A Christmas Gathering?

Hi ladies! Happy last week of December! Ahhh, the week of CRAZY rehearsals in Memorial Auditorium. Fun times. For real. :)
I don't have a lot of time, but I must express my complete thankfulness that you are okay after the car-accident, Sarah!! That must have been scary. I know that we are all said a prayer of thanks that it wasn't something way worse. We love you! :)
Breanna and I talked on the phone tonight (I feel so lucky!), and we were discussing some get-together things. Being married teachers with family far away, we came up with this: The days we have open are basically the Wed, Thurs, or Friday after Christmas. The Friday would be pushing it for me, but I could maybe pull it off. :) Breanna's grandma is up for hosting a partay at her place in Osakis if that would be a good central spot for everyone! It could be an over-night slumber party, a lunch and lazy afternoon, or whatever it is that works for people so we could see each other for ANY amount of time. :)
So, it is now your assignment to respond to this as soon as you can. :) 10% of your grade will be docked for each day late after Monday. he he
I hope that we can come up with something!!

Love you all!!
Mandola

absence

Has the new look frightened everyone off from posting? I know you all have plenty to say - let's hear it.

a little extra thanks

Yesterday our family shared in a little extra thanks as my grandpa and I entered my aunt's house for Thanksgiving. We were driving on I-94 and before we knew it, another car side-swiped us. I'm sure we were going at least 60 mph, because that's at least what I drive on that road. But the impact was not significant enough to injure anyone, just enough to damage the side of my mom's car. As we were waiting for the state trooper to arrive and then later for the police report, the words of my mom popped into my head, "Always go to the bathroom before you leave home." The funny thing is that I thought of carrying out that action before I left to pick up my grandpa, but I figured I would be fine on the drive down to his house and then up to my aunt's. Needless to say, that was the first thing I did when we finally got to our destination.

How was Thanksgiving for everyone else? Any out-of-the-ordinary foods and/or experiences?

Fair Trade

For one of our weekly forums, I arranged for a speaker to come from Equal Exchange to discuss the topic of Fair Trade in our world. I did this in anticipation of a Fair Trade Fair I'm arranging on campus which will be the week after Thanksgiving. I'm excited for the things I ordered and also for what other vendors are bringing. That aside, I found the information our speaker shared to be highly insightful. And as a consumer, I find an inner debate constantly taking place in the products I buy. Yes, I want to buy products that are fairly traded because then it means the workers might actually be receiving a living wages, it supports local business/farmers, and hopefully allows for stronger economies to be built in suffering countries. But what I discovered today, is that is not necessarily what is happening.

At the store a person can find 'Fair Trade' products many places. But what does that really mean? Do Starbucks and Wal-Mart really carry Fair Trade products? What do you think? Well, the answer is yes, both large, multi-million dollars industries carry Fair Trade. Great, right? Not exactly. What this means is that a small percentage of the products (sometimes as little as 1%) are purchased fairly traded so they are able to put on a good face for the consumer. The reason they are willing to buy Fair Trade, which is not as profitable, is due to the fact that they're using subsidies from their other products to fund the Fair Trade ones.

I think this is a real problem. One possible solution our presenter shared was having some sort of percentage mandate on much of a companies sales are Fair Trade if they really want to present themselves as ethical companies paying living wages to farmers. Another suggestion: since Fair Trade products are generally more expensive, thus excluded part of the population, grocers should raise prices of all their products. Before you're quick to negate that option, hear me out. The low prices that we pay for groceries barely pays for the workers that are harvesting, packing, producing, and transporting our food. Most of the money is in the hands of the brokers. So, if grocers charged a higher price, they would thus be saying they care about the farmer and their living wage. A follow-up concern to this of course is, "I can no longer afford to buy groceries because they're expensive." Perhaps this would force us to take a look at another pressing issue: a liveable wage. If people aren't able to pay for their groceries, then there's something to be said about how the society isn't supporting them? Or, perhaps we're importing too many of our products. I understand that MN is not sustainable in growing bananas and other common foods we like to have, like coffee. However, why can't a bulk of our produce come from small, local agricultural communities? If this happened, it would also cut down on fuel cost/CO2 emission from shipping products across the globe as well. All of these things, rest on the fact that some large companies would actually take the time to think about people and what might be best for communities. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it's and upward climb from where we're at.

Hi Amanda!

Manda, Okay, you promised pictures of all the beautiful girls-I'm excited to see them!

Breanna and Scanders-I would love to spend time with you in Dec. 6-7 but I don't think I can make it down to the Cities anytime soon-since I'll be down there after Christmas and again in January for Luther stuff. Lindsey and I are going to try and get together that weekend if you feel like traveling north :)

So-just in case we don't make a gathering possible before Christmas...here is a question. What about a New Year's Eve bash? Probably in the Cities since that's maybe the most central....although Breanna's grandma's place is a nice location too (if that's an option). What does everyone think about that?

I'm just getting over the flu, which was awful. Of course I got it Fri-Sat-Sun..the days Micaela doesn't go to daycare, so I feel guilty she had a very boring weekend of books and movies while I laid on the couch (or ran to the bathroom every 10 min)...blah. Now I'm at work and lacking the motivation to get anything done. Oh well! This weekend the Youth Choirs I direct are doing a Cantata of the "Tale of the Three Trees" I'm so nervous. There is a lot to be done between now and Sunday!

Its been great to read every one's post...I love checking this thing! Take care all!

e

Hello all!

Hi! Welcome Amanda!!! It is fun to hear about life on the "farm"! Lindsey...CONGRATS! How exciting. Others.....hi.
Well. I vote Dec. 7th ish. I will be in the Cities with Sarah attending the Concordia Christmas concert on Thursday of that week and took Friday off, so I could just stick around. Let me know what is up with that. On Nov. 16th ish, I will be going to watch my little sister (who has a boyfriend...weird) play Peter Pan! FUN!
Ok, all is well here.
Love you!

Cock-a Doodle!

How exiciting is this? Thank you Sarah B for introducing me to this blogging business...I have this cousin, love her to death, but she's always talking about this thing called 'blog' and I kinda figured it was some sort of teenager weird thing, but it turns out it's not! And thank you Sarah A for inviting me and getting me hooked up. This could be a little fun!
So, I just got in from picking eggs. It's about 9:30 pm and silly Kevin forgot to pick eggs today. So, I'm out there with my flashlight and the goose (yeah, there's a goose too) freaked out on me and the other goose (yeah, there are two geese) honked so loud I about had a heart attack and so did the duck, have a heart attack, (yeah, there's a stinking duck too). But the two geese, Hank and Johnny as in Jr. and Cash are moving out tomorrow and they're taking Loretta, as in Lynn, with them! Wahoo! Those are some messy creatures! So, I'm picking eggs after dark...aah the life of a hobby farmer wanna be! It's been our family project. A few years ago, Kevin and I decided it would be fun to raise chickens and our own eggs. I seriously go through roughly 70 dozen eggs a year doing cakes, maybe even more and with egg prices these days we're saving thousands! :) So, after much debating, we finally took the plunge. Kevin built a chicken coop. It's not just any chicken coop - it cost our entire tax return and then some, with better windows than my house and a roof that will last much longer than the roof over my head. Kevin never does ANYTHING at less than 100% when it comes to stuff like this. My neighbors have nicknamed it the Taj-maCoop. It's been wonderful though, and the whole project has brought our family closer together. It's something that we do together each day - feed the chickens, pick the eggs and give them their daily petting. Kevin even named one Mandy. I think she's hooking up with Sven, the rooster, so she doesn't care too much about us these days! So, if you're in the area, bring the kids by the petting zoo for a little fun!
If you're looking for Halloween fun next year, come to Pelican Rapids! My husbands employer throws a "boo bash" for school age and younger kids. They basically turn the entire warehouse into a giant Halloween party with games, hot dogs, those big blowy upy things that kids can climb on and everyone dresses up. Kevin said they had nearly 1000 kids there this year! They get to do a little "trick or treating" and end up with like 5 tootsies in a bag. They give them other fun things instead, like stickers and tatoos, (press on of course) and spider rings and stuff like that. Anyway - just a hoot of fun! Or perhaps a cock-a-doodle of fun! :)
All the kids are well! Grace is growing up too fast and so are the other too. Time seems to be moving faster than ever! I'll get pictures on here next time!
So, this is so great! I'm going to be writing more soon - but for now - Lindsay congratulations! Mandy good luck! Sarah, come back! :) I miss you already! Thanks again for the great visit! Hope everyone is well and we'll talk more soon!

Love -
Amanda

The Stranger from De Pere

Hi everyone! I am finally sitting down and writing to you all. It is a miracle, I know. I know I've been a slacker, but I promise it is not that I'm lazy. :) We finally got a new computer, and every freakin' time I sit down at it, I feel like a big fat moron. We got a Mac, and it is beautiful, but its been awhile since I've run one, and there are definitely a lot of differences. Anyway, it took me about a week just to figure out how to get our pictures onto a website. So, I did the grandparent blog first, as they've been desperately wanting pictures of their darling. :) And I finally have time now to get to my favorite peeps. :)
First of all, Congrats Lindsey on your baby girl!!! How fun!! Elizabeth is right...sort of weird that we're all on the girl train here. There will be a new generation of Hoyum 7's! Wow! Its like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants--the mom's were friends, and then the daughters become friends. How sentimental. Ha. :) And it is fun to hear that things are going well for the rest of you. Moving...seeing babies...all very exciting.
Well, as you may have seen by the pictures on the "other" blog, we have had a whirlwind month here. Julia has been keeping us busy. She is soooo talkative now that it is sort of weird. She had her 2 year check-up on Friday, and the Doc was like, "Oh my gosh!" She says words like, "actually," and phrases like "This morning I sang a Raffi song!" It sort of freaks me out. She just listens to absolutely EVERYTHING she hears, and had some sort of alienish brain to remember it all. Today I made the mistake of saying "I don't care, Julia, you need to clean up your toys." And then I got "I don't care, Mommy," about 16 times. Stupid mommy! Other than the weird talking, she seems to be normal. She loves to laugh, play, and lately, she is really singing a lot.
David has been very busy lately, which is good for him, but sort of hard on me. He was gone basically all weekend. That means that Julia and I are home together all the time, and I tend to get a little stir crazy. Hopefully his schedule will calm down a little bit. He is doing great things, and I am proud of him, but it is still hard to be the little woman at home. Not a role I'm used to or am particularly fond of.
A few weeks ago we went to Door county with our friends Micah and Pete who came out to visit. Door county was fun in the summer, but man, it is soooo beautiful in the fall. It was actually breath-taking. We had a fun day driving around and seeing the sights. I also made the trip to Granite Falls a few weeks ago, during our "MEA" break. I actually took one of the days to go to a music convention in Madison, and then drove like a lunatic to arrive in GF at 12:30 am on Friday. It was great to be there for two days anyway. It is hard to be so far away from family and friends. I got to see my sis play volleyball which was really fun. Her team made it to the section finals last night, where they were sooooo close to winning against a 6-time-in-a-row State Tournament Team. The match went to 5 games, and all games were close. I was just itching to be there. Bummer dude.
My job seems to be getting better. We end the quarter on Wednesday, so we'll see how many of my kids drop choir. :) I think I'm starting to know them better, and they're starting to get me. :) I think anyway. It's still hard, but I'm getting used to it and actually enjoy it some days.
I don't have much exciting news to share. I did take a pregnancy test about a month ago and it said it was positive, and I was so excited until a week later I got my period. I had to go to the doctor, only to feel like a moron...to make a long story short, the pregnancy tests today are very sensitive, and I was "pregnant" but the doctor thinks that the egg never implanted. So, I was pregnant enough to pass a test and make my period a week late, but that was it. So, more of the fun times to come. :) I'll let you know when/if the big + sign appears again, but I'll probably wait awhile in case this happens again. It kind of sucked, but life goes on. :)
I am all about getting together! We will be in MN for a majority of Christmas break, so that is the time that works best for me. it is a little hard to get to MN for a weekend, but if it were in the Cities, I could possibly make it. Northern MN would be a no-go for a short time-frame. Sorry...
Well, I'm getting a little droopy, so I'm going to go. I miss all of you so much and just revel in reading this blog. Keep the posts coming!!

Love,
MJ

p.s. Elizabeth-- I was not going to get a costume for Julia, either, until her daycare announced that they were going to be having a big party, and everyone should be dressed up! Julia was a little freaked out...I think she had fun a daycare, but the trick-or-treating thing was kind of weird. And do I want her to eat all of that candy? No! Don't let anyone feel like you're a bad mom. I think you're great. :)

Look at all that action!

Wow-I didn't check the blog for a few days and look what happened! (Its like when you go to the bathroom at a restaurant and when you come back your food has magically appeared)

Lindsey-thank God you're having a girl! I think we have enough specimen's for a investigation of Hoyum 7...what did they do to us?

Mandy-I also just checked out your blog. Wow-that's the cutest witch I've ever seen! Micaela was nothing for Halloween, she doesn't even know it happened and that doesn't make me a bad mom, it just makes me a mom that works late on Wednesdays! (sorry-that rage is not directed at you, but at the countless disappointed reactions I get when people ask me what M was for Halloween...seriously people, its not like I missed the birth of Jesus).

A gathering? Really? How about Nov 16-17? I know that's soon, but that's what I got. Or December 7-8 (we could celebrate a certain lovely lady's Bday).

Life up here is funky-that's the best word I could find. We've moved into my Dad's place, which was an undertaking I was SO unprepared for. I'm still not unpacked or feeling very settled. Work is okay...feeling a little unmotivated these days honestly.

Micaela is doing fine, sorta of used to the new place. Although to prolong bedtime or get what she wants she's now using the tactic "Talk to papa" as in "let me go upstairs and ask Papa and he'll give me whatever I want." Really fun.

Okay, I'll stop posting now because apparently I'm crabby. But I really do hope a Gathering happens soon. Shall we begin the voting? My ballot is cast above.

Some new news...

Hey, ladies! I love reading about what's been going on in everyone's lives. Sarah B., congrats on the move! Sarah A., congrats on the niece! Breanna, I was very sad to read about your student; it is so tragic when someone dies so young. Mandy, I recal a Friends episode where VapoRub was used to spice things up. :) Sorry I haven't posted in a while; we live in the land of no high speed internet, and apparently my employer has decided this should be a "blocked site", so I haven't been able to catch up lately. As far as a gathering, yes! We should do that! And I would definitely love to volunteer my house, if people don't mind driving to Lake Park. However, I would be equally happy to travel anywhere else as well.

Ryan and I had our first ultrasound yesterday. Our baby is a healthy, normally developing little girl! I kind of had a feeling she would be a girl, but I'm super excited to know for sure.

Hope all is well with everyone. Take care!
Lindsey

Help!

Hello dears!

I am writing to request your assistance! I am sitting as we speak at Amanda Backstrom's home, east of Erhard, MN, and we were just discussing the fun details of the blog. Our dear friend, however, does not have access to our wonderful blog, and I am COMPLETELY unfamiliar with how to get someone else added as a user/author. Is there someone out there who may be able to help us in this matter??? Please? PRETTY please?! :) Manda is VERY excited about the idea of joining and I know we would all LOVE to have her join us! Her email address is akbackstrom@yahoo.com, if that helps at all.

Ok, we are heading out to Robbie's birthday party (remember freshman year, Scanders or Elizabeth?!)...so either email Manda or let me know what I can do to help! Thanks so much, lovely ladies!

Love you!
SB
P.S. Grace is BEAUTIFUL! :) (just like her mom and big sisters!) :):):)

Grandma Vonnie

Yes, that is right. The world's coolest Grandma has given me permission to use her house sometime to have a get together. I think this area is a good location. Let me know your thoughts!

November

Do you know that last November there were several days above 60 and even one above 70. I can't help but feel that this year will be the same. While I don't want to complain about this because when I walk around campus I enjoy not having a bulky coat, I can't help but think of global warming. How can any one deny what is happening to our environment?
This weekend my dad is turning 60 so I'm coing to Alexandria. Sometimes I think it's strange to think of my parents growing older - especially now that they're grandparents. Here's a photo of when Katherine was here a couple of weeks ago.