Artifacts

Kudos to Jesse for getting us all interested in finding artifacts, aka arrowheads, knives, smokers, axes, and some other geeky names I don't know. It's a good hobby: exercise, action, entertainment...and some pretty amazing rewards.

Px/videos are from various people

and may not be in precise order

owell

Jesse ~

Jesse ~

Josh ~

Jesse's pride and joy

Levi's pride and joy

So all this happened on the day Dad and I were driving home from Galena (I think? Hard to remember.) It was another summer day in March -

Nice!

Part of the welcome home crew💗💙

We were inspired to hunt - or maybe the beautiful evening just inspired us to walk in the field.

  Last Monday - sowing seed where the township did some groundwork when they repaired the broken culvert.

Px courtesy of Sarah

There maybe were some wet clothes lol.

Back to me ~

Sarah was on break so brought Rafe over on Tuesday.

Last Wednesday.

Good to have these buddies here again.

Ready!

Thankful!

Sunday after church I walked a bit with Dad, Josh, Jesse, and Travis but found nothing. It's legit looking for a needle in a haystack. Astounds me how these kids find so many artifacts. Travis finds all sorts of treasure and greatly contributes to the entertainment aspect. Sometimes we were walking on poison and had to stay on the big clods of dirt so we didn't get our feet burned. Oh Travis💕

💙

Start 'em young! 

Rafe & Bennett got to go with their dads.

Jacob filming Jason ~

Good times

Bennett was fascinated with Brandi yesterday. So cute to watch his world grow day by day.

💙

Last night I got to watch Bennett so Kaitlyn could help clean the high cupboards at church. Bennett was so good with Grams and Popsy.

And AB.

And that's a wrap for March 2026. Come on spring...

Only Jesus Knows

You will fall in love with Moise and his family from page one of Only Jesus Knows. When you read this book you will have a hard time putting it down... because it's so heartbreakingly raw and sad and inspiring and engaging and entertaining... and it's all true. Moise's life story engages like fiction... but it's not fiction. 

Only Jesus Knows taught me much about Individuals with Developmental Disabilities. Maybe this is partly why this book affected me so much: I didn't know. I believe God has done and is still doing amazing things through Moise's life. IDD are an invisible voiceless population among us. This book is their voice, and author Karol Glueck Holmes is its steward. 

This book is not just a plea for awareness of and help for IDD. It is profound Biblical truth...it is not only Moise's story but also the Gospel story. These two stories are woven together in an incredible way that only God can orchestrate. From salvation and redemption to conception and pro-life to grief and loss - this book explores it all. God has used Moise's family and their myriad of experiences for His purposes and to further His Name. The crazy hard of Moise's life - and thus that of his family - is so wonderfully balanced by his family's crazy love for him. It is stunning.

Only Jesus Knows is the perfect God-ordained Spirit-inspired message of unconditional love that needs to be shared. It's rare, it's powerful, and it's breathtakingly beautiful.

Galena

 Dad and I had never been to Galena but had heard a lot about it. We weren't disappointed. En route to that quaint historical town, we stopped at Lock & Dam #13. You just don't drive by a Lock & Dam. You just don't. This beaver lodge was interesting as we got close to the river.

You just don't drive by a lock & dam because you just might get to watch a boat go through which is really cool to see.

This wasn't on our radar either (we typically don't have a radar - we just wander in the general direction of our destination and stop whenever wherever we feel like it). Highly recommend.

Beautiful in a brown/gray way and very very quiet.

Never fear - connection is always near😏

Twin Sisters

1920s homestead? CCC camp? Very cool but wasn't labeled.

Galena area is very hilly. I didn't expect that.

Galena streets and stairs. Yes we did climb to the top of them. Yes there are more stairs that are visible only when you get to the top. And yes, our legs were sore the next day.

Interesting mix of history and modern.

I admire these rough bookshelves. That's character.

Hidden gem. It's actually a hotel but you can wander inside like it's a museum; there is a library/office with a video showing Galena's history. The video answered a lot of my questions about how/why Galena is even a thing.

Leaving town Saturday afternoon, we stopped here. This antique mall was formerly a school, complete with gymnasium and stage. Fascinating. 

And omy. So. Full. Of. STUFF. 

And then back to home sweet home.