We Have Arrived

Just a quick post here to let everyone know we are well and safe. We found a great lake to play at and will be spending lots of time there and posting lots of pictures.

My husband is still looking for work and we would appreciate all of your prayers.

Thank you for stopping by - I'll post next week...maybe even put in some pictures.

Hugs to all...

Gotta Love Berry Season...

Yummie! These are from our berry patch. We have salmon berries, raspberries and logan berries. This is my favorite way to eat waffles...piled with fresh berries, caramel sauce and topped with powder sugar...oh, yum!

Baker and Beetles...

This is a moment to put in our history books...well at least our family history books! Here our maiden has gone from needing my help to not needing me at all...it was a bit strange and I didn't really know what to do...I found myself wandering around the kitchen...but she was reading the directions, and following them...She even let her little brother "help" frost the cake....

See little man's finger...yep he's a helping...

She picked these raspberries to decorate her cake with - it was so wonderful to see her blossom in this area...amazing!

Buddies and Beetles...
Here is a great picture of our "cow"boy and little man...."cow" boy had found a large beetle and gave it to little man - squeals of delight and laughter could be heard...our oldest son is a wonderful young man and takes the time to enjoy his little brother - I'm so thankful for that!

Sheared like a sheep...

So the story goes like so...my older son told me that he could do a really good job cutting his hair! He kept pestering me about it...for several days! I thought hmmmmm I could use this "over confident" moment to teach him something, so I let him cut his own hair...the result was very funny! He came out sheepishly to show me his "very good" job...he had forgotten the fact that he would not be able to cut the back of his head...and well it produced a uneven mess...I should have taken a picture but instead got out the clippers and this is what I was able to do...almost a baldy for the rest of summer.

This whole "close" shave thing must have inspired my husband as he felt the need to shave his "goe-t" ( I have no idea how to spell that). We are all hoping that it grows back fast as it has been close to five years since he's had a clean shaven face and I rather like the goe-t look...and the children are having a really hard time taking him serious as he has such thin lips and doesn't look very intense without the goe-t...we've had a few moments of break-out laughter!

Good thing I didn't get inspired eh!

Do you recognize them?

Why it is Daniel Boone and his trusted friend Mingo.

We have been watching the Daniel Boone DVD series for about a month now. Our friends lent us the videos and we are loving them.

We highly recommend them - they are great for young men and do not have any "stuff" in them.

Enjoy!

Always Learning...Today it was a Bald Hornet lesson

Science doesn't stop just because we've closed the books for a few months. These nasty things have been taking up residence in our berry patch. We thought we got rid of the the two huge nests but alas today we discovered they were rebuilding....

Just look at the queen. She is twice as big as big as the sentry, who was guarding the build site. My husband had his bee attire on and sniped the newly constructed nest to put into the bag. We will be adding the nest, the sentry and the queen to our insect collection - what a great find for this science collection!

Happy Fourth of July 2009

Cowboy here thought it was magnificent that he was able to pilot the boat by himself. He was even allowed to take his siblings, one at a time, out for a private boat ride - great fun.

Fourth of July has become our favorite holiday, but this year was a bitter-sweet celebration. Bitter for the fact that our dear, dear friends, whom we have spent the past seven(I think) fourth of July's with, were moved out of state and there was no way to get together for this year's celebration. They are family and very dear to our hearts and we missed them so very much...missed the laughter...squeals of delight from all the children...missed the good food...missed the good company...missed the Godly fellowship that went on every Fourth of July! I gave this one up to the Lord and am asking Him to make it happen for next year.

Now to the sweetness of the celebration...my husband went out the day before to get us hot dogs(can I just say yuk and barf...rats on a stick is what I call them) but that wasn't the sweet part. He also came home with life jackets and a four man, blow up boat with paddles. We had so much fun at the lake on that boat.

Afterwards a dear friend, whose family was across the mountains working on a project, came bearing foods and gifts to celebrate the 4th with us. We enjoyed her company so much...she's a gem of a lady and so enjoyable to be around.

How was your Fourth of July? If you are wondering why we had the lake to ourselves...it's because we get there early - we left our house at 8:00 to arrive at the lake by 9:00. We had the lake to ourselves for most of the morning. It didn't start getting really busy until about 2:00 or so...very nice

.Ka-Boom...look at those grins...this is definitely the favored holiday in our house!

A Knight and A Princess

Sweet Isn't It...

A Morning To Remember...

We decided to go strawberry picking this morning. On our way we had an errand to do. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity. What fun we had eating fresh donuts with our fresh milk we brought along. The seagulls came so close to us hoping for a bit of a treat. We saw two bald eagles across the bay - they were beautiful!

After breakfast at the bay we headed to the strawberry picking patch...but the u-pick was closed. We were disappointed but still purchased three flats of berries to make jam and freeze...and of course to snack on.

All that sugar makes for a wonderful nap. I love sleeping pictures - they are so sweet and innocent.

Since we did not get to pick berries...my little buttons decided to pick from our own berry patch.

Sweet Little Birds...

Aren't they funny looking! They remind us of clowns with big wide grins painted on.

This nest has been with us since we painted our house a few years ago. Every year we get the pleasure of watching the parents feed and clean the nest and the little birdies chirp chirp chirp - It is the most wonderful thing about the beginning of summer!

All About A Knight...

Well, this has been a big week for our knight. He lost his first tooth last week and just last night he lost the one next to it...his grin is priceless!

My knight loves bugs, bees, worms, spiders...and this snake he found was a real treasure!

Our Favorite Spot in Summer

Oh, the memories this place has given our family...good memories...memories to carry us through the winter blues...

It was very cold and windy in the morning but as you can see the children didn't care about that. The sun did finally arrive after lunch - we all came home with a bit too much sun.

One interesting thing that happened was while I was "sunning" I heard a buzzing sound that got louder and louder. I looked up in the trees and there was a huge swarm of bees rising out of the trees. The swarm crossed over the beach part of the lake and to the set of trees opposite of where we were at...it was very interesting to see them actually move out of one place and move into another.

Something to ponder....

A friend of ours told us this very thought provoking story...

This took place recently...an acquaintance of his went over to China on a business trip. He had smuggled in Bibles and while he was checking into the hotel the suitcase with the Bibles was stolen.

Days later a small Chinese man came up to him asking him to please come with him...He felt that the Lord wanted him to follow this man so he did...through tunnels, back streets, more tunnels and such.

Where they ended up will break your heart...they ended up in a building with stacks of Bible COVERS...did you get that - the covers only...they take any Bible they get, take the cover off, take out the different books and distribute them to different underground groups to share and pass along...as I write this I can think of at least 20 different Bibles in our home...each of us has several Bibles...sometimes we don't even have the "time" to read the Bible on a daily basis...shame shame shame....

So the little Chinese man asked him to come and share at an underground meeting...after he was done sharing the whole group was weeping...when he asked why they were weeping this is what they said "We weep for our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in America...for them to know Jesus the way we know Jesus"...

I was truly convicted of my "lazy" attitude of the word...taking for granted that I can read it any time I want...and go to any chapter I want...and that I have the whole word not just a part.

These people in China only have a few chapters of God's word and they are weeping for US...what have we missed...why have packaged and sanitized the life changing truth and now are in jeopardy of missing all that God has for us...

Are you complacent? Are you reading God's word every day? Don't put it off any longer...go get your Bible and soak in His word...it is good!

My prayer is that the Lord stirs your heart to really know him...get on your face before the Lord...weep and let Him do a work in you...

In Reverent Fear trusting in His way and Worshiping Him...
Keeper

It has finally happened....

It's official...Cowboy is taller than Keeper...he's thrilled! Not by much but he is taller and struts his stuff...so to keep him humble here is a reminder that he is still a shorty....