Eating in the Revells Dining Hall

Everything that we need, God provides. So on that premise...I wanted to publish this now. We need a table. And I know that God will give us exactly what we need. I have seen this consistently for several years now.

So enjoy this video of our fun "Revells Dining Hall" and anticipate another journal entry from me announcing the arrival of our table.

PS I am praying for a "farmhouse" styled long skinny table with 2 benches. And an end chair. :)

T.T.F.N.

A Day Off

Here is a little footage of a relaxed Saturday around here...

Some Recent Pics

SMOKY HAZE

This was NOT a foggy day. It was a SMOKY day in July. There was a smoke advisory warning regarding visibility and air quality. We just went from church to home and my throat started hurting. The forest fires were really bad this year. We are so thankful for the rainy August to put out the fires and clear the air!

A Galore of RVs

This summer we have enjoyed seeing all the RVs! They are everywhere. Especially Wal-Mart! Sometimes I counted over 25 RVs in the Wal-Mart parking lot. So come on Aunt Elsie and Uncle Jay and Gail, Ray, Raymond, Anna, Amelia, and John! Wal-Mart is only 4 minutes from my home.

My Birthday

Some friends dropped by our home for ice-cream to celebrate my birthday this year. It was very special and here are a few pics:

Cat Needed for Shrew

Our dear friend, Judy, sent me this picture. I'm thinking I could use one of these.




We gave her a kitten last summer who is growing and eating and growing and eating! This is what Tagre will eventually look like!

The Taming of the Shrew - or Not

Well, strap your sword on, check your holsters, pull out the mosquito net (I mean, butterfly net), and grab the nearest curtain rod! That's a picture of us hunting down the shrew.


Well, we thought it was a mouse. But were informed that Alaska does not have mice. Kinda like we don't have ticks, snakes, fireants, etc. What we do have are little critters called shrews that come in when the weather gets cold. :) We must have a nice warm cozy home complete with a mouse hole. Excuse me, shrew hole. I will take a picture of that tomorrow. Kids are sleeping right now and it's in their room. Actually we have several cute little holes, but this particular one housed a sweet little shrew until this morning.


Gabriella started yelling, "Mom, it's in the shoes!" Well, I did not have to ask what she was talking about. The children have talked of NOTHING else since yesterday. They even stayed up late talking about the shrew. Brennan felt sick on his stomach from thinking about it. He kept imagining the little shrew eating his toes, etc. Because, like a good father, Chris had convinced them that shrews will crawl under their covers and nibble on their toes. Thanks, Daddy!


Being the brave and fearless mother that I am, I found a broken curtain rod by the trash can and used it to move the shoes one by one. Hollaring for the boys to bring a shoe box, we discovered the little shrew escaping into Lulu's boot. I snatched up the boot, fingers shaking, and squeezed the top together, trying not to squish the rodent. Brennan zipped up the boot and we slammed the shoe box lid on the boot.


Now to fully appreciate the scene, you must realize our foyer is only about 4 ft by 4 ft. Everyone except the sleeping baby and working Daddy were huddled in there squealing and jumping!


We watched the shrew all day and released it away from our home tonight. We considered keeping it, but Chris said it would not live. I thought we could make shrew stew. And Rob wanted to skin it and make us a little shrew-skin rug. So we figured it was best off in the wild thicket behind our home.


Enjoy the little movie...

Dear friends...

Susan and Gail and others who wanted an update,

We are well, always working on something! I have started assisting Chris in teaching and I am doing more leading worship. I am leading worship Aug 28 for a women's conference in town. I s'preached a couple of Sundays ago. It has been rainy this week which is a blessing. August is supposed to be the rainy month here. Normally it is so dry.

Brennan has terrible eczema all over his hands and up his arms. We have tried so many things. Today I went back to Wal-Mart and bought 3 more things to try! He has been sleeping with ointment smeared all over them and wrapped in socks! Funny!

We have been doing homeschool part-time and this week we upped it a notch. We added all our computer stuff like Spanish, typing, reader rabbit, etc. We are using My Father's World Kindergarten for Gabriella and John-James. Gabriella can already read, but it will be a great review phonetically and she will enjoy the literature, projects and creation and science stuff. The older boys are doing My Father's World Rome to the Reformation. Already received most of our books. They are awesome! We are finishing a wonderful geography book (Exploring the Holy Land) and some online studies while we wait to start MFW.

Oh, NEWSFLASH!, the children are screaming! There is a mouse! Running around downstairs! Brennan and David caught it, and then it jumped out of the box while they were bringing it to me – like I wanted it! So it ran into a hole in the wall and is currently hiding. Although the children are lined up and tempting it with a bit of cheese. Ha! Ha! Ha! They crack me up!

I doubt anyone will go to sleep quickly tonight. It is a good thing that Gabriella should be getting a mattress soon. She is the only one of us left sleeping on the floor.

The boys surprised us with homemade muffins when we came home from church last night. They were real dramatic (wonder who they got that from) and flashed the lights on and uncovered a beautifully wrapped platter with perfectly stacked warm brown-sugar-covered muffins from scratch! Whew! What a treat! Yummy!

I hope to sign Gabriella up for ballet tonight. Elysiana is potty training – sort of. And Isabella is growing. She keeps outgrowing her clothes.

We were going to the fair tonight but the rain is yucky. Maybe tomorrow. We are blessed to have the rain – not complaining!

Well, they are calling me. The baby is awake and ready to eat.

Jeannie Revells

More on " our stuff"

Jeannie,

I wanted to send a note of thanks for the dining table and chairs. We also have a big family and were in need of more chairs for our kitchen area. Gail met us at your house and we picked them up. My daughter is using the table in her room to make jewely on and is glad she has a place she can leave her stuff out and it not be in everyone's way. Thank you so much for your generosity. I pray your mission work is going well and that you and your family are settling in.

Sincerely,

Barbara Touchton

Thanks so much for letting us know about the table! It is so special to hear who has received some of our “stuff” and how they needed it! The table you now have is very special – it came from one of my bestest friends who moved away to Texas. She wanted me to have it because it was a dream of mine for all of us (8) to be able to fit around one table! I loved sitting at the end and admiring my beautiful family (and the lovely mess they made) each and every meal! J

Our work is going well. We are on staff at a little church in Fairbanks, AK. Loving every speck of AK and the weather, in particular! This week it should be in the 50s everyday! Beautiful skies!

Blessings,

Jeannie Revells

Enjoying Your Clothes!

Hi Jeannie!

I just wanted to pass on my thanks for you to sharing your clothes with me (via Gail and HOPE Co-op).

I have been enjoying 2 pairs of brown capris pants, a sweater, and 2 beautiful scarves! It was such fun looking through the clothes and finding some things that worked for me J.

May the Lord richly bless you in Alaska. I had an aunt who taught school in Anchorage for 25+ years starting from about 1950. She grew up in Florida and wanted an adventure...she got it and loved Alaska!!

Blessings on you and your family!!

Amy H.

________________________________________________

Thank you so much for letting me know this! I am going to post your email on my blog! It means so much to know that our “stuff” we left found a home.

We pretty much gave away everything. Some of the furniture we sold, we mailed our books, and a friend mailed our clothes. But everything else (even our cotton balls!) had to find a new home! Gail bailed me out. She let me pack her dining room with goodies to give away from kitchen supplies all the way to linens. She had the HUGE task of giving away our stuff! Some friends and neighbors took some things, but she got most of it. I don’t know what I would have done without her.

She has shared some stories – like the newborn twins who got our baby bed, and the lady who cried over getting my Christmas village and my niece who is setting up housekeeping with some of my kitchen stuff, and my adopted Chinese nieces who got my girls’ dress up trunk complete with Great-great-grandma’s hats! And the lady who was ecstatic to get my Greco-Roman paintings to decorate a bare bedroom.

It is such a blessing to know that our “stuff” is still blessing other families and filling a need.

Jeannie Revells

Ronni and Chris

We love to go to Pioneer Park with Ronni and Chris!

The Most Precious Day

Video made on July 24. The angels were rejoicing with us!

A Peek at Quiet Time around here...

The children during a quiet time...

Isabella Learning to Crawl

Isabella Maria is learning to crawl! How did that happen? She's supposed to be a newborn! This is a longer video for the G.G.'s and Nana's out there. By the way, she weighs over 19 pounds now and has the most wonderful squishy thighs! :)