Sunday May 11, 2025
Morning Prayer:
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for mothers.
- Thank you for birds.
- Thank you for bicycles.
- Thank you for love.
I love you!
Dear Diary,
I awoke at 2 AM. I wrote my blog and posted it. I went to sleep more and slept from 6 AM to 8 AM. I felt fully rested and got up. I made tea and took a long hot shower. Angel got in the shower after me and I had her breakfast ready by the time she got out. After she ate, we got dressed up for church and walked over to my older sisters. Our mom had stayed the night at her place last night.
My mom was already packed up when we got to my sisters and she said she was leaving to go home right after church. She was trying to get my sister to go to church with us but my sister didn’t want to. I reminded mom that God doesn’t ask us to force people to do things. We had an hour before church service started and I suggested we sit outside and I sat in a lawn chair on the front porch. It was a beautiful morning, the birds were singing and the weather was perfect. I sat basking in the bird songs for a while. Then I went inside to see why no one was coming outside. My sister was all dressed up and I asked her if she had decided to come to church. She said no, she was dressed up for pictures. I didn’t realize we were taking pictures but I was all for it, it would be a 4 generation picture. We all went out on the porch and I was attempting to take a selfie of us all when a white SUV stopped at the corner across the street. A lady that my sister and I know, got out and ran across the street towards us. I met her at the gate and asked if she would take a picture of us at the same time as she offered. “Yes please!”, I said. We got settled into a pose and the lady took a couple of pictures. We all thanked her as she ran back to her truck.
Sitting in church with my mom, I basked the bright colors in the sanctuary. It is a beautiful cheery sanctuary. Angel chose for us to sit up front. My mom was being extra quiet this morning. I knew that she was tired. She didn’t sleep well at my place on Friday night, she had been too hot and I don’t have an air conditioner, just fans. Then she said she had slept even worse at my sisters last night because the bed wasn’t comfortable. She was ready to go home and was leaving immediately after church. She has become more of a homebody since she’s gotten older. She likes to sleep in her own bed.
The church service was about “They will know we are Christians by our love”. When church service ended, my mom came over and looked at Angels bunk bed. Then we hugged and she left to go home.
I fed Angel lunch, then we left to go on an adventure down Kleinschmidt grade into Hells canyon. We slowly made our way to the canyon. I stopped several times to look for morel mushrooms and take pictures of plants. I especially stopped in a burn area right before the going down the grade but it was super dry and I didn’t see any mushrooms. I saw lots of flowers though.
Going down the Kleinschmidt grade wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. When we arrived at the bottom, we followed the road along the Snake river until we got to the very end. I’d never been to the end before. There was a visitors center there that was closed and a boat ramp. Angel and I walked to a creek that was being the parking lot and it was surrounded by poison ivy. We found an open spot and crossed over the creek by stepping on rocks. Then we walked to the visitors center and looked at the map of the canyon on the outside wall. Angel walked down some stairs to the boat ramp while I got the truck and drove down.
We looked around and then hearted (headed) back up the canyon. We decided to go through Cambridge to get home rather than go back up the Kleinschmidt grade. It was a beautiful drive up the canyon and when we turned towards Cambridge we stopped at the Gateway store. There were a lot of people there and they were really busy. We waited for a while to get Angel an ice cream but I could see that it would be a really long wait, so we abandoned the idea and continued on our way.
When we arrived in Cambridge, I remembered that a guy I follow on Facebook named Michael Ridge had mentioned that he would be camping at Mundo hot springs. He has been living as a nomad for 12 years, traveling in the wilderness with his horses. He is full of information about edible plants and how to make rope and surviving in the wilderness. I wanted to meet him and I drove to Mundo Hot Springs. I slowly drove through the property and saw Michael camped near the horse stables. I stopped and walked over to where he was sitting under a tarp. He was on the phone and I waved at him. He lowered the phone and said he was talking to his grandmother. I said I just stopped by to meet him and I would wait. He got off the phone and Angel asked him about his horses. He said that she could meet them and we walked over to their corral. Michael and Angel talked about horses for a few minutes. Then the owner of the hot springs came over and started talking to Michael. She talked and talked and talked and talked. I could barely get a word in and I could see that she wasn’t going to stop talking anytime soon, so I told Michael it was nice to meet him and we continued on to Council.
When we got to our apartment. We quickly packed our suitcase and went to our farm sitting opportunity outside of town. I took care of all the animals and got them fed and put up for the night. Then I fed Angel and talked to Aaron on the phone. At 10:30 pm we got into bed and fell asleep right away.
Monday May 12, 2025
Morning Prayer:
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for canyons.
- Thank you for farm sitting opportunities.
- Thank you for spring.
- Thank you for love.
I love you!
Dear Diary,
I am writing this while sitting in a gazebo overlooking a creek with the mountains in the background to the east. I am farm sitting at a property a few miles outside of Council. I woke up at 5:30 am and let the dogs out in rotations. Then, I wrote my blog until it was time to feed the puppy and Ferret’s and let out the sheep and ducks. When that was finished, I made Angel breakfast and made myself some tea. While Angels food was cooking, I wiped down the entire kitchen thinking how much my farm sitting clients will enjoy coming home to a clean kitchen at the end of the week.
Angel is currently in the house, she is already fed and dressed. Now, she is playing with toys and I am enjoying a few minutes of quiet time, to be present with nature and do some writing. I am reminded that I am wonderfully made. I prayed my gratuities and stood facing east while I stretched out my arms, embracing life. I did a few stretches, loosening up my neck, shoulders, back and hips. Then I sat and basked in the view a few more minutes before going inside to let Angel know it was time to leave.
Last night I had talked on the phone to my client that I clean for this morning. He asked if I could give him a haircut. I said I would and even packed my hair cutting kit on my suitcase. It was still in my suitcase when I arrived at my clients. I told him that I had forgotten the hair cutting kit and he said that we could do it next week when I come.
Angel did her schoolwork while I cleaned and washed laundry. When I finished, I stopped at my apartment on the way to my next cleaning opportunity. Angel raced up the stairs to check on her kitten and get her Nintendo Switch. I followed behind and asked how the kitten was as I walked through the door. I looked up and the kitten was happily rubbing against the desk. I picked her up and petted her while I checked her food and water. She had plenty of both and I set her down in front of her food bowl. I sliced some bread and cheese and made Angel grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. While the sandwiches were cooking, I made myself a smoothie with 7 bananas, cinnamon, vitamin powder, homemade almond milk and homemade carrot/apple/ginger/turmeric/grape juice. Then I made a snack bag for me that had raw walnuts, raw cashews, raw almonds and dark chocolate covered raisins. I packed up all of our food and left Bits at home to play with the kitten.
At my next cleaning opportunity. My client had me deep clean her living room and entryway. Angel did her schoolwork while I cleaned. I cleaned for 2 hours and my client was very happy with my work.
Next, I drove to Cambridge to talk to a lady about cleaning and organizing for her. She showed me around and I put her on the schedule for next week.
When we got to Council, we stopped at home to get a few things. Then we went to our farm sitting opportunity. I switched the dogs and we hung out in the grass with the ferrets and let them run around for a while. They are busy little animals.
When it was time for Angels play practice. We put the ferrets away and switched the dogs and drove to town. Angel bicycle to play practice and I walked over to the bank and cleaned it. Then I talked to Aaron on the phone and took a long hot shower. Angel came home from play practice, ate dinner and took a shower after me.
We went out to our farm sitting opportunity. We walked down the hill to the creek and found a tree-fort. Angel climbed up the ladder to the fort but said the floor didn’t seem secure and came back down. We fed all the animals and put them away for the night. Then we went to bed. I read Angel a chapter from a book called Ranger in Time. Then Angel read Green Eggs and Ham to me. We put on a sleep meditation and went to sleep at around 9:45 PM.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life . I appreciate you.
Love, Victoria
P. S. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
P. S. S. This was Sunday and Monday. A lot has happened since then. Stay tuned.