The McEldowney Family

End of Summer, Beautiful Autumn, and days gone by too fast.

2009-11-09T07:27:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
This is going to be a retrospective blog post. I haven't journaled anything for awhile and so this should fill in all the blanks.
Whew!! Summer is done and over with, I hate that,..but we had such a nice summer here at our house. We had several nice parties with family and friends, enjoyed our garden and large yard, played baseball & volleyball, rode our bikes, and enjoyed the birds & blooms. We also enjoyed the summers bountiful offerings of beautiful saturday mornings for field service and serene summer evenings for family worship nights. We did a few of those outdoors. Alexis and Aidan began attending a new school down the road, kind of a private homeschool. They are doing very well. They recieved their grades this past week and we were happy to see their good marks, although we tend not to put too much emphasis on a letter grade,.. but the effort put forth to achieve understanding. I am currently looking for some employment more on a full time basis for about a year, so that has been a little bit of a stresser, but I have found some organizational consulting work where I go into an office setting and organize for the client. Hopefully it turns into something more regular. Sean is still enjoying his work. He is thankful to have a job considering the circumstances of many around us. He is definitely an asset to the community he is employed by. He can do just about anything, and if he doesn't know how to do something,.. he learns how.
This fall has brought such wonderful colors to us, something that we all stop and appreciate in our conversations as a family. The kids are both naturalists at heart and they love to see the works of creation in our own backyard. We hope they never grow out of this trait.
We went to a hayride a few weeks ago, those are always fun. And this past weekend, we went along with 8 others to Red River Gorge, KY to backpack for the weekend. I am soooo sore right now, but they were troopers!! The kids I mean,..they had never done it and it is really hard work. I have posted a link to our pictures on the blog, so you need to look at them! Well, we are busy today preparing for the meeting this week, finishing some homework, doing laundry etc.
As I look out my window to the leaves on the ground, I know that the next time I journal it will be much different. The woodsy, musty aroma of the fallen leaves will be transformed into the crisp snap of the winter chill. Until then everyone.......

Music Gig information

2009-11-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

Sean and I are playing an acoustic music gig at the Kanoe Cafe in Tipp City, OH

on November 14th 6:30-8:30 and also on November 20th 6:30-8:30.

Everyone is welcome to attend, although its a small place!

Unassigned Territory, Canadian Bethel, Toronto, Niagara Falls 2009

2009-07-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hello Family & Friends,
Well, we have had an exciting June! We did unassigned territory in Northern Michigan for 3 1/2 days and placed 101 bible teach books!! It was really a great experience. Its been a few years since we have done unassigned, so we just soaked it all in. Everyone needs to do this if you get the chance. After that we traveled 7 hours to Brampton, Ontario where we stayed in a hotel recommended by the Branch. Upon checking in we were told that the mgmt. of the hotel were also taking a tour of Bethel the following day. They wanted to see what the fuss was all about, since so many people stay there to tour Bethel in Canada. So anyway, the tour went great, we ate with some friends of my Parents' who have been at Bethel for 26 years. They were so sweet. That evening we drove into the city, (Toronto) and walked around Chinatown & Little Italy. Then the next day we drove south towards Niagara Falls and spent the day there. The kids and Sean had never been there. So impressive and a good reminder of Jehovah's creativity and love of beauty in nature. Click on the link for pictures!! We are getting ready for our convention in a few weeks and then back to school in August.
Until Later, Danita

Memorial 2009

2009-04-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

Chickens in the dirt, "bathing" and Lexi & Aidan painting the coop !!

2009-04-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Crabapple tree in bloom!!

2009-04-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

March is already over and done!!!1

2009-04-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hello to all!!
we had a nice month in March, very, very busy. We all managed to auxilliary pioneer, so it made things go really quickly. We celebrated our 17th anniversary by buying roller skates for the entire family,..we are all trying to get active again after 'hibernating' over the winter. We applied for our passport cards...I partcipated in a Market research panel where they paid me $100 to give my opinion on Campbells cooking sauce!!....uhm, what else. Well, we placed a total of 15 , yes, I said 15 'What does the bible really teach' books with some really interested people.
The kids are doing well,...we started some lessons on Health and science for the month of April. They built an incubator for some eggs we are trying to hatch...that is the science experiment...they have to monitor the humidity and temperature and rotate the eggs regularly during the day. We have also started many garden plants in mini greenhouses inside the house. We hope to be able to plant in a few weeks. We will keep you updated!!

We are enjoying this week of the memorial celebration and the invitations ,..Sean is giving the talk so he is preparing for that.
Take care,
keep in touch!!

February

2009-02-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

Well, we haven't had a very exciting month. I generally loathe February. We are auxilliary pioneering in March and we are celebrating our 17th anniversary on the 14th!! We all bought roller skates as a gift to one another. I have taken on more exercise, walking the dog, and drinking more water each day. We are planning a trip to unassigned territory in June, so we are excited about that. Riley is doing great....he is one of us. And tonight, we crossed a milestone. He and the cat ate a treat right beside one another....amazing.
We have done some interesting projects with school. The kids did some mind maps over a book that they each read and Sean is doing math with them 3 days a week during his lunchtime. We are planning on making the month of April a Science month. They are really itching to do some cool projects and experiments. We might even organize a family science fair. I am also thinking about doing a homeschool field day in the late spring. I got that idea from one of my friends who participated in one in her area. Well, we are watching a few movies tonight and I need to mend a few skirts for service.
By the way, our new favorite artist is Darius Rucker,...we are old "Hootie and the blowfish" fans so its no wonder we like his songs.

Take care, and keep in touch,
Danita, Sean, Lexi, & Aidan

|We welcomed our new addition RILEY today, he is a chocolate lab rescue dog. He is absolutely fantastic!!

2009-02-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

winter at home

2009-01-31T11:23:00.000-08:00

January 2009

2009-01-31T11:06:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends and Fam,

we are doing quite well these days, except that we are fighting a few colds finally. We will get through it though. This month has been very busy, we have had several field trips, one to a production on slavery and the trials of Harriet Tubman, it was really good. We have also watched some good documentary movies, one especially good was entitled "The Rabbitproof Fence" , we recommend it highly. We have done several geography projects together that have been fun, and the kids are keeping up nicely on their writing journals.

We have applied to do Seldom Worked Territory , we are awaiting word from the Branch about that. We also hosted a "youth appreciation party" where we invited many youths and their families for a night of bible trivia and dancing, and food of course. It was very encouraging an uplifting for our young ones. Well, I have included some of our snowy winter pics, ....we are awaiting another storm on Monday,,,,yayyh. cya, Danita

2008-12-19T06:11:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!
we have been very busy the last few weeks with many fun projects. So far we have managed to keep from getting any flu or cold bugs, so we have been able to function as normal. Aidan did a research assignment on The Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, very informative and interesting...Alexis is writing a paper on the Kindertransport that took place during WWII with Jewish children in Europe. We watched a movie called "Into the arms of Strangers" which we would definitely recommend, that detailed the stories of the some of the children that were sent away. It shows how hard it must have been for these child refugees. Aidan is also compliling a paper of his own on the same movie. We went to the Victoria theater to see a play about the mystery of King Tut , it was kind of childish, but enjoyable none the less. The kids also helped us with the remodel of the upstairs bathroom, learning about plumbing , tile, and flooring. It was good.
The kids go to a weekly Math class and they are coming along nicely with that. Sean has started coming up with questions for them to consider along with their history book "Proclaimers" and they are enjoying that also. Well, that's all for now, take care until my next post!

Our backyard flock

2008-12-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

2008-11-26T07:48:00.000-08:00

Lexi's Monarch Butterfly

2008-11-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

2008-11-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

We are having a fabulous fall. We just finished aux. pioneering and now we took a weekend break to Yellowsprings to Clifton Gorge and Young's Dairy. We had a great time.

Also this week,... we bought some chickens and built a coop for them and now we hope they start laying eggs. Its a great project for the kids. We will try to blog more often this winter, we have alot of exciting things we have planned that we will want to share with everyone.

Take care,
The McEldowneys

More November 1st pictures from Yellowsprings, Ohio

2008-11-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

2008-11-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

On November 1st we went to Yellowsprings, Ohio and hiked at the John Bryan State Park after some shopping in town, and then went to Young's Dairy for ice cream! What an absolutely beautiful fall day!! Kylee, our good friend, came with us.

Family Fall chicken project

2008-10-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

2008-10-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Again ,
I seem to never get on here more than once a month for a post, sorry. Well, we have enjoyed our summer immensely, we are sorry to see it go, but we are anticipating a nice fall. We really took in the time we had being with our family in Canada and were so happy to have had the opportunity to share that experience with my Parents. I got to reconnect with my beautiful cousin Julie, and we really caught up on our lives nicely. We don't ever want to lose contact again. The kids finally know who we are talking about now when we speak of Canada, because now they have their own memories with the wonderful people we have always had. It is so nice to have friends everywhere we go.

We are doing great in our new home. We really love it and feel very comfortable here. We are planning to get some chickens soon, we are looking forward to that. We are trying to build a little coop off of the side of the barn. The kids are planning their home economics dinner party and they are attending a Math class every monday down the road at a private school. We have alot of things planned for school this winter , I am sure it will go by very quickly. The kids and I are auxilliary pioneering this month and we are having a great time getting to know some more of the brothers in our hall. And we have had some good experiences.

I have two cleaning jobs that I do every other friday and that is working out well. I could stand to get another one for the in between week to help out more financially, but we will see how that goes.
Make sure to click on the link about our vacation to Canada, the pictures are really great!

Until next time,
Danita

Aidan's bible reading at the Spanish Circuit Assembly 5-08

2008-10-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

One of Aidan's fall pics in the yard

2008-10-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

One of Alexis' fall photos in the barn

2008-10-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

2008-08-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!!
it has been too long since I last posted , but we have been really busy. We have moved into a very lovely farmhouse just outside of Brookville, Ohio. It is closer to where Sean works in Phillipsburg and we love the setting. We are also fitting right into our new congregation in Englewood and the friends have welcomed us with open arms. We are also getting ready for a trip to Canada for 2 weeks to visit my Mother's family. We are very excited about that. The kids have never been there and we have talked about Saskatchewan for years to them and now they will experience it for themselves. Not to mention that they will meet all of their cousins on my Mom's side of the family. And get to see their aunts and uncle that live in Canada. We are doing a unit study on Canada to start off the year with schooling, how appropriate!! Alexis and Aidan and I plan to auxilliary pioneer in Sept. or Oct. we are waiting to see how things go that way. Well, we had a great convention and I especially was happy that we received the Young people ask book,....it was 20 years ago that I got mine at the Divine Justice convention. I am so happy to be part of an organization that takes such care of our young people. Well, I need to get off of here to eat dinner. I will write more later.

my love to all reading this,
Danita

Spring in Ohio and our Vacation in St. John!!

2008-05-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, ya'll, I am so sorry that I haven't been posting lately. Here are my wonderful excuses. The kids and I attempted aux. pioneering in April and then we all got sick. There went that month. And then we left for St. John on the 30th of April for 8 days. Anyway, we are all better even though Alexis and Aidan both got sick on the first few days of our vacation and Alexis was just recovering from the worst case of poison ivy,.....all over her beautiful face and neck. It was terrible. All four of us had an assembly part in April at our special day and Alexis fulfilled her part even with her condition. I felt so bad for her, but I tried to be strong because we wanted her to go ahead with her part....we knew she would be glad she did it in the long run. Needless to say, it went well and she is glad that she did it. Okay, our vacation.......one word.....okay a few words.......For this world we live in , it is absolute Paradise........except for the no-see-ums that ate me alive. Thankfully only me, I must have the perfect blood type for insects. And miraculousy none of us got sunburn badly. We were vigilant about sunscreen. 50 spf on the kids and 35 spf on Sean and I only because we had been tanning artificially a few weeks beforehand,...(please don't mention that to our mothers! ) St. John is a very low key island with most of it being a National Park. Completely unspoiled and natural. We snorkeled every day except Sunday when we went to both the english and spanish meetings in Cruz Bay. It was really nice to meet all the friends that live on the island. Sean gave the talk in Spanish. The kingdom hall has the best view of Cruz Bay, and banana and mango trees right outside the door! We shared some of the bananas with the friends after the meeting. There are 12 publishers in the Spanish congregation and there were 28 there on Sunday! The spanish there is of a Dominican/Puerto Rican origin, so it is very fast, but we followed along pretty well.

The island is rich in the history of Danish occupation in the 1700's and the sugar mills that are in ruins on the island, but that there for us to tour. Slavery was what kept those operations going and so that is part of the island history too. This was a good educating factor for our homeschooling options. We really tried to put ourselves back into history at those ruins. Ask me sometime and I will tell you of some of the stories we heard about the slavery. I don't really want to type it out. Because the by product of sugar can production is rum, .....rum is very cheap in the Virgin Islands. We tried a few, and brought home a few.

We packed our food for the week in one suitcase except for meat and produce etc. We packed our lunches every day for our hiking to various beaches and other areas. We only ate out twice during the week. Please check out the www.maho.org website for information on the resort where we stayed . They are completely eco-friendly and green. They recycle everything. Definitely made us conscious of our use of water etc. Water is a luxury on the island. To give you an example: In Dayton, Ohio a 24 bottle case of Aquafina water is at the most $4.99, in St. John it is $18.99 We didn't buy the water, but retrieved it from the drinking water spigots in the resort. The cost of living there is very high and there is no industry except for tourism. If you can fix brakes, engines, and transmissions you could have a good business. Or if you wanted to have a car rental agency,... that would be good also. And restaurants, they do well there. And of course, they have several water treatments plants,....DE-SALINIZATION taking the salt out of the ocean water. Sean would love this, but there are too many problems with moving there. Well, I am out of space, please call me or email for more info. if you want it. By the way, gasoline there was $4.25 on average. That is where we are headed for sure. Take care all.

Love you,
Danita