me hopeful and happier and the energy exerted to ware them is well worth it.



Speaking of keeping positive and grateful, we watched a couple tornadoes tare across our sky, and one touched down just four miles from the colony. We were already gathering in the kitchen basement like we do in some of my worst nightmares. Judas was so scared you could hardly pry his hands apart because he was praying. We prayed together for our safty and that we could rest our fears and stayed in the basement just to miss all the action. He kept asking me to sing and it really helped drown out the sound of the wind but he was comforted by it.

Gardens and Butterflies

Well, Welcome back my dear butterflies!! They are all over and around my house now, enjoying my garden as I am. It's great to see them again.

I just got my garden planted this week and am enjoying it's color and eagerly anticipating more of the same. There is hardly a bare spot in it, but I wouldn't mind more perennials because an annual is a little costly, and I want it much cozier than it was last year. Last year was terrible here on the farm in our gardens, either it was because they dug in a salt water line to water them, or it may have been the soil. Someone got us a load of soil off the land that had already been treated and planted. In any case, almost all of us had bad luck.

I'm really missing my pond of former years. We put our gold fish out last year during the summer months but Rodney and I can't quite agree on what a pond should be. He wants the water so clean that you can see and enjoy the fish, and I 'd like to fill it with plants. We can't have both; our 04, 05, pond was much nicer but we didn't have any fish at that time.

Today I administered an onion on a bee sting. Judas came in crying during nap time and it's amazing what goes through a mother's mind before she can see what actually happened. He was just screaming and I had to remove the stinger without letting any more of the venom get into him. The onion did a fine job of keeping it from swelling and pulling out the little that had gotten in. I could see it getting white and swollen around the sting already and about 10 min. after applying a slice of onion it was all better. I was thankful that a few of his girlfriends came in with him to keep him well destructed while it was healing.

Last week Judas stepped into a rusty nail and we really took it seriously. We've been soaking his foot in salt water everyday and applying a ointment that keeps it clean, but we are not safe yet. The incubation period for tetanus is two weeks, but the area looks very good already. He's been literally eating dirt since he's been old enough to grab it and should be immune by now.

I can't say that I'm not scared because there was one night that I could hardly sleep. I watched my little angel sleep to make sure he wasn't having any spasms of any kind. I read some scripture and prayed and listened again to Dr. Heroet's lecture to remind me why we made the decision not to vaccinate in the first place. The fear factor is usually no problem for me because I'm used to facing up to them and conquering. I could let myself get into a frenzy every time Rodney leaves the house too, thinking this may be the last time I will see him, but sitting around and obsessing about it will not serve to improve the quality of life. When something happens we'll deal with it. I can tell you, I've never been so happy to hear those annoying noises that little boys like to make with their mouths. Swishing spit, and blowing air out or their lips in all kinds of ways, means that he doesn't have lockjaw and his respiratory system is doing just fine.

I guess I've been thinking a lot this week about how 'fearfully and wonderfully' we've been made, with the body's God given ability to heal, clean and build. Also how fragile our earth is, I mean, just move the sun 1% closer or further away from the earth and all life will die. The same goes for the moon, and try raising the temperature of the water a few degrees, or mess it up a bit more and you are in trouble. Remove a measly eight inches of topsoil and we lose the plants that use the sun's energy to make food. It is God who sustains us, cares for us and gives us His word that we are safe in His keeping. Where was I when He made the firefly? Is anything to hard for Him? The wind, the earth, water and fire obey His every command.

My sweetheart has been flying a remote control airplane the last few moths with his brother Stanley. Yesterday they crashed into a tree for only the third time, and today they had to get the forklift to get it down, and I got some nice pictures of the kids watching. The girls are my sister Melinda's and the little boy is Hans. We get together in the evenings when there is hardly any wind to watch them fly. Its a nice and relaxing thing to do with the kids and the daddy's enjoyed many an evening working on it.